The following is the entire text of the first reading assignment in my freshman seminar:
In your groups of 2-4, divide and conquer. Read a fair amount of the Classic of Changes in various translations. Assemble a cosmological profile for this classic.
1. Presume that this text was made by some kind of divine intelligence, and that the laws of natural and human action are encoded within.
2. Identify patterns that might contain the clues needed to identify these laws. 3. Conjecture about what—taken together—these patterns might indicate about these laws.
Your discussion should be as in-depth as possible (these exercises will be the basis of every future essay you write!). Every point should contain explicit evidence (quotes may be as lengthy as you like; feel free to quote the same passage from multiple editions; multiple quotes for a single point may be necessary).
You do not have to attain the level of a polished essay. One might organize the final product within bullet-points (Pattern, sub-section for Evidence, then Conjecture, for example). Post the most comprehensive version of your group notes on Moodle by 23:00 on the Monday before our next class. There are no guidelines about the number of patterns, observations within those patterns, or conjectures you must make. But presume that the more you do now, the better.
NB: Bring one of your most interesting group observations to the next class for discussion!
* * * Quoting scheme: (Classic of Changes, Translator_Surname, Hexagram_Title Number)
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