Spring 2005 -- HP400 Honors Seminar in Modernity:
Technological Advances and Revolutionary Change
Reading Schedule

Barend Van Orley (c.1492 - 1541).
La Bataille de Pavie (1525): arrivée de la cavalerie du connétable de Bourbon. Paris, Musée du Louvre.

Course Description:

In reviewing the radical technological advances of the early modern period and the revolutionary cultural and political changes that followed, we may more clearly evaluate the intersection of technological and social change today. Seminar participants will look at a variety of primary and secondary sources from the age of print, military revolution, and long-distance exploration. Eventually they shall examine how the way we produce knowledge affects the content of that knowledge; the long-term effects of reorganizing written material; the possibility or desirability of “digital fixity” (Bolter, Remediation [2000]; how the rapid dissemination of knowledge affects (or helps manipulate) political consciousness; how the rapid adaptation of advanced military strategies and technologies may affect both our view of our position in the world and the global balance of power. In reading texts from the early modern period and thinking about twenty-first-century technologies, students will ponder whether it possible to restrict new technology for the service of humanity.

Required Texts:

• J. R. Hale, War and Society in Renaissance Europe, 1450-1620 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
• Bert S. Hall, Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology, 2002).
• Richard Hakluyt, Voyages and Discoveries (Penguin Books, 1982).
• Neil Rhodes and Jonathan Sawday, eds., The Renaissance Computer: Knowledge Technology in the First Age of Print (Routledge, 2000).
• Peter Whitfield, New Found Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration (Routledge, 1998) (on order).
• William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (on order).

Further Required Readings:

The following readings will be on reserve in the library:

• John Merriman, A History of Modern Europe, Volume One (W.W. Norton, 1996).
  • Required: first 2 chapters.
• Selections from humanists: Poggio Bracciolini, Lorenzo Valla, Leonardo Bruni, Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, Francesco Guicciardini.
• Niccolò Machiavelli, The Art of War.
• De Gheyn, The Renaissance Drill Book.
• MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray, The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001).
• Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), "Bridging the Gap" (March 2004).
• Elizabeth Eisenstein, The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1983).
  • Required chapter: "Defining the Initial Shift."
• Lisa Jardine, Worldy Goods: A New History of the Renaissance (Doubleday, 1996).
  • Required: chapters 3 and 6.
• Euan Cameron, ed., Early Modern Europe: An Oxford History (Oxford Univ. Press, 1999).
  • Required essay: "The Power of the Word: Renaissance and Reformation"
• Selections from Reformers: Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Ulrich Zwingli, Jean Calvin
• Selections from: Copernicus, Vesalius.
• Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, Remediation: Understanding New Media (The MIT Press 2000).
• Douglas S. Robertson, Phase Change: The Computer Revolution in Science and Mathematics (Oxford Univ. Press, 2003).
• Douglas S. Robertson, The New Renaissance: Computers and the Next Level of Civilization (Oxford Univ. Press, 1998).
• Norman J. W. Thrower, Maps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1999).
  • Required chapters: 8 and 9.
• W. G. L. Randles, Geography, Cartography, and Nautical Science in the Renaissance (Ashgate: 2000).
• Steven Vertovec & Robin Cohen, eds., Conceiving Cosmopolitanism (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002).

Objectives:

Students in this course will:

• Become familiar with the cultural, political, military, and social history of the Early Modern period in Europe
• Within that historical context, trace different scientific and technological problems under scrutinty during the period, and their various proposed solutions.
• Trace the impact of scientifc and technological advances on various world societies in the postmodern era, and vice versa.
• Understand the frameworks in which scientific and technological questions were and are asked.
• Become familiar with primary texts and secondary commentaries.

Assignments and Grading:

To achieve these objectives, you will carefully analyze texts and their historical context, prepare each text carefully for class discussion, and use selected websites for class preparation.

To assess your progress toward these objectives, I shall require you to complete the following assignments: 3 shorter papers and one final research paper.

Each Wednesday students will be required to conduct the class as a seminar, leading discussion for the day.

On the day a paper is due, each student will prepare a presentation of his or her paper.

Failure to produce any of the assigned requirements will result in a zero for the course.

Grade Summary:

Attendance Policy:

More than 3 absences will seriously affect your final grade. The Dean's office does not grant excused absences. If you have trouble making a class or an assignment, see me. You are responsible for all makeup work. Failure to produce any of the assigned requirements will result in a zero for the course.

Class web site and assignments:

All assignments will be posted on the web and on BlackBoard. I will not pass out assignments in class. You are expected to refer to our web page daily, as I shall be updating it constantly. The assignment is due on the date it is posted.

Plagiarism Policy:

Any act of plagiarism will result in a zero for the assignment, a zero for the semester class participation grade, and notification to your advisor and to the academic integrity board for recommended action.