Phil 43811:
Chesterton
Freddoso
Malloy 304/631-7327
E-mail: afreddos@gmail.com
Home page:
Purpose----Texts----Requirements----
Syllabus----On-line
texts, notes, and papers----First Paper Assignment-----Second Paper Assignment-----Third Paper Assignment-----Grade Scale
Purpose of
Course: Though
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was not a 'trained philosopher', a
trained philosophical eye can see that he is nonetheless a deep and
insightful philosopher. Perhaps the best Catholic apologist
of
his time, he anticipated as early as 1908 the turn from modernism to
post-modernism in
the late 20th century, found interesting and creative ways to propound
Catholic doctrine, and developed many provocative criticisms of the
contemporary alternatives to Catholicism. What's more, mirabile
dictu,
he did all of this with literary elegance, panache, and humor -- a
combination that is both hard to beat and not often encountered in
philosophy courses for majors (Plato and Hume excepted). This course will feature Chesterton's
two greatest philosophical works, Orthodoxy and The
Everlasting Man, in
addition to his semi-biographical work on the Angelic Doctor, St.
Thomas Aquinas. (Also
featured will be "The Arena," Chesterton's poem about Notre Dame
football.)
Prerequisites: Even though there
are no formal
prerequisites for this course, students who have already taken both
Phil 30301
and Phil 30302 will, ceteris paribus, get the most
out of the
course.
Texts: I
have ordered the
following texts
for the course, even though Orthodoxy,
The
Everlasting Man, and St.
Thomas Aquinas are all available on the web:
- G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
(Ignatius Press) (ISBN: 978-0898705522)
- G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
(Ignatius
Press) (ISBN: 978-0898704440)
- G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas/St.
Francis of
Assisi (Ignatius
Press) (ISBN: 978-0898709452)
Requirements:
- Daily Question. Every class day
during the semester
you are required
to email a question about
the reading for the day to the instructor by 10:00 AM
(15% of course grade).
- Active
Seminar Participation
(10% of course grade).
- Papers. You are required to write
three 6-7 pp. papers on assigned topics, worth 75% of the
course grade. These papers will be due on 2/24, 3/30, and 4/27. (You may
write the third paper on an alternative topic of your own choosing, but
you must submit a proposal to me for approval by 4/13.)
- Preliminary reading. You are expected to read the following before the course begins:
Tentative
Syllabus:
- 1/13: Chesterton's
general outlook and the argument of Orthodoxy
- 1/18: Chesterton's
critique of
modernism
- Orthodoxy, chap. 2
- The Everlasting Man, appendix II
- 1/20:
Chesterton's
critique of post-modernism
- 1/25: The
elfish
alternative to modernism and postmodernism
- 1/27: Truth vs. loyalty: how to have both
- 2/1: Christianity and equilibrium
- 2/3: Not a tame religion
- 2/8: Liberating rigidity
- 2/10: Authority and adventure
- 2/15: Pagodas and the Caveman
- The Everlasting Man,
Introduction and Part I,
chap. 1
- 2/17: The professors, the cave-man, and The Iliad
- The Everlasting Man,
Introduction and Part I,
chaps. 2-3
- 2/22: Religious
pluralism,
Chesterton-style
- The Everlasting Man, Part I,
chap. 4
- 2/24: Gods, demons, and philosophers -- what they're all looking (out) for
- The Everlasting Man, Part I,
chaps. 5-6 (paper due - no comment required)
- 2/29: Rome and Carthage: good vs.
bad paganism
- The Everlasting Man, Part I,
chap. 7
- 3/2: Doomsday for paganism
- The Everlasting Man, Part I,
chap. 8
- "The Arena"
(poem about
Notre Dame football, contrasting bad pagan 'entertainment' with
Christian entertainment)
- 3/14: The new cave-(god)-man
- The Everlasting Man, Part II,
chap. 1
- 3/16: The unread Gospel
- The Everlasting Man, Part II,
chap. 2
- Highly recommended: Matthew, Mark, or Luke
- 3/21: Born to die
- The Everlasting Man, Part II,
chap. 3
- 3/23: How heresy defines the Church
- The Everlasting Man, Part II,
chap. 4
- 3/30:
Good
paganism redivivus
- The Everlasting Man, Part II,
chap. 5 (paper due - no comment required)
- 4/4: The resiliency of the Faith
- The Everlasting Man, Part II,
chap. 6 and conclusion
- 4/6: The revival of nature by the whacky poet and the stodgy philosopher
- St. Thomas Aquinas (from St. Thomas Aquinas/St. Francis of Assisi), Introductory
Note and chap.
1
- 4/11: The accidental Dominican and Aristotle
- St. Thomas Aquinas, chaps.
2-3
- 4/13: The specter of (the wrong sort of) anti-naturalism
- St. Thomas Aquinas, chap. 4
- 4/18: Portrait of a saint
- St. Thomas Aquinas, chap. 5
- 4/20: Peeping Thomism
- St. Thomas Aquinas, chap. 6
- 4/25: The irrepressible philosophy
- St. Thomas Aquinas, chap. 7
- 4/27: What now?
- St. Thomas Aquinas, chap. 8 (paper due - no comment required)
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