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Hybrid
Recorded
Mixed Lecture/Discussion
Low intensity
What is the meaning of life?
This module examines four of humanity's most influential answers to that question. We will begin with a central ancient Hindu text, The Bhagavad-Gita, where students will learn about meaning from detached action and devotion to cosmic order. Students will then turn to Ancient Greece and learn about Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, where the philosopher located meaning in rational flourishing, virtue, and friendship. Next, students will confront the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament through The Book of Job, which challenges easy answers through the experience of unjust suffering. Finally, we round out our discussion with the modern views of Friedrich Nietzsche and his work Twilight of the Idols, declaring traditional values dead and demanding we create our own meaning.
Students will learn to identify the core arguments of each text and trace the tensions that run through the human conversation about meaning: reason versus faith, action versus contemplation, self versus community, tradition versus freedom. Through four lectures and four discussion periods, students will build a personal toolkit for articulating and living their own thoughtful response to the biggest question ever asked.
This hybrid module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:
This module examines four of humanity's most influential answers to that question. We will begin with a central ancient Hindu text, The Bhagavad-Gita, where students will learn about meaning from detached action and devotion to cosmic order. Students will then turn to Ancient Greece and learn about Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, where the philosopher located meaning in rational flourishing, virtue, and friendship. Next, students will confront the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament through The Book of Job, which challenges easy answers through the experience of unjust suffering. Finally, we round out our discussion with the modern views of Friedrich Nietzsche and his work Twilight of the Idols, declaring traditional values dead and demanding we create our own meaning.
Students will learn to identify the core arguments of each text and trace the tensions that run through the human conversation about meaning: reason versus faith, action versus contemplation, self versus community, tradition versus freedom. Through four lectures and four discussion periods, students will build a personal toolkit for articulating and living their own thoughtful response to the biggest question ever asked.
This hybrid module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:
| Outline | 8-Session Structure |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Lecture 1: The Bhagavad Gita - Duty and Cosmic Detachment |
| Discussion 1: Discussion about Lecture 1 material | |
| Week 2 | Lecture 2: Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics - Virtue and Human Flourishing |
| Discussion 2: Discussion about Lecture 2 material | |
| Week 3 | Lecture 3: The Book of Job - Suffering and the Limits of Reason |
| Discussion 3: Discussion about Lecture 3 material | |
| Week 4 | Lecture 4: Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols - The Death of God and the Call to Self-Creation |
| Discussion 4: Discussion about Lecture 3 material |
Required Texts
There are no required texts for this module.
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