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Quest (Liberal Studies) Section Descriptions | Fall 2012

QS 211 | QS 212 | QS 311 | QS 411

QS 112

  • Prerequisite for QS 112: QS 111 or LS 111
  • Corequisites for QS 112: Students must enroll in one of the following linked courses (all prerequisites for these courses apply). QS 112 and the linked course cannot be dropped during the semester.
  • Linked courses: AH 111; CO 242; ED 243; EX 184, 245; FR 111, 203, 305; GN 111, 203, 350; HI 127, 142; PH 120, 270; PY 111, 238, 243; SO 115, 242; SP 111, 203, 305, 360, 413

QS 112A: Moral Choices in Times of War

 Tom Peard | Prerequisite: QS 111

The United States is now at war. Young adults may well be required to make critical decisions regarding the war effort. The decision to join the military and fight in an armed conflict is so significant that it may ultimately lead to one’s premature death. Moreover, war affects many individuals who are not actively engaged in the conflict. Those who choose to fight must consider the effects of their actions on their families and friends. Additionally, every citizen may well have a civic responsibility to decide whether or not to support a war. That decision will surely rest in part on whether the war is to be viewed as moral or immoral.

QS 211

  • Prerequisites for QS 211 and 212: QS 112, LS 112 or equivalent transfer credit
  • Corequisites for QS 211: Students must enroll in one of the following linked courses (all prerequisites for these courses apply). The linked course cannot be dropped during the semester.
  • Linked courses: BI 151 (with or without lab); BI 246 (lab required); BI 251 (lab required); CH 120 (no lab required); CH 137 (lab required); CH 251 (lab required); GE 210 (no lab required); PC 125, 225, 325 (lab required for all three); PC 141 (no lab required)

QS 211A: The History and Philosophy of Science

Don Hatcher

This course is a historical study of the development of the scientific methods, including their limits and problems, from the Greeks to modern times. Readings include selections from the works of Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Descartes, Mill, Popper, and Kuhn. Special attention will be given to the problems with deductive and inductive logics, and what is called “the problem of induction.”

QS 211B: Philosophy of Mind

Tom Peard

Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy whose principal concerns are the nature of minds and mental contents and their relation to the body. Among the theories to be addressed are dualism, the view that the mind is not a material thing, the identity theory that the mind and brain are identical, and the computational theory that human minds are computers. We will also discuss issues relating to so-called “paranormal” phenomena such as telepathy (mind-to-mind connections), clairvoyance (perceiving distant events), precognition (perceiving future events), and psychokinesis (mind-to-matter interaction).

QS 211C: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark*

Marc Carter

A variety of subjective experiences will be examined through the lens of science. Subjective experiences are those things that have been claimed as real, but have not been verifiable by outside observers. We will explore how the method of science can be brought to bear against such claims and thus help aim our beliefs at those things that we can know to be true. *The title of the course is the title of a book by Carl Sagan.

QS 211D: Science in Anthropology

 Jen McCollough

This course will examine the ways that practitioners in the four subfields of anthropology make use of discoveries in the natural sciences to advance "the study of man." We will examine the contributions of the natural sciences to our understanding of the evolution of ourselves, our languages, our cultures and our material cultures. We will also look at the use of scientific principles and methods in the work of anthropologists.

QS 211E: The Science of Exercise

Instructor TBA

Students will investigate the physical and natural world through the use of scientific method and skills. Students address scientific questions and problems while continuing to develop their critical thinking, communication and teamwork skills, and quantitative reasoning. This section will have a focus on exercise science and how it fits into the world of science.

QS 211F: Scientific Inquiry

Eric Hays

Students will investigate the physical and natural world through the use of scientific method and skills. Students address scientific questions and problems while continuing to develop their critical thinking, communication and teamwork skills, and quantitative reasoning.

QS 212

  • Prerequisites for QS 211 and 212: QS 112, LS 112, or equivalent transfer credit
  • Corequisites for QS 212: Students must enroll in one of the following linked courses (all prerequisites for these courses apply). The linked course cannot be dropped during the semester.
  • Linked courses: AH 111, 320; AS 121, 130, 135, 170; EN 120, 122, 210, 130, 204, 330, 380, 450 (new Creative Writing course), 460; HI 127, 142, 297, 344; MM 140; MU 120, 126, 127, 153, 157, 207, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 222, 223, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 244, 331, 358, 359, 411, 412, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 422, 423, 432, 433, 435, 436; PH 310, 340; SP 360, 413; TH 111, 123, 130, 280

QS 212A: African American Literature

Tamara Slankard

Students will trace the development of African American literature from the Antebellum Slavery and Reconstruction periods of the 19th century through the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Era of the early- to mid-20th century and beyond. We will see how writers have reflected, responded to, and led the way for political and cultural change, and in turn helped to shape African American identity.

QS 212B: Books, Bytes and Beyond

 Kay Bradt

What is a book, exactly? A clay tablet? A Kindle? A stack of papers between two boards? We will examine these things that might be considered books and place them within a cultural, economic, political and technological framework. We will explore the transition from primarily oral to primarily written literature and follow its development through the era of handwritten books, or manuscripts, to the transformation, 23 centuries later, brought about by the printing press and the changes in our present era with the migration to an increasingly electronic environment.

QS 212C: Cultural Perceptions of the American Past

Leonard Ortiz

The course will examine through inquiry and class discussion, thematic episodes in American History including race, gender, class, war, and labor through the cultural perceptions of the American people. Students will be asked to evaluate in written, spoken, and group expression the multitude of artistic interpretations of significant historical events and topics. Artistic interpretations will include literary excerpts, paintings, photography, music and film.

QS 212D: Am I Literate?

Dave Bostwick

If you can read, you are literate. If you cannot read, you are illiterate. That’s how we have traditionally defined literacy. More recently, if you can read but choose not to do so, you are aliterate. But in the digital age, when images and sound increasingly represent knowledge, the scope of the word literacy may need to expand. To interpret what we see and hear today, we need skills in visual literacy and media literacy. This course will explore the concept of literacy and how the definition of literacy has varied over time and among cultures.

QS 311

  • Prerequisites for QS 311: QS 211 and QS 212
  • Corequisites for QS 311: Students must enroll in one of the following linked courses (all prerequisites for these courses apply). The linked course cannot be dropped during the semester.
  • Linked courses: AH 345; BS 361; BI 377; EC 242, 243, 347; ED3 43, 345; FR 111, 203, 305; GN 111, 203, 350; MM 140, 260, 478; RE 363; SO 363; SP 111, 203, 305, 305, 413

QS 311A: Tiny Tim and the Invention of Tradition

Tim Buzzell

This course will study the works of 19th century authors Washington Irving, Clement Moore, and Charles Dickens, and their claimed influences on Christmas traditions. The course will explore a puzzle of sorts; did the short story, "A Christmas Carol" (1843), by Charles Dickens, really have that much influence in shaping the American and European holiday? Using frameworks that study ritual, such as “culture-texts” (Davis 1990), the “re-invention of tradition” (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983), and “social performance” (Alexander 2006), the class will explore how culture changes behaviors. We extend this puzzle into the 20th century by looking at these earlier influences on tradition after the Industrial Revolution, two world wars, and the mass media revolution at the end of the 20th century.

QS 411

Prerequisite for QS 411: QS 311

QS 411A: Global Citizenship

Instructor TBA

In the culminating core course, students learn about effecting change in the world, what it means to be a global citizen and the impact of technology upon society and how to analyze quantitative information. The Quest experience culminates in a formal presentation of the students’ original work.