HUM 201-09, The Search for Values in the Light of Western History and Religion, Fall 2004

Abstract

This course continues the exploration, begun in the first year of Search, of important issues about human life in the realms of self, community, nature, and the world. This exploration will be based on the critical reading and discussion of texts that reflect a variety of genres and are drawn from the historical eras, ranging from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The following is a sample list of the kinds of issues we are continuing to pursue: 1. What is a human being? What are the fundamental characteristics which distinguish humans from other kinds of beings? 2. What is the best [happiest, most fulfilling, most authentic] kind of life for humans to live? To what extent is such a life accessible to anyone? to everyone? 3. To what extent, if at all, are humans, either individually or collectively, able to direct or control their own lives in the "pursuit of happiness"? What are the large external forces (natural, spiritual, material/economic, social/political) that influence human life and what resources do humans have at their command in coping with those forces? 4. What is the proper balance between living in freedom, directing one's own life according to one's own motives, and the responsibilities of living in community in ways that necessarily restrict or limit freedom? How is that balance to be found, established, and maintained? B. This exploration will also introduce students to the ways in which historians investigate and interpret various kinds of evidence in tracing the course of human development. C. Students will be given the opportunity to develop further their skills in discussing complex materials and in making persuasive arguments for a reasoned point of view. These opportunities will be provided in the general class discussions, and in planned oral presentations. D. Students will be given the opportunity to develop further their skills in persuasive writing through the tests and exam, by writing responses to the central issues as these are treated in the assigned texts, and by writing a critical review of a work of historical literature.