HUMANITIES 512

(FALL SEMESTER, 2005)

 

RENAISSANCE AND EARLY MODERN:

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY INTRODUCTION

 

          What are the roots of the modern imagination? Where is God in the scientific revolution? What is the relationship between experience and reality? This course looks for answers among the interrelationships of art, literature, philosophy, and science from the High Renaissance to the 18th century. Students will examine the works and ideas of such influential figures as Shakespeare, Raphael, Rembrandt, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton.

 

Classes:

          Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, 9.40-11.00 a.m., PCAC A218.

          Discussion sections: Thursday, 11.10-12.00 a.m.

 

Instructors:

          Prof. Patricia Emison, Art History.  Section A (Gen. Ed. credit, group 6), meets in PCAC A205.

          Prof. Michael Ferber, English Literature.  Section B (Gen. Ed. credit, group 8), meets in Hamilton Smith 141.

          Prof. Jan Golinski, History of Science.  Section C (Honors Gen. Ed. credit, group 4), meets in Murkland 202.

          Prof. Charlotte Witt, Philosophy.  Section D (Gen. Ed. credit, group 7), meets in Murkland 101.

 

          All sections are Writing Intensive.  Enrolment and attendance at a discussion section is required to get credit for this course.  Assessment is 50% for the three tests, given in the lecture classes as shown in the schedule, and 50% for papers and other assignments specified in discussion section.

 

Assigned books:

Paul Johnson, The Renaissance: A Short History (The Modern Library, 2000) ISBN: 0-679-64086-X.

Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (Vintage Books, 1985) ISBN: 0-394-72625-1.

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (Dover Thrift Edition) ISBN: 1-486-28492-1.
Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola (trans. Flaumenhaft, Waveland Press)  ISBN: 0-917-97457-3.

Machiavelli, The Prince and Other Political Writings (trans. Stephen J. Milner, Everyman, 1995) ISBN: 0-460-87629-5.
Molière, The Misanthrope and Tartuffe (trans. Wilbur, Harvest Books)  ISBN: 0-156-60517-1.

Erasmus and Luther, Discourse on Free Will (trans. Ernst F. Winter, Continuum, 1994) ISBN: 0-8044-6140-6.
Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy (trans.  Donald A. Cress, Hackett) ISBN: 0872204200.

 

ADDITIONAL REQUIRED READINGS WILL BE POSTED ON BLACKBOARD.

 

          This class will make use of Blackboard to circulate essential documents for reading and discussion.  This is a required, not optional, part of the class.  You should make sure you can access the class pages on the Blackboard system as soon as possible, and check them regularly.  You should choose your own password to make it secure.  Also, if you want email to go to another address than your UNH account, please change the email address on the Blackboard system.  If you have not used Blackboard before, start with the page “10 Steps to Getting Started with Blackboard” (http://www.unh.edu/ blackboard/gettingstarted.html).  Paper copies of this are available, if you wish.  Other questions can be answered by the FAQ page: http://www.unh.edu/blackboard/faqs.html, or you can get help from the CIS Helpdesk in the MUB, or from a reference librarian.

 

On Blackboard:

John Rupert Martin, “The Baroque from the Viewpoint of the Art Historian,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism  14 (no. 2) (1955), 164-71.

Petrarch, selected sonnets.

Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (extract).

Kepler, The Secret of the Universe (extract).

Galileo, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina.

Milton, selected poems.

Newton, Principia (extracts).

 

Schedule of Lectures:

 

30 August:             Introduction.  New worlds of the Renaissance [JG].

1 September:         New worlds of the Renaissance [JG].

 

6 September:         Renaissance art [PE].

8 September:         Renaissance art [PE].

 

13 September:       Machiavelli, The Prince [CW].

15 September:       Machiavelli, The Prince [CW].

 

20 September:       Machiavelli, La Mandragola [MF].

22 September:       Petrarch and his followers [MF].

 

27 September:       TEST #1.

 

29 September:       Luther and Erasmus [CW].

4 October:             Luther and Erasmus [CW].

 

6 October:             Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo [JG].

11 October:           NO CLASS (Monday schedule)

13 October:           Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo [JG].

18 October:           Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo [JG].

 

20 October:           Northern Renaissance art [PE].

25 October:           Northern Renaissance art [PE].

 

27 October:           Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice [MF].

1 November:          Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice [MF].

 

3 November:          TEST #2.

 

8 November:          Baroque art [PE].

10 November:        Baroque art [PE].

 

15 November:        Milton, poems [MF].

 

17 November:        Descartes [CW].

22 November:        Descartes [CW].

 

24 November:        NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

 

29 November:        Molière, Tartuffe [MF].

1 December:          Molière, The Misanthrope [MF].

 

6 December:          Newton [JG].

8 December:          Newton [JG].

 

Tuesday 13 December (1.00-3.00): TEST #3.