WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
VIRTUAL CAMPUS
Wayland Mission Statement: Wayland Baptist University exists to educate students in an academically
challenging, learning-focused, and distinctively Christian environment for professional success, and service to God
and humankind.
Course Title, Number, and Section: HIST 5316 VC 01 Social and Intellectual History
Term: Fall 2014
Instructor: Dr. Eric Ash
Office Phone Number and WBU Email Address: 907-375-4515 cell 907-830-6168 E-mail: ashe@wbu.edu
Office Hours, Building, and Location: 10am to 6 pm, M-F
Parkside Center, Anchorage, Alaska
Room 206
Class Meeting Time and Location: Virtual Campus, Blackboard.
Catalog Description: Selected topics and issues in the history of American, Western, and/or Third World societies
and their scholarly thought; may be repeated for credit when the topic changes.
There is no prerequisite for this course
Required Textbook(s) and/or Required Material(s): Crane Brinton, History of Western Morals




Publisher: Paragon House; Reissue edition (September 14, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1557783705
ISBN-13: 978-1557783707
Optional Materials: none
Course Outcome Competencies: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to understand and explain:
 the political, economic, religious, geographical, and intellectual factors that shaped the society being
studied
 significant persons and events relating to this particular social history topic
 the historical scholarship associated with the subject
Attendance Requirements:
Virtual Campus
Students are expected to participate in all required instructional activities in their courses. Online courses are no
different in this regard; however, participation must be defined in a different manner. Student “attendance” in an
online course is defined as active participation in the course as described in the course syllabus. Instructors in
online courses are responsible for providing students with clear instructions for how they are required to participate
in the course. Additionally, instructors are responsible for incorporating specific instructional activities within their
course and will, at a minimum, have weekly mechanisms for documenting student participation. These mechanisms
may include, but are not limited to, participating in a weekly discussion board, submitting/completing assignments
in Blackboard, or communicating with the instructor. Students aware of necessary absences must inform the
professor with as much advance notice as possible in order to make appropriate arrangements. Any student absent
25 percent or more of the online course, i.e., non-participatory during 3 or more weeks of an 11 week term, may
receive an F for that course. Instructors may also file a Report of Unsatisfactory Progress for students with
excessive non-participation. Any student who has not actively participated in an online class prior to the census
date for any given term is considered a “no-show” and will be administratively withdrawn from the class without
record. To be counted as actively participating, it is not sufficient to log in and view the course. The student must
be submitting work as described in the course syllabus. Additional attendance and participation policies for each
course, as defined by the instructor in the course syllabus, are considered a part of the university’s attendance
policy.
Disability Statement: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), it is the policy of
Wayland Baptist University that no otherwise qualified person with a disability be excluded from participation in,
be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity in the
university. The Coordinator of Counseling Services serves as the coordinator of students with a disability and
should be contacted concerning accommodation requests at (806) 291- 3765. Documentation of a disability must
accompany any request for accommodations.
Course Requirements and Grading Criteria: Evaluation:
Examinations will be conducted through Blackboard and will be scheduled for specific weeks.
Research Essay: Research essays should include three sections: 1) Moral philosophers who wrote about or
influenced the ethical issue; 2) describe and analyze the basic moral thoughts involved with this topic to include a
critical analysis of its positive and negative attributes; and 3) brief chronological narrative of the social/cultural
impact or movement associated with this topic. Late papers are not accepted; the research essay is due at the time
specified on the course syllabus lesson schedule. This essay is a research essay that can be written on any topic
related to Soviet history. Students will use Turabian as the style guide for the course. The essay should be
sufficiently researched to cover the topic (i.e., no specified number of sources). The paper is to be between 10 and
20 pages, double spaced.
Graded Work:
Research Essay
Discussion Board Participation
Final Quiz
Course Total
500 points
100 points
200 points
800 points
Examinations: 1 Quiz - (25% of the final grade)
Research Project: A scholarly essay on a specific topic, containing a definite thesis statement - (63% of the final
grade)
The University has a standard grade scale:
A = 90-100, B = 80-89, C = 70-79, D = 60-69, F= below 60, W = Withdrawal, WP = withdrew passing, WF =
withdrew failing, I = incomplete. An incomplete may be given within the last two weeks of a long term or within
the last two days of a microterm to a student who is passing, but has not completed a term paper, examination, or
other required work for reasons beyond the student’s control. A grade of “incomplete” is changed if the work
required is completed prior to the last day of the next long (10 to 15 weeks) term, unless the instructor designates an
earlier date for completion. If the work is not completed by the appropriate date, the I is converted to an F.
Student grade appeals:
Students shall have protection through orderly procedures against prejudices or capricious academic evaluation. A
student who believes that he or she has not been held to realistic academic standards, just evaluation procedures, or
appropriate grading, may appeal the final grade given in the course by using the student grade appeal process
described in the Academic Catalog. Appeals may not be made for advanced placement examinations or course
bypass examinations. Appeals limited to the final course grade, which may be upheld, raised, or lowered at any
stage of the appeal process. Any recommendation to lower a course grade must be submitted through the Executive
Vice President/Provost to the Faculty Assembly Grade Appeals Committee for review and approval. The Faculty
Assembly Grade Appeals Committee may instruct that the course grade be upheld, raised, or lowered to a more
proper evaluation.
Tentative Schedule:
Lesson
Lesson #1
Date
18-24 Aug
Assignment
PPT Lesson 1; Discussion Board; Text: Chapt 1, Intro
Lesson #2
25-31 Aug
PPT Lesson 2: DB; Text: Chapt 2-3
Lesson #3
1-7 Sept
PPT Lesson 3; DB; Text: Chapt 4
Lesson #4
8-14 Sept
PPT Lesson 4; DB; Text: Chapt 5
Lesson #5
15-21 Sept
PPT Lesson 5; DB; Text: Chapt 6-7
Lesson #6
22-28 Sept
PPT Lesson 6; DB; Text: Chapt 8-9
Lesson #7 29 Sept-5 Oct
PPT Lesson 7; DB; Text: Chapt 10-11
Lesson #8 6 – 12 Oct
PPT Lesson 8; DB; Text: 12
Lesson #9
PPT Lesson 9; DB; Text: 13-15
13-19 Oct
Lesson #10 20-26 Oct
Research Essay Due midnight EST 25 Oct 2014
Lesson #11 27 Oct - 1 Nov
Final Quiz
Additional Information:
Instructor’s policy on Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty will result in a grade of F and removal from the course.
Students must be careful to work independently unless specifically authorized to collaborate, and they must be careful to
properly cite all sources of research. Students will submit papers through Blackboard’s “Safe Assignments.” All course
quizzes/exams remain under permanent academic security at all times (i.e., students may not discuss exams with anyone--ever).
To kick-start effective communication, each student must communicate with the instructor via e-mail ashe@wbu.edu or
telephone. 907-375-4515/907-830-6168. This must be accomplished during the first week of the course.
So what makes this course different than a philosophy course? Glad you asked. There are two intended
differences. First, this course puts the philosophy into historical context, and secondly, it attempts to draw the
threads of continuity between the different philosophies. Thus, there should be opportunity to see correlations
and causalities.
In so doing, however, the intent is to remain descriptive and not prescriptive—in other words, academically
studying different moral thoughts rather than suggesting class participants should live accordingly. So, no
preaching.
The organization of the course is, therefore, loosely chronological rather than topical. Likewise, the course does
not have a geographical structure other than that it is focused on Western moral thought. The reason for this is
simple; there is much more available to study. In the chronological approach, there is also opportunity to seek
an answer to the question whether there has been any moral progress, or possibly the opposite. It is fairly
common for generations to consider their current situations as morally corrupt compared to the past. Perhaps
that is a valid perception. Is there more slavery today around the world than there was 500 years in the past?
More to the point of the course, is there more social acceptance of the concept of slavery currently than
previously?
The course will show that all basic ethical considerations were not expressed by Greek philosophers or the Bible.
It will show, however, that there is a distinct aspect of Christian morality that is distinct from secular, humanistic
considerations. Thus, a paramount theme of the course is that there is a trap of morality which is only
understood within a Christian worldview. This concept is not historically dependent, per se, other than in the
sense that Jesus Christ defined that Christian worldview through his life, death, and resurrection.
In looking at the chronology of moral thought, it will be important to consider the impact technology has played in
shaping ideas. New weapon systems (abilities to kill), medical practices (abilities to heal), transportation systems
(abilities to connect the globe culturally), and communication technologies (abilities to inform instantly) have
influenced ethical thought, at least to some extent. In so identifying this influence, it will be helpful to discover
“significant ethical events” to which the student of history can attach cognitive meaning.
- What are some major themes of this course?
1) Ethical dilemmas
2) The ethical paradox—an ethically good act can yield bad consequences, and an ethically bad act can yield good
consequences
3) The more humanity has progressed ethically, the more it has digressed ethically
4) Overall, humanity has not improved in its ethical application
5) Moral chicken and the ethical egg: do cultural trends shape ethics, or does ethics shape cultural trends?
6) The trap of morality
7) The moral perspective (what is moral to one can be immoral to another, or where you stand on something
depends upon where you sit). This sounds a bit like relativism, but it is different.
8) The history of moral thought is closely associated with the history of warfare.
http://catalog.wbu.edu