Humanities for a Global Society

HIS 3931: Ideal Societies: A quick tour from Plato to Karl Marx

Howard Louthan
025 Flint Hall
273-3381
louthan@ufl.edu

Office Hours
   Tuesday: 12:00-1:30 pm
    Wednesday: 1:00-2:30 pm

Course Location and Times
    Flint 101
    Tuesday: Periods 8-9 (3-4:55 pm)
    Thursday: Period 9 (4:05-4:55 pm)


From the beginning of recorded history, human beings have sought to create perfect societies. The ancient Greeks were among the first to express these ideas in concrete form with Plato’s Republic, but the ancient world saw many other schemes and ideas to improve human communities. Sacred writings such as the Bible also included visions of societies free from imperfection and human failings. This course will offer a broad survey of these dreams of perfect worlds from antiquity to the present day. We will begin with the Greeks and Plato but also include a consideration of the skeptical critics of such plans before turning to Christian sources from this early period. Chronologically, our focus will then jump to the Renaissance period, which was the true golden age of utopian literature.   

In this interdisciplinary course, we will be reading a variety of genres including the essay, the allegory, the drama, the satire and even the law. In the final section of the course we will move to the modern period and look at attempts to create perfect societies in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will conclude by examining the dark side of the “perfect society” and see how dystopic nightmares can parallel the benign schemes of utopian thinkers.

As you know from the application process, this is a demanding course and should only be taken by students ready to invest themselves wholeheartedly. The reading load is significant. We will be working through texts that require close and careful attention. Discussions will be done in small groups, and you will be expected to contribute in every session (i.e. you cannot hide in the back of the classroom). You will also be writing some type of paper or essay almost every week. On the other hand, if you are willing to make the investment in reading, writing and discussion, this class may be one of the most rewarding courses you will take at the University of Florida. We will be reading some of the greatest texts of Western literature in a multi-disciplinary context. The ideas that we will be discussing are as pressing and relevant as they were when originally written.  

Grade Calculation
Test One: 20%
Test Two: 20%
Class Participation: 25%
Essay One (Analytic Exercise): 10%
Essay Two: 15%   
Group Project—Modern Dystopias: 10%

Class Participation
Discussion Leading Responsibilities
Regular short writing assignments
Occasional quizzes
Active participation in class and discussion
*Students who do not bring the reading assignment to class during discussion days will be asked to leave.
**Students cannot bring laptops to class unless they are making a special presentation and have cleared this with the professor beforehand.


Writing Requirement
Students will be required to write two longer essays during the course of the semester.   The first paper (3-4 pages) will be an analytic essay based upon the reading of the week.  In this essay students will examine a particular aspect of the text perhaps responding to a discussion question.  More information about the analytic essays will be given during the first weeks of class.  Early in the semester students will sign up for a specific week and topic.
Analytic Essay Schedule

A second longer paper (4-5 pages) will be a more creative assignment. You will be asked to reflect back on the major themes and writings of the course.  You will be asked to address some of the practical issues connected both to utopias and dystopias and their implications for our own world.  The emphasis here will be placed on the relevance of these ideas to our own society today.

Late papers will be dropped a full letter grade each day.  Short writing assignments (class participation) will not be accepted if late.
 
Those who are interested could substitute a more traditional research paper (10 pages) for the two shorter assignments. Please speak with the professor concerning this possibility.


Grading Scale
A = 100-92.5
A- = 92.4-90
B+ = 89.9-87.5
B = 87.4-82.5
B- = 82.4-80
C+ = 79.9-77.5
C = 77.4-72.5
C- = 72.4-70
D+ = 69.9-67.5
D = 67.4-62.5
D- = 62.4-60
F = Below 60


Attendance Policy
As this course is a discussion-based course, I will be following a very strict attendance policy for discussion sessions (usually Tuesday).  Students will be allowed one free absence over the semester.   For those who have more unexcused absences, the following penalties will be applied.
Two absences: Deduction of 3 points of the final grade
Three absences: Deduction of 6 points of the final grade
Four absences: Deduction of 10 points of the final grade
Five absences: Automatic failure

Laptop/tablet policy
Laptops/tablets will not be allowed for lectures.   For discussion sessions students are required to bring either a written or electronic version of material that is being discussed to class.  If, however, students use their electronic device for uses other than class purposes, they will be penalized and not allowed to use the device again for the semester in this class.  


Student Discussion Groups

Key Lecture Terms



Course Schedule

Week One
    Aug. 22: Introduction

Assignment
    David Brooks (Sakai)
    Rachel Maddow (Sakai)

Week Two
    Aug. 27: Plato, The Republic
    Aug. 29: Lecture One: Plato and an Introduction to The Republic

Assignment
    Tuesday
Plato's Republic, 1-43 (327-368b)
Writing Assignment--What is Justice?
    Thursday
Plato's Republic, 43-110 (368b-434c)
Pericles' Funeral Oration (Sakai)


Week Three
    Sept. 3: Aristophanes, Lysistrata
    Sept. 5:
Assignment
    Tuesday
Writing Assignment--Aristophanes and Pericles
    Thursday
Rewrite Assignment (Sakai)
Hebrew and Christian Bible Readings: Daniel 7, Matthew 5-7, Acts of the Apostles 2, I Corinthians 1, Ephesians (entire), Revelation 1, 19-22


Week Four
    Sept. 10: Biblical literature: Sermon on the Mount/Revelation
    Sept. 12:
    Tuesday
Writing Assigment--Christianity and Utopia
Apocalyptic Show-and-Tell
    Thursday
Welcome Dinner: Prof. Louthan's house (6:30 pm--2618 NW 22nd Avenue)


Week Five
    Sept. 17: Thomas More, Utopia
    Sept. 19:
Model Introduction
    Tuesday
Thomas More, Utopia
Writing Assignment: Utopia and an exercise in censorship
    Thursday
J.A. Comenius, The Labyrinth of the World


Week Six
    Sept. 24: John Amos Comenius, The Labyrinth of the World
    Sept. 26:Erasmus, Adagia "Silenus Alcibiadis"
    Tuesday
Writing Assignment--The Labyrinth and the Search for Meaning
Random Skill or Hidden Talent (Sakai)
    Thursday
Erasmus (Sakai); begin Machiavelli, The Prince


Week Seven
    Oct. 1: Machiavelli, The Prince
    Oct. 3: Test 1
    Tuesday
Writing Assignment--Machiavelli, The Prince


Week Eight
    Oct. 8: A Conversation with President Machen
The Humanties in a Public University: Challenges and Prospects
    Oct. 10: Voltaire, Candide

    Tuesday
Raising the Bar: Employers’ View on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn
A Study by Hart Research Associates
http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/2009_EmployerSurvey.pdf
 
David Brooks, “The Humanist Profession,” The New York Times, June 20, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/opinion/brooks-the-humanist-vocation.html?ref=davidbrooks&_r=1&
 
“The Real Humanities Crisis,” The New Republic, September 6, 2013
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114616/public-universities-hurt-humanities-crisis
 


Week Nine
    Oct. 15: William Bartram and a New World Utopia: Visit to Special Collections
    Oct. 17: The University, the Liberal Arts and their Relevance for a Global Society
    Visit of Dean Paul D'Anieri

Week Ten
    Oct. 22:
    Oct. 24:

Week Eleven
    Oct. 29: Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
    Oct. 31: Visit of Professor Fred Gregory: Science and the Humanities

Week Twelve
    Nov. 5: Edward Bellamy, Looking Backwards
    Nov. 7:

Week Thirteen
    Nov. 12: Karel Čapek, R.U.R
    Nov. 14:

Week Fourteen
    Nov. 19: Fritz Lang, Metropolis/Visit of Professor Barbara Mennel
    Nov. 21: Visit of Professor John Sommerville
The University Crisis?  What is the purpose of a university education?

Week Fifteen
    Nov. 26:
    Nov. 28: Thanksgiving

Week Sixteen
    Dec. 3:  Dystopia projects


Required Books
Plato, The Republic (Hackett, 1992)
ISBN: 0872201368


Aristophanes, Lysistrata (Dover, 1994)
ISBN: 0486282252


Thomas More, Utopia (Dover, 1997)
ISBN: 0486295834


Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (Dover, 1992)
ISBN: 0486272745


John Comenius, The Labyrinth of the World (Paulist Press, 1997)
ISBN: 0809137399


Voltaire, The Candide (Dover, 1991)
ISBN: 0486266893


The Communist Manifesto and Other Revolutionary Writings (Dover, 2003)
ISBN: 0486424650


Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (Dover, 1996)
ISBN: 0486290387


Karel Čapek, R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots (Wildside Press, 2010)
ISBN: 1557422559


Optional (Extra Credit)
Karel Čapek, War with the Newts (Catbird Press, 1990)
0945774109


We will be also using the e-learning/sakai site where course materials for certain sessions will be available as indicated by the syllabus.
https://lss.at.ufl.edu/