Perspectives on the Individual—Core 2007
Dr. Jonathan Alexander
jalexander@bcc.edu (please use my BCC e-mail account)
Phone: 609-894-9311 x1123
Online Syllabus: http://staff.bcc.edu/faculty_websites/jalexand/2007syl.htm

REVISED FOR FALL 2011

Seven required texts:
1) Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
2) Gilgamesh
3) Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
4) The Autobiography of Malcolm X
5) Plato, Apology and Crito
6) Elie Wiesel, Night
7) FDU University Core Readings (Ed., James Kuehl)

The Core Reading text above includes the following selections:
Thich Nhat Hanh, “Thây’s Fourteen Precepts”
Anne Fausto-Sterling, “The Five Sexes”
Sharon Begley, Decoding the Human Body
Geoffrey Cowley and Anne Underwood, A Revolution in Medicine
Adam Bryant, The Gold Rush
Robert Sapolsky, It’s Not “All in the Genes”
The Sermon on the Mount
Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on the Dignity of Man”
William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality…” and “Tintern Abbey”
Tillie Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing”

NOTE: Phone the campus bookstore BEFORE you go to ensure that the books are available.

Overview: Within the Western World we traditionally begin with the self in antithetical relationship to all others. In “Perspectives on the Individual” we begin by reading Plato’s “Crito” and “Apology,” wherein we explore the development of the individual as dissenting thinker. We move next to Gilgamesh and a discussion of the cultural emergence of the individual and socialization. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, we see depicted a society of the future in which the individual is no longer valued as such. With selections from Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man” we are introduced to Renaissance understandings of the value of the individual while Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and “Ode: Imitations of Immorality” serve as a Romantic focus on the theme of turning inward. The course nears its end with the Autobiography of Malcolm X and deals with such topics as the lifelong search for self and the transformation of the self through catharsis. We turn to Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” as we try to deal with the question of how the structure of society may culturally repress the individuality of women or allow it to grow. We move to Freud and the struggle between instinctual drives and the expectations of civilization and we conclude with Elie Wiesel’s Night, a depiction of the Holocaust and the struggle of humanity against its own worst enemy.

Course Expectations: ~ If the student is to profit from any course, he or she must attend class on a consistent basis. Students must attend all classes for the full duration of each session. Entering late or leaving early is considered disrespectful and will not be tolerated. Should you need to miss a class for observance of religious holidays, jury duty, military duty, bereavement, or illness, you must notify the instructor by telephone or e-mail either prior to or within 24 hours after the class. Without this communication, students forfeit the right to make up missed work.

Communication: Generally, e-mail is a convenient method of exchanging information between student and faculty; however, because of occasional problems with transmission, students who do not receive a reply to their e-mail within 48 hours should assume it was never received and should resend e-mail or call the office. This is especially important regarding e-mails which document absences or which contain submitted assignments. (If you find it necessary to submit an assignment via e-mail attachment, please do so using Microsoft Word® only; do not attach documents created using Works® or WordPerfect®. Only attach assignments if they have a DOC or TXT extension.)

Written Work: Written work as a rule should utilize standard rules of grammar, sentence organization, paragraph organization, and diction. All papers are to be typed, double spaced, stapled, and carefully proofread. See each assignment page online for particular information and specifications for the assignments.

Assignment Deadlines: All assignments are due on the date specified on the syllabus without exception. Assignments which are not submitted during the class session they are due will be penalized 15% for each subsequent day they are late. On the occasion when a student is absent the day an assignment is due, he or she should submit the assignment as an attachment via e-mail the same day it is due. Considering that students know all assignments and deadlines from the first day of the semester, excuses such as “crashed computers,” “misplaced data,” “misplaced disks,” or “empty printer ink cartridges” will not be accepted. It is suggested that all computer work be saved twice (once on your personal computer’s hard drive and again on a removable floppy disk).

Plagiarism: Plagiarism will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Be aware of the six kinds of plagiarism:

copying someone else’s words without crediting the source;
paraphrasing someone else’s words without crediting the source;
using someone else’s ideas without crediting the source;
using facts obtained from a source without crediting the source;
asking someone else to write your paper, either in whole or in part; or
obtaining a paper by any means and submitting it as an original document.

The penalty for plagiarism is failure of the assignment and/or the course and may result in expulsion from the University. See Purdue University’s site for skills in Avoiding Plagiarism.

Grades will be based on the following equivalents:
Points Earned	Final Grade
92-100	A
89-91	A- (note the lower average needed)
87-88	B+
83-86	B
81-82	B-
79-80	C+ (note the higher average needed)
75-78	C
70-74	D
0-69	F

Course Assignments:
Journals, Participation, and other assigned activities (20 pts): Journal responses will be checked randomly through the semester and evaluated during the last session of the course. Students are expected to answer at least half of all focus questions provided for each reading on the syllabus. For online sessions, all posted questions must be answered completely and specific deadlines must be met.

Papers (40 pts): Two formal papers will be due on sessions 7 and 14. Each paper must be 1000 words, typed, double-spaced. These papers should focus on an expansion or elaboration of previously discussed materials. The focus of each paper should be connections made among readings.

Midterm Exam (20 pts—session 8) and Final Exam (20 pts—session 15): There will be a midterm examination covering the first half of the course material and a final examination that will cover only the second half of the material. Both exams may be a combination of objective and short essay questions.

Schedule of Assigned Readings and Focus Questions: All reading must be completed by the date they are listed below. For days which we meet in class, responses to focus questions should be brought to class for discussion.

CLASS SCHEDULE: This course includes 15 class sessions (Mondays and Wednesdays, 6-8:30pm). Some class sessions will be comprised of e-mail responses as illustrated below.

QUICK GLANCE AT SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS:

BRIEF COURSE MEETING SCHEDULE
MONDAYS	WEDNESDAYS
10-31, Course introduction	11-2, NO MEETING
11-7, Plato, Apology and Crito (continued)	11-9, NO MEETING, Gilgamesh
11-14, Sermon and “Thây’s Fourteen Precepts”	11-16, NO MEETING, Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale
11-21, Pico della Mirandola and ESSAY ONE	11-23, NO CLASS (THANGSGIVING)
11-28, MIDTERM EXAM	11-30, NO MEETING, Genetics (selections)
12-5, Wordsworth, “Ode” and “Tintern Abbey”	12-7, NO MEETING, Malcolm X (selections)
12-12, Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing”	12-14, NO MEETING, Freud’s Civilization
12-19, Wiesel, Night and ESSAY TWO	12-21, FINAL EXAM

DETAILED SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND FOCUS QUESTIONS:

SESSION ONE—MONDAY, 10-31
Course Introduction

SESSION TWO— ONLINE, WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, 11-2
Student Survey—Click to view survey questions. Respond to each question and e-mail responses to me before noon on Sunday, November 6, 2011

SESSION THREE—MONDAY, 11-7
Readings: Plato, Apology and Crito
Focusing Questions: (1) Socrates claims that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” What exactly is an “examined life”? How is examining one’s life related to being an individual in our culture? Is living an examined life always desirable? Is it possible to examine everything about our lives? Do you accept Plato’s suggestion that the more heroic individual is the reflective, independent thinker rather than the warrior? (2) What role does reasoning play in freeing us from the domination of traditional myths and social demands? What is the community’s or society’s interest in controlling dissent? (3) Socrates claims that his sole “wisdom” consists in the realization that he is not wise. What does he mean? Is his behavior during his trial and imprisonment consistent with this claim? (4) It is sometimes argued that Socrates committed a form of suicide. In what sense, if any, is this true?

SESSION FOUR—ONLINE, WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, 11-9
Readings: Gilgamesh
Focusing Questions: (1) Heroes provide one perspective on the individual, since heroes serve as exemplary individuals or models of conduct. Gilgamesh is one of the first heroes in world literature. How does he exemplify heroic behavior? (2) Other perspectives on the individual are provided by consideration of those factors that shape our identities. Enkidu first appears in Gilgamesh as a wild man, totally outside human society. How is he socialized into human society? What role does his friendship with Gilgamesh play in Enkidu’s socialization? (3) as Enkidu lies dying he bitterly complains that the temple prostitute “Made me see things as a man, and a man sees death in things”(49). To what extent is awareness of mortality a distinctive human train? (4) In their adventures together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat the monster Humbaba. Exactly what is Humbaba? Do you think this figure, at least in some respects, symbolizes some natural phenomenon? You may wish to reread the descriptions of Humbaba on pages 29 and 38. (5) As Gilgamesh and Enkidu approach Humbaba’s forest, Gilgamesh is described as being “revitalized by danger”(35). To what extent is a person’s individual development enhanced by confronting danger or adversity? Are challenges and hardships essential to building character? (6) The death of Enkidu drives Gilgamesh into a frenzy of grief. To what extent do extreme pain or bereavement isolate or “desocialize” an individual? (7) Gilgamesh’s search for Utnapishtim and the secret of immortality is an early example of the heroic quest. While there are possible elements of a real journey in Gilgamesh’s quest, it is easy to see this quest as a symbolic journey that brings Gilgamesh to a deeper understanding of human mortality. Which elements of the journey seem to you to be the most realistic? Which elements seem the most symbolic? Little is said in the text about Gilgamesh’s behavior and actions after his return. How would you imagine him to have been changed by this journey? (8) The story of Utnapishtim is clearly similar to the biblical account of Noah and the Ark. What are the similarities between the two stories? What important differences are there? (9) What can you infer from Gilgamesh about the religious beliefs of the ancient Mesopotamians? What attitudes to the Mesopotamian gods appear in the story? See, for example, Utnapishtim’s comments to Gilgamesh on pages 78-79. What beliefs, if any, about an afterlife seem to be implied in the story?

SESSION FIVE—MONDAY, 11-14
Readings: The Sermon on the Mount, “Thây’s Fourteen Precepts,” and Maimonides’ Eight Levels of Charity
(Seinfeld, Friends, Crash)
Focusing Questions: (1) The beatitudes (5:3-10) are considered a proclamation of a new approach to the good life. Would Gilgamesh have accepted these notions of goodness? Would he have rejected them all, accepted some? What about Socrates? (2) Do you see any similarities between Socrates’s attitude toward the gods and Jesus’ attitude toward God? (3) In these sayings there is a heavy emphasis on heaven and hell. What value do you think this has for the formation of a self? Is it necessary? Is it good? Is it harmful? (4) There is also a strong emphasis on an interior goodness that goes beyond outward good behavior. Is this important, valuable? or does it impose an impossible ideal? (5) Similarly, what do you think of such well-known ideas as turning the other cheek? loving your enemies? and so on. Do they have any validity or are they unreal or even unjust notions? (6) Jesus’ insistence that we not be anxious about food and clothing sounds like Socrates’s insistence than men not be anxious about acquiring honors and possessions. In what ways are they the same? different?

SESSION SIX—ONLINE, WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, 11-16
Readings: Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Focusing Questions: (1) The Handmaid’s Tale warns us that we must address certain threats to our individuality in the present-day USA if we are to avoid having to face them in a fully realized way in the future. Discuss these threats to our individuality. (2) Aunt Lydia talks of two kinds of freedom: “freedom to” and “freedom from,” and warns the handmaids not to underrate “freedom from.” What does each kind of freedom mean? Give examples. What does Lydia mean in warning not to underrate “freedom from?” (3) Offred tells the commander that what is missing from Gilead is the opportunity to “fall in love.” Do you agree that this is the greatest failure of Gilead? (4) Handmaids’ names are composed of “of,” followed by the names of their commanders. In our own society, the majority of married women adopt their husbands’ names. Discuss similarities and differences between the two practices. (5) Do you agree with Professor Piexoto that “our job is not to censure [practices in Gilead], but to understand [them]”? (6) Is Offred a heroic individual? Why or why not? (7) The Handmaid’s Tale presents us with a dystopia in which individuality is largely crushed. Which one of all your freedoms today now seems more precious as a result of reading The Handmaid’s Tale.

SESSION SEVEN—MONDAY, 11-21
ESSAY ONE DUE
Readings: Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on the Dignity of Man”
Focusing Questions: (1) What is the importance for the individual human person of having a particular place in the “Great Chain of Being,” that is, in the immense natural world, from atoms to galaxies? (2) In what way does Pico de la Mirandola’s understanding of human nature differ from the duality we saw Gilgamesh between man as animal (Enkidu) and man as God (Gilgamesh)? (3) In what way do human persons differ from the rest of nature in Pico de la Mirandola? Is Pico’s a legitimate way to define the relationship in today’s science-governed understanding?

SESSION EIGHT—WEDNESDAY, 11-23 (No class, Thanksgiving)

SESSION NINE—MONDAY, 11-28
MIDTERM EXAM

SESSION TEN—ONLINE, WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, 11-30
Readings:
Anne Fausto-Sterling, The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough
Sharon Begley, Decoding the Human Body
Geoffrey Cowley and Anne Underwood, A Revolution in Medicine
Adam Bryant, The Gold Rush
Robert Sapolsky, It’s Not “All in the Genes”

Focusing Questions: (1) In “The Five Sexes,” Fausto-Sterling states that experts estimate “as many as four percent of births” are intersex or hermaphrodite babies who are neither male nor female, but some kind of true or pseudo-hermaphrodite. What do you think and how do you feel, knowing that one in 20 to 25 students attending class at FDU, about 400 of our roughly 10,000 students, are intersex, hermaphrodite, or transsexual persons? (2) How might you react if you discovered that a member of your family, a close friend, or a fellow student is a hermaphrodite or intersex? How might you react and feel if you discovered that a parent, family member, close friend, or fellow student was seriously planning to have a sex change operation? (3) Until recently few questioned the “assumption that without medical care [and early genital surgery to correct an intersex condition] hermaphrodites are doomed to a life of misery.” Do you agree or disagree with this assumption, and why? (4) Fausto-Sterling concludes that the medical community is finally recognizing the real harm and psychological damage its “biopower”—its ability to alter anatomical sex, and surgically and hormonally force intersexual persons and hermaphrodites into either male or female pigeonholes—has done to intersex and hermaphrodite persons. How do you think people, and our society as a whole, will react now that the gender experts, physicians, and psychologists are concluding that it is better not to operate on or medically treat intersex and hermaphrodite babies right after birth, and more humane and ethical to let them grow up as intersex persons until they can make a decision about their own treatment? (5) Explain why you agree or disagree with Fausto-Sterling’s suggestion “that the three intersexes, herm, merm, and ferm, deserve to be considered additional sexes each in its own right.” Remember, she clearly suggests “that sex is a vast, indefinitely malleable continuum that defies the constraints of even five sexes.” Why are male and female not enough? Why are five sexes not enough? (6) Intersexual and hermaphrodite persons, Fausto-Sterling tells us, were recognized and discussed by Plato, early interpreters of the Bible and the Genesis story of creation, and in the Jewish books of laws. Why did this change at the end of the Middle Ages? Do you think new medical knowledge about the biological origins of intersex, hermaphrodite, and transsexual persons, and our new knowledge about the varieties and biological causes of our sexual orientations will force us to again recognize this diversity of human sexualities? Will we and our society be able to recognize the equality and rights of all persons, whatever their sexual identity, role, and/or orientation?

SESSION ELEVEN—MONDAY, 12-5
Readings: William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality…” and “Tintern Abbey”
Focusing Questions: (1) What does it means to say “the child is father to the man”? Is it true? (2) Wordsworth’s natural world is much more intimate and vivid than the abstract vision of the cosmos considered by Pico. In what way does this modify the way we think of ourselves in relation to nature? (3) Why is it the child’s relation to nature that is so important in “Tintern Abbey” and “Ode”? (4) For Wordsworth the outer self is the social self. Why does he reject this outer self in favor of an inner, private self? Is this same rejection found in any way in Gilgamesh or in Plato’s “Apology” and “Crito”? (5) Why does Wordsworth find the Socratic or Platonic ideal of reason inadequate for the making of a self? Who would Wordsworth admire more, Socrates or Gilgamesh? (6) Wordsworth suggests that we become prisoners as we grow older. Do we find this experience reflected, for instance, in Gilgamesh or in Socrates? Do we find it in our own experience? (7) Childhood, nature, and the folk are the sources from which Wordsworth builds an inner self. How are they related?

SESSION TWELVE—ONLINE, WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, 12-7
Readings:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (“Nightmare,” 1-22; “Detroit Red,” first half, 84-96; “Satan,” last half, 162-168; “Saved,” last two-thirds, 178-190; “Savior,” first 10 pages, 191-199; “Minister Malcolm,” last half, 222-235; “Black Muslims,” 236-265; “Mecca,” 318-342; “El Hajj,” 343-363; “1965,” 364-382. Additional passages–optional: “Ella’s Pride,” 32; “Be a Carpenter,” 36; “Hustler,” 114-117, include West Indian Archie; Section on Bimbi, 153; “Satan,” whole chapter; “Saved,” whole chapter; “Epilogue, 383-456; “On Malcolm,” 457-460.)
Focusing Questions: (1) In what ways was Malcolm’s individuality denied him because of his race? (2) Malcolm said his life was a series of changes. What were the major changes in his life? How did the various names and nicknames he had mark some of the changes. What was the difference between the childhood of Malcolm X and the childhood that Wordsworth describes? (3) What personal experiences made him open to accepting the teaching that “the white man is the devil”? What reading in history? In what way did his hajj change his attitude? (4) What message did Malcolm have for African-Americans? For white Americans? Why did human rights become his central idea, and not just civil rights? What were his final spiritual teachings? (5) Malcolm’s life can be seen as a process of mental liberation, of “decolonizing the mind.” How did his self-education contribute? How did his break with Elijah Muhammad? (6) What can Malcolm tell us about the value of education? (7) What was his attitude toward women in general, and in particular, towards Ella, his mother, Betty Shabbaz? What was his attitude toward Jews? Toward violence? (8) What would you say about the claim that Malcolm found himself through commitment to a higher cause? (9) How do racial and other group identifications shape our sense of who we are?

SESSION THIRTEEN—MONDAY, 12-12
Readings: Tillie Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing”
Focusing Questions: (1) There are many sources of the pain which Emily has experienced in her life. Who or what is mainly responsible for this pain? (2) Does Emily have the freedom to overcome the difficulties of her early life? What might Pico say? (3) “I Stand Here Ironing” has been called a work which de-romanticizes motherhood. Is it? Why or why not?

SESSION FOURTEEN—ONLINE, WEEK OF WEDNESDAY, 12-14
Readings: Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
Focusing Questions: (1) How does Freud differ from Wordsworth in his explanation of the struggle between instinctual drives and the expectations of civilization? Which one, do you think, better explains the tension? (2) Wordsworth sees nature as a refuge from civilization. How does Freud see it? (3) Does the struggle between civilization and instinct contribute to or inhibit personal growth? (4) What is the difference between Freud’s notion of law and that of Socrates? (5) How widespread is discontent in American civilization? What are the principal sources of this discontent? Can technology relieve us of these problems? What does Freud think? (6) What is the relationship between Freud’s theories and the way the struggle between instinct and culture has been managed in The Handmaid’s Tale?

SESSION FIFTEEN—MONDAY, 12-19
ESSAY TWO DUE
Readings: Elie Wiesel, Night
Focusing Questions: (1) In what way is the narrator’s early life in Sighet like the early life described by Wordsworth? Note several elements of this early life which constitute the narrator’s individuality. Show how each is taken away from him by his life in the camps. (2) The relationship of Eliezer to his father is very important in the second half of the book. Why? From this relationship, what lesson does Eliezer learn about an individual’s potential for good and evil? (3) Just prior to the Nazi invasion of Hungary, the Jews of Sighet took comfort against rumors to the effect that Hitler was harming European Jews by asking: “Was he going to wipe out the whole people?. . . So many millions! . . . And in the middle of the twentieth century!” The twentieth century individual, they thought, was incapable of repeating the atrocities, the mass murders of the dim past. What assumptions about the effect of Western culture on the “twentieth century” individual are being made here? How have your ideas about “progress” been affected by this text? (4) The Holocaust could not have occurred without the active collaboration of many ordinary citizens and the silent compliance of countless others. At the war crimes tribunal following World War II at Nuremberg, many Nazi defendants pleaded the case that they were “just following orders,” that actions taken against Jews were “legal.” Individual citizens in our own society sometimes confront laws they find to be immoral. Give some instances in recent United States history in which individuals have refused to obey laws they condemn morally. Are there any laws which would prompt your disobedience for ethical reasons? (5) This course begins with a dystopia. Toward the close of the course we have now read a tale of a lived dystopia. What similarities to Gilead do you find in the world described in Night. (6) Imagine that Plato and Freud are alive and have just completed reading Wiesel’s Night. Compose letters written by them to Wiesel telling him how their own thoughts relate to the tragedy depicted in Night.

SESSION SIXTEEN—WEDNESDAY, 12-21
FINAL EXAMINATION

Neoclassical period of 18th Century defined by:

Liberty vs. Authority

Reason vs. Intuition

Struggle of the new machine age

Behavior of the cosmos

Art, science, and nature’s law

Reason ruled supreme

Poetry becoming emotionally barren

The romantic tendency of poetry (1798-1832):

entered into nature to express it and feel it

no illusion of a perfect natural world

pain and sorrow of life

individual artistic tastes, human rights, and responsibilities

perception

love and fear of nature

original genius, genuine emotion, and the human spirit

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Two poetic tendencies of the moral and the confessional

Communing with nature vs. conformity to social convention

Integration of the natural world and the divine spirit

Poetry written to instruct and give pleasure.

Being aware of that special gift entrusted to him, the gift of the poet’s imagination, he stated in the Prelude:

Imagination—here the Power so called

Through sad incompetence of human speech,

That awful Power rose from the mind’s abyss

Like an unfathered vapor that enwraps,

At once, some lonely traveler. I was lost;

Halted without an effort to break through;

But to my conscious soul I now can say—

“I recognize thy glory.”

Influences:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Nature

French Revolution

Plato

Christianity and the Bible

In the Prelude (Book XIII, lines 1010), he speaks of the hidden depth of power behind all poetry:

From Nature doth emotion come, and moods

Of calmness equally are Nature’s gift:

This is her glory; these two attributes

Are sister horns that constitute her strength.

Hence Genius, born to thrive by interchange

Of peace and excitation, finds in her

His best and purest friend; from her receives

That energy by which he seeks the truth,

From her that happy stillness of the mind

Which fits him to receive it when unsought.

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”

Maimonides’ Eight Levels of Charity

Moshe ben Maimon (1135-1204) was a Jewish rabbi, physician and philosopher. He is most commonly known by his Greek name, Moses Maimonides (or more formally Rabbi Moses ben Maimonides), and subsequently many Jewish works refer to him by the acronym of his title and name, RaMBaM or Rambam.

According to Rambam, there are eight levels of charity, each greater than the next.

[1] The greatest level is to support a fellow in order to strengthen his hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others.

[2] A lesser level of charity is to give to the poor without knowing to whom one gives, and without the recipient knowing from whom he received.

[3] A lesser level of charity is when one knows to whom one gives, but the recipient does not know his benefactor.

[4] A lesser level of charity is when one does not know to whom one gives, but the poor person does know his benefactor.

[5] A lesser level of charity is when one gives to the poor person directly into his hand, but gives before being asked.

[6] A lesser level of charity is when one gives to the poor person after being asked.

[7] A lesser level of charity is when one gives inadequately, but gives gladly and with a smile.

[8] A lesser level of charity is when one gives unwillingly.

Jan 30, 1933 – Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany, a nation with a Jewish population of 566,000.

March 22, 1933 - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, to house political prisoners.

April 26, 1933 - The Gestapo is born, created by Hermann Göring in the German state of Prussia.

May 10, 1933 - Burning of books in Berlin and throughout Germany.

July 14, 1933 - Nazi Party is declared the only legal party in Germany; Also, Nazis pass Law to strip Jewish immigrants from Poland of their German citizenship.

In July - Nazis pass law allowing for forced sterilization of those found by a Hereditary Health Court to have genetic defects.

Nov 24, 1933 - Nazis pass a Law against Habitual and Dangerous Criminals, which allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps.

Sept 15, 1935 - Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews decreed.

June 17, 1936 - Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of the SS, German Police.

In Jan - Jews are banned from many professional occupations including teaching Germans, and from being accountants, physicians, lawyers, or dentists. They are also denied tax reductions and child allowances.

In July - At Evian Conference, France, the U.S. convenes a League of Nations conference with delegates from 32 countries to consider helping Jews fleeing Hitler, but results in inaction as no country will accept them.

Nov 7, 1938 - Ernst vom Rath, third secretary in the German Embassy in Paris, is shot and mortally wounded by Herschel Grynszpan, the 17 year old son of one of the deported Polish Jews. Rath dies on November 9, precipitating Kristallnacht.

Nov 9/10 - Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass. In all 101 synagogues and 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed. 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps, Jews were physically attacked and beaten and 91 died. Nazis fine Jews one billion marks for damages related to Kristallnacht.

In May - The SS St. Louis, a ship crowded with 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba, the United States and other countries and returns to Europe.

Sept 21, 1939 - Heydrich issues instructions to SS Einsatzgruppen (special action squads) in Poland regarding treatment of Jews, stating they are to be gathered into ghettos near railroads for the future “final goal.” He also orders a census and the establishment of Jewish administrative councils within the ghettos to implement Nazi policies and decrees.

In Oct - Nazis begin T-4 Program (euthanasia) on sick and disabled in Germany.

Nov 23, 1939 - Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10.

Jan 25, 1940 - Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow as site of new concentration camp.

In July - Eichmann’s Madagascar Plan presented, proposing to deport all European Jews to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of east Africa.

Nov 15, 1940 - The Warsaw Ghetto, containing over 400,000 Jews, is sealed off. It is roughly ¼ the size of Mount Laurel Township.

March 1, 1941 - Himmler makes his first visit to Auschwitz, during which he orders Kommandant Höss to begin massive expansion, including a new compound to be built at nearby Birkenau that can hold 100,000 prisoners.

Sept 3, 1941 - The first test use of Zyklon-B gas at Auschwitz.

Nov 24, 1941 - Theresienstadt Ghetto is established near Prague, Czechoslovakia in the city of Terezin. The Nazis will use it as a model ghetto for propaganda purposes.

Dec 8, 1941 - In occupied Poland, near Lodz, Chelmno extermination camp becomes operational. Jews taken there are placed in mobile gas vans and driven to a burial place while carbon monoxide from the engine exhaust is fed into the sealed rear compartment, killing them. The first gassing victims include 5,000 Gypsies who had been deported from the Reich to Lodz.

Dec 12, 1941 - The ship SS Struma leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permission by British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In Feb. 1942, it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Soviet submarine and sunk as an “enemy target.”

Jan 20, 1942 - Wannsee Conference to coordinate the “Final Solution.” (Conspiracy)

In March - In occupied Poland, Belzec extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with permanent gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but will later substitute Zyklon-B.

In May - In occupied Poland, Sobibor extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with three gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines, but will later substitute Zyklon-B.

July 22, 1942 - Beginning of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the new extermination camp, Treblinka, opened in occupied Poland, east of Warsaw. The camp is fitted with two buildings containing 10 gas chambers, each holding 200 persons. Carbon monoxide gas is piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but Zyklon-B will later be substituted. Bodies are burned in open pits.

In 1943 - The number of Jews killed by SS Einsatzgruppen passes one million. Nazis then use special units of slave laborers Sonderkommando to dig up and burn the bodies to remove all traces.

Jan 18, 1943 - First resistance by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. (Uprising)

April 19-30 - The Bermuda Conference occurs as representatives from the U.S. and Britain discuss the problem of refugees from Nazi-occupied countries, but results in inaction concerning the plight of the Jews.

In May - SS Dr. Josef Mengele arrives at Auschwitz and institutes process of selection.

In Oct - The Danish Underground helps transport 7,220 Danish Jews to safety in Sweden by sea.

Oct 14, 1943 - Massive escape from Sobibor as Jews and Soviet POWs break out, with 300 making it safely into nearby woods. Of those 300, fifty will survive. Exterminations then cease at Sobibor, after over 250,000 deaths. All traces of the death camp are then removed and trees are planted. (Escape from Sobibor)

In June - A Red Cross delegation visits Theresienstadt after the Nazis have carefully prepared the camp and the Jewish inmates, resulting in a favorable report.

In July - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, Hungary, and proceeds to save nearly 33,000 Jews by issuing diplomatic papers and establishing ‘safe houses.’

Oct 7, 1944 - A revolt by Sonderkommando (Jewish slave laborers) at Auschwitz-Birkenau results in complete destruction of Crematory IV. (The Grey Zone)

Jan 27, 1945 - Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz. By this time, an estimated 2,000,000 persons, including 1,500,000 Jews, have been murdered there.

Nov 20, 1945 - Opening of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal.

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Altruism: the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others.

Seinfeld, “The Calzone” (1996)

“If they don’t notice it, what’s the point?”

Question: On Maimonides 8 Levels of Charity, where would George, his actions, and his motivations fall? Where in your life have displayed three different levels of charity according to Maimonides?

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Friends, “The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS” (1998)

“It made you feel good, so that makes it selfish.”

Questions: Is there such a thing as a “selfless good deed?” Can anything be done which achieves a good end but brings no sense of satisfaction to the doer? What experiences from your life bring you to your conclusions?

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Crash (2004)

“He came home. Did you know that? . . . my little boy . . . when I was sleeping.

He brought me groceries . . . last thing he did.”

Don Cheadle’s brother has been acting in ways that are a danger to himself and others. His mother is suffering from depression and dementia, and she clearly cannot care for herself, so we see Cheadle bringing her food and other necessities. When the brother is found dead and the body has to be identified, the mother finally breaks down and turns her anger toward the surviving son, Cheadle, claiming that his other interests within his personal and police business have kept him from caring about what is important. “We weren’t much good to you anymore,” she tells him. She offers the final comments quoted above to her only surviving son before pushing him away.

Questions: Interpret Cheadle’s facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and/or any other affective details which would imply what might be going through his mind after listening to his mother’s criticism of his “lack of care for the family,” and then upon hearing his mother’s favorable (though untrue) comments about his dead brother. Describe this degree of benevolence, and relate it to something you have experienced in your life.

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BRIEF COURSE MEETING SCHEDULE

Maimonides’ Eight Levels of Charity