ENGLISH 5 S.R.J.

Summer 2015

Prof. MARCO GIORDANO

Office: 1639 Emeritus; Office phone:524-1572 E-mail:mgiordano@santarosa.edu

Office hours by appointment after class.
English 5 is a course in the disclosive interpretation and evaluation of the different objects of judgment:
experience, literature, art, suasive prose and the image and language packaging of the electronic media. It
is an extensive grounding in the hermeneutical, dialectical and rhetorical techniques required in the many
disciplines of the university and by a commitment to an examined life. It will express that commitment by
exalting the inquiring intellect in the examined life over any dogma, dharma, orthodoxy, convention,
ideology, conformism and all other forms of intellectual inertia or decay. Its minimum writing
requirement is six to eight thousand words of reasoned prose.
Required texts:
Sophocles, Antigone (S. Heaneys Burial at Thebes) Euripides, Medea; Plato, Protagoras & Meno;
Shakespeare, Hamlet; The Declaration of Independence et al; H.D. Thoreau, Civil Disobedience &
Other Essays; H. Ibsen, A Doll House; F. Nietzsche; Beyond Good & Evil; A. Camus, Exile & the
Kingdom; T. Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; J. T. Gatto, Dumbing Us Down; N.
Chomskys Media Control; Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments) (http://rhetoric.byu.edu) A
Bible; Various handouts, a college dictionary.

NOTE WELL: THIS COURSE IS RUN FOR THOSE WHO ATTEND PREPARED, NOT FOR
THOSE WHO DON'T. Do not enroll if you intend to miss a single class or not to spend at least
twice (three times is more realistic) as much time out of class on homework and preparation as you
spend in class attending. Six to eight thousand words of edited, proofread and typed composition are
required, as well as eight hundred or more pages of reading. Readings and deadlines for required
exercises may be announced as little as the class session before. Formats for papers given in class
must be strictly adhered to. Homework not turned in the day it is due to the instructor in class will
not be accepted without written proof of seriously mitigating circumstances. All papers must be on
assigned or approved topics and meet the criteria detailed in class (and, a fortiori and as appropriate,
in the Composition Objectives in Outcomes and Objectives listed under Course Content in the
official SRJC English 5 Course Outline) in order to receive any grade whatsoever. This six week
summer course requires, according to the above math, that you commit to spending a
minimum of thirty hours a week in and out of class in order to have any chance of
passing it.
Regardless of any other considerations or achievements, nine hours of
absence is, for whatever reason & without appeal, unsatisfactory performance in the
course; less may be, especially if consecutive. The official attendance policy of SRJC,
which does not recognize the concepts of excused absence or late attendance,
allows an instructor to drop a student after that student has missed ten percent of the
total class hours of the course at anytime, or the equivalent of the first weeks worth
of class meetings of a 17 week course in the first week--that means the first meeting of
a seventeen week class which meets once a week or the first meeting of a 6 week
summer session class. Absences accrue from the first class meeting whether or not
the student enrolls by that time.
It is your responsibility to know the appropriate deadlines and execute the appropriate
procedures of the Office of Admissions and Records. Do not expect me to drop you and do not protest
if I have on the grounds of insufficient attendance described above. (By the way, since, by attending
SRJC, you oblige yourself to abide by the student code of conduct, it might not be a bad idea to find
out what that entails. There are eighteen standards of student conduct. You must adhere to all of
them. ) In this class, you may not open a laptop unless directed or you have a note from
the Disabilities office. You must power down your cell phone and not leave class while
it is in session save for an emergency. Coming in late or leaving early count as class
disruption. (If you do leave early, you must inform me as to why before the next class.)
This syllabus is the first warning against such class disruption. Any academic

dishonesty, such as plagiarism (and you can count on me to detect and verify it) is
sufficient grounds for failure in the course.
Class calls for undivided attention. TAKE COPIOUS NOTES! There is no textbook
but the lectures. You are responsible for knowing the content of every lecture given in
class. This responsibility must be reflected in your work. If you are not taking notes,
I will assume you are not serious about passing the course;. You must submit at least
half your graded work by midterm. Approximate grading emphases are: finished
essays, including the take home final essay, 60%; class work, reading responses,
quizzes & exams, 40%; These figures are advisory only, as the aggregate model is
irrational; my professional assessment of your critical reading and writing competence
determines your grade..
PROSPECTUS OF THE COURSE
Week 1 : Day 1: Definition of Subject, its method and objects, explication of key terms in syllabus as well as in the
official course outline. Assigned readings from handouts and all of Gattos Dumbing Us Down together with
exercises will be due on Day 2. Identification, analysis, evaluation of arguments from personal authority
distinction within between factual and opinion statements, exposition of and consideration of Ethos, Pathos,
Logos, Tone and Rhetorical strategy toward projected audience. Assigned reading: the rest of Dumbing Us Down
and Westons Rulebook.
Day 3. All of Chomskys Media Control assigned which, together with exercises, will be due on Day 3.
Continuation of above topics and issue-oriented treatment of the text. Cause and effect assertions, ethical
diagnoses, etc. Critical thinking about Critical Thinking class.
Day 4 Discussion of Media Control. The nature of arguments discussed. Declaration of Independence,
The Constitution, Federalist 10, Lincolns Second Inaugural, Thoreaus Civil Disobedience & Martin Luther
Kings Letter From Birmingham Jail & Beyond Vietnam together with exercises assigned.
Week 2 ; Days 1,2 3&4Henry V questions due Henry V and The Cure At Troy discussed Discussion of Continued
consideration of arguments .Preliminary lecture, exposition and analysis of the Meno. Meno questions
Discussion of same. Definition of terms, logical extension and intension, deductive and inductive arguments
covered. The syllogism treated. Rhetorical techniques of Invention and Arrangement. Issue oriented discussion
of the texts so far assigned. The Protagoras & Meno assigned and & exercises distributed.
Evaluation of arguments and definitions in Thoreau, Jefferson et al.
Week 3; Day 1: Protagoras exercises due and discussed. Consideration of topics already discussed applied. Meno
considered.
Day 2: Consideration of topics already discussed applied. Meno considered.
Day 3: Consideration of topics already discussed applied.
Day 4 MENO QUESTIONS DUE. Hamlet and Hamlet questions assigned.
Week 4 Days 1&2:Hamlet questions due & discussed. Contemporary parallels and examples adduced. Appropriate
handouts assigned. Evaluation of arguments and definitions in Shakespeare. The nature and definition of
Tragedy. & the uses and techniques of poetry discussed Contemporary issues, parallels and examples discussed.
Generation of formal arguments and use of rhetorical techniques. Appropriate handouts discussed. Paper
prompts distributed and discussed. Rough drafts solicited. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern assigned.
Day 3 &4: Arguments in R&G discussed. Continued discussion of literary, political and sexual issues.
Application of formal argumentation and rhetorical techniques. Paper prompts distributed & discussed. Rough
drafts solicited & discussed. Medea, Antigone (The Burial at Thebes) & A Doll House & biblical tests assigned
Week 5 ; Days 1,2,3 & 4: Medea, Antigone (The Burial at Thebes), A Doll House & biblical texts discussed.
Principles of Biblical hermeneutic treated on assigned texts Continued discussion of literary, political and sexual
issues. Identification, evaluation and generation of fictional arguments, rhetorical strategies & techniques.
Nietzsches Beyond Good & Evil & Camus The Guest. Assigned.
Week 6; Day 1: The Guest. Discussed.
Day 2:. Nietzsche lecture. Religious, ethical, political issues discussed. Identification, evaluation and
generation of formal arguments and rhetorical strategies.
Day 3: Final paper prompts discussed.
Day 4. Papers & finals due