Instructor: Matthew J.

Voz March 20 April 6 , 2017

March 20: The Medieval World View

Reading: The Violent Tenor of Life

March 21: The Non-Christian World at the Dawn of Modernity

Reading: Pessimism and the Ideal of the Sublime Life

March 22: Lorenzo dMedici: Sugar Daddy of the Renaissance

Reading: The Hierarchic Conception of Society & The Idea of Chivalry

March 23: Leonardo DaVinci: The First Modern Man

Reading: The Dreams of Heroism and Love & Orders of Chivalry and Vows

March 24: The Embarkation of Europe

Reading: The Political and Military Value of Chivalrous Ideas & Love Formalized

March 27: From Philosophy to Science

Reading: The Conventions of Love & The Idyllic Vision of Life & The Vision of Death

March 28: The Limits of Spiritual Equality

Reading: Religious Thought Crystallizing into Images

March 29: King for God

Reading: Types of Religious Life & Religious Sensibility and Religious Imagination

March 30: The Thirty Years War: King Above God

Reading: Symbolism in its Decline & The Effects of Realism

March 31: The English Civil War: Law Above King

Reading: Religious Thought Beyond the Limits of Imagination & The Forms of Thought and
Practical Life

April 3: The Enlightenment and New Virtues

Reading: Art and Life

April 4: The French Revolution and the Limits of Political Equality

Reading: The Aesthetic Sentiment & Verbal and Plastic Expression Compared I

April 5: The Industrial and Capitalist Revolution

Reading: Verbal and Plastic Expression Compared II & The Advent of the New Form
April 6: Final Examination and Recitation

This class will focus on the revolutionary changes in the ideal and material culture of Western
civilization. We will begin with a short review of the High Middle Ages but will focus on the three
pillars of modernity: the Renaissance, The Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. We will follow
these three cultural revolutions as they ripple like shockwaves across the sea of time, inspiring and
coloring the great events of history, leaving us with the legacy of the governments which rule us, the
objects that populate our environment, and even the thoughts inside our heads.

Evaluative Tasks:

Final Examination (20%)

Participation in Class Discussion of Readings and Activities (15%)
Discussion Leadership (10%)
Metamorphosis Biography Project (55%)
o Your choice of a participant in the Reformation, Renaissance, or Scientific
Revolution
o Portrait of subject (15%)
o 2,000-word paper touching on the following themes in the subjects life: (30%)
Intersections
Turning Point
The Power of One
Crisis and Opportunity
Iteration
Counterpoint
Risk and Initiative
Transformation
Noble Goal
o Memorization and Recitation of the words of the subject (minimum 150 words)
(10%)