Quests for Wisdom: Aesthetic, Moral and Religious Experiences in the Art of Living in Perilous Times

HDS 3001 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This is an experimental course taught from the perspectives of anthropology and religious studies intended to be transformative for students and teachers alike. Our goal is to develop, in collaboration with enrolled students, a pedagogy for fostering students’ personal quests for wisdom, through lectures and readings, through extensive conversation, and also through other experiences inside and outside of class, including dramaturgical experiences with film or theater, caregiving, and meditation. 

As teachers we are inspired by William James’s conception of knowledge in the University as intended for strategies needed to live a life of purpose and significance that also contributes to improving the world. In the words of Albert Camus, "Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present." Together, we will engage with the problems of danger, uncertainty, failure, and suffering that led the founders of the social sciences and humanities to ask fundamental questions about meaning, imagination, aesthetics, social life and subjective experience. These are the same existential questions that bring ordinary people all over the world, and throughout history, to question commonsense reality in the face of catastrophes and the violence of everyday life. The many answers to these questions – wisdom that is found in religious, ethical and aesthetic quests, expressions and traditions - are intended to furnish individuals’ art of living with strategies to respond to potential and hope, pain and suffering, to promote healing, and to address concerns about salvation, redemption, or other kinds of moral- emotional transformation. 

Together - through discussions, lectures, films, museum visits, readings, and action - we will explore different paths to wisdom, including (1) the youthful quest for truth, beauty and goodness; (2) the affirmation of caregiving for others as the means of applying wisdom to repair and improve the world; 3) suffering and the ordeal of journeying through labyrinths and tests of courage; (4) the discovery of wisdom in teachers and mentors near and far; (5) the process of creative mourning for past losses and shaping new beginnings.