2008-09 Catalog

Among the major events, trends, and problems of our country's history are the American Revolution, the framing and development of the Constitution, wars, slavery and emancipation, ethnic and gender relations, immigration, urbanization, westward conquest, economic fluctuations, changes in the sizes and functions of governments, foreign relations, class conflicts, domestic violence, and social and political movements. Although no one course can treat all of these themes, each freshman American history course will deal with two or more of them. How have American historians approached them? What arguments and evidence have scholars offered for their interpretations and how can we choose between them? In a word, what can we know about our heritage?

This course will be divided into three terms, each of which will focus on a coherent period in the history of European civilization. Each term is independent of the others, and students will normally take only one of the three terms.

This course will be divided into three terms, each of which will focus on a particular aspect of pre-classical antiquity or premodern science. Each term is independent of the others, and students will normally take only one of the three terms.

This course will introduce students to some of the genres of English literature, including poetry, drama, and prose fiction, by studying major authors from different periods. Sometimes the course will cover a wide range of authors, while at others it will concentrate on a few. Authors might include Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Austen, George Eliot, or Joyce.

Studies of American aesthetics, genres, and ideas from the birth of the nation to the present. Students will be introduced to the techniques of formal analysis. We will consider what constitutes evidence in relation to texts and how to develop a persuasive interpretation. Topics may include Nature's Nation, slavery and its aftermath, individualism and the marketplace, the "New Woman," and the relation between word and image.

An introduction to literary analysis through a sustained exploration of the rise and aftermath of modernism. What was the modernist revolt of the early 20th century, how did it challenge literary tradition and existing social forms, and to what extent have we inherited a world remade by modernism? While the course will focus on British and Continental literature, writers from other parts of the world whose work closely engages the European tradition may also be considered.Authors may include Flaubert, James, Conrad, Joyce, Woolf, Kafka, Borges, Yeats, and Eliot.

This course addresses the question "Where do moral ideas come from and how should they guide our conduct?" by exploring selections from the great works of moral and political philosophy-Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, Plato's Republic, Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Second Treatise on Government, Mill's Utilitarianism, Rousseau's The Social Contract, Kant's Groundings for a Metaphysics of Morals, Rawls's A Theory of Justice-as well as a variety of more modern texts and commentaries. Throughout, an attempt will be made to acquaint students with the basic elements of Western moral and political tradition: notions about human rights, democracy, and the fundamental moral equality of all human beings. This historical approach will then provide a background for the issues that frame contemporary discussions of moral and political ideas.

The theme of this course is the scope and limitations of rational belief and knowledge. Students will examine the nature of reality, the nature of the self, the nature of knowledge, and how we learn about the natural world. Students will be introduced to these issues through selections from some of the world's greatest philosophical works, including Descartes's Meditations, Pascal's Pensées, Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge, and Kant's Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics. A variety of more contemporary readings will also be assigned.

Major topics include the following: What are the origins of modern Western science, when did it emerge as distinct from philosophy and other cultural and intellectual productions, and what are its distinguishing features? When and how did observation, experiment, quantification, and precision enter the practice of science? What were some of the major turning points in the history of science? What is the changing role of science and technology? Using primary and secondary sources, students will take up significant topics in the history of science, from ancient Greek science to the 20th- century revolution in physics, biology, and technology. Hum/H/HPS 10 may be taken for credit toward the additional 36-unit HSS requirement by HPS majors and minors who have already fulfilled their freshman humanities requirement and counts as a history course in satisfying the freshman humanities breadth requirement.

A consideration of the entire history of astronomy and cosmology, the oldest of all the sciences, from antiquity to the late 20th century, from the Babylonians to the Big Bang. The course will be devoted to repeating the procedures used in earlier astronomy and working directly with the primary sources.

A course centered around a series of films (usually five) screened as part of the Caltech film program. Students will be required to attend prefilm lectures and postfilm discussions, to do some reading, and to produce a short paper.