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Important Notice:
The course ASZFS0058 Big Books (ending with credit) is a philosophy course in the common core of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. AFSV00437 Big Books (ending with an exam) is a course version for foreign students (Erasmus); ASZFS0058 cannot be used to fulfill the requirements for Erasmus courses. The Human Condition: Suffering, Knowledge, Redemption Big/Great Books of the Western Cultural Tradition, Interpreted Philosophically The western cultural tradition, by which we mean a blend of the intellectual influences of Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian thought, has formed the basic religious (monotheism), intellectual (philosophy), political (democracy), economic (free market) and legal (equality of individuals before the law) models which in the course of history have deeply influenced the collective and individual existence of western man. The constant tension between the demands of these ideals and their practical realization has led to recurring conflicts both at the social level (wars and revolution) and at the level of individual life (existential crises). Various aspects of these situations have, from time immemorial, been reflected in theoretical and artistic works which not only evaluate the situations, but also put forward different solutions, and offer perspectives for possible ways forward. If we look beyond large-scale systematic works offering blueprints for the organization of society as a whole, we find a range of texts which reflect individual existential challenges (naturally in a social context) and which, as such, have commanded a wide reception by asking fundamental questions about the meaning of human life while, at the same time, pointing to certain positive solutions. The aim of this course is to use such key literary works to show the basic characteristics of existential inquiry and the search for its adequate treatment. The basic feature of these ‘big/great books’, it transpires, is the question of human suffering, with the attempt to understand this suffering and to reach a release from it with reconciliation to one’s fate. In the winter semester of the current academic year the following books will be our focus: Platón, Ústava (Jakub Jirsa) Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy (Anna Tropia) Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (Daniele De Santis) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (James Hill) Last update: JIRSAJA1 (24.09.2024)
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Plato, The Republic: The Republic in any modern translation. Annas, J. An Introduction To Plato's Republic. Clarendon Press, 1981. Arruzza, C. A Wolf In The City: Tyranny And The Tyrant In Plato's Republic. Oxford University Press, 2019. Blackburn, S. Platónova Ústava: Biografie. Beta, 2007. Blackburn, Simon. Plato’s Republic : A Biography. London: Atlantic, 2006. Schofield, M. Plato: Political Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2006. Dante Alighieri, Divine Commedy: Dante, The Inferno, a verse translation by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander, Anchor Books 2000. Dante, Purgatorio, a verse translation by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander, Anchor Books 2003 Dante, Paradiso, a verse translation by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander, Anchor Books 2008 W. B. Stanford, The Ulysses Theme. A study in the adaptability of a traditional hero. Blackwell 1963 P. Boyde, Dante Philomythes and Philosopher. Man in the Cosmos, Cambridge University Press 1989 P. Boyde, Perception and Passion in Dante’s Comedy, Cambridge University Press R. Imbach, Dante, la philosophie et les laics, Editions du Cerf 1996
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso: L. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso. Eng. Translation by B. Reynolds. Penguin Classics 1975 (link to the online version of the Czech translation on Moodle) N. Machiavelli, The Prince, Tr. by H. Mansfield, The University of Chicago Press 1998, Ch. XV, XVIII, XXV E. Auerbach, Mimesis. The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, Princeton University Press 2003, Ch. 6 G. Ferroni, Machiavelli aneb o nejistotě, Př. M. Pokorný, Praha 2020
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: Hay, Daisy. The Making of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Bodleian Library, Oxford University, 2019. Holmes, Richard.The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Harper Press, 2008 Kant, Immanuel. Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (1764), trans. by John T. Goldthwait, University of California Press, 1960 Mellor, Anne Kostelanetz. Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. Routledge, 1988. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds. David H.Guston, Ed Finn and Jason Scott Robert (eds). 2017 St Clair, William. The Godwins and the Shelleys: A Biography of a Family. 1991. Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). Janet Todd (ed.), OUP, 1993 Ziolkowski, Theodore. “Science, Frankenstein, and Myth”, Sewanee Review, 89: 1, 1981: pp. 34-56 Last update: JIRSAJA1 (24.09.2024)
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The course will take the form of interpretations and presentations. The basic texts will be available on Moodle. Last update: JIRSAJA1 (24.09.2024)
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Students will an exam in the form of a credit on submission of their essay, the theme of which is either chosen from a list of prepared questions or which has been developed with the consultation and approval of the relevant teacher. The essay is 4-6 standard pages in length, where a standard page = normostrana and the length is therefore between 7,200 and 10,800 characters including blank spaces. The essay is to be written in Czech or English and should be submitted by 24.1.2025. In cases where the essay is found to be insufficient, the student will be asked to revise or supplement the piece, and a new version should be resubmitted no later than 7.2.2025. This second deadline is applicable only to those who have already submitted by the first deadline; first submissions will not be accepted at the second deadline.
As far as the content goes, the essay should be an independent reflection of the chosen topic, not a mere summary or description of the text (in the style of a secondary school assignment). As far as the formal side of the essay is concerned, it should be carefully produced with minimal typos and linguistic errors; it should also be in order from the typographical point of view. The essay constitutes one of the written works that a student is required to produce in the course of their studies and it should demonstrate their ability to adequately articulate their views and present them in the form of accomplished written expression. The essay must have a title page, including the title of the work, the name of the author, the subject of specialisation and year of study. The text should be structured and a single citational convention should be in use throughout. At the end of the essay the secondary literature should be given. Where any of the various required features listed above is lacking the essay will not be accepted for the exam. The text should be sent, by the date above, to the e-mail address of the teacher in question (according to the chosen topic): jakub.jirsa@ff.cuni.cz; anna.tropia@ff.cuni.cz; daniele.desantis@ff.cuni.cz; james.hill@ff.cuni.cz Last update: JIRSAJA1 (24.09.2024)
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