RELIGST 12N: Perspectives on the Good Life

This course is expected to experience high student demand. Frosh, sophomores, and new transfers who decide to rank a high-demand course when making their three selections for priority enrollment are advised to select other IntroSems being offered the same quarter for their second and third choices.

Course Description

Our question is how to approach and evaluate different perspectives on the good life, especially when those perspectives are beautifully, and elusively, presented to us as texts. We will consider both classic and modern writers, from the West and from China; some are explicitly religious, some explicitly secular; some literary, some philosophical. Most of the class will revolve around our talking with each other, interpreting and questioning relatively short texts. The works we will read—by Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), Emily Dickinson, James Baldwin, William James, Tu Fu (Du Fu), and others—are not intended to be representative of traditions, eras, or disciplines. They do, however, present a range of viewpoints and styles that will help frame and re-frame our views on the good life, and they illustrate and question the role that great texts can play in a modern "art of living." Perhaps most important, they will develop and reward the skills of careful reading, attentive listening, and thoughtful discussion.

Note: The primary course requirement is preparation and participation in discussion. Enrollment at 3 units requires a short final paper; a more substantial paper is required for the 4-unit option.