From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

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Monday, January 17, 2022

Confucius and the World Syllabus 2022a (a)

 On this date on Round and Square's History 

16 January 2014—China's Lunar Calendar 2014 01-16
16 January 2013—Channeling Liam: Yellow Highlighters
16 January 2012—Just Do It Over: Mahler's Ninth Cellphony
16 January 2011—Goofus and Gallant Resource Center

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 150: Weeks 1-8                  HIST 150: Weeks 9-16
[a] 孔子 RF
Confucius and the World
History 150
Spring 2022
MWF 10:15-11:45
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 206                                                             Monday          12:00-13:30
363-2005                                                                               Wednesday    12:00-13:30
lafleur@beloit.edu
                                                             
Required Books           
Ames, Roger and Harry Rosemont. The Analects of Confucius.
Chin, Annping. Confucius: The Analects.
Chin, Annping. The Authentic Confucius.
Fingarette, Herbert. Confucius: The Secular as Sacred.
Gardner, Daniel. Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction.
Gardner, Daniel. The Four Books.
Gardner, Daniel. Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects.
Lau, D.C. Confucius: The Analects.
Major, John and Constance Cook. Ancient China: A History 
Nylan, Michael. The Analects.
Paramore, Kiri. Japanese Confucianism.
Slingerland, Edward. The Analects (with selections from traditional commentaries).

Reserve Books or Handouts
LaFleur, Robert. Books That Matter: The Analects of Confucius (foreword and afterword).
LaFleur, Robert. Confucius's Analects—A Social Translation.
Makeham, John. Transmitters and Creators.
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
Wieger, Chinese Characters

 ***  ***
Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual (required in all history classes)
Character notebook (for practicing Chinese characters) 
Round and Square (www.robert-lafleur.blogspot.com)
The New York Review of Books (NYRB)

Course Description
Confucius (551-479 BCE) taught a wide range of disciples during a time we have come to know as the "Spring and Autumn" period of China's Zhou dynasty. His teaching was interspersed with travel and concerted attempts to find employment in the service of one of the budding and ambitious states of a changing society. After his death, his students compiled his teachings into a series of "analects"—brief observations about human behavior, social structure, and ritual conduct that would carry enormous power throughout the course of Chinese history.
[b] Pattern RF



Confucius could never have known that his teachings would be studied and adapted for twenty-five centuries. He also could not have anticipated the ways that those teachings would be transformed into something that has carried his name during that time (Western renderings often put it into the form called "Confucianism"). This course will introduce Confucius's Analects and trace their journey through the widely disparate period that make up Chinese history to the present day. Through it all, we will consider a "living" Confucius and a "living" text that continues to exert a profound influence on the world both within and well beyond China.

Evaluation
Quizzes.............................................15% 
Brief Essay and Rewrite....................  5%
Letter Assignment.............................15%
Exam I...............................................15%
Midterm analysis...............................15% 
Exam II..............................................15%
Final Paper........................................20%

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 150: Weeks 1-8                  HIST 150: Weeks 9-16

HIST 150—Introduction to Historical Thinking
Confucius and the World

Week I 
(January 24-28)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, January 24
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus
New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 1-2
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
Mills, The Sociological Imagination
          Appendix
Nagel, What is it like to be a bat?
                                               Bring Notebooks to Class 

Wednesday, January 26
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lecture 3
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams). Pay particular attention to the idea of veridicality.
Collingwood, Autobiography
          History as the Self-Knowledge of the Mind
Cohen, History in Three Keys
          Preface
          Prologue
LaFleur, "Historiography, Temporality, and Decision-Making Across Global Pasts"
                                               Bring Notebooks to Class 

Friday, January 28
Come to MI 207 at 10:30 TODAY!

Clan Meetings (I'll explain "clans" on the first day of class)
[1] Address the following matters: 
(a) What is "historical thinking? 
(b) Give some example of how it "works" (and not the almost clownishly simplistic idea 
      that most disciplines have that history is "the backstory" for their content. 
(c) Finally, how are you going to write your paper (due Sunday), and what is going to be in it?

[2] Write a short version of your answers to the above prompts (a few sentences per item), and send it to me by noon on Friday 1/28 as an email attachment.

***  ***
1,000-word "miniature" review essay examining one question:
"What is 'Historical Thinking'?"
This should be written as a brief, but well-structured 
academic essay, and not an informal work.
Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 30
Hard Copy Due in my Office (MI 206)
Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week II 
(January 31-February 4)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, January 31
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus Important
New York Review of Books (nothing until next week).
Lau, Confucius—The Analects: 59-105
     Books 1-10

Wednesday, February 2
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 4-5
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
LaFleur, Confucius/Analects (Foreword and Afterword)—.pdf
Lau, Confucius—The Analects: 106-160
     Books 11-20
Bring Notebooks to Class 

Friday, February 4
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
McNaughton: 9-30     or                    Wieger: 5-22 
Preface                                           Introductory
McNaughton: 31-40               or         Wieger: 26-49
Characters 1-49                                  Lessons 1-14
11:00 AM (note the time)
Clan Meetings 
[1] Address the following matters: 
(a) Now that you have gotten well into the lectures (through lecture five), list 3-5 key points that you might use in your letter assignment to describe Confucius and the Analects.
(b) How did your Chinese character practice go? Because of the introductory material for each book, this week likely took a bit longer than it will in the future, but how comfortable are you with stroke order? If you are advanced (or a native speaker) how was your experience starting the Wieger (Chinese Characters) book?
(c) Your letter will be due in a bit more than three weeks. To whom will you write it (say a bit about it, even if it is the same as Wednesday, with your group).

[2] Write a short version of your answers to the above prompts (a few sentences per item), and send it to me by noon on Friday 2/4 as an email attachment.


Week III 
(February 7-11)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, February 7
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 6-7
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
Gardner, Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction 
          Chronology
          Confucius (551-479 BCE) and His Legacy
          The Individual and Self-Cultivation
          Government in Confucian Teachings 
          Variety Within Early Confucianism
          The Reorientation of the Confucian Tradition After 1000 CE
          Confucianism in Practice
          Epilogue: Confucianism in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
                                                   Bring Notebooks to Class
Wednesday, February 9
LaFleur, "Calendars and Almanacs" (.pdf file)
Chinese copy of the almanac to glance at as you read the .pdf file
Bring Notebooks to Class 

Friday, February 11
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
                                McNaughton: 41-50        or         Wieger: 50-74
                                Characters 50-99                         Lessons 15-25
11:00 AM (note the time)
Clan Meetings
[1] Address the following matters: 
(a) Describe how your writing process is going. Do you find working with characters to be "relaxing" or (maybe) stressful? How comfortable are you with stroke order?
(b) Your letter will be due in two weeks. Make a very brief outline (just a few sentences), laying out your plan.
(c) Finally, introduce your group to your "favorite" passage in the Analects. Tell them what you find interesting in it.
[2] Write a short version of your answers to the above prompts (a few sentences per item), and send it to me by noon on Friday 2/11 as an email attachment.



Week IV 
(February 14-18)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, February 14
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 8-10
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
Ames and Rosemont, The Analects of Confucius
            Books 1-20
                                                   Bring Notebooks to Class

Wednesday, February 16
Ames and Rosemont, The Analects of Confucius
     Review before class (or finish, if you haven't)
Bring Notebooks to Class 

Friday, February 18
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
                                McNaughton: 51-60        or         Wieger: 74-103
                                Characters 100-149                    Lessons 26-36
[1] Address the following matters: 
(a) Discuss your writing practice with your clan group. What is working? What is not (and might be adapted or altered going forward? How are you doing with character proportions?
(b) Discuss your letter recipient, and some of the challenges you will have in "teaching" the material to that particular reader. Remember that the "challenges" can work in many different ways; your job is to "make it make sense" to your specific reader.
(c) Jot down a few ideas about how you might write your "chatty" first paragraph as you get things started ("I am fine...I'll bet you never expected a letter from me..."). Then, write your transition sentence or sentences, which will move the letter to the subject matter of our course. Write out a draft of those sentences.

[2] Write a short version of your answers to the above prompts (a few sentences per item), and send it to me by noon on Friday 2/18 as an email attachment.



Week V
(February 21-25)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, February 21
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus
Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred
     Human Community as Holy Rite 
     A Way Without A Crosswords
     The Locus of the Personal
     Traditionalist or Visionary
     A Confucian Metaphor: The Holy Vessel
                                                   Bring Notebooks to Class

Wednesday, February 23
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 19-20
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
Ames and Rosemont, The Analects of Confucius, 1-65
     Introduction
Chin, Confucius: The Analects, xv-xxvi
     Introduction
Slingerland, Confucius: Analects, vii-xxv
     Preface
     Introduction
Nylan, The Analects, ix-lxiii
     Translator's Introduction
     Editor's Introduction
Bring Notebooks to Class 

Friday, February 25
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
                                McNaughton: 61-70        or         Wieger: 104-129
                                Characters 150-199                    Lessons 36-46
Clan Meetings (Meet in in MI 207 at 11:00 a.m.)
[1] Address the following matters: 
(a) Discuss your continued writing/reading practice with your clan group. The entire reason you are doing these exercises is to gain skill in writing the characters as part of our class. This also pertains to passages in the Analects that interest you the most. You should be able to write key characters (the Ames/Rosemont translation has the Chinese characters). In time, you might be able to write out entire passages. For now, how is it going, and can you see the scenario I have described (writing out whole passages). 
For those of you who know Chinese already, how is your 說文解字 work going?

(b) Discuss how you are going to approach your letter-writing process (whether you have begun yet or not.

(c) Write a brief outline of the major topics you will cover in your letter, making sure that they are related to the topics required in the assignment (go back and check it if you are note sure).

[2] Write a short version of your answers to the above prompts (a few sentences per item), and send it to me by noon on Friday 2/25 as an email attachment.

Week VI
(February 28-March 4)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, February 28
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus
Leys (Nylan), The Analects
     Books 1-20 (just get started, and finish by Wednesday).
                                                   Bring Notebooks to Class

Wednesday, March 2
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 21-22
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
Leys (Nylan), The Analects
     Review before class (or finish, if you haven't)
Bring Notebooks to Class 

Friday, March 4
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
                                McNaughton: 71-80        or         Wieger: 130-155
                                Characters 200-249                     Lessons 47-59
Clan Meetings 11:00 AM in MI 207!
[1] Address the following matters: 
(a) Now that you are several weeks into your Chinese character work—McNaughton for most of you, and Wieger (說文解字) for a few of you—reflect a bit on what you might be able to do in the context of our course with that ability. Think, for example, of what we did in class on Wednesday, focusing upon key characters, and their possibilities for translation into English (or 白話文). 
(b) With your exam coming up next Wednesday, think about what you feel that you have studied thoroughly (go back and look through the syllabus), and what you may not have spent as much time on. Now, make a plan (just outline it with bullet points or a brief paragraph) for your exam preparation. Remember that you will have an 8.5x11 sheet of paper to take down notes to be used in the exam, but it will be "closed book" except for that. In short, what are you "good at," and what parts of our course need more work from you?
[2] Write a short version of your answers to the above prompts (a few sentences per item), and send it to me by noon on Friday 3/4 as an email attachment.




Week VII
(March 7-11)
See the Class Attendance Policy 

Monday, March 7
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus
LaFleur, Books That Matter: Confucius and the Analects, Lectures 23-24
(this material will be on the quiz, and eventually on the exams).
McNaughton, Reading and Writing Chinese
                                McNaughton: 81-90        or         Wieger: 156-183
                                Characters 200-249                     Lessons 60-71
Exam Preparation (in-class)

Wednesday, March 9
Exam I (in-class)  

Friday, March 11
Take an early break!

Week VIII
Midterm Break

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 150: Weeks 1-8                  HIST 150: Weeks 9-16
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