Death Becomes Us: The Mystery of Mortality and the Need for Meaning

Catalog description

Does it matter that we are the only creatures we know of who are aware of their own mortality? Does this awareness help shape our beliefs and therefore our behaviors? Might death anxiety undergird both our greatest triumphs and our most heartbreaking tragedies? To delve into these complex questions, this course will necessarily involve an interdisciplinary approach, utilizing the fields of philosophy, theology, psychology, history, mythology, literature, sociology, and science