History 113

Il Duomo and Campanile,

Florence

History 113: Western Civilization II

Dr. John Lewis
Spring, 2005

Office: 113 Andrews. Phone: 289-5346

This course will study the historical development of Western Civilization, from the Italian Renaissance to the Twentieth Century. This course will focus on the major periods, people, events and ideas that underlie the modern world. Our focus will necessarily be selective. We must ask, at any point, not only what it is we are discussing, but why we are discussing that particular point.

Our unifying theme will be Freedom, Science and Technology. The development of freedom, both as a norm of political life and as a political ideal, has a long and tortured history. There was “freedom” in ancient Greece and Rome, although severely constrained by their understanding of political order. But an increased awareness of the importance of freedom in later western history—fueled by a new understanding of the importance of the individual—revealed a pressing need to devise better ways of protecting freedom while maintaining political order. These political innovations developed hand-in-hand with soaring developments in scientific methods and technology. Independent human thought was the prime mover of innovation. The resulting prosperity was accompanied by intense reactions to those developments. Various reactions to science, technology and freedom are among the central topics of this course.

The textbook is your guide. The primary sources are the historical evidence used to investigate our subject. Be ready to discuss the readings. Class lectures are designed primarily to add to the material in the text. The readings are mandatory, and must be completed prior to the assigned class date. Handouts with study questions pertinent to the primary sources will be distributed as required.

Multiple short quizzes will be given, which will factor into your grade, both to assess reading comprehension and to reward those who persevere at the subject.

Keep a notebook in which you address the study questions. Each answer should be a 1 page essay addressing the question. The purpose is for you to focus on the question, and to engage with it actively. It is not necessary to develop a definitive interpretation of every aspect of the problem, but you must consider the relevant facts as well as a method of approach to those facts. Hand the notebooks in as requested, and be prepared to discuss them. Be ready to discuss the assigned questions during the class. The secret to this class is to remain up to date on the readings and the questions.

Writing assignments are in addition to the notebooks. For each assignment, select from one of the topics listed below, develop a title and a theme, and write a 1500-2000 word essay addressing the topic. The essay must be typed and edited for grammar, citing primary sources, expressing an argument and supporting the argument with the readings. I am available throughout term to discuss your topic and your approach. For the first paper you may improve your grade by up to 5 points by revising it, based on my comments, and resubmitting it with the Midterm Exam (resubmit the original and the revision). For the second paper there can be no revisions. No late papers will be accepted. No exceptions.

Grading: Grades are based on the following: Quizzes 10%; 2 Writing assignments 10% each; Midterm exam 30%; Final Exam 40%. Participation can affect your final grade by up to one letter grade.

Accommodations Statement from Classroom Support Services: “For students who have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations, please let me know early in the semester so that your learning needs can be appropriately met. It is your responsibility to provide documentation for your disability to the Office of Disability Services, 105 Amstutz Hall, ext. 5953.”

Academic Responsibility and Integrity Statement: “Academic integrity must be maintained at all times. No form of cheating or plagiarism will be tolerated. Such actions will be dealt with in accordance with the procedures documented in the Ashland University Student Handbook.”

Plagiarism: This is my standard paragraph, and standard promise. Plagiarism results in an F for the paper, and may result in an F for the course. ALL plagiarism is reported to the registrar’s office, no exceptions, ever. Please note carefully: plagiarism is stealing someone else’s work and passing it off as your own. ANY DIRECT COPYING that is not enclosed in quotation marks is plagiarism, even if the source is cited. USING SOMEONE ELSE’S IDEAS WITHOUT CITATION is plagiarism, even if you do not quote the words exactly. If you are in doubt, come see me in advance. INTERNET WEB SITES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE SOURCES FOR WRITTEN WORK, unless discussed in advance. For this course you must go to the library, and read books.

Primary Materials (not including handouts):
E. F. Knoebel, Classics of Western Thought: The Modern World Vol. III. (Fourth Edition) (Harcourt Brace, 1992).
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.

Textbook:
T. F. X. Noble (et al), Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment Third Edition Vol. II Since 1650. (Houghton Mifflin, 2002).

Week 1 (1/10):   The Classical and Medieval Worlds
Read:   Noble Preface and Introduction
Study questions for the week:
1. Describe the basic chronology of the Classical Greek, Hellenistic and Roman periods of Mediterranean history.
2.  What was the transformation of the Roman Empire?
3.  When and where was the rise of Islam, and what happened upon Muhhamad’s death?

Week 2 (1/17): The Italian Renaissance and Protestant Reformation
Read: Vasari Lives (handout)
Cellini Autobiography (handout)
Luther Address to the Christian Nobility (handout)
Calvin Institutes (handout)
Study questions for the week:
1. Who were the major artists and their works of the Italian Renaissance?
2. What issues does Luther discuss in his Address?
3. What principles of government are implied in Calvin’s Institutes?

Week 3 (1/24): Europe to the Peace of Westphalia
Read:   Noble ch. 15
Study questions for the week:
1.   What were the French religious wars, and what were the major issues involved?
2.   What were the events following the reign of Elizabeth I of England, and what were the consequences of those events?
3.   What was the Thirty-Years War, and what was the significance of the Peace of Westphalia?

Week 4 (1/31): Absolutism and Reactions to it: Europe in the Age of Louis XIV
Read: Noble ch. 16
Locke Essay and Civil Government (Knoebel)
Hobbes Leviathan (Knoebel)
Study questions for the week:
1.   Describe Louis XIV’s relationship with the church.
2.   What were the events that led up to the Interregnum of 1649-1660, and what was the resolution to the rule of the Protectorate?
3.   What were the main Hapsburg lands post-1648, and what main developments occurred
in those lands?

First Writing Assignment Due: Thursday

Week 5 (2/7): Science: A Revolution in World View
Read:   Noble ch. 17
Descartes Meditations (Knoebel)
Galileo Dialogue (Knoebel)
Bacon The New Scientific Method (Knoebel)
Study questions for the week:
1. What basic position did Galileo challenge in his Dialogue, what was the source of that
position, and why did the church oppose him so strongly?
2.   What was Bacon’s Scientific Method, and what promises did it hold?
3.   Who was Descartes, and what is his “First Principle” of philosophy?

Week 6 (2/14): Enlightenment: Europe on the Threshold of Modernity
Read: Noble ch. 18
Voltaire Candide (Knoebel)
Condorcet The Progress of the Human Mind (Knoebel)
Pope Essay on Man (Knoebel)
Study questions for the week:
1. What is Enlightenment, and who were the major figures associated with it?
2. What is “Enlightened Monarchy,” and where did this idea originate?
3. How is "Optimism" treated in Candide?

Week 7 (2/21): An Age of Revolution
Read: Noble ch. 19
Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France (Knoebel)
Rousseau On the Origin of Inequality among Men
Study questions for the week:
1. What was the “Crisis of the Old Regime,” and what factors were important to it?
2. What were the phases of the French Revolution?
3. What were Napoleon’s aims, and what were the political consequences of his rule?

Week 8 (2/28): The Industrial Transformation of Europe
Read: Noble ch. 20
Hessen “Effects of the Industrial Revolution” (Handout)
Study questions for the week:
1. What were the major changes brought about by industrialization?
2. What is Noble’s general evaluation of the social effects of the Industrial revolution, and
how does it compare to Hessen’s?

MIDTERM EXAM

WEEK 9: SPRING BREAK

Week 10 (3/14): Reactions to Science and Technology
Read:   Shelley, Frankenstein
Rand The Anti-Industrial Revolution (handout)
Study questions for the week:
1.   What is the theme of Shelley’s Frankenstein, and what is Shelley’s evaluation of science
and technology?
2.   What is Rand’s criticism directed at, and how does she compare to Shelley?

Week 11 (3/21): Restoration, Reform and Revolution
Read:   Noble ch. 21
Marx Communist Revolution (Knoebel)
Lenin Imperialism and State and Revolution (Knoebel)
Study questions for the week:
1.   What issues did the Congress of Vienna address?
2.   Compare the views of the Romanticists and the Enlightenment thinkers.
3.   What were the major revolutions of 1848, and what were the roots of the rebellions?

Week 12 (3/28): Nationalism and Political Reform
Read:   Noble ch. 22
de Tocqueville Democracy in America (Knoebel)
Thoreau Walden and Civil Disobedience (Knoebel)
Study questions for the week:
1.   What was the Congress of Paris of 1856, and what did it accomplish?
2.   Describe Bismarck’s state. What were the consequences of German unification in 1871?
3.   What were the three major empires of eastern Europe in the 1870’s?
4.   Who were Disraeli and Gladstone, and what issues concerned them?

Week 13 (4/4): The Age of Optimism
Read:   Noble ch. 23
Darwin On the Origin of Species (Knoebel)
Study questions for the week:
1.   What is the “Second Industrial Revolution”?
2.   Why is it considered to be an “Age of Optimism”?
3.   What was Darwin's achievement?

Second Writing Assignment Due: Thursday

Week 14 (4/11): Escalating Tensions: The Coming War
Read:   Noble ch. 24
Study questions for the week:
1.   What is Imperialism, and what were the motives for it in Europe?
2.   What is the “erosion of the liberal consensus,” and what was eroding it? What was the result?
3.   What were the factors leading up to “the shot heard round the world”?

Week 15 (4/18): World War I and the Russian Revolution
Read: Noble ch. 25
Study questions for the week:
1. What was Lenin's plan?
2. What political causes led to the First World War?
3. What were the terms of the Versailles Treaty?

Week 16 (4/25): To the Second World War
Noble chs. 26 and 27
1. What was the new political movement in Italy, 1920’s?
2. What was Weimar Germany?
3. What were the factors giving rise to WWII?

Week 16: FINAL EXAM

ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS. Choose from one of these topics for each of the two essays. Develop an approach, an historical theme, and a title, based on one or more of the questions asked. Then, write a first class essay that addresses the issue and question (s) you have selected. Write 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages, double-spaced, 1” margins). Use the writing guidelines distributed in class.

In researching the paper begin with the primary sources found in the Knoebel Classics of Western Thought reader. Then, go to the library, find the complete primary source(s), and read beyond what is offered in Knoebel. All citations must come from the complete source. If you want to focus on one of the works and not others (e.g., Vasari’s Lives and not Cellini) this is fine; any one of these works offers plenty of room for an excellent paper. You may also use other works by these writers; for example, an essay on John Locke may also use his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Rely on Noble for background information and secondary interpretations. Use no other secondary sources without prior permission. If you are in doubt, ask beforehand! I will encourage you to use other primary sources, but ask first.

1. Discuss Vasari’s Lives and Cellini’s Autobiography. When did these men live? What issues did they deal with? What were their distinctive outlooks, and how did those outlooks compare to the earlier Medieval period? How can we use these works as primary historical sources?

2. Discuss the Second Treatise of John Locke. When did he live? During what events did he write his works, and why did he write them? What is his distinctive contribution to political thought? How can we use this work as a primary historical sources?

3. Discuss Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. When did he live? What did he espouse? How can we use this work as a primary historical sources?

4. Discuss Galileo or Bacon, and his works. When did they live? What did they accomplish, and how did they affect history? How can we use these works as primary historical sources?

5. Discuss Voltaire, and his novel Candide. Who was he, when did he live, and what was French society like at the time? What was the French Enlightenment? How can we use this work as a primary historical sources?

6. Discuss Shelley, Rand and Hessen. How do Frankenstein and the Anti-Industrial Revolution differ in their assessments of Science and Technology? How do Noble and Hessen compare in their assessments of the evidence? How can we use Shelley and Rand as primary historical sources? (Note: since we will discuss this in class at length, you must develop a paper that does more than reiterate what we have discussed.)

8. Discuss de Tocqueville Democracy in America and / or Thoreau Walden, Civil Disobedience. What assessments did each make of a citizen’s place in America? How can we use these works as primary historical sources?

9. Discuss the Communist Manifesto and State and Revolution (Marx and Lenin). What views did they advocate? What were their relationships to the Russian Revolution? How can we use these works as primary historical sources?

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This page updated 01/28/06 Dr. John Lewis classicalideals@yahoo.com