Phil 43811:  Chesterton

Freddoso

Malloy 304/631-7327

E-mail: afreddos@gmail.com

Home page: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos

Purpose----Texts----Requirements---- Syllabus----Presentation-----Term Paper----On-line texts, notes, and papers----Presentation Assignments


Purpose of Course:  Though Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was not a 'trained philosopher', a trained philosophical eye can see that he is nonetheless a deep and insightful philosopher.  Perhaps the best Catholic apologist of his time, he anticipated as early as 1908 the turn from modernism to post-modernism in the late 20th century, found interesting and creative ways to propound Catholic doctrine, and developed many provocative criticisms of the contemporary alternatives to Catholicism. What's more, mirabile dictu, he did all of this with literary elegance, panache, and humor--a combination that is both hard to beat and not often encountered in philosophy courses for majors. This course will feature Chesterton's two greatest philosophical works, Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man, in addition to his semi-biographical work on the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas.  (Also featured will be "The Arena," Chesterton's poem about Notre Dame football and, time permitting, the Father Brown short story "Queer Feet.")  The course will be a genuine seminar coupled with moral edification for the students -- when there are class presentations, the instructor will have his mouth taped for the first 45 minutes of the class, thus exhibiting a truly heroic example of self-restraint that the students can learn from.  :-)

Prerequisites:  Even though there are no formal prerequisites for this course, students who have already taken both Phil 30301 and Phil 30302 will, ceteris paribus, get the most out of the course.

Texts: I have ordered the following texts for the course, even though Orthodoxy, The Everlasting Man, and St. Thomas Aquinas are all available on the web:

  • G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (Ignatius Press)
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  • G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man (Ignatius Press)
  • G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas/St. Francis of Assisi (Ignatius Press)

Requirements:
  • Presentations. During the course of the semester each student will be expected to prepare one brief (15-20 minute/5-page) presentation for the class.  A copy should be provided electronically for each student on the day before the presentation is to be given.  See below for more details (30% of grade).
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  • Class Participation (10% of course grade).  This includes submitting a question about the reading for each day to the instructor by email by 11:00 AM on that day.
     
  • Papers. You are required to write three 6-7 pp. papers, worth 60% of the course grade.

Tentative Syllabus:
  • Week 2 (9/3 and 9/5):  The critique of modernism and postmodernism
    • Orthodoxy, chaps. 1-3
    • The Everlasting Man, appendix II
  • Week 3 (9/10 and 9/12):  The elfish alternative to modernism and postmodernism
    • Orthodoxy, chaps. 4-5
  • Week 4 (9/17 and 9/19):  Christianity, paradox, and revolution
    • Orthodoxy, chaps. 6-7
  • Week 5 (9/24 and 9/26):  Romance and authority
    • Orthodoxy, chaps. 8-9
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  • Week 6 (10/1 and 10/3): Cavemen and professors
    • The Everlasting Man, Introduction and Part I, chaps. 1-3
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  • Week 7 (10/8 and 10/10): Religious pluralism, Chesterton-style
    • The Everlasting Man, Part I, chaps. 4-6
       
  • Week 8 (10/15 and 10/17): Good and bad paganism, and their demise in the Arena 
    • The Everlasting Man, Part I, chaps. 7-8
    • "The Arena"  (poem about Notre Dame football, contrasting bad pagan 'entertainment' with Christian entertainment)
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  • Week 9 (10/29 and 10/31): The Cave-God and the Gospels as you've never seen them before 
    • The Everlasting Man, Part II, chaps. 1-2

  • Week 10 (11/5 and 11/7): Strangeness and heretics 
    • The Everlasting Man, Part II, chaps. 3-4
  • Week 11 (11/12 and 11/14): Good paganism redivivus and the resiliency of the Faith 
    • The Everlasting Man, Part II, chaps. 5-6 and conclusion
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  • Week 12 (11/19 and 11/21): The runaway abbot ignites the Aristotelian revolution 
    • St. Thomas Aquinas, Introductory Note and chaps. 1-3
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  • Week 13 (11/26 and 11/28): Manicheanism and St. Thomas 
    • St. Thomas Aquinas, chaps. 4-5
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  • Week 14 (12/3 and 12/5):  Philosophia perennis 
    • St. Thomas Aquinas, chaps. 6-8

  • Week 15 (12/10):  A short story for fun