Course Calendar 2011-2012 - Champlain College Saint-Lambert

Humanities (continued)
345-102-MQ
The Classical and Contemporary Worldviews
(Humanities – Worldviews)
Students will examine the nature and significance of the
varied achievements of Ancient Greece. In particular,
students will consider the defining concepts and values of
Greek society within the fields of politics and government,
education, athletics, science, and the arts. In addition,
students will trace their influences upon many of the same
areas of modern life.
3 hours/week Units: 2.00
Prerequisite: 345-101-MQ
345-102-MQ
Medieval and Renaissance Worldviews-LA
(Humanities - Worldviews for Liberal Arts students only)
This course will introduce students to the worldviews of
early Christianity and to Medieval and Renaissance
worldviews. This will be done through a consideration of the
views of Augustine as well as through a study of various
themes and aspects of the Medieval mind: love, death,
chivalry, symbols, the quest for perfection, the view of time
and space, the ideals of monasticism, the plague, music and
art, etc. The course will then move on to a consideration of
the outstanding worldview of the Renaissance: Humanism.
To better understand these worldviews, students will also
be introduced to various aspects of the Medieval world and
its civilization.
3 hours/week Units: 2.00
Prerequisite: 345-101-MQ
345-102-MQ
Worldviews of Modern India
(Humanities – Worldviews)
This course gives an introduction to the worldviews of
different groups in Indian society on the eve of
Independence. Students will study the beliefs and values
of various Indian peoples, and will become acquainted
with the context of this period. What makes a nation?
What does it mean to have a national, religious or
cultural identity? Should minority groups have special
representation in democratic countries, or should
representation be based on the idea of individual
political rights? What role should religion play in the
modern world? What makes political authority
legitimate? These questions were important to the
debates in India in the 1940s; they are relevant questions
in our own society today.
3 hours/week Units: 2.00
Prerequisite: 345-101-MQ
345-102-MQ
Mythologies
(Humanities – Worldviews)
This course will provide a basic introduction to myth and its
importance in shaping worldviews. Students will study a
wide range of mythology, placing each myth in its cultural
and historical context. A thematic and comparative
approach will be taken allowing students to explore the
similarities and differences between myths and to interpret
the ways in which mythology can reflect worldviews.
Contemporary approaches to mythology will also be studied
in order to examine the influence of myth on current
beliefs, values and worldviews.
3 hours/week Units: 2.00
Prerequisite: 345-101-MQ
345-102-MQ
Jewish and Muslim Worldviews
(Humanities – Worldviews)
Judaism and Islam, two faiths that began in the Middle-East,
have spread throughout the world and influence
international news every day. They are as similar in some
respects and different in others, but they are both much
misunderstood. This course will compare the important
aspects of the history, personalities, ideas, texts, practices,
institutions, and art in the worlds of Muslims and Jews.
Special attention will be paid to the roles of these faiths in
the everyday lives of their believers. Students will explore
the impact of the modern world on Judaism and Islam and
the several responses to it, such as reform, modernization,
secularization and fundamentalism.
3 hours/week Units: 2.00
Prerequisite: 345-101-MQ
345-102-MQ
Utopias and Social Criticism
(Humanities – Worldviews)
A utopia is a perfect society; a dystopia is a society in
chaos. Utopian thinkers use creativity and social criticism
to envision and share the ways individuals could best live
together. This class will explore the dream of utopia and
the nightmare of dystopia through an examination of the
worldviews expressed in the art, literature, philosophy,
theology or politics of utopian and dystopian thinkers.
Further, the impact of these ideas in shaping a
contemporary or future society will be considered.
3 hours/week Units: 2.00
Prerequisite: 345-101-MQ