Silence

Catalog description

How does "silence" help to define our sense of being and existence? Across different cultures, various philosophies of art, science, and society have viewed and thought about silence differently. This course invites students to think about and experience silence by asking three fundamental questions: 1) What does it mean to be silent? (Literally and metaphorically); 2) Does silence shape our lives? And if so, how? 3) Can we have an active relationship and recognition with silence just as we do with sound or action? Drawing on multi-disciplinary sources from around the world to explore the philosophical frameworks and thought systems that have engaged in the study and observation of silence, the syllabus will include works of art, literature, theater, films, architecture, and music, which students will engage via a mix of seminar, lecture, and studio methods of teaching, to enable the creations of their own artistic responses to their experience of silence and the material presented in class.