HRS 100-B

Fall 2010 Mon. Wed. Fri. 2:30–3:20 pm Prof. Stephens D. H. Humanities Center 212

office: D. H. Humanities Center 116 phone (with voicemail): 280-2632 email: stphns AT creighton DOT edu

This course is a study of the beginnings of the Christian intellectual tradition through careful study of selected philosophical texts. Students will acquire an ability to situate the Christian intellectual tradition within the complex cultural context of the ancient Mediterranean world and the Near East. Primary themes will be the nature of the human soul, the divine (the gods, Zeus, God), the nature of the world, and ideals of the good life.

B “Noteworthy level of performance” Demonstrates all of the qualities of satisfactory work plus:

A “Outstanding achievement and an unusual degree of intellectual initiative” Demonstrates all of the qualities of noteworthy performance plus:

Class Participation and Attendance Policies

Punctuality is a virtue. Prof. Stephens strives to attend every class on time. He expects all of his students to attend every class, on time, every week, all semester long. Regular and punctual class attendance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a good class participation grade. Eight (8) or more absences (the equivalent of two and a half weeks) will result in an AF (failure due to excessive absence) for this course. Each absence fewer than eight will incrementally lower your class participation grade. You are responsible for all material discussed and all announcements made in every class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed. Being tardy twice counts as one absence. There are two kinds of activities that count as “participation”: inside of class and outside of class. Inside of class participation is raising your hand to be called on and making comments about the reading or the discussion, or asking questions about the reading or my lecture, or responding to questions I raise or comments made by other students. Outside of class participation includes (a) philosophical conversations with Prof. Stephens outside the classroom, and (b) intellectually substantive electronic messages, including emails to Prof. Stephens or posts (or replies) in the BlueLine Discussion Forum for the course. You cannot really learn how to think critically by merely listening. You also need to actively think out loud orally inside class and outside of class in written electronic messages. Posting to the BlueLine Discussion Forum every week is an excellent practice. Both quality and quantity of oral and electronic remarks count; I record both. Since we will be closely attending to the readings in our class discussions, it is important that everyday you bring to class your book (or a hard copy of the pdf article) containing that day’s reading assignment.

A necessary condition for a class absence being counted as excused due to illness (or emergency) is email (or telephone) notification to Prof. Stephens BEFORE class begins (at 9:30 am) the day of the absence. Ordinarily, email (or telephone) notification of illness (or emergency) preventing class attendance being given prior to class is also sufficient for that absence to count as excused, but this is ultimately up to the discretion of Prof. Stephens.

The Fishbowl

To encourage active discussion in class, Prof. Stephens will sometimes (prior to a class meeting) designate a row of students to be “in the fishbowl” for that particular class. While all students are responsible for doing the assigned reading for every class meeting conscientiously and for coming to class ready to discuss it, all of the students in the fishbowl will be expected to actively lead the discussion in that class. Class participation counts for a sizeable portion of the course grade, so come ready to swim out loud when you're in the fishbowl. The fishbowl team names are arowana, burbot, cobia, dab, and escolar. The list of Fishbowl team members is the “Fishbowl Teams” file under “Lessons” on BlueLine.

Our class is a community of thinkers cooperating in both face to face inquiry inside the classroom and electronic inquiry outside the classroom on BlueLine and via email. Consequently, the two-fold purpose of being in class is (1) to listen to and think about what Prof. Stephens and your classmates say and (2) to orally participate in the discussion. Taking notes on paper during class is so strongly recommended that it is virtually obligatory. Use of electronic devices in class is PROHIBITED. These devices include laptop computers, handheld computers, iPods, Blackberries, cameras, audio recorders, cell phones, and similar devices. If you choose to bring such devices to the classroom, they must be stored away and kept off during class. If you believe that your learning will be compromised by this prohibition, you may make your case to Prof. Stephens for a limited exception to this policy. Using any electronic device in class for an illicit purpose (e.g. emailing, browsing the Internet, playing games) will result in a reduction in the Class Participation grade.

To encourage you to do the assigned reading faithfully before each and every class, Prof. Stephens will sometimes, without prior announcement, at the beginning of class, give a small “pop” quiz on the reading assignment. These quizlets are usually about ten true/false items. If you are late to class or absent, then you miss the quizlet, get a zero for it, and cannot retake it. To compensate for a missed quizlet you can boost your participation in class or in the discussion forum, since quizlets count in the class participation component of the course grade. Sometimes Prof. Stephens rewards students for bringing their books to class by giving an open-book quizlet. Get into the habit of using a dictionary to look up every word you are not 100% certain you understand the exact meaning of in each and every sentence you read in every single reading assignment. Prof. Stephens is known to put vocabulary questions on quizlets. If you want to do well in this course, buy a good dictionary to carry with you to class, every class, and use it often every week outside of class to expand your vocabulary. You cannot understand what an author writes unless you understand each and every word in every sentence of that author’s essay.

Students will choose their paper topics in consultation with Prof. Stephens. Students are responsible for getting their paper topics approved by Prof. Stephens well before their papers are due. Students should get their hands on the How to Write Philosophy Papers manual. Read it closely and carefully follow all its guidelines in writing your paper. The finished, polished, carefully edited, and meticulously proofread paper should be 1600 to approximately 1900 words in length. (You are permitted to exceed 1900 words within reason, but please don’t abuse this latitude.) Papers of fewer than 1600 words will receive a zero (F). On the cover page print your NAME, the COURSE number, section, and name, the name (properly spelled) of your PROFESSOR, a clever and descriptively accurate TITLE of your paper, and the WORD COUNT (exclude from this word count the words on your cover and Works Cited pages). Include a WORKS CITED page at the end.

Either hand your paper to Prof. Stephens in person or deliver your paper to his office, DHHC Room 116, in the Philosophy Department suite, first floor west. “Your paper” means a hard copy, that is, thin, 8½ by 11" rectangular sheets made from wood pulp, stapled together in the upper left hand corner, with 12 point font, dark, easily legible printing on them. An electronic file on a storage device or an email attachment is ordinarily not acceptable. Approval for submitting your paper electronically must be explicitly granted by Prof. Stephens. Late papers will be penalized ten (10) points (one full letter grade) per weekday late.

Papers are due on the day indicated at 2:30 pm.
Papers on Plato or Epictetus are due October 27. Requests for an extension must be made by October 15.
Papers on Lucretius are due November 17.
Papers on Celsus are due November 29. Requests for an extension must be made by November 19.
Papers on Origen are due December 13. Sorry – no extension can be granted.
If you opt for a comparative paper, Prof. Stephens will assign your due date when he approves your topic.

Monday, Dec. 13 Papers on Origen DUE at 2:00 pm in Prof. Stephens’ office DHHC 116 in the Philosophy Department suite.

Wednesday, December 15, 1:00–2:40 pm Final Exam ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Class participation (and quizlets)	14 %
Exam #1	16 %
Exam #2	14 %
Exam #3	14 %
Final Exam	18 %
Thesis Defense Paper	24 %

W Aug. 25	Introduction to course and some logic
F Aug. 27	Introduction (pp. 58–59) and Plato, Meno 70a–81e (pp. 59–71)
M Aug. 30	Plato, Meno 82a to 89e (pp. 72–82)
W Sept. 1	Plato, Meno 89e to end (pp. 82–92)
F Sept. 3	Plato, Introduction and Euthyphro (pp. 1–20)
	Labor Day
W Sept. 8	Plato, Introduction and Apology 17a to 30b (pp. 21–34)
F Sept. 10	Plato, Apology 30c to end (pp. 34–44)
M Sept. 13	Plato, finish Apology
W Sept. 15	Plato, Introduction and Crito (pp. 45–57)

F Sept. 17	Plato, Introduction and Phaedo 57a to 77a (pp. 93–115)
M Sept. 20	Plato, Phaedo 77a to 95e (pp. 115–134)
W Sept. 22	Plato, Phaedo 96a to end (pp. 134–154) Review Guide for Exam #1
F Sept. 24	Exam #1
M Sept. 27	Epictetus, Discourses, Introduction and Book I (pp. vii–xxiv, 3–39); review of The Afterlife of the Platonic Soul: Reflections of Platonic Psychology in the Monotheistic Religions
W Sept. 29	Epictetus, Book I (pp. 40–76) Team Arowana
F Oct. 1	Epictetus, Book II (pp. 77–111) Team Burbot
M Oct. 4	Epictetus, Book II (pp. 112–145) Team Cobia
W Oct. 6	Epictetus, Book III (pp. 146–173) Team Dab
F Oct. 8	Epictetus, Book IV (pp. 174–206) Team Escolar Review Guide for Exam #2
M Oct. 11	Exam #2
W Oct. 13	Lucretius, Intro. and On the Nature of Things Book One (pp. vii–xxxiv, 1–33); “Lucretius,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Team Arowana
F Oct. 15	class canceled
	Fall Recess
M Oct. 25	Lucretius, Book Two (pp. 34–65) Team Burbot
W Oct. 27	Lucretius, Book Three, through line 615 (pp. 66–83); Papers on Plato or Epictetus DUE Team Cobia
F Oct. 29	Lucretius, Book Three, line 616 to end (pp. 83–98) Team Dab
M Nov. 1	class canceled
W Nov. 3	Lucretius, Book Four (pp. 99–134), Book Five lines 1–508 (pp. 135–150); “Plato’s Timaeus,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Team Escolar
F Nov. 5	W. Den Boer, “A Pagan Historian and His Enemies: Porphyry Against the Christians,” Classical Philology 69 (1974): 198–208

M Nov. 8	Exam #3 Review Guide for Exam #3
W Nov. 10	Celsus, General Introduction (pp. 5–45); review of Bernard Green, Christianity in Ancient Rome: The First Three Centuries Team Arowana
F Nov. 12	Celsus, On the True Doctrine, §I through III (pp. 53–69) Team Burbot
M Nov. 15	class canceled
W Nov. 17	Celsus, §IV through V (pp. 69–85); Papers on Lucretius DUE Team Cobia
F Nov. 19	Celsus, §VI through VIII (pp. 85–105) Team Dab
M Nov. 22	Celsus, §IX through X (pp. 106–126) Team Escolar
	Thanksgiving Recess
M Nov. 29	Origen, On First Principles, Butterworth’s Introduction and Book I, Preface and Ch. I: The Father Team Arowana
	(pp. xxiii–lviii, 1–14); Papers on Celsus and all rewritten papers DUE
W Dec. 1	Origen, Book II, Chs. I through III (pp. 76–94) Team Burbot
F Dec. 3	Origen, Book II, Chs. VI: The Incarnation of Christ, and VIII: The Soul (pp. 108–115, 120–128) Team Cobia
	Review Guide questions on Origen from Teams Arowana, Burbot, and Cobia DUE Sunday Dec. 5 at 12 noon
M Dec. 6	Origen, Book II, Ch. IX: The World, and the Movements of Rational Creatures both Good and Evil, etc. (pp. 129–137) Team Dab
W Dec. 8	Origen, Book II, Ch. XI: The Promises (pp. 147–154) Team Escolar
F Dec. 10	Last class: Review Celsus and Origen Review Guide for Final Exam
	Review Guide questions on Origen from Teams Dab and Escolar DUE Saturday Dec. 11 at 12 noon