21 - 30 of 211 results for: CLASSICS

What can we do to help the environment? How do our conceptions of the environment affect our actions? In this class, we examine the basic principles of ecological thinking in Western culture. We explore the ways that different writers represent and conceive of the natural world. We also analyze different environmental philosophies. We will address the following questions: What is nature? Who decides what is "natural"? How do humans differ from other animals? Do these differences make us superior beings? How do our eating habits affect the earth? What are the philosophical arguments for vegetarianism and veganism? How have the technologies of television, cell phones, and computers affected our relationship to the natural world? To what extent do we dwell in cyberspace? How does this affect our habitation on earth? How does modern technology inform the way that we think and act in the world? To help us answer these questions, we read nature writers (Edward Abbey, Annie Dillard), philosophers (Descartes, Heidegger), short stories (Kafka, Ursula le Guin), novelists (Conrad, Tournier) and contemporary writers (Peter Singer, Michael Pollan, Elizabeth Kolbert).

The literature of medieval Ireland (600-1400 AD) is rich in tales about war and adventure, pagan gods, and otherworld voyages. The sagas of kings and queens sit side by side (sometimes in the same medieval manuscripts) with stories of holy men and women, and exquisite poetry in praise of nature or important persons. We will explore this largely unfamiliar but fascinating world through careful reading of the primary texts, backed up by some secondary works on history, myth, and society. In addition, the influence of early Irish literature on such later writers as W. B. Yeats and Flann O'Brien will be investigated. Readings include heroic stories of Finn and Cú Chulainn; the Cattle Raid of Cooley; the Voyage of Bran; satires; bardic praise-poems; monastic poems; and Sweeney Astray (Buile Shuibhne).

Preference to freshmen. Sappho's surviving fragments in English; traditions referring to or fantasizing about her disputed life. How her poetry and legend inspired women authors and male poets such as Swinburne, Baudelaire, and Pound. Paintings inspired by Sappho in ancient and modern times, and composers who put her poetry to music.

(Formerly CLASSGEN 6N.) Preference to freshmen. Tensions inherent in the democracy of ancient Athens; how the character of Antigone emerges in later drama, film, and political thought as a figure of resistance against illegitimate authority; and her relevance to contemporary struggles for women's and workers' rights and national liberation. Readings and screenings include versions of "Antigone" by Sophocles, Anouilh, Brecht, Fugard/Kani/Ntshona, Paulin, Glowacki, Gurney, and von Trotta.

If you counted the many modern guises in which ancient Greece and Rome show up in our lives, how many could you find? You might consider, for example, words we speak, films we watch, buildings we use, political concepts we debate, styles we admire, myths we read. This course is our chance to explore such rich diversity, emphasizing the more material kinds of `classical remembrance. Our focus will be on California, its architecture, its collections of ancient objects. Readings, to be discussed in class, will inform our treasure hunt, which will start with Stanford University collections and proceed farther afield. Pandemic permitting, we'll visit the Getty Villa in Malibu, one of the world's foremost collections of ancient art housed in the imposing reconstruction of an ancient Roman villa. We'll archive our favorite discoveries, some obvious and some intriguingly obscure, in a digital museum which our class will co-create from scratch. But this will be a treasure hunt with a difference: while pursuing it we'll develop critical awareness about the very nature of ancient Greece and Rome and its legacies. Some of the questions to discuss are: What does the term `classical' convey? How might we weigh this supposed classicism against other traditions? Which ancient voices are heard and which remain silent? To whom do the legacies of ancient Greece and Rome belong? What are the ethics involved in collecting classical antiquities? How does antiquity `read' our very selves, individually and collectively? All are welcome, whether you're new to ancient studies or an old hand. Newcomers will get a uniquely experiential introduction to ancient Greece and Rome. Others will have the opportunity to deepen selected aspects of their classical knowledge. All students will emerge from the class with a broad overview of Greco-Roman pasts; will appreciate the range of human engagements with Greco-Roman antiquity, particularly in its local and regional manifestations; will understand the nature of the 'classical' in relation to other artistic traditions; will understand the role of ancient Greece and Rome in relation to fundamental human values and questions.

Given the importance of art to all aspects of their lives, the Greeks had reason to respect their artists. Yet potters, painters and even sculptors possessed little social standing. Why did the Greeks value the work of craftsmen but not the men themselves? Why did Herodotus dismiss those who worked with their hands as "mechanics?" What prompted Homer to claim that "there is no greater glory for a man than what he achieves with his own hands," provided that he was throwing a discus and not a vase on a wheel? Painted pottery was essential to the religious and secular lives of the Greeks. Libations to the gods and to the dead required vessels from which to pour them. Economic prosperity depended on the export of wine and oil in durable clay containers. At home, depictions of gods and heroes on vases reinforced Greek values and helped parents to educate their children. Vases depicting Dionysian excess were produced for elite symposia, from which those who potted and painted them were excluded. Sculptors were less lowly but still regarded as "mechanics," with soft bodies and soft minds (Xenophon), "indifferent to higher things" (Plutarch). The seminar addresses such issues as we work to acknowledge our own privilege and biases. Students will read and discuss texts, write response papers and present slide lectures on aspects of the artist's profession.

This course is an introduction to Roman rhetoric, Cicero's Rome, and the active practice of speaking well. Participants read a short rhetorical treatise by Cicero, analyze one of his speeches as well as more recent ones by, e.g., Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Obama, and watch their oratorical performances. During the remainder of the term they practice rhetoric, prepare and deliver in class two (short) speeches, and write an essay.

The technological keys to the growth of civilization that enabled the creation of complex societies and enhanced human cognition. The role of cognition in shaping history and the role of history in shaping cognition. Global perspective, emphasizing the Western tradition and its ancient Greek roots.

Preference to sophomores. Focus is on excavation, features and finds, arguments over interpretation, and the place of each site in understanding the archaeological history of Europe. Goal is to introduce the latest archaeological and anthropological thought, and raise key questions about ancient society. The archaeological perspective foregrounds interdisciplinary study: geophysics articulated with art history, source criticism with analytic modeling, statistics interpretation. A web site with resources about each site, including plans, photographs, video, and publications, is the basis for exploring.