CONSTRUCTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE

Fall Semester 2017 Honors 1110, Perspectives in the Humanities Library, Honors Program Classroom Tues/Thurs 9:00 to 10:15 PROFESSORS: Dr. Sue Harley & Dr. Christy Call

TY 416 Elizabeth Hall, 462 sharley@weber.edu ccall2@weber.edu

OFFICE HOURS: MWF 8:30-10:15 Wednesday 4:00 to 5:00

or by appointment or by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course examines how knowledge is produced, what it is used for, and what it means. Specifically, the course examines ways of knowing and questioning through science and literature. These ways sometimes correspond to each other and sometimes diverge. We will map these intersections and differences to come to a greater understanding and appreciation of the ways that different disciplines construct knowledge. REQUIRED TEXTS:

1984 by George Orwell

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien A variety of other readings will be posted on the Canvas page. You should print these, annotate them, and bring them to class for review and discussion. (You will find a complete reading schedule attached to this syllabus.) LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of different philosophical, literary, and scientific traditions. • Student will analyze literature and scientific readings to understand disciplinary standards and

terminologies, as well as trans-disciplinary concepts. • Students will demonstrate critical thinking that is open-minded, objective, and as free from bias as

possible. CLASS REQUIREMENTS: 1) Reading is essential in this class, and reading well will mean reading attentively and, very often, more than once through a given text. As mentioned, it is important to annotate the readings by underlining, writing comments on the side of the page, looking up unknown words, etc. The ideas that we think through in this class are big in nature and complex in meaning, so read attentively and think about the consequences in the ideas you encounter. 2) Attendance/Participation/Punctuality: You may miss 2 class sessions, but missing more than 2 classes will hurt your grade. Additionally, due dates still stand even if you miss class. Coming to class more than ten minutes late constitutes an absence. Please avoid being tardy, as it is disruptive to our discussions. Also, please note that a percentage of your class grade is based on participation. You should attend class consistently and share your ideas about the course material.

3) Discussion Posts: At times during the semester, we will ask that you post a short response to a reading or to a course idea on the Canvas discussion page. You must also respond to at least one post in each discussion assignment. This forum allows us to continue class conversations even outside of class. 4) Writing Assignments: Short responses will be completed each week based on ideas encountered in the two novels. In these responses you should wrestle with significant passages, explore connections between the reality of the page and the reality of lived life. You may want to articulate connections with the novel and different texts or concepts in the course. Your responses should be critically insightful, but they may also be creative. These writing responses are to be included as a section within your notebook. 5) Notebooks: Your notebook is a record of your learning. It should include four sections: class prep (what you already know about a topic, your responses to the reading guides, what contributions you anticipate making during class discussions, class notes (your classmates are sharing valuable ideas that you might make use of in assignments), post class reflections (describe the ways that your understanding has improved or developed from reading and conversation), and the written assignments described above. 6) Photography Assignment: You will take then present a photograph that connects visually to ideas we discuss in class. You will articulate this connection in class. 7) Climate Change Assignment: This is a written assignment that will require you to use at least one credible source as an update or a follow up on one of the tropics from the excerpt Climate of Man by Elizabeth Kolbert. 8) Reflection on the play Where Words Once Were: You will connect themes from the play to themes in either 1984, TTTC, or one of the science topics. Note: The Nov 14 and 15 performances are free for WSU students. 9) Final Paper and Project: At the end of the semester, each of you will present a brief but substantive project that showcases your learning. In addition to writing a paper and presenting in class, you will create a slide that visually represents the message of your presentation. As we move closer to the due date on these assignments more information about the requirements will be provided. We will talk through the requirements in-depth. For now, please just think of this requirement as an opportunity to communicate ideas that have been brewing inside your brain over the semester with fellow students who are equally as intrigued and as engaged as yourself.

~ Please note that rubrics for all course requirements will be provided on Canvas ~

Participation = 10% Assignments, 7 @ 5% each = 35%

• 4 Discussion Posts (Didion, 1984-related news story, Burtynsky photo, and Eagleman) • 2 Assignments (photography, climate change) • 1 Reflection on the play, Where Words Once Were

Notebooks = 40%

• Writing Assignments on the two novels = 15% • Class prep (includes responses to Reading Guides) = 10 % • Class notes = 5% • Post class reflections = 10%

Final Paper and Presentation = 15%  

UNIVERSITY POLICIES: Academic Dishonesty: As specified in PPM 6-22 IV D, cheating and plagiarism violate the Student Code. Plagiarism is “the unacknowledged (uncited) use of any other person’s or group’s ideas or work.” Students found guilty of cheating or plagiarism are subject to failure of a specific assignment, or, in more serious cases, failure of the entire course. Children in the Classroom: According to PPM 4-23, children are not allowed in classrooms except through prior approval. In this class setting, we ask that you avoid bringing children. Core Beliefs: According to PPM 6-22 IV, students are to “[d]etermine, before the last day to drop courses without penalty, when course requirements conflict with a student's core beliefs. If there is such a conflict, the student should consider dropping the class. A student who finds this solution impracticable may request a resolution from the instructor. This policy does not oblige the instructor to grant the request, except in those cases when a denial would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal. This request must be made to the instructor in writing and the student must deliver a copy of the request to the office of the department head. The student's request must articulate the burden the requirement would place on the student's beliefs.” Disability Accommodation: PPM 3-34 notes: “When students seek accommodation in a regularly scheduled course, they have the responsibility to make such requests at the Center for Students with Disabilities before the beginning of the quarter [semester] in which the accommodation is being requested. When a student fails to make such arrangements, interim accommodations can be made by the instructor, pending the determination of the request for a permanent accommodation.” Emergency Closure: If for any reason the university is forced to close for an extended period of time, we will conduct our class via the course Canvas page.

THE        CONSTRUCTION        OF        KNOWLEDGE    

FALL  SEMESTER  20 17     TENTATIVE  SCHEDULE     Aug 29, 31

INTRODUCTION

Discuss the course syllabus. The following terms will be significant in this course. You should consider their application and meaning as we read a variety of course texts. Terms:

Agency Binaries Ecology Ethics

Creativity Analysis

Truth Fact

Belief Symbiosis

Matter Spirit

Knowledge Read a brief excerpt from the book entitled Knowledge. Begin reading 1984; Read through at least the first chapter for Thursday. Readings are found on Canvas under the Modules tab.

KNOWLEGDE

Discuss excerpt from Knowledge. Begin discussion of 1984. Writing Assignment: What do you believe about the human place on the planet? What is the relationship between humans and nonhuman life? What has shaped your view? Assigned Reading: “The Freedom of Not Quite” by James Wood 1984, Chapter 1 to 4, page 46. and “A History of the Universe in a Nutshell” – video; Copernicus Heliocentric; “The Evolution of Charles Darwin”; An Assortment of Evolution Readings, and a reading on Einstein. All of these readings should be completed on Sept. 12th.

Sept 5, 7 HOW FICTION WORKS

Discussion of Wood’s ideas on fiction and belief; Discussion of 1984 Reading in 1984 – Chapter 4 to Section 2, page 97.

SOCIAL ECOLOGIES: POWER AND CONTROL

Begin to make some connections between the historical revolutions in scientific thought and ideas in 1984. Discussion of the readings on Copernicus, Darwin, and Wallace for Tuesday the 12th. Watch the short video clip on Joan Didion.

Sept. 12, 14 HUMAN PLACE ON THE PLANET

Discuss readings related to Copernicus, Darwin, and Einstein. Human place considered in terms of physical and biological space. Discuss photo assignment: Find and capture an image that communicates a sense of social order. Your photo should be uploaded to Canvas, and you should be prepared to present the image and then talk through its visual meaning on Sept 26th. Reading in 1984 –Beginning of Section 2 to Chapter 5, page 148.

WORD & WORLD: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN

LANGUAGE & REALITY Discuss “The Great Chain of Being” in terms of the natural and social world. Discussion of 1984. Canvas Discussion #1: Video on Didion; Connection to our thinking on the physicality of time. And “Understanding Science 101”; “Why We Should Trust Scientists”; “The Student and the Fish”

Sept 19, 21 Turn Notebooks in for Feedback

HOW SCIENCE WORKS

Discussion of Naomi Oreskes Lab: drawing exercise. Reading in 1984 –Chapter 5 to a mid point in Chapter 9, page 191. (Stop at the section break “Ignorance is Strength.”

HOW SCIENCE WORKS

Discussion 1984. Canvas Discussion #2: Locate a story in the headlines that connects to the themes in the novel 1984. Share a summary of the story, an assessment of how it relates, and an articulation of your own ideas about it.

Sept 26, 28 SEEING IDEAS ENACTED IN THE WORLD

Sharing Your Photographs. Reading in 1984 –Chapter 9, section “Ignorance is Strength” to the end of Section 2, page 213.

CONNECTIONS ACROSS Concept Mapping. Discussion of 1984 Assigned Reading: “Too Fantastic for Polite Society”; “Some of My Best Friends are Germs”; “Symbiosis Glossary”; “Agar Art Gallery”

Oct 3, 5 Lab on the 3rd

SYMBIOSIS Discussion of readings; Lab Exercise. Meet in the Science building in room 354. Make sense of the information: How does the concept of symbiosis shift traditional Western thinking? How does this concept translate to ethics? Reading in 1984 –From the end of Section 2, page 213 to Chapter 4, page 270.

ETHICS: WHAT DO WE BELIEVE AND WHY?

Discussion of 1984 What do we mean when we talk about ethics? What are the guiding ethical paradigms of our time and of American tradition? Are these working? Support your statements. Reading Assignment: Wilson “integrated Science”; Leopold “Land Ethic”;

Oct 10, 12

LAND ETHIC

Discussion of readings; Concept Map with land ethic. Discussion around the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic value. Reading in 1984 – Finish the book!

SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: THE OVERLAP

Discussion of 1984. Assigned Readings (These readings might change): Excerpts from Kolbert’s Sixth Mass Extinction: An Unnatural History. Read chapters: “Welcome to the Anthropocene;” “The Rhino Gets an Ultrasound;” and “The Things with Feathers.” “The Sixth Extinction?”; Begin discussion of climate change assignment if time allows.

Oct 17, 19 Fall Break on Friday; Collect Notebooks

6th MASS EXTINCTION Watch a clip from the film Trophy Discussion of readings.

1984 Finish our discussions of 1984. Assigned Readings: Climate Change, Chapter 1: Students will research the village profiled in the article. N. Oreskes: An Interview

Oct 24, 26

CLIMATE CHANGE: THE DEFINING PROBLEM

OF OUR AGE

Discuss climate change articles; discuss the challenge of belief. Climate Change Assignment. Begin reading The Things They Carried (TTTC) to the end of the chapter entitled “On the Rainy River”

THE ECONOMY OF DOUBT

Watch the film Merchants of Doubt. Class will begin at 8:30 on Thursday so we can view the film in its entirety. Assigned Readings: “Americans are Outliers”; “The Age of Disbelief”; Climate Change Disinformation. Discuss the Climate Change Assignment.

Oct 31, Nov 2 A POST-TRUTH AGE

Discussion of readings on denial and climate change; the national mood toward science today. Assigned reading in TTTC Read from “Enemies” through the chapter entitled “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”

TRUTH THROUGH FICTION

Concept mapping Read “A History in Layers.” Canvas Discussion #3 Connect the ideas in the article to the photographs from Edward Burtynsky. “The War on Science”

Nov 7, 9 Dr. Call will be out of town at a conference

QUESTIONS OF COURAGE Discussion of TTTC Paper and Project discussed. Discussion of music assignment from Vietnam era.

THE POLITICS OF TRUTH Watch in class Tim O’Brien on The Big Think; Make sure you attend the WSU play “Where Words Once Were”

on the 9th

Assigned Reading in TTTC From the “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” to the end of “In the Field.”

Assigned Viewing: David Eagleman on Human Perception and Its Limits. Issue of agency. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X1mry35ykQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R9nNBxPfv4

Nov 14, 16 Discuss the Final and the Paper & Project ; Collect Notebooks

REALITY AND BELIEF

Discussion of perception and TTTC Discussion of music assignment from Vietnam era. Finish reading TTTC from “In the Field” through “The Lives of the Dead” Canvas Discussion #4: What does Eagleman say in reference to agency? After explaining his insights, explain your reaction. Is there a connection between agency and ethics? Explain.

LITERARY EXPOSURES Discussion of TTTC Paper and Project discussed further Turn in paper and project proposals.

Nov 21

LITERARY EXPOSURES Finish Discussion of TTTC The cognitive and affective demands in learning, especially with science and literature. Feedback provided on the proposals. Assigned Viewing: “What Plants Talk About.”

THANKSGIVING Eat some food! But also…… Assigned Reading: “The Intelligent Plant” Assigned Viewing Michael Pollan’s TED Talk entitled “A Plant’s Eye View.”

Nov 28, 30

THE NON-HUMAN WORLD RECONSIDERED:

QUESTIONS OF PLACE

Discussion of “The Intelligent Plant”

CONNECTIONS ACROSS Viewing of Pollan’s “A Plant’s Eye View.” Concept Mapping Paper and Project discussed

Dec 5, 7 Turn in Notebooks on Dec 5th.

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

Dec 11th Finals Week

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS (If Needed)