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Magis and the Search for Meaning
Honors Senior Seminar, RCC 430H, Fall 2010
Time and Place: Mon-Wed, 2:30-3:45, LOY 14.
Instructors: Dr. J. Thomas Howe, Office: Carroll Hall 232, 458-4954, Hours: MW 9:30-11.00
TR 1:45-2:30 or by appt. E-mail: jhowe@regis.edu. Dr. Thomas B. Leininger, Chair,
Department of Religious Studies, Office: Loyola Hall 32, 3/964-5082 Hours: MW 5:156:15pm TR 3-5 or by appt. E-mail: tleining@regis.edu.
Books (Required):
Sophocles I, Trans. And Ed. By David Grene, 2nd Ed., University of Chicago Press
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Trans. By Burton Raffel, Signet Classic
A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt
Henry IV, Part 1, William Shakespeare,
Candide, Voltaire, Trans and Ed. by Robert M. Adams, Norton Critical Edition
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl, Rev. Ed. by Pocket Books with Gordon
Allport’s Preface and 1984 Postscript: “The Case for a Tragic Optimism”
In the Bedroom, Andre Dubus, Vintage Books (of Random House)
For the Time Being, Annie Dillard, Knopf
Course Objectives:
What has meaning in life? What kind of life do I want to live? Who do I want to become? How
should I balance my desires with the needs of my family and community? What can be learned
from heroic lives? What do I value most? Why? When values come into conflict, how do we
negotiate among them? How does what we value influence our sense of vocation? Is the very
idea of vocation a value-laden one? Is meaning discovered or created (or both)? How much
control can I have over the course my life takes? How can I develop or limit my capacity to
freely choose this direction? How, if at all, does death figure into my approach to life? After
three years at a Jesuit university, surely you have given some thought to the question “How ought
we to live?” as well as to the supporting structure a Jesuit education brings to such inquiry. What
role does the Jesuit concept of magis, i.e., “the greater” as in “for the greater glory of God” (“Ad
Majorem Dei Gloriam” or A.M.D.G.), play in our search for meaning? To what extent does a
sense of magis inform our responses to the various questions posed above?
During this semester, students will wrestle with questions such as the ones suggested above by
drawing upon literature from ancient Greece to the present day. We will observe and engage in
the search for meaning as a way of helping to form our understanding of how and why we live in
the world. In our attempt to better understand the role our values play in our concept of meaning,
particularly as such values are informed by the concept of magis, we’ll ask how such values
shape our larger sense of vocation. Specifically:
1. Students will analyze the values expressed in the literature that we encounter this
semester. As we examine our search for meaning, with all its contradictions and in all its
complexity, students will evaluate the competing values—as they evolve across time,
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context, genre, and personal situation—that emerge from the narratives drawn from
various disciplines.
2. Students will demonstrate careful reflection, critical thinking, and spirited conversation as
they explore the questions “what does it mean for us to flourish as persons and live out of
a sense of magis?”.
3. By the end of the semester, students will produce their own working definition of magis,
as well as begin exploring how such a definition informs their own search for meaning.
4. Students will consciously reflect on their vocation—their calling, as the Latin root vocare
(“to call”) implies—in life.
5. Students will demonstrate graduate-level competence in speech and writing.
To summarize the objectives outlined above in a slightly different fashion, our seminar this
semester will continually engage 3 guiding questions:



What are our primary sources of value and meaning? Why?
What does it mean for us to live out of a sense of magis and to realize a greater potential?
How ought we to live all of this out in our vocation?
Grading: Each assignment will be given a percentage grade. At the end of the semester the
grades will be scaled to contribute the following percentages to your final grade.
Discussion Leader Duties
Seminar Participation
Two Vocation Essays (1st = 20%; 2nd = 80%)
Two Response Essays (5% each)
Student Project & Two Project Responses
Final Exam
Seminar Paper
Total
5%
10%
10%
10%
10%
25%
30%
100%
Student Discussion Leaders. During the semester, you will join a couple of your colleagues as
the discussion leaders for our seminar. Your panel of experts will arrive prepared to set up
and guide the conversation for the first 25 or 30 minutes by opening with your own
reflections and questions. Draw our attention to key passages from a text, or to key issues a
text proposes, or to key links between texts or ideas that you are noticing, or…you get the
idea. You might provide a short handout to the class if you’d like, but it should be no more
than one page. (5%)
Seminar Participation. This is a seminar, after all, so your participation is vital to our success.
If you have something particularly brilliant to add to the conversation, add it. If you’re just
perplexed by something, ask a question. If you disagree with a colleague—or with us, for
that matter—say so. Polite discourse will be the rule, but even polite exchanges can be
respectfully heated. (10%)
Two Vocation Essays. Who am I? Who am I becoming? What do I value? Why? At the
start of the semester you will write a brief autobiographical essay exploring these really big
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questions. Then at the end of the semester you will revise that essay and put it into
conversation with at least one assigned text. See specifics in essay prompt. (10%)
Two Response Essays. Twice during the semester, you will submit a short essay (NO MORE
than 2 typed pages) that responds to a key issue from a text. Perhaps you were intrigued by
the ethos of a questing knight in Gawain or 1 Hen IV, write about that. Perhaps you were
puzzled by Thomas More’s reasoning in A Man for All Seasons, write about that. Perhaps
“The Grand Inquisitor” opened the door on a dialogue you’d like to have with either Voltaire
or Frankl, write about that. You get the picture. In short, find something that confuses you,
offends you, intrigues you, or just makes your head hurt, and think about it on paper—
rigorously, thoughtfully, clearly, and succinctly. No more than 2 pages means we stop
reading at the bottom of page 2. In all cases, trace your impressions and interpretations back
to textual evidence. Attend to concrete details from the poem or play. Pay attention to the
words you choose to describe your interpretation. Be sure to ask “So what?” in response to
each interpretative leap you make. See Writing Analytically if you’d like more insight into
some strategies you might employ for this analysis. (2 X 5%=10%)
Student Project & Two Project Responses. This is your opportunity to enrich the
conversation we’ve been having all semester. Although we clearly believe we’ve provided
some splendid texts for discussion, we’re also aware that a really thoughtful conversation
about magis and meaning will intersect in significant ways with other texts, writers, or films.
Perhaps you’ve encountered a particularly rich text during your thesis research and your
passion has infected several of your colleagues. Great. Use it. Alternatively, we’re
increasingly becoming a media culture more so than a print culture, so perhaps there’s a film
or a documentary or a PBS special or a “You Tube” production or…that you believe will help
us better understand some dimension of magis and the search for meaning. Use it. In short,
we’ll have 4 groups of roughly equal number, each delivering a presentation during the final
section of the course. We have planned for these presentations to take about 25 minutes
each, with another 15 minutes of discussion. For your planning, consider 30-40 minutes your
time available, realizing that at the 40 minute mark we’ll need to move on to other subjects.
Finally, we’ll ask each student to respond to 2 other student projects with a thoughtful
question/comment in class discussion after the presentation and a one paragraph written
response to the project due at the next class meeting. See specifics in project prompt. (10%)
Final Exam. Comprehensive, covering everything we read, view, and say of significance for our
course objectives. Take notes accordingly. The exam will consist of two parts: a) quotation
identifications and b) an essay that invites you to synthesize your thoughts as you leave the
seminar. (25%)
Seminar Paper. Each student will complete a short paper (6-8 full pages) that analyzes the
concept of magis as it informs our search for meaning from the narratives we’ve read and the
conversations we’ve had. See the prompts for more specifics. Citation should be done in
APA, MLA, or a “natural science style” approved by the instructor. (30%)
Disability Statement: If you have a documented disability requiring academic adjustments for
this class, please contact Disability Services (303-458-4941, disability@regis.edu). Disability
Services will review your documentation with you and help determine appropriate,
reasonable accommodations. Following the meeting with Disability Services personnel,
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please make an appointment with one of us to discuss your accommodation request in light of
the course requirements.
Regis Academic Integrity Policy: Consistent with the College's Academic Integrity Policy,
we will report all violations of this course's academic integrity policy to the Dean's office.
Students who have committed multiple instances of academic dishonesty can be subject to
institutional penalties like probation, suspension, or expulsion, in addition to the penalties for
this course.
Late/Missed Assignments: Tardy work is bad form, so please submit your work on time. If
you know in advance that you’ll be missing a particular class or be late with an assignment,
please coordinate with us—emails or voicemails are fine for this purpose. Together we will
negotiate the appropriate response.
Attendance: Since this is a seminar, we need everyone present for each lesson. Non-emergency
appointments (e.g., routine check-ups) are not acceptable excuses for missing this class.
Should you absent yourself from class an excessive number of times, we will discuss the
implications for your grade with you personally.
Conferences: At least once during the semester, each student should make an appointment to
come by our offices and chat. We can talk about your written work, we can review ideas or
drafts for upcoming essays, we can discuss your seminar paper, or your participation in class,
or a issue that intrigues you, or…. Please take the initiative and schedule this appointment
prior to fall break.
Final note: This will be your final core seminar in the honors program, and we hope it will be
a rich experience for you. As Dr. Bowie suggested at the beginning of your intellectual
odyessy four years ago, we believe Socrates is right: “The unexamined life is not worth
living.” This course takes such examination as its foundation, and it very deliberately invites
you to reflect deeply upon what such a notion might mean in your life—today, tomorrow, or
many years in the future. We’re excited to be a part of your journey, wherever it ends up
leading you!
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Schedule: Fall Semester, 2010
Assignment
Date
Topic(s)
Mon Aug 30
Introduction & Overview
Wed Sep 1
Magis and the Quest for Meaning
“What Makes Us Happy”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine
/print/2009/06/what-makes-ushappy/7439/
Guest Presentation: Bart Geger, S.J.
Suggested Viewing: Pausch, “Really
Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”
http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randypausch/index.html
DUE: Vocation Essay 1
Hollenbach, “The Eclipse of the Public”
in The Common Good & Christian
Ethics, pp. 3-9
Ignatius, Constitutions Part VII, § 622-29
Martin, “Be Who You Is,” in The Jesuit
Guide to (Almost) Everything, pp. 369-70
Sobrino, “1990 Regis University
Commencement Address,”
http://academic.regis.edu/tleining/Word%
20Docs/John%20Sobrino%20SJ%20com
mencement%20speech.doc
Begin reading Oedipus
Mon Sep 6
Labor Day: No Class
Wed Sep 8
Oedipus the King
Entire play, pp. 11-76
Mon Sep 13
Oedipus the King
Review play
Wed Sep 15
Gawain and the Green Knight
Gawain, Parts 1 & 2
Mon Sep 20
Gawain and the Green Knight
Brainstorming for Group Projects
Gawain, Parts 3 & 4
Wed Sep 22
Due: Response Essay #1
Mon Sep 27
The First Part of King Henry the
Fourth Guest: Dr. Darryl Palmer
Acts 1&2
Wed Sep 29
The First Part of King Henry the
Fourth
Acts 3,4 &5
Mon Oct 4
A Man for All Seasons -
Act 1
Wed Oct 6
A Man for All Seasons -
Act 2
Mon Oct 11
Magis and Vocation;
Wed Oct 13
“The Grand Inquisitor” in The
Brothers Karamazov -
Mon Oct 18
Fall Break: No Classes Mon & Tues
Wed Oct 20
Work on Group Projects
Mon Oct 25
Candide -
Pages 1-42
Wed Oct 27
Candide -
Pages 43-75
Mon Nov 1
Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl
Pages 21-115
Hauerwas, “Hope Faces Power”
(handout)
Read Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers
Get Acquainted,” “The Rebellion,”
and “The Grand Inquisitor” (handt)
Read Voltaire
DUE: Response Essay #2
Dr. Howe at AAR
Wed Nov 3
Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl
Mon Nov 8
Student Project 1; Introduction to For
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Pages 119-179
Bring For the Time Being to Class
Discussion
Ldr
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the Time Being, Annie Dillard
Dillard: Chaps 1-4
Wed Nov 10
For the Time Being, Annie Dillard
Mon Nov 15
Student Project 2; In the Bedroom,
Andre Dubus
Wed Nov 17
For the Time Being, Annie Dillard
Mon Nov 22
Student Project 3; Share Insights from
Vocation Papers
Wed Nov 24
Thanksgiving Break: Read Dillard
Mon Nov 29
Student Project 4; In the Bedroom,
Andre Dubus
“All the Time in the World”
Wed Dec 1
Share Insights from Seminar Papers
Seminar Paper Due
Mon Dec 6
No Class Mtg
Wed Dec 8
Review for Final Exam; Closing
Thoughts
Wed Dec 15
Final Exam: 1:15-3:15pm
“Rose”
Dillard: Chaps 5-7
DUE: Vocation Essay 2
“A Father’s Story”
Meet in small groups to prepare
for Final Exam
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