Introduction to Humanities - DSU-198

Course Description: This six-week online course explores the western world’s artistic endeavors and their relationships with the context in which they were created. Students gain an appreciation for the variety of human expression and develop an understanding for the elements that contribute to an artist’s world view. This survey course is not intended to be comprehensive, but a broad framework for examining visual art, sculpture, architecture, music, theatre, dance and literary art and exploring major creative, social and political movements.

Prerequisite: None

Course Credit: 3 Credit Hours

Major Course Topics & Course Outcomes

As a result of the group and individual activities included in this course, the student will acquire the following knowledge and skills that can be applied to the workplace:

Introduction to Humanities

• Discuss the development of prehistoric humans.
• Recognize and identify key Paleolithic and Neolithic works in visual art and architecture.
• Discuss the relationship between means of subsistence and the art of prehistory.
• Trace the function, social role and development of the arts in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.
• Describe the necessary elements which make up civilization and their significance.
• Trace the development of the arts in the shifting cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Recognize and identify key works in visual art and architecture in the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, and Egyptian cultures.
• Describe religious beliefs in Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures and their manifestations in the arts and architecture.

The Ancient World

• Demonstrate an understanding of the cultures of the ancient world.
• Trace the developments of Mesopotamia from Sumeria to Babylonia.
• Relate the mythology of ancient societies to human experience.
• Show how the Egyptians used the rituals of the afterlife to govern their lives.
• Compare the various early Asian civilizations.
• Compare and contrast the Dark Age, Bronze Age, Mediterranean civilizations of the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

Ancient Greece

• Explain the basic traits of the early Greek or Archaic Greek, Classical Greek, and Hellenistic cultures.
• Analyze the role the Greek religious system played in their daily lives during these different periods of their culture.
• Describe the cultural significance of theatre, music, and dance in ancient Greece.
• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the different schools of Greek philosophy and the major written works.
• Discuss the significance of the Hellenistic legacy.

Ancient Rome

• Describe the early years of the Roman culture and the influence of the Etruscans.
• Describe Rome's rise and fall as a world empire.
• Explain the difference between the art and architecture produced during the republican and imperial periods.
• Illustrate their knowledge of daily life in ancient Rome.
• Demonstrate an appreciation of Roman poetry and philosophy.

Monotheism

• Trace the history of the foundation of the Judaic tradition.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the development of Christianity.
• Make the connections between pagan traditions and Christian doctrine.
• Explain the influence of Classical philosophy on Christian teachings.
• Compare and contrast the Roman and Byzantine Christian empires.
• Describe the Christian church's opposition to previous pagan art forms and the rise of Iconoclasm.
• Explain the role played by the prophet Mohammed in the formation of Islam.
• Identify the contributions made in science and medicine by Islamic cultures.

The Early Middle Ages

• Describe how the war-like German tribes merged with the Romanized Christian church.
• Explain how illuminated manuscripts incorporated Byzantine and Anglo-Saxon influences to create a Carolingian style.
• Analyze how the epic poem Song of Roland characterized feudal states of medieval Europe.
• Compare the decline in the intellectual level of Medieval Europe to a multicultural environment flowered in Spain with the mixing of Christians, Jews and Muslims.
• Trace the spread of monasticism from Egyptian hermits to Italian and northern European monasteries of the sixth century.
• Interpret how the vows of the monastic order – poverty, chastity, and obedience led monks to believe they were adopting the vita apostolica.
• Show the parallels between European culture of the fifth century with that of the Maya culture of Mesoamerica of the same time.
• Explain how architecture and sculpture defined the period known as Romanesque.
• Dispel the concept that only men held important positions of influence by reading the works of Hrotsvit and Hildegard of Bengen.
• Illustrate musical notation and show how it changed music.
• Analyze the philosophies that altered much of medieval theology.

The Late Middle Ages

• Explain what is meant by the "Gothic Awakening."
• Describe the Gothic style.
• Identify and discuss major changes in music and theater.
• Describe the importance of scholasticism and the rise of universities.
• Discuss how life at court and in cities changed in the later part of the Middle Ages.
• Describe how the Late Gothic Period provided a prelude to the Renaissance.

The Renaissance

• Describe the conditions in Italian cities that nurtured the creative spirit of the Renaissance.
• Explain the basis of power underlying political decisions.
• Trace role of the Medici family in order to see what a dynasty can achieve.
• Analyze Humanism and learn how theologians came to view medieval concepts of man as sinful and depraved gave way to Renaissance ideas of glorifying beauty and order in nature.
• Examine the role of women as avid patrons of the arts or composers in Renaissance Italy.
• Describe the technical innovations in the arts and music that helped define the Florentine Renaissance style.
• Compare and contrast the concept of Brunellischi’s Renaissance dome with the more elaborate buttressing of Gothic designs.
• Explain the science of perspective as it applied to pictorial arts.
• Describe how early Renaissance composers used many of the same musical forms used in the Middle Ages.
• Analyze the ways in which Machiavelli and Leonardo were Renaissance humanists.
• Explain how the decline of the Merchant Princes in Florence led to the artistic center of Italy to move to Rome.
• Compare the heroic style of the Renaissance in Rome with the early Renaissance style in Florence.

Reformation and the Late Renaissance

• Summarize the causes of the Reformation.
• Compare and contrast the various developments of the Reformation.
• Connect the discoveries of the New World and European monarchies.
• Demonstrate how humanism led to artistic developments of northern Europe.
• Identify the political disputes between Henry XVIII and the Pope to the establishment of the Anglican Church.
• Identify the northern artists and thinkers who most reflected Renaissance humanist values.
• Describe the social and religious circumstances in England that contributed to the success of Elizabethan theater.
• Explain the reasons for the late Renaissance's conservatism in music and theater.
• Analyze the Counter-Reformation and show it as a self-reformation of the Catholic Church.

Baroque

• Identify important features of Italian baroque art and music.
• Be able to discuss the major works of architecture, sculpture, painting, and music produced in Italy during the Baroque period.
• Describe the artistic and literary trends in Spain that shifted from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.
• Explain the artistic and political trends in France in the Baroque period including the reign of Louis XIV that became the Neoclassical.
• Describe the varied artistic and musical styles found in the northern, protestant Baroque countries.
• Discuss the significance of the Scientific Revolution.
• Make connections between mathematics and science as seen in the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution.
• Explain what is meant by the "English Compromise" and the synthesis of diverse elements of the English baroque style.
• Compare the Taj Mahal's symmetry and balance to European neoclassical styles of architecture.

The Enlightenment

• Identify the qualities of eighteenth-century art that most appealed to art's patron classes.
• Trace the development of the Enlightenment.
• Summarize the ideas of the major intellectuals of the Enlightenment, especially those known as the philosophes.
• Show how Classicism evolved into the Rococo style.
• Identify the artistic styles and themes that appealed to the growing middle-class public known as the Bourgeoisie and which indicated changing attitudes.
• Parallel Enlightenment movements with those of Japan through Kabuki theatre.
• Appreciate the Neoclassical style as a revival of classical Greece and Rome.
• Describe the popular classical musical forms of: symphony, concerto, sonata and string quartet and compare them to today's popular music.
• Identify the aspects of eighteenth-century society that were criticized by the age's great satirists who sought to improve society.

Revolution and Romanticism

• Identify the leading philosophical and political ideas of the American and French revolutions.
• Explain the events leading to and part of the major revolutions taking place in Europe and the Americas.
• Describe the rights gained by some, but not all, of those involved in revolutions.
• Explain the rise of industrialization, especially as it evolved in Great Britain.
• Discuss the concepts of the Romantic Hero and the Romantic Genius and how they relate to the artistic and political figures of the era.
• Identify the influences on and inspirations for the Romanticists.
• Explain the changes in music form the Classical to romantic periods.
• Analyze the Romantic obsession with evil, the demonic, and the grotesque.

The Industrial Age

• Identify the technical and scientific advances that led to the Spirit of Materialism and contributed to the age's social and artistic progress.
• Recognize themes of Realism in the modern world.
• Trace the development of architecture in the large cities.
• Analyze the musical revolution that led to advances in opera, nationalism and ballet.
• Explain why the symbolists and like-minded artists rejected the artistic tastes of middle-class society.
• Compare and contrast the late Romantic, Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic styles.
• Summarize the influence and criticisms of the “Dark Side of Progress” on theater and literature.

Modernism

•  Identify the historical events and forces that shaped the rise of modern mass society.
• Explain the impact of scientific discoveries and political events that had a profound effect on the arts.
• Discuss ways in which modernists discarded or transformed longstanding traditions in the visual arts.
• Analyze the various modernist trends in art that took place in the first half of the twentieth century.
• Discuss the impact of modern psychology on artistic trends.
• Summarize Freud's view of the role of sexuality in human thought.
• Examine elements of modern literature and explore new forms such as "interior monologue."
• Discuss the major developments in rhythm and tonality in music.
• Identify the significant styles of modern architecture.
• Compare the different political beliefs that were communicated in the works of modernist artists.
• Describe the impact of photography and film during this time.
• Identify the most significant American innovators of the modernist era.

The Contemporary Spirit

• Explain the artistic and philosophical response to the age of anxiety.
• Describe the modernist trends and techniques that were extended or developed by the post-war avant-garde.
• Compare and contrast various individual styles of art within Abstract Expressionism.
• Identify examples of Existentialism in the arts.
• Summarize the artistic goals of post-war architecture, as evident in the works of the International Style.
• Trace the trends in post-war avant-garde music.
• Illustrate the stylistic tendencies of post-modern art with examples from several media or forms.
• Discuss the development of global culture at the end of the twentieth century.
• Describe the destructive power of modern warfare on nations and peoples.

 

Course Texts:

There is one textbook required for this course. You can obtain it through your favorite bookstore.

Bishop, Philip E. “Adventures in the Human Spirit: 5th Edition”  Pearson Prentice Hall: 2008  978-0-13-224459-6

 

Additional reading materials will be provided in the classroom.

 

Please note that textbooks are subject to change. Please contact your advisor before purchasing the textbook for your class to confirm.