SPRING 2004
Senior Perspective Course
SRP435, ENG 435, PHL 435
LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND ECONOMICS: CRITICAL
REPRESENTATIONS OF COMMERCIAL LIFE
GENERAL INFORMATION
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Drawing on a variety of disciplines including literature, philosophy and economics, as well as ethics, theology, sociology, and anthropology, this course undertakes an exploration of the phenomenon of commerce throughout the ages. Giving special attention to critical representations of commercial life, the course will undertake 1) the characterization of the social forms -- such as private property, the commodity, wage labor, and capital -- underlying commerce and commercial capitalism, and 2) the specification of how these ethically consequential forms tie in with problems of poverty, unequal distributions of income and wealth, overconsumption and depletion of natural resources, competition, conflict, and social instability.
TEXTS
Patrick Murray, ed., Reflections on Commercial Life: An Anthology of Classic Texts from Plato to the Present (Routledge) ISBN 0-415-91196-6
Charles Dickens, Hard Times (W.W. Norton/Norton Critical Edition), ISBN 0-393-95900-7
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin/Viking Critical Library), ISBN 0-14-024775-0
SRP 435 Course Pack (containing a variety of readings not included in the anthology)
ONLINE RESOURCES
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
World Bank, Global Poverty Monitoring
U.S. Census Bureau: World Population "Clock"
U.S. Census Bureau: World Population Past and Future
United Nations: Social Indicators
United Nations: Income and Economic Activity Indicators
United Nations Population Information Network
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1) Term Project and Presentation (1/3 of course grade)
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, photography, music, film,
videotaped documentaries, websites, etc.). ALL PROJECTS MUST INVOLVE PERSONAL REFLECTION AS WELL AS OBJECTIVE RESEARCH AND CRITICAL TREATMENT OF SOME ASPECT OF COMMERCIAL LIFE. 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 the course. Students will make a 5-minute in-class presentation describing
and/or performing their projects (see Schedule below). All projects must be approved by the instructor in advance (see Schedule below). 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.
2) One In-Class Essay (1/3 of course grade)
The essay exercise 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. Essays will be graded
primarily on the basis of their relevance, clarity, thoughtfulness, analytical
depth, and constructive engagement of the material under examination. For other
criteria used in the grading of essays (see "Grading
of Essays and Other Written Work"). Students should expect to do a substantial
amount of writing for each essay (5-6 handwritten pages, 1 page = 250-300 words)
and must provide their own paper and pens (no pencils please). All handwriting
in an essay must be neat and easily legible. No credit will be given for illegible
work.
3) Participation and Other Performance (1/3 of course grade)
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, Academic Honesty, 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
In general, no excuses will be accepted for missed deadlines, in-class essays, or other class activities -- a missed deadline or essay will result in a grade of F for that assignment.
All absences and late arrivals, regardless of the reason, will be taken into account in the attendance measurement (notice that the policy described here has a built-in margin of tolerance before it begins to affect the course grade). The attendance measurement will be calculated as the percentage of total class time attended. The course grade may not exceed the percentage of total class time attended (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.). All work submitted under
a student's name must be personal and original and must be created during and
for the specific purposes of the course. Cheating in exams, engaging in plagiarism,
misrepresentations of authorship, omission of credits or other acknowledgments
of outside sources (including other students' papers, fraternity/sorority files,
internet materials, books, periodical articles, and other printed or published
matter), as well as other forms of academic dishonesty will result in failing
the given assignment or, at the discretion of the instructor, the entire course.
Problems such as repeated lateness arriving to class, inattentiveness, or disruptive
behavior will adversely affect the class participation grade. Problematic behavior
of this sort can also result, at the discretion of the instructor and with the
advice of the Dean, in more severe penalties, including failing the entire course.
READING AND DISCUSSION SCHEDULE
In the online version of the syllabus you may click here for Course's Guiding Questions and Concerns
In the online version of the syllabus you may click on selected 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.
Thu Jan 15
Tue Jan 20
Thu Jan 22
Tue Jan 27
Thu Jan 29
Tue Feb 03
Thu Feb 05
Tue Feb 10
Thu Feb 12
Tue Feb 17
Thu Feb 19
Tue Feb 24
Tue Mar 02
Thu Mar 04
Tue Mar 09
Thu Mar 11
Tue Mar 16
Thu Mar 18
Tue Mar 23
Thu Mar 25
Tue Mar 30 (class will meet 3:30-5:45)
Thu Apr 01
Tue Apr 06 (class can be expected to meet longer than usual to accomodate discussion of the film, 3:30 to perhaps 5:00 or 5:15)
Thu Apr 08
Tue Apr 13
Thu Apr 15
Tue Apr 20
Thu Apr 22
Tue Apr 27
Thu Apr 29
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