Course Syllabus

Course Description and Objectives

CLST 450 is an advanced, five-credit course in Greek and Latin literature in translation. In this class, we shall read Greek and Latin authors from the ancient world, the middle ages, and the Renaissance, from Homer and Plato to More and Bacon: we shall read political fantasies, stories written about states that never were and false stories about states that did exist. In the ages before science fiction, utopian literature and political fantasy served as a thought experiment for examining nature, human nature, and customs: such stories speculated about how society could be ordered differently and what effects such differences might have on the human condition.

We shall see how various philosophers and authors used political fiction to explore ethical questions:

Should human beings live simply and in accordance with nature or should they make full use of their intellect to advance humanity through science and the arts?

What is the shape of history? Does society degenerate through deviations from a more perfect past, or does it progress from barbarism to a more civilized future? Is history a linear process or a cycle in which the world is reborn again and again? Can a state change the trajectory of mankind?

What is human nature? Can customs and laws harness its good or overcome its evils? Can and should a state change the individual?

What are the responsibilities of the individual to the common good? What are the obligations of the state towards its citizens and subjects?

Who should make the decisions in a state: a single, visionary ruler; a group of the wisest or strongest; or everyone? Does monarchy lead to tyranny or stability? Does aristocracy temper a state or pave the way to oligarchy? Does equality lead to freedom or the rule of the ill-informed mob? How can a state harness the strengths of each form of government and avoid their weaknesses? Can a state be stable, and does stability lead to a happier life or to a stale dystopia?

Is there a tradeoff between equality and liberty? How can the excellent and the inferior both find sufficient satisfaction to avoid civil strife? Or are excellence and inferiority illusions?

Does the commonwealth have a legitimate interest in regulating families, education, and reproduction? Should marriage exist? Should parents raise children, or should the state?

How should citizens and subjects be motivated? Is the private ownership of property a recipe for productivity or discontent? Should the state intervene to regulate labor, to punish the lazy, to confiscate wealth from the greedy, or to make all goods public?

What is the purpose of a government: to provide security and stability, or to ensure justice, or to advance knowledge?

What is justice? Is justice always desirable, or are there conditions under which injustice is preferable?

What mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion exist within these imaginary states? To what extent is it useful or desirable to include people in or exclude them from various social roles? Is there a cost to inclusion or exclusion?

I doubt that these questions have single, "right" answers: if they did, we could live in a perfect society with no need for dreams and nightmares of utopias. Millenia of interest in utopias and the continuation of the genre in today's political potboilers, alternative histories, and science fiction point to the conclusion that the search for an unreachable answer through hypothetical and unreal speculation seems in and of itself useful.

This course is designated WP2: upon successful completion of the course, you will have two of the three necessary Writing Proficiency points. This means that at least 30% of the course grade must derive from scholarly writing that teaches you the writing style and conventions of the scholarly field, in this case classical studies, as well as techniques for integrating evidence into academic papers and developing evidence-based arguments. Moreover, you will write multiple drafts of assigned papers and receive suggestions for revision of drafts.

On Keeping an Open Mind

From More's other writings, we know that he intended Utopia (Oὐτοπία) to mean "no-place" (οὐ "no" + τόπος "place"), not "good place" (εὐ + τόπος). Some of the ideas that we encounter in the fictional states of Greek and Latin authors may seem good, but others may seem very, very bad. The ancient, medieval, and Renaissance worlds, although part of the tradition of western civilization, could also be very alien from our present values. Some ideas will seem shocking to the modern conscience.

Class Times and Location

CLST 450 meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00 PM until 5:10 PM in Miller Hall 015 121 (in the basement). Our first class is Thursday, September 22, and the final regular class is Thursday, December 1. We do not meet on Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 24). The final examination is scheduled for Wednesday, December 7, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

Instructor

Miller Krause ( miller.krause@wwu.edu , faculty.wwu.edu/krausem , +1-360-650-4269 )
Office: Miller Hall 122D
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM.

Textbooks

CLST 450 is taught in English, with texts translated into English from Greek or Latin.

Most ancient literature and some medieval and Renaissance literature may be found freely available on the internet in translations prepared more than seventy years ago and thus out of copyright. You are free to use any translation you like, and some students find free texts from the internet acceptable for their use. More recent translations are also available for sale, generally for ten dollars, and many students find the newer translations easier to read and paper books easier to handle. For those who wish to purchase printed books, I have asked the bookstore to make available the following modern translations:

The University bookstore should carry all of these books, but they can also be ordered online, most for next to nothing and some for as low as thirty-three cents. You are not, however, obligated to use exactly these translations: you can use another translation if you prefer, and you should be able to find translations of everything online for free. If you want to read them in the original Latin or Greek, let me know.

We will read some other briefer texts and fragments of larger texts. For these I could find little justification for ordering an entire book, especially since the translations are available online: I asked the bookstore to make available only those texts that seemed useful to have in paperback form. I shall provide links to online translations of the other texts in Canvas for you.

Xenophon's Cyropædia is long, and I would have liked to have the bookstore order paper copies, but there are, to my knowledge, no good, reasonably priced, and recent translations on the market. Texts in classics go in and out of fashion: the Cyropædia was one of Thomas Jefferson's favorite books, but few people today read it. I have posted links to a free, online copy of Dakyns' 1914 translation.

Disabilities and Accommodations

I am more than happy to make accommodations for students with disabilities or other special needs. So that the Disability Resources for Students (DRS) office can ensure that your needs are being met appropriately, all requests for accommodation must be made through DRS.

Web: wwu.edu/drs
Email: drs@wwu.edu
Phone: +1-360-650-3083

Student Services

Western Washington University encourages students to seek assistance and support at the onset of an illness, difficulty, or crisis.

In the case of a medical concern or question, please contact the Health Center. The Health Center can forward documentation of medical leaves-of-absence to all your professors for you, which students facing medical problems find to be a great help.

Web:wwu.edu/chw/student_health
Phone: +1-360-650-3400

In the case of an emotional or psychological concern or question, please contact the Counseling Center.

Web: wwu.edu/chw
Phone: +1-360-650-3400

In the case of a family or personal crisis or emergency, please contact the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students can forward documentation of your crisis to all your professors for you and coordinate make-up work.

Web:wp.wwu.edu/students
Phone: +1-360-650-3450

Academic Honesty

Don't commit academic dishonesty. See the University’s policy on Academic Honesty and explore the University's Integrity website.

Grading

Grading Scale

Course Components

Readings

This is a literature class. We read ancient literature (primary sources) and modern scholarship (secondary readings). Keep up with the reading. For the sake of organization, I have listed readings as ungraded assignments in Canvas: they will not show up in the grades, and the "Readings" category carries a 0% weighting, but Canvas will display notifications of upcoming readings just as it would any other assignment or assessment.

Attendance and Participation (10%)

This class relies on your active participation in discussions, and therefore it relies on your attendance. I realize that emergencies do arise, so I will drop two absences (ten percent of our sessions). After that, you must show me a good reason for being absent, or I will begin deducting points from your attendance and participation grade.

Since the attendance function in Canvas cannot drop or excuse absences for university-sponsored activities, I use single-point assignments (labelled AP and the date) to track attendance. Canvas is already set to drop the two lowest absence grades. This means that, by the third class, two attendance grades will appear greyed-out in the grades; if you have no absences, two will be greyed-out anyway, because the lowest two scores out of three perfect scores are still perfect.

Quizzes (10%)

There will be unannounced quizzes in class. These will involve writing, often creative writing, and often with a collaborative component. You are free to use your books and notes. If you're absent when a quiz is given, you'll be able to make it up by e-mail.

Midterm Examination (20%)

The midterm will cover the Greek authors whom we have read. The exam will consist of essay questions: you will be able to choose a few questions to answer from a larger pool of questions. For more details, see the Midterm Examination page in Canvas.

Final Examination (20%)

The final exam will cover the Latin authors. The exam will consist of essay questions: you will be able to choose a few questions to answer from a larger pool of questions. For more details, see the Final Examination page in Canvas.

Research Paper (40%)

Since this is a WP2 class, scholarly writing must account for 40% of your grade. In this class, you will practice the writing style and conventions of conference papers in classical studies. To this end, you should familiarize yourself with (or memorize) the course style guide.

In classical studies, as in many other disciplines of the humanities, one generally writes term papers which then become conference papers, presented before one's academic peers at a gathering of scholars interested in the field of study. With input from the conference, one then revises one's paper into a journal article and submits it to a journal, where it is read carefully by one or more experts who offer advice on revising the paper again before publication. Published articles then become the basis for chapters in a monograph published by a scholarly press. At each stage, from the conference paper to the journal article to the book, the author makes countless revisions guided by input from others. Also at each stage, the ideas presented become entries in the scholar's curriculum vitæ or academic resumé.

In this course, we shall mimic the process of writing a seven or eight page paper for a conference. First, each student will choose a topic, develop a preliminary thesis statement with some basic research, and write a brief abstract, which is an advertisement for the paper to be presented later. This is how one proposes a paper topic for a conference. Then, students will research their topics and develop an outline and basic bibliography. Next, students will write a rough draft. I shall provide detailed feedback on the rough draft for students' use in revision. At the end of the term, students will present their papers as if at a conference for classical studies. At these conferences, one reads one's paper verbatim—ex tempore presentations are not permitted. Powerpoint and other displays are frowned upon, unless one is presenting evidence from the visual arts or archaeology: one reads one's paper aloud, and the audience listens with the rapt attention of philologists who value evidence and logical arguments over showmanship. Finally, students will submit to me final drafts of their papers.

Your final paper should be seven to eight pages (not including bibliography), double-spaced, with one-inch margins and twelve-point Times or Times New Roman font; you should cite at least five secondary sources.

Lost for ideas? Check out the Research Paper Topic Ideas page and the bibliography of secondary sources.

Timeframe:

• Abstract (10 points)—October 22;
• By this point you should have a topic, a thesis statement, a title, and at least three sources that you plan on citing in your paper. You MUST have a thesis statement in your abstract, and you MUST have a title. The abstract has a hard upper limit of 250 words, excluding the bibliography: you MUST NOT write more than 250 words in your abstract.
• Outline and Preliminary Bibliography (10 points)—November 5;
• Rough Draft (30 points)—November 19;
• Presentation (10 points)—to be scheduled the last few classes of the course;
• Final Draft (40 points)—December 2;

Handy links for research:

• jstor.org—JStor provides PDFs of articles from many journals; it works better if you access it from campus or the VPN to the campus network
• scholar.google.com—Google Scholar searches over articles and books; it works better if you access it from campus or a VPN to the campus network
• onesearch.library.wwu.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=WWU—OneSearch integrates WWU's library catalogue with other databases.
• I've also compiled a brief bibliography of secondary sources that might strike your fancy.

Weekly Schedule

Below you will find a schedule of all exams, quizzes, assignments, readings, and so forth.

This syllabus is subject to change. Changes, if any, will be announced in class. Since the syllabus is on Canvas, students will have the latest information available at all times. Students will be held responsible for all changes.

Canvas provides feeds to which you can subscribe, to keep all your course info in your favorite calendar program like Apple's Calendar or Microsoft Outlook. For details, see the Canvas Guide on Calendar.