First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar: The Experience of Being Human

Catalog description

In this course, students will explore how different cultures throughout time have contemplated the experience of being human. Together we will read a diverse collection of stories, each posing philosophical questions that will demand rigorous introspection and invite critical debate. Does life have a purpose? Do we control our own destinies? What does it mean to live morally? How do we find fulfillment? Must we suffer until we do? What happens when we die? And when, if ever, will humanity itself reach its end? Will anything follow in our place? Texts will include a mixture of old (The Iliad, the Book of Job, Beowulf) and new (Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood's End, James Baldwin’s Another Country). Through engaging discussions and challenging experiential exercises, students will learn a deeper appreciation for the varied human experiences that shape our world, cultivating empathy, self-examination, and a greater sense of interconnectedness with the world around them.