Fall 2001

Senior Perspective Course
SRP435 (also ENG 435, PHL 435)

LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND ECONOMICS: CRITICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF COMMERCIAL LIFE

Core (A) Curriculum Requirement

CLICK HERE FOR STUDENTS AND STUDENT WORK

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Professor: Dr. Fidel Fajardo-Acosta
• Course: SRP/ENG/PHL 435, Section A, Call # 6193 (SRP), 5438 (PHL), 1863 (ENG)
• Class Time: Mondays 3:30-6:00 PM
• Class Room: Reinert Library Building, Room L02 (lower level of the building)
• Course Dates: Monday, August 27-Monday, December 3, 2001
• Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00 AM-12:00 PM and by appointment
• Office: Hitchcock Communication Arts (CA), Room 304 A
• Office Phone:(402) 280-2522
• Email: fajardo@creighton.edu
• WWW Home Page: http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english//fajardo/
  

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Drawing on contemporary work in critical theory, literary criticism, aesthetics, and rhetoric, this course examines the representation of economic phenomena in selected literary and philosophical texts. The course will explore 1) how an analysis of such texts can reveal underlying social forms such as private property, the commodity, wage labor, and capital; and 2) how these ethically consequential forms tie in with problems of poverty, unequal distributions of income and wealth, overconsumption and depletion of natural resources, competition and conflict, and social instability.

TEXTS

Patrick Murray, ed., Reflections on Commercial Life: An Anthology of Classic Texts from Plato to the Present (Routledge) ISBN 0-415-91099-4

Charles Dickens, Hard Times (W.W. Norton/Norton Critical Edition), ISBN 0-393-95900-7

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (Penguin/Viking Critical Library), ISBN 0-14-024773-4

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin/Viking Critical Library), ISBN 0-14-024775-0

Thomas More, Utopia, trans. Robert M. Adams, Norton Critical Edition (W. W. Norton, 1992), ISBN 0-393-96145-1

FILMS

On reserve for this course at the Reinert Alumni Library

Wall Street (1987), dir. Oliver Stone, starring Michael Douglas & Charlie Sheen (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3626, DVD), 126 min.

Fellini Satyricon (1968), dir. Federico Fellini (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3334, VHS), 129 min.

Night of the Living Dead (1968), dir. George Romero (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3327, VHS), 95 min.

It's a Wonderful Life (1947), dir. Frank Capra (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3352, VHS), 132 min.

Antz (1998), with Woody Allen as the voice of Z (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3294, VHS), 83 min.

Modern Times (1936), dir. Charlie Chaplin (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3321, VHS), 87 min.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), dir. Don Siegel, starring Kevin McCarthy (Reinert Alumni Library Media #1037, VHS), 80 min. (or 1978 version starring Donald Sutherland, 117 min.)

Hungry for Profit (1984, documentary), Robert Richter production (Reinert Alumni Library Media #1501, VHS), 87 min.

The Matrix (1999), starring Keanu Reeves (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3319, VHS), 136 min.

The Terminator (1984), dir. James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3337, VHS), 108 min.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), dir. James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3338, VHS), 139 min.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1) Term Project & Presentation (20%)
All students will be required to undertake and complete a project which may be an original paper or a creative work such as a short story, play, or set of poems (5-10 written pages or equivalent). Also acceptable are substantial and original art works (performance pieces, painting, drawing, music, film, websites, etc.). All creative options must be clearly relevant and related to the class materials. All works must be created during and for the specific purposes of this course. Students will make a 5-10 minute presentation in class describing and/or performing their projects (see Schedule below). All projects must be approved by the instructor in advance. Students choosing to write a paper must follow the guidelines provided by the instructor. For further information on the writing and grading of essays see Grading Standards and Procedures, and Grading of Essays and Other Written Work. ALL PROJECTS ARE DUE ON THE DAY WHEN THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO BE PRESENTED (see Schedule below).

2) Two Essay Exams (30% each)
Exams will ask students to read closely, analyze, and comment on a particular passage from one of the texts studied and/or develop a theme/issue related to the readings, lectures, or class discussions. The same criteria which apply to papers will be used in the grading of exams (see "Grading of Essays and Other Written Work"). Students should expect to do a substantial amount of writing (4-6 handwritten pages) during an exam and must bring paper and pens to each examination (no pencils please). All handwriting in an exam must be neat and easily legible. No credit will be given for illegible exams.

3) Participation and Other Performance (20%)
In addition to other grades, the instructor will assess and grade each student's overall accomplishment, development, and involvement in the course. This grade will take into account aspects of a student's performance such as class participation, preparation, contributions, effort, attentiveness, interest, improvement, responsibility, etc.

4) Grading Scale, Attendance, and Other Policies

All aspects of the course will be graded on a 100-point scale where 90-100 = A, 87-89 = B+, 80-86 = B, 77-79 = C+, 70-76 = C, 60-69 = D, and 0-59 = F

Make-ups/extensions for a missed deadline will only be given in cases of documented serious illness or other valid, non-frivolous excuses such as documented participation in official University sports or academic/service events (it will be up to the instructors to determine and decide on the acceptability of an excuse).

An attendance measurement will be calculated equal to the percentage of total class time attended. The course grade may not exceed that percentage (i.e. if a student attended only 75% of the total class time, the course grade may not be higher than 75 or C). Notice also that, at the discretion of the instructor, any student missing more than 30% of the total class time may fail the course.

All students in the class are expected to observe the University's guidelines on student conduct as described in Creighton University's Student Handbook (see "Code of Conduct," and especially the section on "Academic Misconduct" dealing with problems of plagiarism, cheating, etc.).

READING AND DISCUSSION SCHEDULE

Click here for Course's Guiding Questions and Concerns

Click on the individual subjects for study questions. These questions will guide class discussions. All reading must be completed BEFORE the day when it is scheduled for discussion.

Monday Aug 27

• Introduction. No reading required.

Monday Sep 03

• LABOR DAY. NO CLASS

Monday Sep 10

• Read:
• Rick Gore, "The Dawn of Humans: The First Steps" National Geographic (February 1997), pp. 72-97 (handout)
• Tim D. White, "Once Were Cannibals," Scientific American 265.2(Aug 2001), pp. 58-65 (handout)
• Genesis 1-3 (handout)
• Frederick Engels, "Barbarism and Civilization," selections from The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (handout)
• Uke Iwago Uo, "Geriguigatugo" (handout)
  
  
• View Films (before class):
• Wall Street (1987), dir. Oliver Stone, starring Michael Douglas & Charlie Sheen (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3626, DVD), 126 min.
• Night of the Living Dead (1968), dir. George Romero (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3327, VHS), 95 min.

Monday Sep 17

• Read:
  • Tantalus (handout)
  • King Midas (from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XI) (handout)
  • The Ages of the World (from Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I) (handout)
  • Selections from Plato's Republic, Book I (Murray Anthology, pp. 39-65)
  • Selections from Aristotle's Politics, Book I (Murray Anthology, pp. 69-77)
    
    
• View film before class:
  • Fellini Satyricon (1968), dir. Federico Fellini (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3334, VHS), 129 min.

Monday September 24

• Read:
  • Dante's Inferno Cantos XVII (usury) and XIX (simony) (handout)
  • Ezra Pound's Canto XLV (Usura Canto) (handout)
  • Selections from St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Contra Gentiles, Chapters XXX (wealth) and CXXXIII (poverty) and Summa Theologiae, Questions 66 (theft and robbery), 77 (cheating, buying and selling), 78 (usury), and 100 (simony) (Murray Anthology, pp. 87-115)
• View film before class:
• It's a Wonderful Life (1947), dir. Frank Capra (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3352, VHS), 132 min.

Monday October 01

• Read:
• Thomas More, Utopia
• Selections from Cervantes's Don Quixote ("The Merchants of Toledo," from Part I, Ch. 4, and "The Adventure of the Windmills," from Part I, Ch. 8) (handout)

• View film before class:
  • Antz (1998), with Woody Allen as the voice of Z (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3294, VHS), 83 min.
    

Monday Oct 08

• ESSAY EXAM

Monday Oct 15

• FALL BREAK. NO CLASS

Monday Oct 22

• Read:
• Charles Dickens, Hard Times
• Selections from Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, I: 1-2, V: 1. (Murray Anthology, pp. 173-185, 197-203)
• View film before class:
  • Modern Times (1936), dir. Charlie Chaplin (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3321, VHS), 87 min.
    

Monday Oct 29

• Read:
  • Selections from Karl Marx's Capital I:1-2, 4, II:4, 6 (pp. 256-264, 274-291)
    
  • Selections from Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism ("The Spirit of Capitalism") (Murray Anthology, pp. 349-364)
• View film before class:
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), dir. Don Siegel, starring Kevin McCarthy (Reinert Alumni Library Media #1037, VHS), 80 min. (or 1978 version starring Donald Sutherland, 117 min.)

Monday Nov 05

• Read:
• John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
• View film before class:
  • Hungry for Profit (1984, documentary), Robert Richter production (Reinert Alumni Library Media #1501, VHS), 87 min.

Monday Nov 12

• Read:
  • John Updike, "A&P" (handout)
  • Selections from Jean Baudrillard's Selected Writings ("Consumer Society") (Murray Anthology, pp. 447-473)
  • Selections from Simone Weil's Oppression and Liberty ("Sketch of Contemporary Social Life") (Murray Anthology, pp. 383-395)
  • Selections from Georges Bataille's The Accursed Share ("Theory of 'Potlatch'") (Murray Anthology, pp. 373-381)
• View films before class:
  • The Matrix (1999), starring Keanu Reeves (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3319, VHS), 136 min.
  • The Terminator (1984), dir. James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3337, VHS), 108 min.
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), dir. James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (Reinert Alumni Library Media #3338, VHS), 139 min.

Monday Nov 19

• ESSAY EXAM
  

Monday Nov 26

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Monday Dec 03

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
• Course Evaluations (bring a #2 pencil)

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