University of Calgary
Faculty of Communication and Culture

General Studies (GNST) 300, L01
Heritage of Western Civilization I - Perspective
Fall 2007-Winter 2008

Tuesday and Thursday 11:00- 12:15

Instructor	Ron Glasberg
Office Location:	SS 328
Office Phone:	220-7124
E-Mail:	rglasber@ucalgary.ca
Web Page:	N/A
Office Hours:	T/R 12:30-13:30

Additional Information

Tutorial Instructors: Lisa Stowe and Shane Halasz

Course Description

Heritage I is a critical engagement with the evolving fundamental assumptions of Western Civilization from the Ancient World to the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789). The approach is strongly interdisciplinary inasmuch as the fundamental assumptions are drawn out through an analysis and synthesis of 'classic' texts from diverse fields: myth, philosophy, political theory, literature (poetry, drama, satire), economics, theology, etc. Key themes: freedom via the growth of consciousness; questions asked (and answers given) by classic texts in relation to questions asked (and answers given) by contemporary civilization; the dynamics of discourse as a way of revealing inter-textual patterns of meaning.

Objectives of the Course

(1) thinking critically about the evolving cultural assumptions of Western Civilization by confronting the underlying questions and answers articulated by classic texts;

(2) gaining a 'perspective' on the whole by learning how to create overviews of the evolution of the West through a comparative analysis of fundamental assumptions;

(3) becoming more conscious through the development of skills associated with reading, writing, discussion, critical analysis, and imaginative synthesis.

Textbooks and Readings:

Lawrence S. Cunningham and John J. Reich, Culture and Values, Vols. I & II, 6th Edition. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

Karl F. Thompson, Classics of Western Thought: Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation, Vol. II, 4th Edition. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.

Edgar E. Knoebel, Classics of Western Thought: The Modern World, Vol. III, 4th Edition. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.

R. Glasberg, ed. GNST 300 L01 Book of Readings Fall 2007 and Winter 2008

Assignments and Evaluation

All assignments must be completed to get credit for the course.

A+ will be awarded for work of exceptional originality, depth, and intellectual rigor.

Assignment #1: Fundamental Assumption Comparison, 15%, Due Date: Oct. 18 (in lecture), 3-6 pages double-spaced;

In-class Reading Quiz, 5%, Nov. 5;

Assignment #2: Synthesis, 20%, Feb. 14 (in lecture), 10-12 pages (double- spaced);

Assignment #3: Big Picture Reading Project, 15%,; presentations to be scheduled in last weeks of class;

Tutorial Participation: 10% (throughout the year)

Dec. Exam: 15%, Registrar Scheduled, 3 hours;

April Exam: 20%, Registrar Scheduled, 3 hours;

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination:  Yes

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.
Note: Please hand in your essays directly to your tutor or instructor if possible. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

Please note: If your class is held in the evening, the Registrar's Office will make every attempt to schedule the final exam during the evening; however, there is NO guarantee that the exam will NOT be scheduled during the day.

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre.  Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

A+ (96-100); A (92-95); A- (86-91); B+ (81-85); B (77-80); B- (71-76);
C+ (65-70); C (62-64); C- (59-61); D+ (55-58); D (50-54); F (0-49)

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines.  Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research.  For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see the U of C Research Ethics "Information for Applicants," sections 3.0 to 9.0, inclusive: http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/research/html/ethics/info_undergrad.htm

 Schedule of Lectures and Readings

GNST 300 2007-2008 Lecture and Reading Schedule

Abbreviations: C&V = Culture and Values CWT = Classics of Western Thought RP = Reading Package

1st Term

Sept. 11: Introduction - Basic Course Concepts; The Meaning of Civilization

The Ancient World (3000 B.C. - 400 A.D.)

Sept. 13: Gilgamesh, Genesis and the Mythic World: C&V,I, 3-11, 30-31, 213- 214; RP: Novak

Sept. 18: Homer and the Heroic Ideal: C&V,I 35-39; 56-64; RP: Homer

Sept. 20: Sophocles and the Encounter with Fate: C&V,I: 71-78; 99-112

Sept. 25: Philosophical Foundations (Socrates & Plato): C&V,I, 78-80; 112-118; RP: Goffman

Sept. 27: Philosophical Foundations (Aristotle): C&V,I, 118-123

Oct. 2: Battling over Bodies: Sappho, Aristotle, Spelman: C&V,I, 51, 64; RP: Aristotle, Spelman

Oct. 4: Vergil and Imperial Destiny: C&V,I, 127-140; 156-166

Oct. 9: Cultural Decline with Juvenal & Marcus Aurelius: C&V,I, 150-151, 167- 169

Oct. 11: The Hebrews and the Old Testament: C&V,I, 199-203; 214-218

Oct. 16: The Christian Revolution: C&V,I, 203-206; 218-222; 224-227; RP: Pagels

The Middle Ages (400 A.D. - 1350)

Oct. 18: Augustine as Midwife to a New Age: C&V,I, 231-232; 250-259

Oct. 23: Benedict & ‘Everyman': CWT,II, 1-13; C&V,I, 289-293, 296-297; 312-321

Oct. 25: Roland and Hroswitha: CWT,II, 14-34; C&V,I, 297-299; 321-325

Oct. 30: De Troyes, Hildegard & Heloise: CWT,II, 35-51; C&V,I, 293-294; 309- 312; RP: Heloise

Nov. 1 Aquinas & Medieval Synthesis: CWT,II, 70-84: C&V,I, 339;351-355; 357- 359

Nov. 6: Dante's Vision: C&V,I, 359-363; 367-389

Nov. 8: Medieval Decline - Chaucer, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich: CWT,II,140-182;128-135; C&V,I, 393-395; 397-398; RP - Julian of Norwich

Nov. 13: Reading Day

The Early Modern Epoch (1350-1789)

Phase I: The Renaissance (1350-1517)

Nov. 15: Renaissance Dawn - Boccaccio &Christine de Pisan, Kelly: C&V,I, 399, 432-433; CWT,II, 215-230; 201-214; RP - Kelly; C&V,II, 25-26

Nov. 20: From Petrarch to Pico: C&V,I, 395-397; C&V,II, 3, 10-25; CWT,II, 231- 262

Nov. 22: Political Currents: Machiavelli & Christine de Pisan: C&V,II, 26-27; CWT,II, 278-293; RP - Christine de Pisan

Nov. 27: The War Against Women: RP - Cereta, Krämer and Sprenger, Achterberg

Nov. 29: Erasmus & Vignali: CWT,II, 263-277; RP - Vignali
Dec. 4: More: CWT,II, 316-328

Dec. 6: Review

Dec. 10-19 Exams

2nd Term

Phase II: The Reformation (1517-1618)

Jan. 15: Luther and the Reformation: C&V,II, 77-84; CWR,II, 518-534

Jan. 17: Calvin: CWT,II, 535-549

Jan. 22: Ignatius and the Counter-Reformation: C&V,II, 159-161; CWT,II, 550-557

Jan. 24: Montaigne and the Way of of Skepticism C&V,II, 85;107-110; CWT,II, 371-387

Jan. 29: Cervantes: C&V,II, 192-193; 205-210; CWT,II, 504-517

Jan. 31: Shakespeare on a Role: C&V,II, 101-104; CWT,II, 393-503

Feb. 5: Shakespeare: [continue with above readings]

Phase III: The Baroque (1618-1714)

Feb. 7: Galileo and the Scientific Revolution: C&V,II, 85-86; 188-189; RP "Letter to Castelli"

Feb. 12: [Brining Home the] Bacon: CWT,III, 10-19

Feb. 14: Descartes: C&V,II, 189-190; CWT,III, 20-30

Feb.  17-24: Reading Break

Feb. 26: Poullain de la Barre: RP - Three Cartesian Feminist Treatises

Feb. 28: Hobbes and the Politics of Reason: C&V,II, 191-192; CWT,III, 31-42

Mar. 4: Locke: CWT,III, 68-82

Mar. 6: Pascal and Baroque Spirituality: CWT,III, 43-58

Mar. 11: Milton: C&V,II, 194-195; 210-217; RP - Book IX

Phase IV: The Enlightenment (1714-1789)

Mar. 13: Locke and the Enlightenment: C&V,II, 221-222; CWT,III,59-67

Mar. 18: Astell: RP - Reflections upon Marriage

Mar. 20: Voltaire's ‘critique of impure reason': C&V,II,238-239; 242-243; CWT,III, 95-130

Mar. 25: Swift: C&V,II 240-241; 251-254

Mar. 27: Pope and Enlightenment Spirituality: C&V,II,239-240; CWT,III, 83-94

Apr. 1: Smith and the Birth of a Dismal Science: CWT,III, 166-177

Apr. 3: Rousseau and Education: C&V,II, 241-242; CWT,III, 141-153

Apr. 8: Beccaria and Enlightenment Humanism: CWT,III, 154-165

Apr. 10: Condorcet and the Enlightenment Goal: C&V,II, 242-246; CWT,III, 178- 201

Apr. 15: Wollstonecraft: RP - Vindication of the Rights of Women

Apr. 17: Final Review

GNST 300 L01 Assignment Guide 2007-2008

(1) Assignment #1: Fundamental Assumption Comparison - 15%

Due Date: Oct. 18, 2007 (in lecture)

Length: 3-6 pages double-spaced

Method and Goal:

The goal is to draw from two selected texts, one from the Greco-Roman and the other from the Judeao-Christian tradition, two specific fundamental cultural assumptions and to compare them with a view to ascertaining similarities and differences.  A summary statement of what the key similarities and differences are is your thesis, and your essay is a systematic attempt to prove by way of textual analysis that this thesis is true.  If you wish, you may develop your thesis by taking a position on which of these assumptions is still active in your own cultural environment and giving some illustration of this ongoing influence.

Remember that an assumption is not always articulated directly, but you can usually draw it from the text by considering how (within that text) certain crucial life questions are answered.  For example, what is the nature of reality?  What is the purpose of life?  What is the nature of happiness?  What is right and what is wrong?  The point is to support, via textual evidence, your sense of what the fundamental cultural assumption is.  On that firm foundation, a solid comparison can be made.

In-class Reading Quiz: 5%

Date: Nov. 5, 2007 (in lecture, last 15 minutes)

As recommended by last year's peer-mentors as a strategy to encourage keeping up with the readings, students will be asked to identify 10 extended quotes and match them with a list of authors.

(2) Assignment #2: Major Synthesis - 20%

Due Date: Feb. 14, 2008 (in lecture)

Length: 10-12 pages double-spaced if done individually; if done in group context, then 10-12 pages + approx. 5 pages per group member (e.g., 3 person group would submit 15-17 pages)

Method and Goal:

This assignment builds on the previous one by asking you to develop a thesis on the trajectory of fundamental cultural assumptions as these evolved over the entire time frame of the course. This thesis is, in effect, a statement about what changed and what remained the same from the time of the Ancient World to the 18th-century Enlightenment, and in that sense it is a kind of summary synthesis of the course.

To keep the project under control, you should analyze four texts: one from the Ancient World, one from the Medieval period, one from the Renaissance-to- Baroque time frame; and one from the Enlightenment. Please avoid using a text you analyzed in Assignment #1.

The key to synthesizing diverse materials is to choose appropriate categories of analysis that have relevance to the overview you are seeking to build. For example, if you are attempting to prove that Western Civilization is prone to immoral behavior, you need to define a set of appropriate categories that will allow you to open up the texts you have selected with a view to showing this negative quality. Such categories might be (i) the nature of goodness, (ii) the nature of evil, (iii) human nature, and (iv) the role of society in promoting good and controlling evil. Your task would then be to go though specific texts and show how the assumptions associated with the aforementioned categories changed or stayed the same in such a way that your thesis is supported.

Thus, the main elements of your essay are typically as follows:

(A) a thesis statement which puts forward what you are attempting to prove;

(B) a section where you justify the texts chosen for comparison and the categories of analysis you intend to use in order to bring out similarities and differences;

(C) the main body where you pull out the fundamental assumptions in the texts you have selected and make the appropriate comparisons;

(D) a concluding section where you discuss the trajectory of Western Civilization as you now understand it on the basis of the foregoing analysis as well as a consideration of how that trajectory is currently moving; you may also offer your reflections on what is right or wrong with Western Civilization and how it may be improved (if, indeed, you believe improvement is in any way possible).

While you may do this assignment individually, you may also work in groups of up to five, where all will receive the same mark. Group work allows for a discussion of relevant issues.

(3) Assignment #3: Big Picture Reading Project - 15%

Due Date: presentations to be scheduled during last weeks of class

Method and Goal:

Since the biggest challenge of this course is to do the readings in an effective manner (i.e, creatively and critically) as well as to integrate them with a view to grasping the trajectory of Western Civilization, each tutorial is to pool its collective resources and produce for the benefit of its members (as well as for the benefit of the entire class) an imaginative and integrative summary of all course readings. The mark earned will be a collective one (worth 15% of the final mark).

Each of the required readings may be interpreted as to (a) the fundamental cultural assumptions (FCAs) articulated therein; (b) how the FCAs are changing over time; (c) whether or not the trajectory is conducive to the culture's sustainability; and (d) if not, how might the unsustainable FCA be altered so as to facilitate growth. A kind of tutorial archive is to be built up throughout the year, but it is the tutorial itself (with the help of the instructor and the peer mentors) which will decide how the work is to be apportioned among individual members of the tutorial and ultimately presented to the whole class at the end of the year.  Presentations must be limited to 20 minutes.

Because a tutorial has within it a set of individuals with a wide variety of talents and interests, the project is meant to exploit that opportunity by having these individuals contribute according to their strengths. Thus, the following formats may be considered: a talk show, a Broadway musical, a fashion show, a comic strip, a commentary by way of dance and/or contemporary music, a TV sitcom, a video, a board game, a game show, a short story, a set of advertisements, a jury trial, etc.

Project co-ordinators would be elected on an ongoing or revolving basis while tutorial meetings could be used to discuss the overview being developed and viable presentation strategies. As the project takes shape, not only will tutorial members be drawn together as ideas are exchanged, but there will also be a preparation for the exam as well as for the major essay. While time will be made available during tutorial hours in order to put things together, students are also encouraged to meet, if possible, outside of regular class time or use the internet to help with the planning and execution of the project.

(4) Tutorial Participation - 10%

Students will be rewarded for their level of participation in the tutorial and for the their contributions to the final big-picture project. This component of the mark is at the discretion of the TA, who is free to solicit input from students.

(5) Exams: Midterm (Christmas) - 15%; Final - 20%

Due Date: Registrar Scheduled; Length: 3 hours

The exams will have an objective component, which will test basic familiarity with the readings (e.g., matching ideas or quotes to authors or works), but the main thrust of the exams will be essay-like discussions of fundamental cultural assumptions in a variety of comparative contexts. Essay topics will be handed out ahead of time, but you will not know which texts will figure in the actual exam.

A Final But Not Unimportant Word on Writing:

The course places a strong emphasis on writing clearly in the context of well-supported arguments. It is a skill the value of which cannot be overstated. Thinking without a way of effectively communicating one's thoughts is seriously impaired.

While it might seem petty to emphasize proper citation techniques, it is essential that readers be able to know where you have gotten your supporting materials so that they might be able to go to those sources and assess them for themselves. You would want the same courtesy extended to your self, and in that sense the golden rule of writing is "Write unto others as you would be written to."

You can use any style guide, the key ones being The Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA (Modern Language Association) Guide, but listed below are the basic forms for footnoting and bibliographic citation. The former is meant to provide references in the body of your paper while the latter is for the list of texts used in the writing of you paper. It is given at the end and is alphabetized.

Footnotes:

1Annie Author, My Very Own Book (City: Publisher, Date) 34.

2Great Thinker, "Poignant Excerpt," Classics of Western Thought, Vol. III, 4th Ed., ed.Edgar Knoebel (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), 56-67.

Bibliography:

Author, Annie. My Very Own Book. City: Publisher, Date.

Thinker, Great. "Poignant Excerpt." Classics of Western Thought, Vol. III, 4th Edition. Edited by Edgar Knoebel, San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988.

GLOSSARY

N.B.: Inasmuch as the course will be utilizing unfamiliar terms, the following may serve as a guide to the perplexed student.

(1) Fundamental Cultural Assumption:

The deepest principles by which one understands and lives in the world The assumption may be so taken for granted that one is scarcely aware of it, but that does not mean that the assumption is not held or embraced with great intensity. In addition to being foundational (infusing a wide variety of cultural expressions), a fundamental assumption is a field of meaningfulness that gives to those living within a culture a sense of what is to be valued and devalued with respect to the goals (or purposes) of life and the means by which those goals are to be achieved. The more conscious one becomes of one's assumptions (and that means understanding how these assumptions emerged), the greater the degree of one's freedom since the conscious individual can alter assumptions of which he or she is aware and, in so doing, increase the space of freedom. Examples of such assumptions are: salvation, personal honour, fulfillment of potential, pure pleasure, enlightenment. Each of the aforementioned terms is not the assumption per se. The assumption is less a simple concept than it is a living discursive process. That is, the assumption emerges in a conversation or discussion revolving around a significant issue. The discourse can be in textual form as well as in the form of two people talking on the street. Furthermore, it be indirectly present in conversations that ostensibly have nothing to do with it or it could be the very subject of a discussion and thus be directly present. In any case, the assumption controls or defines the limit of what can be thought; and if the assumption is in any way still operative in the life of a culture, the meanings that make up the complex fabric of the assumption are forever shifting as the conversation evolves.

Exercise: Next time you are having a conversation with friends or family, ask yourself what fundamental cultural assumptions are animating the discussion and the manner in which they are‘coming out'? Would the conversation change if there were a greater awareness of the assumption(s) in question? How would it change?
(2) Discourse:

Not to be understood as ‘dis here course, which is GNST 300'. Discourse is the ongoing discussion wherein the fundamental cultural assumptions are articulated. The process of articulation is ongoing and infusing various disciplines and modes of expression (e.g., literature, art, music, etc.). Discourse is characterized by an inter-personal attempt to clarify one's views about reality and how one is supposed to live in that reality. It is also characterized by breakdown, which occurs when people cannot reach agreement about these things. At that point, one has the choice of strengthening one's discursive boundaries by negating one's opponents as well as finding new reasons to vindicate one's own position or one can open oneself up to a new and more inclusive framework of understanding. In either case, discourse ‘creates' the world to the extent that the definitions and meanings of all things emerge in the context of an ongoing discussion. If we feel that the world is just ‘given' to us, that feeling has itself has grown out of a discourse wherein we feel relatively powerless with respect to the world and can generate a compensatory discourse of objectifying power over the world, a discourse known as science.

Exercise: Compare and contrast the world in which you yourself live with that of your best friend and worst enemy. Try to identify how your conversations generate and vindicate those worlds.

(3) Internal:

Not really to be understood apart from its complementary term ‘external'. In essence, internality is a shared or common space that is marked by a degree of contiguity or oneness relative to a space from which one is separated and with respect to which there is an absence of such sharing or commonality. Thus, at a simple level, one is internal with respect to a certain structure such as a room; and if person A is in the room and person B is outside the room, one is in a common space with A, but not with B. While the aforementioned physical analogy may be trivial, internality becomes more of an issue when the notion of consciousness comes into play. This is because consciousness may be thought of as the most fundamental manifestation of internality. Thus, when we consider the notion of other human beings, their consciousness appears to us as hidden within (i.e., somehow inside them) in comparison to their physical bodies which are external and open to examination by way of the five senses. With respect to our own spheres of consciousness, these appear to be within us as our private thoughts, which at the same time seem to flow into each other in the manner of a stream (i.e., stream of consciousness). In other words, the lack of obvious breaks or gaps bespeaks a realm of internality as common space. Even with a general anaesthetic, there is no externalist point where one experiences a break in consciousness. One only knows one has ‘lost' consciousness when one wakes up and learns that an appreciable degree of time has passed. There can of course be radical shifts in consciousness as when we awaken suddenly from a bad dream. Yet because such a shift seems instantaneous (as when we ‘jump' from one thought to another), continuity characterizes our personal consciousness in comparison to discontinuities, which we experience with respect to other consciousnesses (albeit to differing degrees) and which we observe with respect to the boundaries and barriers that appear to mark the physical world. Boundaries can be generated by way of discourse as, for example, when we endeavor to articulate gender or class distinctions, but as a rule we do not generate a boundary with respect to any given shift of consciousness; and in that sense these ‘boundaryless' shifts are marked by the contiguity of common space or internality. What makes all this significant is the current thrust of contemporary Western Civilization, which tends to reduce all manifestations of internality to expressions of external processes (electro-chemical). While such reductionist strategies are not illegitimate forms of discourse and could go on forever since the external world is not illusory (‘idealist' discourses to the contrary notwithstanding), respect for principles of symmetry as well as a desire to open new discursive possibilities encourage us to maintain the integrity of the internalist sphere. At the very least, the concept of internality as outlined above is a valuable heuristic tool insofar as it allows us to grasp a wide variety of cultural phenomena without a dehumanizing reduction. Spirituality is a case in point, where internality touches on such things as the unity (common space) of God at the same time as is it entails the integrity of a necessary complement, namely, the realm of the external.

External:

The complement of internal although, just as the internal can be reduced to the external from a materialist position, so can the external be reduced to the internal from an idealist position. Within Western civilization, as it has been evolving over the last few centuries, externality is a predominant assumption. In other words, reality is understood externalistically from the perspectives of science and technology. Externality entails fragmentation or division so that externalistic relationships are characterized by a chain-like causal sequence where something has a direct impact or effect on some other separate thing. If the sphere of consciousness reflects an internalist orientation, this is because thoughts follow in a manner that makes it hard to identify separate causal elements. It is also difficult, from an internalist perspective, to get outside of the common space of consciousness while, from an externalist perspective, one is always on the outside. Not only are we ‘outside' other centers of nsciousness. We are also outside the multitude of objects in the physical world - a multitude of objects which are outside of each other as well. Grasping externalist sequences allows us to manipulate them to our advantage although what that advantage is tends to be associated with internalist assumptions. In any case, consciousness can itself be viewed externalistically as a set of electro-chemical processes in the brain - an externalist object that can be studied xternalistically by way of the neuro-sciences. Furthermore, an externalist orientation need not be confined to the realm of science. If a so-called religious position is characterized by a blind adherence to the commands of some authority and there is no common discursive space, then the relationship to that authority (whether it be human or divine) is externalistic because one is outside of and separate from the commanding power. ‘Outside of' in this context can only mean an absence of discourse as well as of love and compassion, all of which render one vulnerable. Thus, religious fundamentalism, while masquerading as an internalist spirituality, is really an externalist participation in power rooted in a fear of authentic internality. Indeed, by engendering fear in others through acts of terror, the fundamentalist fanatic can momentarily escape from his/her own. Finally, because the escape is momentary and only a substitute for authentic fearlessness, it must be repeated in the manner of an enslaving addiction that beclouds the consciousness of the addict.

Exercise: If religious fanaticism is a false form of internality because it is really embodies an externalist approach to the world, what would a false form of externality be?

Boundary:

Follows directly from the notions of internal and external. A boundary is what marks the limits of a common space with respect to what is external to that space. In the external world, walls or even physical realities like rivers are boundaries that separate one external object from another external object. With respect to the internal, the boundary is created by discourse which seeks to articulate or define the limits of a personal and/or cultural consciousness. Thus, a fundamental assumption, existing within a network of discourse, is a kind of boundary that separates the culture holding that assumption from a culture which does not. Given the importance of internality and externality, it would seem that boundaries associated with cultural assumptions would attempt to mark out the limits of internality at the same time as the nature of internality and externality are being defined. While this might appear to be a tiresome, if not overwhelming, intellectual exercise, the process of boundary articulation takes place in the context of life itself and it is only the philosophers, thinkers, artists, etc. who endeavor to give form to these boundaries. What are some examples of boundaries? One is the boundary between human and animal. Obviously this is not a wall-like boundary. It exists in the discourse whereby the qualities of humans are being constantly defined with reference to that sphere of existence called ‘animal'. John Lilly's work with dolphins notwithstanding, the discourse associated with this boundary takes place between humans and not between humans and animals. Humans are within a common space characterized by speech and reason, while animals are deemed to be external to that space to the extent that they lack speech and reason. However, in certain First Nations cultures the boundary is defined differently and discourse with the ‘four-legged' is not out of the question. Another example is the gender boundary, which has been evolving over centuries and in such a way that the otherness or externality associated with the feminine has been altered through a vigorous discourse of protest and confrontation.

Exercise: What is within the common space of your culture or with whom do you share the common space of your identity? When was the last time you felt an expansion of your boundary? What were the times you felt it shrink? What were the discursive processes associated with the foregoing? What is the most important boundary in your life?

Primary Boundary:

Any boundary demarcating the internal from the external (as opposed to internal from internal and external from external). These are primary because much must follow from (be secondary to) this process. If the internal is a world of ideas, thoughts, etc. and the external is the sphere of the body and of physical objects, what separates the two areas cannot be ignored. We have already referred to the discourse of neuro-science as one of the boundaries, and it is perhaps the predominant primary boundary of our time. The discourse known as mathematics (internalistic) can function as a primary boundary to the external insofar as it can take the form of laws of physics (the patterns inherent in the external world). The discourse of meditation can define a relationship to the external world wherein one is freed from the anxieties associated with externality and one's internal space becomes more peaceful.

Secondary External Boundary:

This is the point at which the external becomes opaque to us. In itself, the external might have no such boundary although the big bang origin of the universe might be taken as an externalist boundary. But whenever humans reach a limit in their understanding of the external (and this changes over time and with respect to different cultures) and give expression to that limit (e.g., string theory in contemporary physics), a secondary external boundary is being defined.

Secondary Internal Boundary:

This is the point at which the internal becomes opaque to us. For example, psychoanalysis is a discourse that claims to reveal hidden dimensions of consciousness (i.e., the unconscious); and as one might suspect, Freud is under constant attack to-day, not only due to the questionable nature of his science, but also because he embodies an internalist discourse, which goes against the externalist grain of contemporary culture. Another place of internalist opacity is not the unconscious, but the super-consciousness associated with enlightenment. Here we enter into the common space associated with the mystical unities of spiritual enlightenment. It is a challenging boundary because few can undertake the arduous spiritual discipline required to engage in a discourse with the divine.