Journal #2

Due in Class on Thursday, September 28th

Begin by selecting any text we’ve read other than the one you wrote about in the first journal. Then select a key passage of no more than a short paragraph. Begin by retyping it word for word at the top of your page. Turn off your spelling and grammar checkers – let the weird spellings and constructions flow and try to wrap your head around the author’s meaning. Give the page number of your citation in parenthesis.

Below the citation, briefly summarize its meaning: what events does it describe or argument does it make? Then discuss its significance in relation to the key themes we’ve been discussing, such as religion, the Enlightenment, sources of knowledge, the development of Colonial America, and so on. Describe why you think the passage is important to the work as a whole and what it might tell us about the period during which it was written. If you’d like to give a more personal response, do so after you’ve discussed the text itself.

Your journal should be about a page, typed, double-spaced and carefully proofread.

Revisions to the Schedule

Please note: for Thursday, Sept. 21st, we will discuss the selections from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. We will discuss Crevecoeur on Tuesday, September 26th and will continue one class behind the schedule until further notice.

Journal #1

Suffolk County Community College
Prof. Laura Tanenbaum
EG 71 – Fall 2006


Journal Entry #1: “On Nature and Nature’s God”

Read the cluster of readings entitled “On Nature and Nature’s God.” Choose one selection which is of particular interest to you. Begin by summarizing the selection, in particular the world view that it embodies. What view of religion, the natural world, and/or human nature is put forward? Include any questions you have about aspects of the reading which are confusing. In addition, what arguments does it make about the basis of our knowledge: do we know what we know because of tradition, authoritative texts, reason, experience, or some combination of these factors? Then discuss the implications of this world view: if you shared the author’s view of the world what kind of social and political structures might you go about creating?

Your journal entry should be a page to two pages, typed, double-spaced and proofread.
Due in class on Thursday, September 14th