Humanities Core CourseDiscussion

March 31st, 2008

Introductions

1) Name

2) Major

3) Spring Break

4) Favorite Book Recently Read

5) Favorite Quarter So Far

6) Research Project Ideas

7) Why are you at UCI?

My Turn 0) Please call me “Cara.”

1) Canadian

2) Working on my 5th degree in Philosophy

3) Undergraduate at the University of Western Ontario

4) Dissertation on Harm

5) Professional Cyclist

6) I’m addicted to Perez Hilton

7) I get lonely in my office. Please come visit me.

More About Me8) Why I am at UCI:

a) Change World Short Term

b) Change World Long Term

Assignment #0Please email me your introduction answers.

1) Name

2) Major

3) Spring Break

4) Favorite Book Recently Read

5) Favorite Quarter So Far

6) Research Project Ideas

7) Why are you at UCI?

8) Writing Grades for Fall and Winter

Assignment #1

I need to get a feel for your skill level. Please email me your theses from Essay #4 and Essay #6. If you did not have theses for one or both of those essays, please make one up.

Your completing this little assignment will help me figure out how I need to help you complete Essays #7 and #8.

Your Spring 2008

Research

Essay #7: You will take a counterargument in Antigone, present an interpretation of that counterargument, and then assess the success of the counterargument.

Essay #8: You will take one thing, consider two interpretations of that thing, and then problematize that interpretation of the thing.

Lectures for Spring 2008Our Professors will model for you how to conduct research. For Antigone, Professor Hart will present Hegel’s interpretation of Antigone, and then she will consider if it is a good interpretation.

I will model for you, today, something similar. I will present to you a distinction that constitutes a kind of interpretation of Greek Tragedy in general.

Nietzsche on TragedyNietzsche wants to know what it is about tragedy that is so captivating. He argues, as an answer, that the Greeks wedded two opposing forces in tragedy allowing themselves a kind of relief from the horrors of existence. They did not look to tragedy to entertain them, to alleviate their suffering, but to help themselves suffer better. Those two opposing forces are the Apollonian and the Dionysian.

Apollo and Dionysus

For the Greeks, Apollo was the god of order, construction, and light. He represented the neat and tidy relations had in the state, where citizens have clear roles. In musical terms, think treble.

Dionysus, on the other hand, was the god of wine, destruction, and darkness. He represents the relations had in non-state communities, where roles like “citizen” don’t exist. In musical terms, think bass.

Apollo and Dionysus, Sitting in a Tree

In tragedy, these two opposing forces oppose each other, battle against each other, and are then united in a tenuous balance. Audience members thereby experience a loss of identity during the climax, and then a renewal of their identity. Those renewed identities are experienced as something positive.

Suicide

And remember, when reading things like Antigone, sometimes characters think that some lives are not worth living, and so, suicide thereby becomes a legitimate option.

PS: In America, you are statistically more likely to kill yourself than be killed by someone else. And 60% of all gun owners kill themselves.

Doing in Spring 2008This quarter’s theme is “Doing.” One of the ways to think of this for the first assignment has to do with acting in the face of two equally good, but mutually exclusive options.

Doing With and Against Options

Professor Hart mentioned the conflict between family and state, and between state laws on wacky-tabacky and federal laws on wacky-tabacky. What other conflicts can you imagine? I see them all over the place.

1) Immigration (Families and Borders)

2) Gay Marriage (Pursuit of Happiness vs. Law)

3) Privacy vs. Security

Example of Humanities Core Course

Public Enemy is Awesome, and perfectly exemplifies the types of things we’ve learned in Humanities Core Course. If I were writing a research paper for this course, it would be on their song “Fight the Power.”