Human_Nature_Syllabus_LIS446

LIS-446 Interdisciplinary Human Nature

A review of approaches to human nature in which students construct their own informed perspectives. Course examines observations and claims about human nature from diverse perspectives. Some topics include evolution, human development and personality, claims about instincts and drives, and assertions about spiritual and moral natures.

No prerequisites

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on

Human Nature

LIS 446. Credit Hours: 4

Spring 2014. Taught Online

Course Section A, Taught Online.

Instructor: Dr. Eric Hadley-Ives, MSW, PhD.

Office: UHB 3028 (3 rd floor of University Hall) campus mail MS UHB-3038

Office Hours: Available on Skype most evenings 7:00 to 11:30 p.m.

Phone: (217) 206-8207 (only to leave messages)

Email: hadleyiv@uis.edu

Skype: hadleyives (best way to reach professor for conversation)

QQ: 1421931696 (works nearly the same as Skype)

Google+

Eric Joseph Hadley-Ives (not “Eric Hadley-Ives”)

Facebook: Eric Joseph Orsay Hadley-Ives (not “Eric Hadley-Ives”)

Course Description

This is an upper division course for undergraduate students in which the participants review theories of human nature and construct their own informed perspective on human nature. This course will examine observations and claims about human nature from diverse perspectives. Students will learn to identify similar claims and assumptions being made around them today. Students will become familiar with some of the most influential ideas as well as more obscure opinions about human nature. The course covers observations about human development and personality, claims about instincts and drives, and assertions about spiritual and moral natures. The course encourages students to consider observable facts about what people do and the results of their behaviors. Students will learn to think about questions of human nature in terms of testable hypotheses, implications of such hypotheses, and applications or implications of their beliefs about human nature. Students review influential ideas by reading chapters in Leslie Stevenson’s overview of important philosophies. Students will select a significant work or person and study a particular understanding of human nature represented by their choice. Students finish the course by sharing a product that offers their own insights into human nature.

Each week students will divide their time between reading (more than half their time), participation in a course website’s discussion forum (nearly a quarter of their time), and

Page 2 of 21 Last Edited on January 20, 2014

work on assignments (about a quarter of their time).

Course Objectives/Learning Outcomes

1.

Students will have an understanding of several theories of human nature so that they are able to articulate essential aspects of these theories and explain critiques of these.

2.

Students will gain familiarity with some of the basic theories (and the evidence for those theories) of human development, personality, relationships, and communication so that they will be able to compare claims about human nature with good information about what human beings actually do.

3.

Students will understand the problems and issues of major aspects of human life (e.g., birth, development, friendship, love, family life, child-rearing, violence, cooperation, illness, aging, death, and grief) to an extent that they may compare some facts about human experience to theories of human nature.

4.

Students will be able to identify the dominant ideas about human nature that they find in their society and show this by pointing out these ideas and assumptions as they are manifested in high culture, popular culture, ideologies, religions, politics, interpersonal relationships, and ethics.

5.

Students will know how to attend to the hidden (or obvious) beliefs about human nature that can be found in words, writing, and behaviors of themselves and others and be able to use this knowledge to produce a thoughtful analysis of such beliefs.

6.

Students will be able to find and explain implications for practical application of theories about human nature. Students will know how certain policy or ideology preferences are rooted in particular sorts of ideas about human nature.

7.

Students will know how findings from experimental sciences inform some theories of human nature, and will be able to use logic and scientific evidence to critically assess some claims about human nature.

8.

Students will have developed and clarified some of their own ideas about human nature, and will have communicated these ideas to their classmates and the instructor.

9.

Students will be able to evaluate various ideas about human nature so that they are able to tell what they accept and what they reject about such ideas, and are further able to explain and justify why they prefer some ideas over others.

10.

Students will increase their skills at finding the best questions to ask about human nature and applying these questions to their own lives and the society around them.

11.

Students will investigate their own value system and determine how their own sense of ethics/morality fits or clashes with ideas they claim to accept or reject.

12.

Students will build a foundation of critical thinking and doubtful questioning so that their lives will be enriched by habits of self-examination and information-gathering.


Expectations and Teaching Philosophy

Students are expected to devote approximately 10-12 hours of their time each week (on average) to this course, and should apply these hours in reading assigned readings (6-7 hours), reviewing course web pages and discussion posts (1-2 hours), formulating their own posts to discussions (1-2 hours), and working on course assignments (1-8 hours).

Each week the syllabus will list required readings and suggested readings. All students must carefully read the required readings. Students do not need to read suggested readings, but are encouraged to do so if such readings would help them with their assignments or if the topics for that week are especially appealing to them. Students must check course discussion boards and read over what their classmates and instructor are posting. Students have discussion tasks each week, and must post to discussion boards with responses to the readings or discussion posts to fulfill their discussion tasks.

Students have assignments, and must complete these and share them with their instructor. The learning in the class will come from reading, reflecting on the readings, formulating questions and posts to discussion boards about the readings or matters related to the course topic, and responding to the posts of others. The assignments offer some scope for learning as well, and allow the instructor a chance to evaluate how well students are achieving the twelve course objectives.

The instructor assumes students who have chosen to take this course and have been admitted into the class have already demonstrated an ability to study and work with discipline and use this ability to carry their intellectual curiosity where it needs to go.

Thus, the instructor doesn’t assume a need to motivate or encourage students to engage the course material. On the other hand, the instructor assumes students have other things going on in their lives, including other classes, families, friendships, possibly jobs and other time-consuming interests or hobbies. Thus, students have some pressure to complete the minimum required in the class at a level that is passing and good, without exerting the time and effort required to do exceptionally well with the material and assignments. Thus, the professor uses various methods to help students overcome this pressure toward mediocrity, including discussion questions, careful (and hopefully inspiring) feedback on assignments, a system of scoring in which 75% represents good

(B+) work and scores over 95% are nearly impossible. On-line tests will also be used, mainly as a form of social pressure to encourage students to learn the material, and not as a major part of evaluating student progress in achieving course objectives.

UIS Academic Integrity Policy

I support the UIS policy on Academic Integrity, which states, in part: “Academic integrity is at the heart of the university’s commitment to academic excellence. The UIS community strives to communicate and support clear standards of integrity, so that undergraduate and graduate students can internalize those standards and carry them forward in their personal and professional lives. Living a life with integrity prepares students to assume leadership roles in their communities as well as in their chosen profession. Alumni can be proud of their education and the larger society will benefit from the University’s contribution to the development of ethical leaders. Violations of academic integrity demean the violator, degrade the learning process, deflate the meaning of grades, discredit the accomplishments of past and present students, and tarnish the reputation of the university for all its members.”

Academic sanctions range from a warning to expulsion from the university, depending on the severity of your violation and your history of violations. Whatever the sanction, I will file a report of academic dishonesty to


the Office of the Provost.

You are responsible for understanding and complying with the UIS Academic Integrity Policy available at

http://www.uis.edu/academicintegrity/

.

Disability Policy

Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability.

A documented disability can include: physical, psychological, chronic health, vision, hearing, learning, traumatic brain injury, Asperger’s Syndrome and/or autism, cognitive, and

A.D./H.D.D. Please notify the instructor during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course. While O.D.S. does accept late applications, accommodations are not retroactive. All accommodations must be approved through the

Office of Disability Services (ODS) (217-206-6666), HRB 80.

Required Texts

Many writings used in this course were written long ago, are now in the public domain, and can be found (in various translations) on the Internet. Other works are more recent, but in many cases they are widely available as second-hand books or in public libraries.

Required readings that are not available on the Internet can be found in the following eight sources:

Twelve Theories of Human Nature (6th Edition) by Leslie Forster Stevenson, David L.

Haberman, and Peter Matthews Wright, published in 2012 by Oxford University Press

(ISBN: 978-0199859030). Pay no more than $42 for a new copy.

The Star Thrower by Loren Eisley, published in 1979 by Harcourt (ISBN: 0156849097).

Pay no more than $12 for a new copy. Used copies cost $9 and up.

Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide by Robin Dunbar, Louise Barrett, and John

Lycett. Published in 2005 by One World (ISBN: 978-1851683567). Pay no more than $15 for a new copy. Some dealers may sell it for under $13. Used copies, $9-$12.

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. by Frans de Waal, published in 2006 by Princeton University Press (ISBN: 0156849097). Pay no more than $13 for a new copy.

Used copies cost $9 and up.

Lucy’s Legacy by Allison Jolly. Published in 1999 by Harvard University Press (ISBN:

978-0674005402). Pay no more than $18 for a new copy. Some dealers may sell it for under $13. Used copies, $7-$10.

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Sprit by Daniel Quinn, published in 1995 by

Bantam (ISBN: 0553375407). Pay no more than $12 for a new copy. Used copies, $6-$8.

Some books that were going to be required, but are now just recommended:

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil


Shubin, published in 2009 by Vintage (ISBN: for a new copy. Used copies cost $9 and up.

978-0307277459 ). Pay no more than $12

Pandora's Seed: Why the Hunter-Gatherer Holds the Key to Our Survival by Spencer

Wells. Published in 2011 by Random House (ISBN: 978-0812971910). Pay no more than

$16 for a new copy. Some dealers may sell it for under $10. Used copies, $9-$11.

Note that the total cost for purchasing all eight required and recommended books ought to be about $142 if you buy all new books, but if you buy used books, the cost could be about $117. If you only buy required books, and stick with used books, the total cost will be under $100.

Course Requirements

Read the required material and some of the recommended material.

Post to the course discussion boards each week.

Complete the on-line tests.

Prepare presentations of two views of human nature (One presentation will be a paper about a view of human nature associated with some subject or person and the other will be a presentation of your own views)

Find six questions that, if answered, would tell us much about human nature, and

Compile a list of quotations and aphorisms related to human nature.

Methods of Evaluation

There are four assignments, five tests, and fifteen weeks of discussion board activities that are scored so that a total of 300 points are theoretically possible in a semester. Good students who put significant efforts into the course should expect to end the semester with scores in the range between 220-250 points. Any score over 200 suggests that the student has met the course objectives. Any score over 250 suggests that the student has performed exceptionally well and has far exceeded the instructor’s expectations.

Discussion board posts.

For fifteen weeks you should make posts on the course discussion board as suggested in the weekly on-line class session pages. Each week is worth 5 points (75 points over the semester). Most good weeks of posts will yield 4 points, for a semester total of 60. Only postings of rare brilliance can receive 5 points. Fewer than 4 points may be awarded to weekly posts that show no evidence of having read or considered any of that week’s material, or in cases where posts have been excessively insulting or rude, or in cases where posts have not addressed many of the discussion questions. It is not necessary to answer each and every discussion question to earn 4 points, but one should generally address over half of the discussion questions for any given week.

Discussion questions for a week should be answered either in that specific week or else in the following week (after which all the readings should be completed). Readings that are


assigned on a particular week might be read late in the week, and so you might legitimately post a response at the very end of a week, or in the first day or two of the following week. Thus, to allow time for classmates to read your posts and continue the discussion, it seems right to allow each “weekly” discussion session to last for two weeks.

After the end of the second week the instructor will assign points for participation in that week’s discussion session.

You should spend between 30 minutes and 120 minute each week on the discussion board, usually about 60 minutes will be fine. That should give you time to read all the discussion questions and dozens of responses by classmates, and then write at least four or five good answers to discussion questions and three or four good responses to other people’s posts. In a typical week’s discussion forum you probably ought to be posting 7-20 posts, not usually fewer (unless your posts are quite long and in-depth), and not too many more.

Tests:

There are five on-line tests of 15-items each. Each test is worth 15 points (75 points over the semester). The first test should be taken during session / week 3. There are also tests in week 7, week 10, week 13, and during finals week (session 15). The tests are timed (generally, you will have one hour to complete them). Remember, these tests are not easy. You may only score 5 or 6 out of 15 correct on most tests (getting a total of 25-

30 points from your tests). You can collect more points from assignments and participation. You only need 250 of 300 potential points to earn an “A” in this course, and that’s before the grading curve is applied, which generally lowers thresholds (making it easier to get higher grades).

Assignments:

1) Come up with six questions that, if answered, would tell us something important about human nature. Due in the second week of class. Worth 10 points in first draft form (week 2), and 10 points in final revised form (week 6). Total of 20 points.

2) Keep a list of aphorisms and quotations from the readings, from posts to class discussion boards (your own posts and those of your classmates or instructor), and from any other sources that you find. Build this list throughout the semester.

Worth 30 points. First aphorisms are due in week six (worth 10 points). The first aphorisms (possibly revised) plus any you have added are due to be posted to

Blackboard in week 13 (worth 10 points). Final draft of all your aphorisms is due in week 15 (10 points). Total of 30 points.

3) Write a review of a perspective on human nature given in any of the works listed as required, recommended, or suggested in this course. Due in the tenth week of class (20 points). This will be revised and submitted to your classmates for them to read in week 13 of the semester (turn in your revision at the end of week 12 so people can read it in week 13). The revised version is worth 40 points.

4) Write a work that presents your own view of human nature. Due at the end of the semester. Worth 40 points.


Assignment schedule:

Week 1. 5 points for Blackboard participation

Week 2. 5 points for Blackboard participation.

10 points for six questions first draft.


15 points for first test.




10 points for revised six questions.

10 points for first collection of aphorisms


15 points for second test.


Week 9. Nothing (Spring Break)


20 points for first draft of first human nature paper.

15 points for third test.




10 points for second draft of aphorisms.

15 points for fourth test.


40 points for final draft of first human nature paper.


10 points for final draft of aphorisms.

Finals Week (part of 15th Session).

40 points for personal view of human nature

15 points for final exam (fifth of the five tests)

Grading

The instructor encourages students to take the course for credit/non-credit. The instructor will give a written narrative evaluation to each student at the end of the semester. Those who have chosen to receive a grade will also receive a letter grade.


Collect points for assignments, discussion board posts, and tests. Points earned by the end of the semester are translated into grades or credit.

Grading will be on a curve so that fewer than 1/3 of the course will receive A or A+ grades, but minimum thresholds are set to guarantee certain letter grades regardless of how well the class as a whole does (thus, if 100% of the class scores over 250, 100% of the class would receive A grades and the curve would become meaningless.)

Any score over 170 will at the very least receive a D grade

Any score over 200 will at the very least receive a C grade (credit for the course if CR/NC)

Any score over 220 will at the very least receive a B grade.

Any score over 250 will at the very least receive an A grade.

Delivery Method

E-mail and course web site. Reading, discussion, and on-line lectures.

The instructor is available evenings and nights (most evenings and nights, at least) on

Skype & QQ, and can also be contacted through Facebook and Google+. Live, face-to-face contact is encouraged, and is available through Skype, QQ, Facebook chats, and Google+ hangouts. Every student should make contact with the instructor using one of these four applications (Skype and Google+ would be easiest for most students) and check in with the professor a few times over the semester. The first page of the syllabus has the professor’s contact information in Skype, QQ, Facebook, and Google+.

Writing Groups

You will be assigned to one of four writing groups for the course (Eleyson Writing Group,

Filius Writing Group, Gabriel Writing Group, or Haseha Writing Group). You are expected to share drafts and final versions of your assignments within your writing group. It is your duty to read and give editing comments and feedback to members of your writing group who have posted their work in your writing group.

Course Calendar or Schedule

Week Topic Assignment



1

1-21

Introduction to the course.

Required Readings:

Week 1 Instructor Page available online.

The meaning of

“human nature”

Read and study this syllabus.

How to judge claims about human nature.

Also Descriptions of assignments.

Also Paper on time use and time budgets

Also Paper on writing quality and feedback

General approaches to human nature.

Chinese and

Confucian approaches to human nature.

Twelve Theories of Human Nature

Introduction: Rival Theories and Critical Assessments

1. Confucianism: The Way of the Sages, by David L. Haberman

2. Upanishadic Hinduism: Quest for Ultimate Knowledge, by David L.

Haberman

3. Buddhism: In the Footsteps of the Buddha, by David L. Haberman

Suggested Readings

Hindu and Indian

Subcontinent approaches to human nature.

The Blank Slate: The Denial of Human Nature and Modern Intellectual Life (by

Steven Pinker)

Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul R. Ehrlich

(2000)

ASSIGNMENTS:

The Human Condition: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Nature (by

Nina Rosenstand)

Begin collecting aphorisms, proverbs, or essential statements of human nature from your favorite sources.

Visions of Human Nature: An Introduction (by Donald Palmer)

Who are We?: Theories of Human Nature (by Louis P. Pojman)

Read the Wikipedia section on Human Nature available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_nature.

Begin thinking about what questions would

Anything by Sri Ramakrishna or about his teachings. You might try Selections

from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: Annotated and Explained (translated by

Swami Nikhilananda and annotated by Kendra Crossen Burroughs). reveal human nature.

The Analects by Confucius and also his Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean (I like the James Legge Translations)

Look over descriptions of papers

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (any translation)

The Book of Songs translated by Arthur Waley (often called the Book of Odes) and think about a topic for your first paper on human nature.

Human Nature, Ritual, and History: Studies in Xunzi and Chinese Philosophy by

Antonio S. Cua (chapters 1, 2, 8, 10, 11, and 15.)

A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, edited by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and

Charles A. Moore (Chapter 17 is especially good)

Create a time budget to help you put enough time into this

All Men are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as told in his own

words, edited by Krishna Kripalani. course.

The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton

Rabindranath Tagore http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tagore.htm http://www.boloji.com/perspective/064.htm



2

1-28

Religious approaches to human nature.


Week 2 Instructor’s Page available online.

Dualism

Spirits, Souls, and the Divine


6. The Bible: Humanity in Relation to God

7. Islam: Submission to God, by Peter Matthews Wright

Holiness

Spirituality

Cybernetics

ASSIGNMENTS:

Bateson

Mind and nature, a necessary unity. Chapters 2 and 3. http://www.oikos.org/mind&nature.htm

Loren Eiseley’s essays

How Natural is Natural? (pages 280-296), The

Inner Galaxy (pages 297-311)

At the end of this week turn in your first draft of six questions on human nature.


Mind / Body Dualism Conference Address (1976) http://www.oikos.org/batdual.htm

Report to the instructor what will

The Nature and Destiny of Man: Vol. 1, Human Nature by Reinhold

Niebuhr. (in particular, sections I, II, V, & VI) be the topic for your first paper on human nature.

The Book of Proverbs (from the Bible’s Old Testament) Especially chapters

10-30. It’s available on-line from several sources, including: http://www.tldm.org/bible/Old%20Testament/proverbs.htm

Get to work on your first paper,

Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study of Ethics and Politics by

Reinhold Neibuhr gathering resources and reading them. Eternal Life: Life After Death As a Medical, Philosophical, and Theological

Problem by Hans Kung

Start collecting aphorisms.

The Further Reaches of Human Nature by Abraham Maslow

No Man Is An Island by Thomas Merton

On Human Nature (Aquinas) edited by Thomas S. Hibbs

Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature: A Philosophical Study of Summa

Theologiae, by Robert Pasnau (pages 25-99, 200-266)

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has some fine material about

Saint Augustine at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/#3 The sections most relevant to this course are those on “Philosophical

Anthropology,” “Psychology and Epistemology,” and “Will.” You’ll find more about Augustine at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/



3

2-4

Early ideas about human nature.

Required Readings:

Week3 Instructor’s Page available online.

Myths and legends.


Dualism continued.

4. Plato: The Rule of Reason

Religion continued.

5. Aristotle: The Ideal of Human Fulfillment

Lucretius

On the Nature of Things, Book III (available online) http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.3.iii.html

ASSIGNMENTS:

Passmore

The Perfectibility of Man pages 11-27 (available online)

Discussion Board participation based on the readings for this week.

Eiseley

The Star Thrower pages 207-221 (Man Against the Universe)


Rabindranath Tagore

Where the Mind is Without Fear

Take your first test. Plato’s Symposium (c. 385 bce) http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html

You ought to come out of this course with a familiarity concerning Sufi and other Islamic mystical concepts of human nature. You can begin with a encyclopedia entries and then try to find translations of the works of Shaikh Abil-Kheir, Jalal al-Din Muhammad Mawlana

Continue finding aphorism and quotations about human nature.

Rumi, Al-Ghazzali, Shamsuddin Muhammad Hafiz, or the works of Idries Shah.

Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences by Abraham Maslow

“Marx and Aristotle on Human Nature, Ethics, and the State” an essay available at http://www.octapod.org/gifteconomy/content/marxaristotle.html

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy has some good pages on Aristotle. You’ll find the section on the soul and psychology to be most relevant to this class:

Examine feedback on your six human nature questions and revise. http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/aristotl.htm#H6

Galen’s essay, “On Hippocrates’ On the Nature of Man” is available in English translation on the internet at: http://www.medicinaantiqua.org.uk/tr_GNatHom.html

For the stoics and Zeno of Citium you’ll find excellent encyclopedia entries at sites such as: http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/stoicism.htm and http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/

See also the essay by Barry Smith at Atlantic Baptist University at:

Read more for your first paper. http://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/GrPhil/Stoic.htm

Folk stories and myths are explored in many excellent web sites. Try http://www.folkstory.com/ and look at one of my favorite organizations, the Mythopoeic

Society: http://www.mythsoc.org/index.html.

Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. (or just about anything associated with

Joseph Campbell)

Man and His Symbols or Modern Man in Search of a Soul by Carl Jung

J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and either of Tom Shippey’s books about this work (J.R.R.

Tolkien: Author of the Century or The Road to Middle Earth)

Introductions to the work of René Descartes are available at: http://www.msu.org/intro/content_intro/texts/descartes/descartes_eb.htm http://www.msu.org/intro/content_intro/texts/descartes/descartes2.html#med2 http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/DA026SECT10

The Alchemy of Happiness by Al-Ghazzali is available on the internet. You may find chapter six most relevant to this course. http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/tah/


Week Topic

4

2-11

Stages of growth and development

Infancy and childhood

Evolution

Society and the

Individual

Assignment


Week 4 Instructor’s Page available online.


Historical Interlude

8. Kant: Reasons and Causes, Morality and Religion

9. Marx: The Economic Basis of Human Societies

10. Freud: The Unconscious Basis of Mind

11. Sartre: Radical Freedom

ASSIGNMENTS:


Bandura

Bandura’s Self Efficacy essay available at http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Bandura/BanEncy.html


Start writing your first report on a view of human nature as you finish reading.

Work on your aphorisms, collect quotations.

Excellent summaries of Erik Erikson’s stages of developmental psychology may be found at: facultyweb.cortland.edu/~ANDERSMD/ERIK/welcome.HTML

Peter Simpson’s Goodness and Nature is available as a pdf download at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/philosophy/GoodnessandNature.pdf

See also the list of on-line Bandura writings available at www.des.emory.edu/mfp/BanduraPubs.html and read any of them that seem interesting.

Spend an hour or two with Totem and Taboo or else Civilization and its

Discontents. Sigmund Freud’s Totem and Taboo is available from Dover

Publications for $2.50. Freud’s Civilization and It’s Discontents (1930) can be had for $9 new, and about $5 used. Excerpts from these can be found at: www.nyfreudian.org/abstracts/abs_volumes/vol-13.htm, www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/xfre1913.htm, www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/freud-civ.html and www.historyguide.org/europe/freud_discontents.html

See also commentary at: www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/civilization.html and www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/freud.htm

On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy by Carl Rogers

Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings by Jean Paul Sartre, edited by Stephen Priest

(2003).

Sartre: The philosopher of the Twentieth Century by Bernard-Henri Levy

(Translated by Andrew Brown) (2003).

Beyond the Chinese Face: Insights from Psychology by Michael Harris Bond

The Bioecological Theory of Human Development by Urie Bronfenbrenner (2001) which can be found from pages 3-15 in Making Human Beings Human and also in the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Science published by

Elsevier Science in 2002.

Alexander Pope, An Essay On Man (1733) available online at http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2428



5

2-18

Health and disease Required Readings :

Mental illness Week 5 Instructor’s Page available online.

The DSM-V

Love

Evolutionary Psychology: A Beginner's Guide by Robin

Dunbar, Louise Barrett, and John Lycett. (pages 1-54)

Marriage Twelve Theories of Human Nature

12. Darwinian Theories of Human Nature

Conclusion: A Synthesis of the Theories?

Darwin

ASSIGNMENTS:


The Descent of Man. Chapters 1, 3-4 (optional) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2300

Suggested Readings:

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of

the Human Body by Neil Shubin (pages 3-198)

Give plenty of time to writing your first

James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein. report on human nature.

Out of the Blue: Depression and Human Nature by David B. Cohen

Continue finding quotations and aphorisms.

Revise your six questions about human nature.

C rime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime by

Normal and Abnormal behavior in Chinese Culture edited by A. Kleinman and T. Y. Lin.

Schizophrenia, Culture, and Subjectivity: The Edge of Experience, edited by

Janis Hunter Jenkins and Robert John Barrett.

Sacks, O. (1970). The man who mistook his wife for a hat and other clinical

tales.

Leakey, R. & Lewin R. (1995). The sixth extinction: Patterns of life and the future of humankind.

Springer, C. & McKie, R. (1996). African exodus: The origins of modern

humanity.

Ridley, M. (1993). The red queen: Sex and the evolution of human nature.

The History Guide series of lectures on Marx are quite good. Check these out, starting at: http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture24a.html

Get any textbook on personality and spend an hour looking over the parts that seem most relevant to human nature or most interesting to you. I’d suggest reading about the measurement of personality and the various theories of how many dimensions of personality exist (e.g., five-factor model the PEN model). I recommend the on-line textbook on personality theory available at http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/perscontents.html



6

2-25

Friendship

Altruism

Ethics


Instructor’s Page for Week Six



ASSIGNMENT:


You should submit to Blackboard your first list of aphorisms.

You should turn in a revised version of your six questions about human nature


Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of

the Human Body by Neil Shubin (pages 3-198)

Darwinian Natural Right: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature by Larry Arnhart

Brian Skyrms’ paper “Game Theory, Rationality and Evolution of the Social Contract” (pages 269-284) in Evolutionary Origins of

Morality; Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives (edited by Leonard D.

Katz)

Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior by

Christopher Boehm

Out of the Blue: Depression and Human Nature by David B. Cohen

Work on your human nature paper.

Normal and Abnormal behavior in Chinese Culture edited by A.

Kleinman and T. Y. Lin.

Schizophrenia, Culture, and Subjectivity: The Edge of Experience, edited by Janis Hunter Jenkins and Robert John Barrett.

Evolution of the Social Contract by Brian Skyrms

The Stag Hunt and the Evolution of Social Structure by Brian

Skyrms

Miller, K. R. (2002). Finding Darwin's God: A scientist's search for

common ground between God and evolution.

Wilson, E. O. (1978). On Human Nature.



7

3-4

Human needs Required Readings:

Personality

Personality disorders



Recommended Readings

ASSIGNMENT:


The Principles of Psychology by William James (1890) with its chapters on the Mind-Stuff Theory, methods and snares of psychology, relations of minds to other things, stream of thought, the consciousness of self, instinct, emotions, and will (chaps. 6-10 &

24-26)

War and human nature: Opposing viewpoints . Edited by David L.

You should continue gathering and reading resources for your first report on human nature. It is due in about three weeks.

Bender & Bruno Leone (1983).

Federalist Paper #55 by A. Hamilton, J Madison, & J. Jay

(1787)

Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan exceeds what you’ll read in

. Chapters 6, 10-13 (this covers and

Study of Human Nature)

Post responses to aphorisms collected by your peers.

Hume, D (1739). An enquiry concerning human understanding chapters 19-28, 32-33. This is available for free download at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9662

Take your second test.

Rousseau’s Emile, on Education is available online in English or the original French at: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/pedagogies/rousseau/Contents2.html

8

3-11

Aggression

Death


Jolly Lucy’s Legacy

pages 1-153

War Instructor notes for week 8

Objectivism


ASSIGNMENT:


Mark Twain On the Damned Human Race edited by Maxwell

Geismar.

The Social Animal (Ninth Edition) by Elliot Aronson.

Pinker, S. (1997). How the mind works .

Our Kind by Melvin Harris (1989)

You should be writing your first report on human nature.

Shermer, M. (2004).

Shaw, G. B. (1903).

The science of good and evil.

Man and Superman .



3-15

3-21

Spring Break

Spring Break

9

3-25

Hierarchy and status


Jolly Lucy’s Legacy pages 154-222

Domination

Names to Know:

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. by Frans de Waal pages 3-58.

Edward O. Wilson

Richard Dawkins


Steven Pinker

Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human

Species by Sarah Hrdy

ASSIGNMENT

DUE:

Look over the latest list of quotations and aphorisms collected by the class. It will either be sent to you by email or else posted on the course web page.


In search of human nature. The decline and revival of Darwinism in

American social thought . By Carl N. Degler (1991).

Post your first paper to your writing group peers so they can read it and edit it and give you feedback.

Not in our genes: Biology, ideology, and human nature . by R. C.

Lewontin, Steven Rose, & Leon J. Ramin (1984).

Evolutionary Psychology: a beginner’s guide . By Robin Dunbar, Louise

Barrett, and John Lycett.

Richard Dawkins, either The Devil's Chaplain or The ancestor's tale: A pilgrimage to the dawn of evolution (2005).

Start reading, editing, and giving feedback to your writing peers within your writing group.

McGrath, A. (2005). Dawkins' God: Genes, memes, and the meaning of life.

McCrone, J. (1990). The ape that spoke: Language and the evolution of the human mind .

You should continue looking for the best quotations and aphorisms on human nature.

Potts, R. (1996). Humanity's descent: The consequences of ecological instability .

Sapolsky, R. (2005) Monkeyluv: and other essays on our lives as animals .

Morris, D. (1967). The naked ape .



10

4-1

Choices and judgments

Death

Optimism


Hammond

Human Judgment and Social Policy. Pages 13-35, 60-93

Jolly

Lucy’s Legacy pages 222-256

ASSIGNMENT:


Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. by Frans de Waal pages 59-80 & 140-158.

Axelrod

Evolution of Ethnocentric Behavior which can be found at http://wwwpersonal.umich.edu/~axe/.

Continue reading, editing, and giving feedback to your writing peers

In your writing group read drafts of the first human nature paper submitted by your peers. within your writing group.

Suggested Readings:

Spend some time poking around Seligman’s Positive Psychology web site at

URL: http://www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman/


For an overview of positive psychology check out the on-line outline of the

7-day positive psychology lessons prepared by Amy C. Fineburg at http://www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman/teachinghighschool.htm

Introduction to the January 2000 issues of American Psychologist at http://www.positivepsychology.org/apintro.htm

You should begin outlining and writing your own perspective on human nature

(second paper on human nature).

Take your third online test.

Chapters 16 and 17 in Alfred Russel Wallace’s Social Environment and

Moral Progress which you can find and read at “The Alfred Russel Wallace

Page” at http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/index1.htm

Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution by Peter

J. Richerson and Robert Boyd.

Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your

Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin E. Seligman.

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin

Seligman.

Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the

Mysteries of Life and Living by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler

Death: The final stage of growth by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation by Robert

Jay Lifton

Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the

World by Robert Jay Lifton



11

4-8

Required Readings

ASSIGNMENT: Jolly


Lucy’s Legacy pages 257-308

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. by Frans de Waal pages 161-181.

Finish giving feedback to your peers in your writing group on their first paper.

Edit their first paper. Edit your own paper and read Suggested Readings feedback given you by your writing peers.

Quinn

Ishmael (approximately the first third of the book)

In your writing group read and edit drafts of the first human nature paper submitted by your peers.

Feminist Politics and Human Nature. (1983) by Alison M.

Jaggar


War, evil, and the end of history by Bernard-Henri Levi, (2004)

Race, Evolution, & Behavior by J. P. Rushton

The television series Star Trek and, M. Hertenstein’s The double vision

Begin working on your second paper on human nature. of Star Trek (1998) and Judith Barad's The Ethics of Star Trek

Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed

.

by J. Diamond

There are many links to English-language resources on utopian thought (see especially Charles Fourier and Henri de Sant-Simon) at the French website:

http://www.democratie-socialiste.net/7utopisme.html

Blink: The power of thinking without thinking by M. Gladwell

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices by Paul R. Lawrence &

Nitin Nohria.

Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life by

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.



12

4-15

ASSIGNMENT DUE:


Take online test.


Jolly

Lucy’s Legacy pages

309-347

Submit your second draft of your aphorisms (the first list edited plus new aphorisms).

This should be posted in

Blackboard for your classmates to see.

Quinn

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

(approximately the middle third of the book)


Pandora's Seed: Why the Hunter-Gatherer Holds the

Comment on aphorisms submitted by your peers.

Key to Our Survival by Spencer Wells. pages

3-60.

Revise and edit your first human nature paper.

13

4-22

ASSIGNMENT DUE: Required Readings:


Jolly


350-404

Submit your final draft of your first human nature paper.

Quinn

Ishmael (finish it)

Comment on aphorisms collected by your classmates.

Suggested Reading:

Work on your second human nature paper.



61-151.

14

4-29

ASSIGNMENT:


Submit your final draft of your aphorisms.

Work on your second paper

(personal view) of human nature.


Jolly


405-434

Eiseley

Star Thrower pages 169-201 and 267-279.

Essays: The Star Thrower; Science and the Sense of the

Holy; The Illusion of the Two Cultures.

Suggested Reading:



152-210.



15

4-30

ASSIGNMENT:

Post responses to your classmates’ papers on

Blackboard.

Work on your second human nature paper.


Your classmates’ papers.

Before May 16 th (no late work accepted) you must submit your final portfolio from the human nature course. This will include:

Finals Turn in the final draft of

5-6 your second paper (your personal expression about human nature).

Eric’s course evaluation

(online).

Official course ratings survey (online)

Self evaluation narrative.

(optional, but encouraged)

Complete final exam.

Your final six key questions to reveal human nature.

Your final list of the best aphorisms describing human nature.

Your final revised draft of your first paper on human nature.

Your final draft of your second paper on human nature (personal view) paper.

Indicate whether you are willing to have any of these printed in a course book or which of the four you do not want to share in a course book.


Human_Nature_Syllabus_LIS446

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on

Human Nature

Course Description

Course Objectives/Learning Outcomes

http://www.uis.edu/academicintegrity/

Related documents

Products

Support

Human_Nature_Syllabus_LIS446

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on

Human Nature

Course Description

Course Objectives/Learning Outcomes

http://www.uis.edu/academicintegrity/

Related documents

Add this document to collection(s)

Add this document to saved

Suggest us how to improve StudyLib