Senior Seminar Fall 2005 (W)

MW 1:00 pm-1:50 pm                                                                 Humanities 208

Instructor: Dr. Alberg                                                             Office: TLC 2237

Office hours: TR 12:15-3:15; Wed. 1:00-5:00                                jalberg@westga.edu

Meetings by appointment are welcome

“The concept of mimesis lies at the core of the entire history of Western attempts to make sense of representational arts and its values.” This is the opening sentence of Halliwell’s study and expresses why mimesis is a worthy topic for a senior seminar. It is central to the thought of Plato and Aristotle and its importance extends to contemporary discussions of representation and its meaning.

Texts

Stephen Halliwell, The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2002)

C. Gebauer and C. Wulf, Mimesis: Culture, Art, Society (Berkeley: U of California Press, 1995)

Learning Outcomes

• Students will reflect upon what each requires in order to learn “from the ground up,” so to speak, a fundamental concept in philosophy.
• Students will understand Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories of mimesis as well as the differences between them.
• They will become conversant in at least one modern commentary on either Plato’s or Aristotle’s theory.
• Students will develop the ability to work independently on a research topic that they develop in conversation with the instructor
• Students will also learn to work together to produce an anthology.
• Students will gain experience in giving oral presentations in a seminar setting.

Relationship to Program Goals

• This seminar, perhaps more than any other course in the program, gives the student a chance to practice that unique form of inquiry which is philosophy.
• The emphasis on writing in the course will ensure that students develop in effectiveness of communication and in critical, independent thinking.
• By its very nature this course will promote the students’ research, scholarship and creative endeavors.

Course Requirements

1. This course is a seminar, accordingly attendance is mandatory. The success of the seminar depends upon each person contributing fully to it.
2. Students will come prepared to discuss the text.
3. Late work will not be accepted, unless a real emergency occurs
4. Presentation dates cannot be rescheduled. This seminar is carefully designed to allow for the production of the anthology and therefore the deadlines are firm.
5. Editing others’ work is a requirement and will figure in the final grade.
6. The final paper will be submitted as a hard copy and on a disk.
7. Each class for the first 7 weeks or so will consist in a 30 minute lecture on the reading for the following class, followed by a discussion of the reading for that day.

Date	Reading	Class Activity	Assignment Due
August 22		Syllabus; Introduction to the topic;
August 24	AoM “Introduction”		Abstract of “Intro”
August 26		Library Orient.
August 29	AoM “Introduction”
August 31	Republic Bk. 3		Abstract of Bk. 3
September 2	Republic Bk. 3
September 5	Labor Day	No Class
September 7	Republic Bk. 10		Abstract of Bk. 10
September 9	Republic Bk. 10
September 12	AoM ch. 1		Abstract of ch. 1
September 14	AoM ch. 1
September 16	AoM ch. 2		Abstract of ch. 2
September 19	AoM ch. 2
September 21	AoM ch. 3		Abstract of ch. 3
September 23	AoM ch. 3
September 26	AoM ch. 4		Abstract of ch. 4
September 28	AoM ch. 4
September 30		Peer review of paper #1	Paper # 1 Plato’s Theory of Mimesis
October 3	Poetics		Abstract of Poetics
October 5	Poetics
October 7	AoM ch. 5		Abstract of ch. 5
October 10	AoM ch. 5
October 12	AoM ch. 6		Abstract of ch. 6
October 14	AoM ch. 6
October 17	AoM ch. 7	Discuss individual projects	Abstract of ch. 7 Prospectus
October 19	AoM ch. 7
October 21		Peer review of paper #2	Paper #2 Aristotle’s Theory of Mimesis
October 24			Report on secondary sources
October 26
October 28			Annotated bibliography
October 31
November 2
November 4			Rough Draft due
November 7			Peer critique due
November 9	Presentation
November 11	Presentation
November 14	Presentation
November 16	Presentation
November 18	Presentation
November 21
November 28
November 30
December 2
December 5
December 7	Editing Workshop
December 8	Discussion of anthology; exit interview questions		Final Drafts due
December 8	Exit interviews

N.B There are eight classes in mid-semester that are not yet planned. We will determine what texts we will read in the course of the first half of the semester.

Abstracts                     11                    30%

Papers                         2                      20%

Final paper,

Includes rough

Draft                           1                      40%

Peer review                 3                      10 %

What is an Abstract?

An abstract is a summary of a longer piece of writing. It should be intelligible not just to yourself but to someone who has not read the text. It will help you in your research to recall what you have read. It will also help your colleagues to judge whether the source is important to their research.

Begin with all the bibliographical information, in correct style.

Write in the present tense.

For this class limit yourself to one page.

Remember the S.T.O.P. theory of abstracts. Abstracts capture the…

• S-ubject
• T-hesis
• O-rganization
• P-urpose

of an article

The Four Sentence Pattern

This is taken from Margaret K. Woodworth’s article, “The Rhetorical Precis” in Rhetorical Review 7:1 (Fall 1988) 156-163.

Each annotated bibliography entry should begin by identifying the source being annotated in correct documentation style. Then each entry should include these four sentences, as described below. Put within quotation marks any exact words that you extract from the source.

1. A report of the author’s thesis in a that clause, introduced by the author’s name and qualifications, if known, and a rhetorically accurate signal verb, for example, argues, claims, explains, reports.
2. A brief but accurate explanation of the author’s evidence, in other words, the facts, definitions, statistics, examples or other support the author uses to develop, prove or explain his or her argument, usually in the same order as the main points in the source.
3. A statement of the author’s purpose or motive (answering the question “Why did the author bother to write this?”), followed by an in order to phrase that identifies the author’s goal, that is, what the author hopes to achieve.
4. A description of the author’s intended audience in answer to the question, “Who exactly is the author addressing?” In other words, what kind of people does the author hope to inform or convince.

Papers

These papers are to be 5 page in length, normal margins, 10 point font. Please go through the checklist that I will hand out and turn it in with the paper.

Besides Halliwell, you should use at least three other secondary sources.

Absentees

Because this is a seminar, attendance is mandatory. You are allowed three excused absences, after that you will lose one half of a grade per absence. After four more absences you will fail the course.