GENERAL INFORMATION

As verification that you've read the policies and information on this syllabus page, go to the WebCT email module, and respond to my initial "hello" message.

Should the WebCT/FIU Online system crash, you can find this syllabus and the course calendar at www.fiu.edu/~harveyb, via the link at the top of that page.

Major changes to the course calendar are not anticipated.  However, you must rely upon the online calendar (rather than an initial print out of it) to check due dates and other course matters.

Prof. Bruce A. Harvey, Director of FIU's Humanities Program, has designed this course's content and structure.  Should you have a question about how the course satisfies FIU requirements, or a question about further study in the Humanities at FIU, feel free to contact Prof. Harvey. 

The Humanities Instructor, Richard Fantina, is in charge of student interaction, assessing exams and papers, and administering this course in general.  All questions pertaining to course matters should be directed to him. 

Welcome to Online HUM 3306: History of Ideas, from the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Anxiety!

I have high ambitions for what you will obtain from enrolling in HUM 3306. Many of you will have signed up with the notion that you're just completing an FIU requirement, but I hope that by the time you conclude the class you will have opened your minds and hearts to fascinating realms of human inquiry as expressed in the works you'll be reading. Ideally, how you see the world, and your identity within that world, will be richly and complexly transformed.

The readings will span political philosophy, economic theory, biology and psychology, as well as fiction and poetry.

We'll be tracking a set of key issues and ideas: the confident emergence in the 17th & 18th century (called the "Age of Reason" or the "Age of Enlightenment") of a non-dogmatic, rational approach to social problems and nature's mysteries; the struggle in the 19th century to maximize individuality and interiority (the "Romantic Era") in the face of widespread economic alienation (the "Industrial Age") and de-humancentric discoveries such as Darwinian evolution; and finally, in the 20th century, a persuasive sense of unease--whether from global conflict, the loss of local community, or philosophical angst.

This course primarily studies European intellectual history, but there remains an entire globe of cultures extending beyond that which has developed in the West. And so you are encouraged, once you have taken this course, to take others in the Humanities Program or elsewhere at FIU (either online or classroom-oriented) that will round out your interests in and understanding of other, diverse cultural traditions.

I look forward to an intellectually exciting semester with you!

As verification that you've read the policies and information on this syllabus page, go to the WebCT email module, and respond to my initial "hello" message.      
                                                                                                            --Yours, Instructor Richard Fantina

• To increase your knowledge about key thinkers of the post-Renaissance (16th-century) Western world and their historical contexts.
• To help you understand their significance to our contemporary moment.
• To improve your ability to analyze and reflect critically on sophisticated, complex texts.
• To develop your skill and pleasure in communicating ideas via effective, mature prose.
• To develop your ability to use critically, in analytical argumentation, secondary materials as they relate to primary materials.

This course satisfies one of FIU's University Core Curriculum "Humanities with Writing" requirements. As a 3000-level HUM course, it also serves as an elective for the Humanities Major and may satisfy elective requirements for other majors.  Contact Prof. Harvey if you have a question.

The Second Treatise of Government,  John Locke, Dover Publications; New Ed edition, August 2002, ISBN: 0486424642 This is the social-political text that all the Founding Fathers read before devising the U.S. Constitution.
The Life of Olaudah Equiano,  Olaudah Equiano, Dover Publications, January 1999, ISBN: 048640661X A marvelous account of one African’s journey from idyllic childhood, through the horrific Middle Passage, to the U.S. and England. Equiano’s story asks: what does it mean to the “self” when the self is defined in economic terms?
Frankenstein,  Mary Shelley, Pocket; Reissue edition, April 27, 2004, ISBN: 0743487583 A classic monster story, critiquing techno-obsessions.
The Communist Manifesto,  Karl Marx, Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition, July 1998, ISBN: 0192834371 Karl said, “Workers of the world, unite!” In these days of huge profits for Big Oil, his ideas are provocative.
The Origin of Species,  Charles Darwin, W. W. Norton & Company; 2nd Abridged edition, February 2002, ISBN: 0393978672 You may (or may not) be persuaded that we are descended from monkeys after reading what Darwin wrote in his seminal, iconoclastic scientific volume.
Civilization and its Discontents,  Sigmund Freud, W. W. Norton & Company; Reissue edition, July 1989, ISBN:0393301583 Another revolutionary thinker who gave a blow to our self-satisfaction by revealing we are not in control of ourselves as much as we may think.
The Humanistic Tradition, Volume 2,  Gloria Fiero, McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 5th edition, December 2005, ISBN: 0072910143 This is a wonderfully illustrated and comprehensive survey of the Humanities, from Shakespeare's era to our own era.

You do not need to bring to this course previously-gained historical or literary or philosophic knowledge, but it will demand strong intellectual commitment. Also, as the course is a 3000-level one, it assumes mastery of skills learned in ENC 1101 and 1102 (the Freshman Composition sequence).

You should not be registered for this course if you have not taken ENC 1101 and 1102 or their equivalent!   If you are in doubt, please email me, Richard Fantina, through this course's WebCT email module, to present your academic situation.

For more information about prerequisites, click here.

• Instructor E-mail and phone:  For assignment submissions and other routine course questions email me, Richard Fantina, via the course's WebCT email module.  I will usually respond within 2 days in respect to individual questions.  Essay and response paper feedback will take between 5-10 days.  For unusual/emergency situations, you may use my FIU email address, richard.fantina@fiu.edu.  For highly important questions, you may also call, or leave a message on, my and Prof. Harvey's office phone #: 305-919-5254.
   

• Instructor Conferences:  I am always happy to meet with you during my office hours (listed above) to talk more about the readings, assignments, or other course matters.  It's best if you email me beforehand to specify a time when you would like to see me.
   

• Classmate E-mail: The WebCT email module allows you to contact other students taking the course (besides being the vehicle to turn in your response papers and essays), and you should feel free to do so.  But please respect privacy issues--do not divulge inappropriate private matters and do not solicit others to do so. 
   

• Discussion Forum: The discussion forum--a WebCT module--will be divided into 3 forum areas: the Academic Forum, where you can post questions or topics pertinent to the intellectual issues in our authors and texts; the Student Life Forum, where you can post questions and topics about being a student, navigating your Major, and preparing for a career or being engaged in one (as long as you maintain propriety); and a Nuts-and-Bolts Forum, where  you can post questions or topics about online learning and the online management of this specific course.
  
  ----The first, the Academic Forum, is crucial to making the online learning experience vital and palpable.   
  
  ----It is designed to provide for relatively uninhibited student interaction, and so I (or the designer of the course, Prof. Harvey) will only occasionally, if at all, provide topics or respond to the forum's questions and topics.
  
  ----If you have submitted a Reading Response (see below) that you believe to be particularly provocative, you may also use it to invite classmate discussion--but rephrase as appropriate for the Discussion format, and don't do this too frequently.
  
  ----You should try to participate/contribute in respect to each of our major authors or texts, but you should avoid looking upon the forum as merely busy work.  Rather, imagine the spontaneous dialogue during discussion in a traditional classroom.  Or imagine the sort of conversations you might ideally have with fellow students, in the hallway as you depart a traditional class: sometimes intellectual discussion of the day's material will continue, sometimes you will express puzzlement, and sometimes you'll just rush to the next class. 
  
  ----Online courses require academic/student maturity: you cannot expect to be assessed mathematically on how often or how much you participate in the Academic Forum; rather I will be assessing whether your questions and postings show real engagement with the materials.  Very roughly: a total of 1000-2000 words for the entire semester would indicate active involvement, but each of you will have a different style--some of you will post long meditative paragraphs, others will offer more quick-fire insights, etc.
  
  ----Thoughtful interaction will raise your final grade at least a notch (e.g., B to B+), and will be especially decisive in assessing borderline grades.  Perfunctory, half-hearted posting, or no posting, will lower your grade at least a notch.
  
  ----Please pay attention to what has been asked or posted previously, so that there are not duplicated discussion threads over the same question or topic.
  
  ----Decent grammar, proper sentence construction and punctuation, and so on are expected. Avoid "getting personal"; and please treat others in the forum as you would wish to be treated!
  
  ----The Academic Forum will have three or four primary discussion groups, divided according to your last name (A-F, G-M, N-Z).

Incompletes: University policy is that these can only be given in the case of a health or family emergency, and only one outstanding assignment is allowed to permit the incomplete being granted.

Late Submissions:  Late response papers or essays will be accepted only under extraordinary, documented emergencies.  Otherwise, for every day late, an essay will be docked a notch (i.e., B to B-); response papers will not be accepted late, unless excused. 

Discussion Forum: See above under "Being in Dialogue with your Online Classmates."

Nine Reading Responses: Submit these via the WebCT email component. I will post a question or topic on the course calendar (below), and you will have up to one week to respond. The due date is given in the right column of the calendar, which you will also click on for the question/topic cue.

The responses--around 200-300 words long--should be decent in terms of grammar, spelling/punctuation, and sentence style. They should be focused and analytical or interpretive.  Don't ramble and don't just summarize the readings. The responses are a chance for you to explore your intellectual reactions to the texts. Sometimes I will ask how a specific passage reflects issues about the larger text from which it is taken, sometimes you'll be asked to do a bit of web-research and report your findings, sometimes you'll be asked to synthesize material from several of our texts, and sometimes the topic will be open-ended.  Intermittently, you will be asked to share your responses with your fellow students.

YOU MUST KEEP UP WITH ALL THE READINGS, AS ANY ONE RESPONSE PAPER'S CUE QUESTION WILL ASSUME YOU HAVE!

For each--indicated by my WebCT email reply--you will receive either a "2"  (thoughtful and competently written), a "1" (not very thoughtful or poorly written), or "0" (not submitted).

Two "1"s may be revised, but the revision must show an extra effort to surpass the quality of the previous submission. The revisions may be turned at any point within one week of receiving the initial grade.

The collective grade for the responses will be calculated as follows: A(18), A-(17-16), B+(15-14), B(13-12), B-(11-10), C+(9-8), C(7-6), C-(5-4), D(3-2), D-(1), F(0).

The responses should be pasted directly--single-spaced--into your email message, and should have the email subject title Response1LastnameFirstname (e.g., Response1FantinaRichard).  If they do not have this exact title format they will NOT be read and graded.

Please also cut-and-paste your responses into a personal, at-home file for safekeeping (in case of a WebCT meltdown).

Papers: I will give guidelines for the two essays as the semester progresses, in the right column of the class calendar.  The first essay will be about five pages long, research-free; the second essay will be about eight pages long, and will require you to consult, briefly, several secondary sources. 

Students who get very low grades on their papers may be asked to use the FIU Writing Center resources, which would require, potentially, several trips to either the BBC or UP campus.  For some semesters in which this online course is offered, there may be an "in house" Humanities major senior Writing Tutor, who through the online "Chat" module, will be available to discuss paper topics and other course matters from a peer-perspective.

Revisions: You may revise the two essays. The standards-bar for a revision goes up, however, with diligent revision/rethinking being required. A revision--as it gives you the opportunity to develop your ideas--should also typically be somewhat longer than the original (assuming wordiness was not a problem). Revisions must be turned in within one week of receiving the initial grade on the essay.

Final Exam: This will likely be a comprehensive essay, requiring you to demonstrate your synthesis of all the course materials.  It will consist of one or several questions, and be given one week before the submission date, which will be the 2nd day of Finals Week, April 24.  There may be, in addition to or instead of the essay exam, an objective-style exam consisting of 20 or so questions requiring one-to-three sentence responses; if given, this will be taken within a delimited time frame.

If you have a disability and need assistance, please contact the Disability Resource Center (University Park : GC190; 305-348-3532) (Biscayne Bay Campus: WUC139, 305-919-5345). Upon contact, the Disability Resource Center will review your request and contact your professors or other personnel to make arrangements for appropriate modification and/or assistance.  

The University's policy on religious holy days as stated in the University Catalog and Student Handbook will be followed in this class. Any student may request to be excused from (on-line) class to observe a religious holy day of his or her faith.

Statement of Understanding between Professor and Student

Every student must respect the right of everyone to have an equitable opportunity to learn and honestly demonstrate the quality of their learning. Therefore, all students must adhere to a standard of academic conduct, demonstrating respect for themselves, their fellow classmates, and the educational mission of the University. As a student at FIU taking this class: