The Universe and the Meaning of Life

Catalog description

How we understand the nature of the universe is intimately related to how we understand the possibility of living a meaningful life. If the universe is basically material in nature, what intellectual resources should we look to in order to help us construct a meaningful understanding of our existences within it? Or, are there hints that such a view of the universe is incomplete, suggesting that there is more to reality than we currently perceive or comprehend? We will consider the rhetorical and intellectual challenges that arise in tackling such “big questions” as we wrestle with the essential issue of how to conceive of reality and our place in it. Through engagement with intellectually complex content the course seeks to hone advanced writing techniques necessary for higher abstract thinking and writing. Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement Prerequisites & Notes This class does not satisfy the WRI-101 requirement.