|
HNRS 166 |
Michael Gordon |
|
Spring, 1999 |
Fellows 428 |
Florence in the Renaissance
Renaissance Florence provided a context within which intellectual creativity flourished a it has in few places before or after. This course will focus on three great Renaissance thinkers: Dante, Machiavelli, and Galileo. By concentrating on these three men, we wil learn not just about their contributions to literature, political thought, and science, but also about the Italian Renaissance – the unique historical context which shaped their thought. The course, then, will deal not only with Dante, Machiavelli, and Galileo, but with Florence in particular, and Italy in general, between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. This course fulfills the General Education requirement in Western Studies.
The following books are available for purchase in the Denison Bookstore:
Dante Inferno NAL
Machiavelli The
Portable Machiavelli Viking
Galileo Discoveries and Opinions Anchor
Cipolla Faith, Reason and the Plague Norton
Brucker Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence Waveland
Brucker Giovanni and Lusanna California
Brucker Florence: The Golden Age California
Boccaccio The Decameron Mentor
The formal requirements for the course will include five short papers and a project. The papers will be short essays on the material covered in class and will not require library research. The project will be on a topic selected by you and approved by me.
Paper #1 January 29
Paper #2 February 15
Paper #3 March 12
Paper #4 April 19
Paper #5 May 7
Project end of the semester
In addition to these formal requirements, there are others: the success of this type of class is, in large part, dependent on your willingness to attend class regularly, prepare for class thoughtfully, and participate in class constructively. Failure to meet these expectations will have an adverse effect on your final grade.
January 18 Florence Brucker,
Florence
January 25 The
Golden Age Brucker,
Florence
February 1 The limits of reason Inferno
February 8 The
nature of sin Inferno
February 15 Personal
Life I The
Decameron
February 22 Humanism selections from Petrarch, Salutati, Bruni
March 1 The
vita activa Two
Memoirs
March 8 Personal
Life II Giovanni and Lusanna
March 22 speculum
principis On Kingship; The Prince
March 39 A
science of politics Discourses
April 5 History and politics selections from Guicciardini
April 12 Ancients
vs. Moderns Discoveries
and Opinions
April 19 Sources of Authority Discoveries and Opinions
Conclusion
April 26 Politics,
Science, and Religion Faith, Reason and the Plague