Instructor: Prof. Rose Cherubin
Office: Robinson B462
Office hours: TR 3:00 - 4:00 PM; R 10:00 - 11:00 AM; additional times available by appointment
Office phone: 3-1332
Email: rcherubi@gmu.edu

Graduate Teaching Assistant: Mr. John Woolsey
Office: Enterprise 306
Office hours: T 1:30 - 3:00 PM; R 2:00 - 4:00 PM (Thursday hours by appointment only). Mr. Woolsey’s office hours begin on September 5.
Email: jwoolsey@gmu.edu

As the highly detailed renderings on this plate (340-330 BCE) suggest, the ancient Greeks were very interested in learning about sea creatures. For most Greeks, this interest was concerned mainly with learning how to catch them and how to cook them in new and exciting ways. Aristotle (384-322 BCE), however, embarked on a new kind of investigation, the first known program  of empirical and systematic research into how fish and other animals breathed, moved, matured, lived, and reproduced. He also explored what should count as scientific evidence or proof and why. Aristotle's report of the behavior of a certain kind of catfish in Asia Minor was so odd that for over two thousand years it was believed to be a mistake, but in the nineteenth century the celebrated biologist Louis Agassiz found that there were catfish in Asia Minor that fit Aristotle's account. For details of the discovery of the fish now famed as "Aristotle's Catfish" (Silurus aristotelis), as well as a fine picture of it, see the page at Non-contradiction.com . For further reading on Aristotle's biological work, see his Parts of Animals, History of Animals, or Movement of Animals. For an account of the Greek passion for seafood, see James Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997). For more on the splendid fishplate featured on this page, see the source of the image at the Perseus Project.

View or download syllabus in .pdf form 

Download syllabus in Word document (.doc) form 

Download Museum Analysis assignment prompt 

Download Research Log assignment prompt 

Sample student research papers from earlier semesters of HNRS 110  (These papers are password-protected; the username and password to enter will be announced in class. You can also reach these papers by going to Prof. Jann's web page and clicking on the link "HNRS 110 Sample Papers"; you'll still need the password and username.

Prof. Cherubin's Notes on Aristotle's Metaphysics A1-2 

Honors Program in General Education 

GMU Libraries 

Endnote.com 

Indiana University's plagiarism page 

Plagiarism vs. legitimate use of the work of others

Suggestions and advice on how to develop an annotated bibliography:
 
Prof. Cherubin's main web page