Syllabus: Texts and Contexts: Old Worlds and New
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
HSS2, Section F
Tue: 9-11 (room 609E), Thu: 12-1 (509E)
Professor: Dr. Claudia Leeb
email: Leebc01@newschool.edu
Office hours: by appointment only
Description: This course introduces students to major thinkers, from the Renaissance to the French Revolution, with a focus on their political philosophies. Thinkers include De Pizan, More, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Hobbes, Descartes, Astell, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Wollstonecraft. The overall purpose of the course is to help students to develop both political and philosophical understanding through close reading of the assigned texts, class discussion, and careful writing.
Course Texts (to be purchased at Shakespeare’s Books):
Thomas More, Utopia (1992, New York/London: Norton & Company).
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Robert M. Adams (trans.) (1992, New York/London: Norton & Company).
William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Stephen Orgel (ed.) (1987, Oxford: Oxford University Press).
René Descartes, Discourse on Method, Donald A. Cress (trans.) (2001, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company).
Montesquieu, The Persian Letters, George R. Healy (trans.) (1999, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company).
On Reserve in the library:
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (selections)
Mary Astell, Reflections upon Marriage
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (selections)
Course Schedule:
Week One:
January 23; Introduction to course
Week Two:
January 28; Christine De Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies
January 30; More, Utopia, Book I
Week Three:
February 4, 6; More, Utopia, Book II and Critical Responses
Week Four:
February 11, 13; Machiavelli, The Prince, Chs 1-15
Week Five:
February 18,21; Machiavelli, The Prince, Chs 15-end
Week Six:
February 25, 27; Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1 and 2
Week Seven:
March 4, 6; Shakespeare, The Tempest, entire play
March 6: students receive reading assignments for first paper
Week Eight:
March 11, 13; Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chs. 13-21 (on reserve in library)
Week Nine:
March 18,20; Spring Break
Week Ten:
March 25,27; Descartes, Discourse on Method (entire book)
March 25: First paper is due
Week Eleven:
April 1,3; Mary Astell, Reflections upon Marriage (on reserve)
Week Twelve:
April 8,10; Montesquieu, The Persian Letters, pp. 1-108
Week Thirteen:
April 15, 17; Montesquieu, The Persian Letters, pp. 108-273
April 17: students receive reading assignments for second paper
Week Fourteen:
April 22, 24; Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality (entire)
Week Fifteen:
April 29, may 1; Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (selections, on reserve)
Week Sixteen:
May 6, 8; Review
May 6: Second paper is due