In this course we explore modern literature from early pioneers such as Dostoevsky, Dickinson, and Rimbaud through to the full-fledged modernism of Kafka, Woolf, and Hemingway, and beyond to the Harlem Renaissance, the Beats, and magical realism. We focus mainly on short fiction and poetry but may also look at excerpts from some longer works.

We consider not only the meanings of the works but also what it is about how they are written and constructed that gives them their power. While our approach is grounded in close reading and formal analysis, we also consider historical context and pay attention to how literature sounds and makes us feel.

Modern literature has had close ties to trends in visual art, music, theater, and film and so we may look at works from these other art forms and how they reflect back on written texts. The course also includes a field trip to the Museum of Modern Art.

Course participants are expected to contribute actively to class discussion, write a number of informal reaction pieces, engage in a few short creative projects, and deliver oral presentations on works of their own choosing.

Students learn how to read actively, think analytically, present their ideas effectively (both orally and in written form), and collaborate with their peers—all skills that will be invaluable to them in college and in their personal and professional lives. They also gain an understanding of and appreciation for modern literature.

No previous knowledge or course work is required.

This course is designed for students who want to engage in lively debate on a philosopher's ideas, closely read primary texts, and investigate how philosophical concepts are present in our experiences today. In the process of delving into key philosophical texts about love, human excellence, and existential freedom, course participants are familiarized with the basic methodology of philosophical enquiry.

We begin by reading and discussing Plato's Symposium and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, their respective treatises on love and moral character (virtue ethics). Students debate questions related to the dialogue on love that Plato develops through the voice and character of Socrates. What is love and what does it mean to be a lover of wisdom—a philosopher? In the Ethics, students discuss the topic of human excellence and seek to answer how humans should best live their lives. In a practical sense, what is the purpose of human life and what is the ultimate goal of human endeavor? Why does Aristotle consider friendship a virtue, an excellence one must pursue if one wants a good life, Eudaemonia?  

Having established the classical foundations, we move into the 20th Century and begin a dialogue and exploration of ideas on existential freedom, choice, and responsibility. We begin with readings to explore the ideas of determinism and indeterminism associated with various philosophies of freedom. Specifically, we focus on the foundational works of Jean-Paul Sartre’s concept of existential freedom found in Being and Nothingness and Soren Kierkegaard’s religious freedom from Fear and Trembling, which Donald Palmer introduces in Does the Center Hold? An Introduction to Western Philosophy. This introduction serves as the foundation students need in order to grasp the idea of existential freedom articulated in the essays that make up Albert Camus' seminal work The Myth of Sisyphus. Through this lens students will debate whether it is practical to attempt to live an existential life and how philosophers as diverse as Nietzsche, Camus, and Sartre would define that life.

In addition to the readings, participants will have an opportunity to critique film and other art forms that present interpretations of existential themes. 

How is the mind related to the brain? Are sensations, beliefs, and desires immaterial or physical states? What are the different types of consciousness and how, if at all, are they related? How do we know that beings besides ourselves possess mentality? Can robots possess minds?

We explore these questions via a philosophical analysis of a number of attempts to explain the nature of the mind and mentality. The course begins with dualist attempts to characterize the mind as a non-physical soul that possesses immaterial mental states such as beliefs and hopes, and proceeds to an investigation of recent efforts to understand the mind and mentality as physical phenomena. Some historically influential answers to the question what is a mind and what is mentality? are critically assessed, including (i) substance dualism, (ii) mind-brain identity theory, and (iii) functionalism. In the latter part of the course, issues such as the nature of consciousness as well as how to make sense of the causal efficacy of mentality are discussed.

Course readings include such influential works as René Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy, J.J.C. Smart's "Sensations and Brain Processes,” Hilary Putnam’s “The Nature of Mental States,” and Thomas Nagel’s “What is it Like to be a Bat?” Course activities include class debates, group presentations, the designing of thought experiments, critical writing exercises, and close textual analysis.

The broad goal of the course is to sharpen students’ analytical reading and writing skills, while the more specific objectives are to give them a solid understanding of issues in the philosophy of mind as well as an understanding of the methods of philosophy.

Many have heard of the trolley problem, a problem that involves a runaway trolley about to cause devastating results. But the trolley problem is more complex and daunting than just a single scenario involving a runaway trolley, and the proposed solutions to this problem not only reflect this greater complexity, but also illustrate some of the more ingenious, creative thoughts contemporary ethicists have had about rightness and wrongness.

In this course, we will work to solve the real trolley problem, as well as address some of the most challenging, fundamental questions in moral philosophy. Such questions include: (i) Is moral rightness and wrongness entirely based on what people believe is morally right or wrong? (ii) If, contra moral nihilists, all value is not baseless, how do we know whether things have value and what type of value they have? And (iii) Are there mind-independent moral properties that make actions right or wrong, and if there aren't, what does make an action right or wrong? Working to answer such questions will not only help us better understand the nature of morality but will also provide the background and training needed to resolve ethical debates that take front and center in our contemporary times. Such debates include disagreement about immigration, hate crime legislation, free speech, universal healthcare, and abortion.

In addition to serving as an introduction to contemporary moral philosophy, this course will also serve as an introduction to philosophy. Students will not only acquire a background in ethics, but will also learn what philosophy is. More broadly, by taking this course, students will sharpen their critical reasoning, writing skills, and debating skills, skills that will serve them well in disciplines that require a high-level of analytic thinking, which, arguably, is every discipline.

Why do we still read the Odyssey almost three thousand years after it was composed? Why is Shakespeare considered to be so important? What makes great literature great? Is it still being written today? Does literature still matter? Can it be important to our lives?

We explore these questions by looking closely at and thinking deeply about classics of world literature in a variety of genres and from various historical periods. Some of the authors we may cover include Homer, Sappho, Du Fu, Hafez, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Tolstoy, Kafka, Hemingway, James Baldwin, and Sheila Heti. While our approach is grounded in close reading and formal analysis, we also pay attention to how literature sounds, how it makes us feel, and whether it has personal relevance to us.

We will occasionally look at art forms such as painting, music, and film to see how “greatness” works in other media; and the class will include a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Course participants are expected to contribute actively to class discussion, write a number of informal reaction pieces, engage in a few short creative projects, and deliver oral presentations on works of their own choosing.

Students learn how to read actively, think analytically, present their ideas effectively (both orally and in written form), and collaborate with their peers—all skills that will be invaluable to them in college and in their personal and professional lives.

No previous knowledge or course work is required.