Course Information

English 102B             Dilemmas: political, religious, spiritual, and moral   
                                                                        Tues/Thurs 9:30-10:50am in HIB 110
Course code: 24105; Course listserve: Dilemmas-S09@classes.uci.edu 
Course website: http://faculty.humanities.uci.edu/avansant/teaching/dilemmas/

Professor Van Sant's office hours: Tuesday, 11:00-12:00 & Thursday, 1:30-2:30 in KH 144.
These hours can be extended.

Course Requirements

 

waving guy gif Nota Bene: The School of Humanities has a second-day rule: You must be present in class on the second day or risk losing your place on the roster. If you have a serious emergency (and can document it), your absence may be excepted from this rule.

waving guy gifNB: I hope the information on this page will not sound draconian (click for definition), but I want us all to be clear about the requirements for the course.

Attendance, completion of all assigned reading, preparation for class by reading and thinking about the study questions (SQ), participation, midterm, paper (with draft, peer reading, and commentary), and final. Participation includes asking questions and responding to questions in class, writing message board entries, helping other students to catch up if they were absent from class. and memorizing a couple of sections from our required texts. Please note that writing message board entries will sometimes be required. You can enhance your learning and improve your participation grade by writing on the message board beyond the minimal requirement.

ONE OTHER IMPORTANT THING: At a minimum, you will need to check the website and your e-mail around 5:00 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday (the evening before each lecture) for updates and lecture notes.

NB: The SQ do not create more work.
They help you in your reading. You might actually want to read the SQ before you read the text.

waving guy gifAlways bring the book we're reading to class!

 

What counts what?

 

Attendance: Necessary for passing the course. More than 2 absences without a documentable reason will be cause for a reduction in grade.

Participation: 10%

Midterm: 30%. Students will decide (by posting on the noteboard) whether the midterm should be "No Surprises/No Choices" or "Surprises & Choices." I will explain.

Paper: 30 % (You are required to write a draft and revise it. The draft will not receive a separate grade, but turning in a draft is necessary for completing the paper requirement. Papers without drafts will have grades reduced significantly. Similarly for peer reading--not graded separately but required as part of paper assignment.)

Final: 30%


Required texts


Texts in the order that we will read them:

Book 1.
AUTHOR:  Thomas Hobbes
TITLE:  Leviathan
PUBLISHER:  W. W. Norton & Company (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

Book 2.
AUTHOR:    John Dryden, ed., Zwicker & Bywaters
TITLE:  Selected Poems
PUBLISHER:  Penguin paperback

Book 3.
AUTHOR:  John Bunyan
TITLE:  The Pilgrim’s Progress
PUBLISHER:  Oxford, paperback

Book 4.
AUTHOR:  John Locke
TITLE: The Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration (Dover Thrift Editions)
PUBLISHER:  Dover Publications, paperback

Book 5.
AUTHOR:  Mary Astell
TITLE:  Political Writings
PUBLISHER:  Cambridge (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought), paperback

BOOK 6.
AUTHOR:  Daniel Defoe
TITLE:  Roxana
PUBLISHER:  Oxford, paperback
 

 

Lecture slide handout

 

On the first day, I will give you a note-taking form of the lecture slides. After the first day, I will send this preview of the lecture to you by e-mail. I will make every effort to send it by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the lecture.