3

GE-038-023, HST 415 – AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY – GENERAL EDUCATION SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4

CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA

ACADEMIC SENATE

GENERAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE

REPORT TO

THE ACADEMIC SENATE

GE-038-023

HST 415 – AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

GENERAL EDUCATION SYNTHESIS COURSE – AREA C4

General Education Committee Date:

Steering Committee

Received and Forwarded Date: 7/2/03

Academic Senate Date: 7/23/03

First Reading

9/24/03

Second Reading

Background

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is proposing HIST 415 American Intellectual History as a general education synthesis course for Area C4.

Discussion

This course builds upon the knowledge students have gained in lower division humanities and history courses to develop a deeper understanding of the significant role intellectual discourse has played in shaping and challenging American ideas and practices. Within a large historical context the course investigates the contributions to this intellectual discourse by individual thinkers and writers from a wide variety of perspectives, such as early Puritans, Founding political figures, Second Great Awakening religious leaders, social scientists, progressives, pragmatists, cultural critics, African-American thinkers, feminists, scientists, and intellectual historians.

Recommendation

The GE committee has found this course to be in compliance with the synthesis course guidelines for GE sub-area C4, Humanities. There were no consultation comments on the Academic Programs’ web site about this course. The GE committee approved this course on May 7, 2003 and recommended that it be reported to the Academic Senate for consideration.

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

COURSE TITLE: American Intellectual History

DATE PREPARED: October 2002

PREPARED BY: John Moore

I. Catalog Description HST 415 American Intellectual History (4)

Intellectual history of the United States, highlighting philosophical, political, literary, religious, social, cultural and historical texts from the 17th century to the present. 4 seminars. Fulfills GE area C synthesis. Prerequisites: Completion of all required lower division General Education course work in Areas A and C (sub-areas 1, 2, & 3).

II. Required Background or Experience

Completion of all required lower division General Education course work in Areas A and C (sub-areas 1, 2, & 3).

III. Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of course, students will be able to

·  define and explain the major themes in the intellectual history of the United States

·  identify the major writers and speakers from a variety of perspectives and from the full sweep of American history

·  develop critical thinking skills by studying, comparing, and contrasting a range of ideas through time, by connecting the past to the present, and by comparing diverse intellectual perspectives and traditions

·  develop skills of analysis and synthesis by studying the competition and interaction among the major intellectual traditions within American society, politics and culture

·  appreciate the alternate intellectual outlook of different fields of cultural, literary and scholarly endeavor, including philosophy, political theory, sociology, literature, cultural criticism, religious thought, and intellectual history

IV. Text and Readings

David A. Hollinger and Charles Capper (eds.), The American Intellectual

Tradition, Two Volumes (New York: Oxford UP, 2001). This large collection of major

writings, speeches, letters, and essays is the essential text for the class, and contains

primary material that falls under all categories listed below.

David Harlan, The Degradation of American History (Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1997). A collateral text that supplements the Hollinger and Capper volume and

covers most topics indicated in the following categories.

Works Emphasizing Philosophy

Sacvan Bercovitch, The American Jeremiad (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press

1978).

H.S. Commager, The American Mind (New Haven: Yale UP, 1950).

Richard Hofstadter, Social Darwinism in American Thought (Boston: Beacon, 1955).

William James, Pragmatism and Other Writings (New York: Penguin, 2000).

Perry Miller, Errand into the Wilderness (Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956).

Richard Rorty, several selections from his writings.

.

Works Emphasizing Literature and Humanities

Sacvan Bercovitch, The American Jeremiad (Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1978).

Stanley Crouch, The All American Skin Game (New York: Pantheon, 1995).

Ralph Ellison, Going to the Territory (New York: Random House, 1986).

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (New York: Random House, 1952).

Works Emphasizing Social Sciences

Robert C. Bannister, Sociology and Scientism: The American Quest for Objectivity, 1880-1940 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987).

Sandra Harding, The Science Question in Feminism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986).

Richard Hofstadter, Social Darwinism in American Thought (Boston: Beacon, 1955).

Mark C. Smith, Social Science in the Crucible; The American Debate Over Objectivity and Purpose, 1918-1941 (Durham: Duke UP, 1994).

Works Emphasizing Political Theory

H.S. Commager, The American Mind (New York: Yale, 1950).

Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965; first published in 1909).

Stephen Englehart and John Moore, eds., Revolution, Rights, and the Liberal State (New York: Peter Lang, 1994).

The Federalist (New York: Mentor, 1999; original 1787-88).

V. Minimum Student Material

Required and recommended texts as identified in the syllabus.

VI. Minimum College Facilities

Standard classroom.

VII. Course Outline

1. American Intellectual History and Post-Modernism

2. Puritanism

3. Enlightenment and the American Intellectual Tradition

4. Evangelicalism

5. Meanings of America to Lincoln

6. Science, Social Science and Religion

7. Progressivism

8. Pragmatism

9. From Pragmatism To The Post War “American Century”

10. Feminism

11. American Intellectual History and the African American Experience

12. Multi-Culturalism and America

13. The Future of Intellectual History

VIII. Instructional Methods

1. Close reading and discussion of original and secondary sources

2. Student written assignments and oral presentations for every class

3. Class discussion

IX. Evaluation of Outcomes

1.  Daily student essays.

2.  Daily student oral reports.

3.  Participation in class discussion.

X. Assessment

In written essays, oral reports, and class discussions, students will be expected to grasp the full meaning and significance for American history and society of major readings.

Also, in both oral and written assignments students will be expected to address certain questions, such as:

In what ways did this course draw upon one or more of the fields in the Humanities as covered in your lower division courses?

To what extent did this course provide you with a deeper understanding of a particular area of the Humanities and with the ability to apply concepts of the Humanities to different problems and situations?

To what extent did this course promote critical thinking, problem solving, and reasoning skills?

3