GSTR 110-B/-E (Writing Seminar I: Fate and Freedom)

Dr. Jeff Richey, Instructor (x 3186) and Mr. Jason Adams, Learning Center Liaison (x 3404, 859-358-0166)

Berea College, Fall 2006                        Section B: MTWF 8, Draper 215             Section E: MTWF 9, Frost 211

COURSE DESCRIPTION

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

COURSE CALENDAR

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Does fate exist? How free are we? What can be gained from critical thinking about these issues? Students in these sections of GSTR 110 will engage with Convocation presentations, read classical texts from China, Greece, and Israel, and reflect upon contemporary scientific understandings of the human genome in order to explore a range of answers to these questions. In the process, they will hone their writing, reasoning, research, and reflective habits and skills through a developmental sequence of assignments.

As mandated by the College Faculty, the goals of GSTR 110 are to ensure that students:

1. develop, compose, and complete college-level essays that are documented, that engage and use various kinds of texts, and that are expository (i.e., develop reasons, evidence, support for a thesis);

2. identify and use properly some common modes of reasoning (e.g., analogy, argument), patterns of reasoning, and basic critical thinking concepts such as consistency, ambiguity and vagueness, and general criteria in thinking well about a variety of topics and texts;

3. use the Hutchins Library facility and its resources, including the Library Home Page and library web resources;

4. research, read, and evaluate a variety of sources, to assemble an appropriately diverse bibliography, and to appreciate how different types of sources can work together, and

5. understand how preparation, engaged attentiveness, reflection, and thinking with appropriate criteria lead to learning from experiences beyond the formal classroom.

In addition, students in these sections should acquire:

• a basic understanding of philosophical and religious issues surrounding freedom and determinism
• a basic appreciation of classical Chinese, Greek, and Hebrew literature
• a basic grasp of concepts relevant to the study of human genetics
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TEXTS

• S. Barnet and H. Bedau, From Critical Thinking to Argument: A Portable Guide (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005) [B&B]
• Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 4th ed. (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005)
• Raymond P. Scheindlin, trans., The Book of Job (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1999)
• Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, trans. J. E. Thomas (Clayton, DE: Prestwick House, 2005)
• Various texts available online [WWW] or on Hutchins Library 2-hour closed reserve [R]

EXPECTATIONS

• Students are expected to prepare for and participate in all class sessions. The instructor reserves the right to reduce the final grades of students who miss class sessions. Excuses for absences may be sought, but may not necessarily be granted.

• Students are expected to complete all writing assignments in a timely fashion. Most writing assignments will not be graded at all (or at first), so students either will or will not receive credit for them, depending solely on whether they are completed on time. All writing assignments are time-sensitive in nature and cannot be made up.

• Students are expected to give all viewpoints (as expressed by primary sources, secondary sources, the instructor, and classmates) their fair and full consideration. This does not exclude the possibility of forming one's own judgments about a given issue. Instead, such critical sympathy is necessary for one to form a considered opinion.

ASSESSMENT

In-class writing exercises and first drafts of other assignments(graded pass/fail) = 60% of final grade
Revised summary and critique = 20% of final grade
Revised essay = 20% of final grade
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COURSE CALENDAR

Week 1
Wed 8/30      Introduction to the course and lecture (in class)
Fri 9/1      Read Petrus Paulus Vergerius, “The New Education” [WWW] and Excerpts from Port Huron Statement [WWW]

Week 2
Mon 9/4      Read Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, pp. 11-39
Tue 9/5      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 9/6      Read Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, pp. 39-64
Thu 9/8      Class meets at 3 p.m. in Phelps-Stokes Chapel for Dr. Larry D. Shinn, “What Makes For Peace?”
Fri 9/8      Read “Summarizing and Paraphrasing” (B&B 28-41) and “A Checklist for Analyzing an Argument” (B&B 71); 2 copies of summary #1 due in class

Week 3
Mon 9/11      Read Mohist Writings on Fate [WWW]
Tue 9/12      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 9/13      Read Ecclesiastes 9 [WWW]
Fri 9/15      Read “A Peer Review Checklist for a Draft of an Argument” (B&B 142); 2 copies of critique #1 due in class

Week 4
Mon 9/18      Read The Book of Job, pp. 55-103
Tue 9/19      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 9/20      Read The Book of Job, pp. 103-157
Fri 9/22      NO CLASS SESSION -- INSTRUCTOR AWAY
                    1 copy of summary #2 due by e-mail to the instructor

Week 5
Mon 9/25      Read Epicurus of Sámos, “On Fate” [WWW]
Tue 9/26      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 9/27      Read Taoist Writings on Fate [WWW]
Thu 9/28      Class meets at 3 p.m. in Phelps-Stokes Chapel for the Right Rev. Stacy F. Sauls, “A Mission of Justice”
Fri 9/29      2 copies of critique #2 due in class

Week 6
Mon 10/2      Read Matt Ridley, “Introduction,” “Fate,” and “Free Will,” in Ridley, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
                    (New York: HarperCollins, 1999), 4-10, 54-64, 301-313. [R 599.935 R546g]
Tue 10/3      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 10/4      Read Robert Wright, “Blaming the Victim,” in Wright, The Moral Animal, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1994), 345-363.
                    [R 304.5 W952m]
Fri 10/6      Complete California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (in class)
                    1 copy of summary #3 due by e-mail to the instructor

Week 7
Mon 10/9      NO CLASS SESSION -- READING PERIOD
Tue 10/10      NO CLASS SESSION -- READING PERIOD
Wed 10/11      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Fri 10/13      2 copies of critique #3 due in class

Week 8
Mon 10/16      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Tue 10/17      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 10/18      NO CLASS SESSION -- MOUNTAIN DAY
Fri 10/20      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
                    1 revised summary and 1 revised critique due by noon

Week 9
Mon 10/23      CLASS CANCELLED DUE TO INSTRUCTOR ILLNESS
Tue 10/24      Read “Developing an Argument of Your Own” (B&B 115-118); 2 copies of thesis statement due in class
Wed 10/25      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Fri 10/27      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled

Week 10
Mon 10/30      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Tue 10/31      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 11/1      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Fri 11/3      NO CLASS SESSION -- INSTRUCTOR AWAY

Week 11
Mon 11/6      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Tue 11/7      Read “Documentation” (B&B 172-212); class meets in Draper 106
Wed 11/8      Read “Using Sources” (B&B 150-161); class meets in Hutchins Library 107
Fri 11/10      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled

Week 12
Mon 11/13      Read “Compiling an Annotated Bibliography” (B&B 166-167); 2 copies of annotated bibliography due in class
Tue 11/14      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 11/15      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Fri 11/17      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled

Week 13
Mon 11/20      Read “Organizing and Revising the Body of the Essay” (B&B 128-136); 2 copies of essay draft due in class
Tue 11/21      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 11/22      NO CLASS SESSION -- THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Fri 11/24      NO CLASS SESSION -- THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Week 14
Mon 11/27      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Tue 11/28      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 11/29      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Fri 12/1      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled

Week 15
Mon 12/4      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Tue 12/5      Individual meetings with instructor, as scheduled
Wed 12/6      1 copy of revised essay due in class

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