Roots of European Culture and Literature 03-AP-RECL

Course learning content:
- Athens vs. Jerusalem,
- The Prophets,
- Plato and Aristotle,
- Vergil and Cicero,
- Art in Antiquity,
- Prophecy and Reform,
- Scholasticism,
- The Renesaissance,
- The Reformation,
- The Academy and the Profession,
- Poetry, Rhetoric and the Common God,
- Art and Performances,
- The Book of Our Experience.

Term 2023/SZ:

None

Module learning aims

Course aims: This course evolves around the so-called four cultures of the West. The cultures considered here originated in the ancient world, took on Christian forms, and manifest themselves today in more secular ways. These are, as the American historian John W. O’Malley identifies them: the prophetic culture that proclaims the need for radical change in the structures of society (represented by, for example, Jeremiah, Martin Luther, and Martin Luther King, Jr.); the academic culture that seeks instead to understand those structures (Aristotle, Aquinas, the modern university); the humanistic culture that addresses fundamental human issues and works for the common good of society (Cicero, Erasmus, and Eleanor Roosevelt); and the culture of art and performance that celebrates the mystery of the human condition (Phidias, Michelangelo, Balanchine). By showing how these cultures, as modes of activity and discourse in which Western intelligence has manifested itself through the centuries and continues to do so, students will be able to look at the larger history of the West as it developed from antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance but continues to have relevance for society today.

Methods of teaching for learning outcomes achievement

Lecture with a multimedia presentation, interactive lecture, problem-based lecture, text-based work, case study work.

Student workload (ECTS credits)

Module type

elective

(in Polish) Sylabus zajęć

(in Polish) https://amupie.amu.edu.pl/1487/details

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences

General knowledge of the culture of selected European countries.

Course coordinators

Robert Maryks

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:
- understand the research problems and the recent achievements in the field covered by the lecture,
- understand perspectives applied to analysing and interpreting phenomena of culture,
- have extensive factual knowledge in the field covered by the lecture,
- have the basic bibliographical information necessary to further research the subject matter of the lecture,
- write an essay in English on specific and specialized topic using a variety of sources.

Assessment criteria

Assessment criteria:

very good (bdb; 5,0): excellent familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; very good understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

good plus (+db; 4,5): as above, except for minor deficiencies and inaccuracies.

good (db; 4,0): good familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

satisfactory plus (+dst; 3,5): satisfactory familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; average understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

satisfactory (dst; 3,0): basic familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; shallow understanding and ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

unsatisfactory (ndst; 2,0): unsatisfactory familiarity with the problems and methodologies discussed in the lecture; no understanding or ability to interpret the facts from a number of perspectives.

Bibliography

Reading list:
John O’Malley, Four Cultures of the West. Harvard University Press: Harvard, 2006.
Peter Rietbergen, Europe: A Cultural History, Routledge: London 1998.
Robert C. Ostergren & Mathias Le Bossé, The Europeans: A Geography of People, Culture, and Environment, The Guilford Press: New York – London, 2011.

Term 2023/SZ:

None

Notes

Term 2023/SZ:

None

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 03-AP-RECL in USOSweb