Assessment

Participation and academic citizenship (10%)

• You will be expected to carefully read the texts assigned for each class, to be actively engaged in class activities and discussions, and to exhibit constructive learning attitudes such as timeliness, respect, curiosity, courage, self-reliance, and team spirit.

Forum posts (10%)

• You will be expected to post a 300-500-word reflection on the readings to the Luminus forum every other week. The purpose of this assignment is to stimulate critical thinking about questions raised by the readings we will discuss in class and to provide a starting point for class discussions.

Class presentation (10%)

• At the beginning of most classes, a pair of students will offer a 10-15 minute presentation on an aspect of the text we will discuss that day. This component will be graded partly based on peer assessment.

Midterm paper (25%):  

• You will be expected to write a letter or dialogue (1500-1750 words) about a particular argument or utopian proposal in Plato’s Republic and/or More’s Utopia.  

Role-playing assignment (10%):

• During week 9, groups of 3 students will act out an imagined conversation between Plato, More, and Skinner on a particular topic (ca. 10 minutes). Suggested topics will be offered during week 8. This component will be graded partly based on peer assessment.

Final project (35%):

• You will be expected to write a research paper (2000-2500 words) on a topic of your own choice that is related to the class readings.

N.B.: This is a draft schedule. It may be revised at any point.

Week 1: Introduction Mon, 10 August 2020 - Sun, 16 August 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Introduction: Making Things Great (Again): Utopianism from Plato to Donald Trump
    • Reference reading: Sargent, Lyman Tower. Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Friday:
  • Assignment discussion: forum post and class presentation
  • Discussion: the Constitution of Cinnamonia
  • Introduction to Plato’s Republic

Week 2: Plato's Republic Mon, 17 August 2020 - Sun, 23 August 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Introduction to Plato: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDiyQub6vpw
  • Reading: Republic Book II up to 376e (pp. 32-52)  
  • Lecture: Justice as an Instrumental and Final Good
    • Reference reading: Annas, Julia. “The Form of Plato’s Argument”. An Introduction to Plato’s Republic, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 59-71
  • Posting group 1
• Friday:
  • Reading: Republic Book II, 376e – end (pp. 52-59) and Book III up to 402c (pp. 60-79)
  • Lecture: Poetry, Censorship, and Propaganda in Plato’s Republic
  • Posting group 2

Week 3: Plato's Republic (continued) Mon, 24 August 2020 - Sun, 30 August 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Reading: Republic Book III from 412c ("Then, as the rulers...") – end (pp. 91-93) and Book IV up to 434d (pp. 94-110)
  • Presentation: Socrates’ ‘Noble Lie’
  • Posting group 3

• Friday:
  • Reading: Republic Book V up to 474c (pp. 122-149)
  • Presentation: Was Plato the Father of Totalitarianism?
  • Posting group 4

Week 4: More's Utopia Mon, 31 August 2020 - Sun, 6 September 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Midterm assignment discussion
  • Reading: Utopia, prefatory materials (pp. 3-13) + book I, pp. 15-32 (stop at “Perhaps I ought to leave out…”)
  • Presentation: More’s Utopia: Influences and Genre
  • Posting group 1
• Friday:  
  • Reading: Utopia, book I, pp. 32-47, book II, pp. 49-59 (up to “Now I’d better explain…”
  • Presentation: What is the Point of Book I of More's Utopia?
  • Posting group 2

Week 5: More's Utopia (continued) Mon, 7 September 2020 - Sun, 13 September 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Reading: Utopia, book II, pp. 59-88 (up to “Because of their many good qualities…”)
  • Presentation: Utopia: Christian or Epicurean?
  • Posting group 3
• Friday:
  • Reading: Utopia, book II, pp. 88-113
  • Presentation: What is the Argument of More’s Utopia? 
  • Posting group 4

Week 6: Paper preparation Mon, 14 September 2020 - Fri, 18 September 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Sample dialog / letter discussion
  • Midterm survey  
  • Q&A about the midterm  
• Friday:
  • Draft discussion
  • Midterm survey debriefing  
  • Lecture: Utopia from More to Skinner; introduction to Skinner’s Walden Two   

Recess Week Sat, 19 September 2020 - Sun, 27 September 2020

Week 7: Skinner's Walden Two Mon, 28 September 2020 - Sun, 4 October 2020

• Tuesday: No class
• Friday:
  • Role-playing activity assignment discussion
  • Reading: Walden Two, Ch. 8-11 (pp. 45-85) + summary of ch. 1-7
  • Presentation: Labor in Utopia and Walden II Through the Lens of Current Debates about UBI
  • Posting group 1

Week 8: Skinner's Walden Two (continued) Mon, 5 October 2020 - Sun, 11 October 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Final paper assignment discussion
  • Reading: Walden Two, 12-17 (pp. 86-137; you can skip ch.16 if you wish)
  • Presentation: Child-rearing in Walden Two
  • Posting group 2
• Friday
  • Reading: Walden Two, Ch. 20, 23-24 (pp. 146-66, 179-96) + summary of ch. 18-19, 21-23
  • Presentation: Happiness, Freedom, and Dignity in Walden Two
  • Posting group 3

Week 9: Skinner's Walden Two (continued) Mon, 12 October 2020 - Sun, 18 October 2020

• Tuesday
  • Reading: Walden Two, Ch. 28-30 (pp. 227-63) +summary of ch. 25-27, 30-36
  • Presentation: Walden Two: Utopia or Dystopia?
  • Posting group 4
  • Lecture: Utopianism in Singapore
• Friday:
  • Reading: Kuhlman, Hilke. “Twin Oaks Community and the Heyday of the Communities Movement”. Living Walden Two: BF Skinner's Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities. University of Illinois Press, 2010 (Part 3, chapters 8-11 = pp. 81-110)
  • Presentation: Twin Oaks and Los Horcones: A Comparison
  • Lecture: Utopianism from Skinner to Today

Week 10: Singapore as Utopia Mon, 19 October 2020 - Sun, 25 October 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Readings:
    • PM Lee Hsien Loong, Smart Nation Launch Speech (14 pp.)
    • Jane Jacobs, “The Space between Visions and Aspirations” In H. Koon Wee and Jeremy Chia (eds) Singapore Dreaming: Managing Utopia, Select Books: 135-142. (9 pp.)
    • Kenneth Paul Tan, “Re-Enchanting the Smart Nation”, in H. Koon Wee and Jeremy Chia (eds.), Singapore Dreaming: Managing Utopia (2016), pp. 303-310  (7 pp.)
  • Presentation: Is the Smart Nation Initiative a Utopian Project?
  • Posting group 1
• Friday:
  • Reading:
    • Goh, Daniel P.S.. “Choreographing Singapore’s Utopia by the Bay.” Tourist Utopias: Offshore Islands, Enclave Spaces, and Mobile Imaginaries (2017): 97-120.
  • Presentation: The City in the Garden: Ecotopia or Greenwashing?
    • Reference reading: H. Koon Wee, “Modernising Project of Sustainability: The Green and Blue Plans”, in H. Koon Wee and Jeremy Chia (eds.), Singapore Dreaming: Managing Utopia (2016), pp. 64-83  
  • Posting group 2

Week 11: Utopianism Today Mon, 26 October 2020 - Sun, 1 November 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Final paper proposal workshop (30 min)
  • Reading: Kumar, Krishan. "The Ends of Utopia." New Literary History 41.3 (2010): 549-569.
  • Presentation: Is Utopianism Dead, Or Is It Evolving?
  • Posting group 3
• Friday:
  • Reading: Levitas, Ruth. “Future Perfect: Retheorising Utopia.” The Concept of Utopia, Peter Lang (2011), pp. 207-31.
  • Presentation: Utopianism and Anti-Utopianism
  • Posting group 4

Week 12: Role-playing presentations Mon, 2 November 2020 - Sun, 8 November 2020

• Tuesday
  • Role-playing activity
• Friday:
  • Role-playing activity

Week 13: Conclusion Mon, 9 November 2020 - Fri, 13 November 2020

• Tuesday:
  • Draft workshop
• Friday:
  • Concluding discussion