Course Description: This course will introduce central concerns of interdisciplinary studies through analyses of histories of knowledge production, definition, and categorization, cultural derivations and influences on what we know, the significance of paradigms and media, and the importance of perspective and situation in shaping what we define as knowledge. The aim is provoke you to reflect on the connections between your various studies and classes as well as on the specific challenges and difficulties faced when combining and synthesizing different fields of study. Textbooks:
Course Requirements:
Class Participation 20%The class participation portion of your grade will be based on regular class attendance and participation as well as on periodic homeworks, blog posts, and in-class individual and small group assignments. Two absences are allowed during the semester. Each additional absence will lower your class participation grade by one letter grade. More than six absences and/or failure to complete any of the graded assignments detailed below are grounds for failing the course. There will be an in-class exam on Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. There will be two 3-5 page papers. Late papers will be docked one-third of a letter grade for each day late. Because this is a "W" designator writing course, close attention to writing mechanics and style, as well as content, is expected. One of your papers will be rewritten and translated into an alternative media (e.g. video, photography, cartoon, painting, theatre, web site, music, dance, performance art, sculpture, etc.) and presented to the class during our regularly scheduled final exam period. More information on all of these assignments will be handed out later in the semester. With regard to all assignments for this course, you are expected to know and follow the current ASU code of academic integrity. Course Schedule:
Check your campus email for an invitation from blogger.com to join our class blog. Post a brief introduction about yourself to the blog. Please only post information you are comfortable sharing publicly, but consider including the following: Your first name, your major concentration and minor, departments other than IDS that you are taking courses in this semester. Finally, what is the picture at the top of this page a picture of, and how do you know?TH 8/24 Plato, The Line and The Cave. Illustrations of the line (2) and the cave (2, 3, 4). T 8/29 Descartes, Discourse
on Method, Preface-Part III.
T 9/5 Jorge Luis Borges, "The
Analytical Language of John Wilkins;" browse these biographical notes
on John Wilkins [1,
2];
this blog
discussion; and these pages on Borges,
books
he never wrote, and their covers.
T 9/12 Foucault, "Preface" and "Las Meninas" from The
Order of Things; view the painting; and
browse this page on Velázquez.
T 9/19 Part I, §2-43.
T 9/26 Part I, §143-155.
T 10/3 Derek Jarman, Wittgenstein: The Movie.
T 10/10 Wittgenstein Exam.
TH 10/17 Motokawa, "Sushi
Science and Hamburger Science."
T 10/24 Foucault, "Discourse on Language."
You may also want to browse this Outline.
T 10/31 First Paper Due.
T 11/7 Trinh continued, pp. 28-44.
T 11/14 Trinh, "The Language of Nativism," pp. 47-76.
T 11/21 TBA
T 11/28 Second Paper Due.
T 12/5 Discussion / Conclusions. Final alternative media projects presented during final exam period: Friday, December 8 from 3:00 - 5:30 PM |
