Course Description
Important works of art, literature, philosophy, science and theology from the 19th and 20th centuries that address such questions as: What does it mean to be modern? Is modernity to be greeted or opposed?
We will examine various ideas about or experiences of modernity, both explicit and implicit, and will discuss whether it is possible to develop a working definition of modernity. Is modernity a singular, coherent entity? Or is it necessarily plural?
Learning Objectives & Outcomes
Students can expect to finish the course with a greater understanding of the questions raised by thinkers in the modern period in relation to their world. Students will gain an understanding of the kinds of issues explored by these thinkers, as well as an understanding of the themes, issues, questions and ideas examined in specific works from the modern period.
Students in this course will continue to build on skills developed in other GBLS courses, including:
• inquiry and reasoning
• the analysis of works of art, literature, philosophy, and science
• the practice of written and oral argument
• critical reading, writing and thinking
Required Texts
These texts are available in the bookstore. Shorter readings will be available on reserve in the library.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Translated by Thomas Common. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1993.
Sigmund Freud. The Unconscious.
William Carlos Williams. Imaginations. New Directions, 1971.
Jean-Paul Sartre. No Exit and Other Plays.
