Statement of the Competency: to think critically about the knowledge process. Students who successfully complete the KNOWLEDGE course in Humanities should be able to:
The KNOWLEDGE course invites students to step back and reflect in a critical manner on the processes by which knowledge in various fields can be attained. Students learn and develop skills in identification, evaluation, analysis and synthesis in order to address such questions as: “What do I know?” and “How do I know something is true?”
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| 345-101-MQ |
“That's Not Art!": An Introduction to Art and Philosophy |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Apocalyptic Thinking |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
It is the morning of the written language in human history, more than two thousand years ago. You are a scribe. It is your destiny to encode the knowledge of ancient oral poetry into scripture, to give permanent form to the stories that came down to your people from the mists of your preliterate past. Some of these stories describe the end of the world; a final judgement on all humankind. Fast forward two thousand years. The world is now industrial, technological, capitalistic and global. Scientific knowledge rules. Nevertheless, stories of end times still linger in eschatological death cults on the fringes of human culture. Some of the most popular entertainment fictions ever produced focus on the end of the world. Meanwhile, ecological cataclysms propel humans into apocalyptic scenarios in real life. Where do reality and these powerful mental fictions collide? What can we learn about the construction of knowledge from these apocalyptic visions? |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Art: Interpreting the Past and Present |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Descriptions for Course: |
Some argue that art is an early warning system meant to prepare society for the changes to come. Others argue that art is a mirror that reflects society’s reality, while still others argue it is an instrument to bring about change. Art reflects humankind’s identity, needs, and desires. It has been used to define the boundaries of knowledge. In this course, we will be discussing art as it has been used to define and generate beliefs, ethics, philosophies, knowledge of the natural and spiritual world and the place of the human being within it. We will study and explore the many interpretations and uses of art beginning with prehistory and ending with politicized art of the 20th century. We will also evaluate how art of the past has been interpreted in order to serve the needs of the present day. By doing so, we will also evaluate the language of argument, and we will use critical thinking skills to evaluate these interpretations. (Leanne D'antoni)
Art is used to define the boundaries of knowledge. By examining specific works of art, students will learn to identify how art conveys knowledge about a society within specific periods. We will be discussing art as it has been used to define and generate beliefs, philosophies, and knowledge of the natural and spiritual world. We will study and explore the many ways art has been used to interpret and convey knowledge, beginning with a mostly chronological discussion of art from prehistory to Medieval Europe (along with a discussion of contemporary indigenous art). We will also evaluate how art of the past has been interpreted in order to serve the needs of the present day and the powerful, and, by so doing, we will use critical thinking skills to evaluate these interpretations. (Leanne D'antoni) |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Critical Pedagogy |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Critical Thinking |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The class will investigate the nature of knowledge; how knowledge is identified and acquired; the difficulties that arise in trying to acquire it and strategies for overcoming them. Students will learn the basics tools of critical thinking, such as rhetoric, logic and argument construction in order to identify, analyse, evaluate, and produce arguments. They will apply these skills to the careful reading of arguments in everyday contexts. Students will also learn basic concepts of epistemology and metaphysics. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to identify the fallacies (if any) in everyday arguments. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Critical Thinking and Communication |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course students will learn about knowledge related to communication. They will critically examine what constitutes competent communication, how these norms develop and become accepted, and how we can know what these norms are. They will also discover whether the norms of effective communications are the same everywhere. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Design Thinking |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The focus of this class is on the creative process and the knowledge we gain through creativity. Throughout the semester, students will be asked to practice different creative thinking tools, develop their own creative processes, and explore the relationship between the philosophical skill of critical thinking and the artistic skill of creative thinking. Students will study, practice, and apply creative tools to unlock their critical thinking, and, ultimately, will design ideas that make the world better. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Critical Thinking: Feminist Ways of Knowing |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
To think critically means to think for ourselves rather than let others such as parents, governments or religious institutions think for us. Critical thinking is the practice of identifying poor arguments and constructing strong arguments. We will apply critical thinking by reading some philosophical works and examine how traditional conceptions of knowledge and truth exclude women. We will also explore feminist contributions to knowledge and truth. The definition of a feminist in this context is someone who argues that equality in intellectual endeavors means examining and including, where relevant, women’s perspectives and research. The goal of the course is for you to apply your critical thinking skills and your understanding of feminist thinking to knowledge itself, and to write an argumentative essay on a topic proposed by the instructor, or one you have developed on topics such as indigenous issues, racism, gender, domestic violence or educational curricula, to name just a few. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Crowds and Power |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course explores knowledge of the self, crowds, and power as portrayed in the arts and social sciences of the late modern era. In the early twentieth century, the electrification of the world brought new ideas such as Nietzsche's "Overman," Freud's discovery of the unconscious, and radical new art forms. These revolutionary technologies and new ideas inspired new art forms, political ideologies, and social theories. The first part of the course focuses on the World Wars, the rise of fascism, psychoanalysis, and futurism. Moving on into the Cold War, the course explores the culture of late capitalism and mass media. The course concludes with a look at how the ideas of the Modernist era have shaped the 21st century world of artificial intelligence, social media, and cybernetics. Students may submit creative work for some assignments if they wish. This course is paired with French 103A. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Darwin's Tea Party |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Biological knowledge, or knowledge of the living world, has been essential to human survival since the dawn of humanity and has transformed nature, society, and our ideas about who and what we are. Darwin's theory of evolution is one key example of just how powerful biological knowledge has been and continues to be, though it is just one chapter in this story. Today, biological science and technology are on the verge of triggering even more radical transformations of our environment, society, and perhaps of human nature itself. This course examines the growth and impact, use and misuse of biological knowledge, from the earliest periods to the rise of Darwin's evolutionary theory, right up to the present. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Epistemologies of Race and Nation |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Evolution |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will look at how the theory of evolution has revolutionized our understanding of our place in the universe. Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species undermined many of the premises of Western thought about the elevated status of human beings in the cosmos. We will look at how the dominant views on the origins of human life prior to the modern era were undermined by developments in the Scientific Revolution and during the Enlightenment. We will then examine the notions of variation and natural selection in The Origin of Species and how they seek to explain the development of all life forms. We will also study Darwin's contributions to our understanding of human evolution in his other famous work The Descent of Man and look at the intellectual debate which its publication inspired. The course will conclude with an overview of what we know today about the origins of life on Earth, the particular phases of human evolution and recent developments in the science of genetics. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Evolution of Human Rights |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
We live in an 'Age of Rights'. In this course students will study human rights as a body of knowledge and a framework for expressing societal values. Human rights developed in parallel to ideas of autonomy and empathy. As autonomy and empathy became cultural practices, so too did human rights. This course examines this development, the process by which a value becomes a "human right", and how these rights evolve from ideas to prescriptive claims and, finally, to legal claims. We will also study the issue of the extent to which we have obligations to protect the human rights of strangers. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Feminist Ways of Knowing |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
To think critically means to think for ourselves rather than let others such as parents, governments or religious institutions think for us. Critical thinking is the practice of identifying poor arguments and constructing strong arguments. We will apply critical thinking by reading some philosophical works and examine how traditional conceptions of knowledge and truth exclude women. We will also explore feminist contributions to knowledge and truth. The definition of a feminist in this context is someone who argues that equality in intellectual endeavors means examining and including, where relevant, women’s perspectives and research. The goal of the course is for you to apply your critical thinking skills and your understanding of feminist thinking to knowledge itself, and to write an argumentative essay on a topic proposed by the instructor, or one you have developed on topics such as indigenous issues, racism, gender, domestic violence or educational curricula, to name just a few. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Greek Mythology |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Studying the past is never a straightforward task and the difficulties are compounded when examining cultures like ancient Greece, from which surviving evidence is limited and produced for the most part by a narrow subset of that society. What knowledge of ancient Greece is possible then? In this course, we’ll examine some of the material that’s survived, exploring the relative usefulness of these sources in shedding light on ancient Greek culture. In particular, we’ll consider what insights ancient Greek myth might offer us, especially when it claims to present historical events, such as the origins of the universe, the creation of men, women and the gods, and the Trojan War. These stories are fictional and often preposterous, and yet one of the central functions of myth is to reinforce and explore key cultural values. Thus, we can use these myths to glean truths about the ancient Greek value system, and through close analysis even discern which long-held beliefs were in dispute. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Heroes |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Inside Out: Adventures in Autotheory |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
We understand the world through the lens of our own experience. Autotheory is a genre that recognizes that crucial fact and explores the world of ideas from the inside (autobiography) out, using personal experience as a means of exploring and understanding everything from literature to philosophy to science. But the operation goes the other way too – from the outside in, using theory and ideas to explore and understand one’s own life. Inside Out: Adventures in Autotheory serves as an introduction to the genre. In this paired Humanities/English course, students will be introduced to autotheory as a form of knowledge, combining elements of philosophy and autobiography in order to construct, or deconstruct, the subject. In addition to reading works of autotheory, students will be encouraged to engage in their own autobiographical (autotheoretical) writing and other creative projects. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Introduction to Western Philosophy |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Judging Monarchs |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Was England’s Henry VIII a good king? How about the Roman Emperor Vespasian? To answer these seemingly simple questions, we must ask several more: What qualities does a good ruler possess? What actions must he or she perform? Who gets to decide which qualities and actions are good? What information do we have about the ruler in question? Who gives us that information, and how trustworthy are they? What kind of argument and point of view is our source putting forth? Finally, how do we craft our answer so that other people will care about our response? To answer all these questions, we must combine our innate human ability to reason with the research skills necessary to uncover and evaluate historical facts. This course will seek to answer the question of ‘What makes a good monarch?’ by examining concepts of historical knowledge, determining what we can truly know about the past and how we can use that knowledge to form contemporary judgments. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Justice 1 |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Know Thyself |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
Know Thyself: two words inscribed atop the Oracle at Delphi. What does this mean? How can we know ourselves? In this class, we will focus on the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, who has much to teach us nearly 2,400 years after his death. We will study his method of critical thinking in order to help us frame and approach the question of who we are. By studying how he approached the major questions of his day, we will have a more solid basis to analyze different types of knowledge. The goal will be to provide you with a basis for understanding what constitutes solid, well-reasoned knowledge and how it differs from superstition or belief. Throughout the course, we will discover different tools and techniques that can help us know ourselves. To this end, there will be a strong emphasis on practicing different forms of meditation in and out of class. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Knowledge |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Knowledge Beyond Good and Evil |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
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| Description for Course: |
In the 1880s, Nietzsche declared "God is dead," and that humanity has the freedom to envision its future without looking to a higher power. Nietzsche helped to inspire existentialism, modernism, and other movements that encourage people to break with tradition and envision knowledge that is "beyond good and evil." The course surveys writers such as Nietzsche, Hesse, Camus, Sartre, Fanon, de Beauvoir, and concepts including the "absurd hero," "the overman," and "the death of God." We will also explore the portrayal of these ideas in film and the social sciences, and how they relate to contemporary issues, such as science, technology, social change, gender, and artificial intelligence. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Knowledge in Critical Pedagogy |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Knowledge of the Human Mind and Critical Thinking about AI |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is based on the premise that knowledge of one’s mind is the starting point and one of the main components of critical thinking. We will explore the modes of functioning of the human mind, and will critically examine the processes by which knowledge is thought to be acquired. These processes will be illustrated mainly through the case study of AI technologies. For instance, the modes of functioning of the human mind will be compared with the ways data sets are analyzed and categorized by artificial intelligence (AI) systems. To succeed in this course, students should be able to provide a sound answer to the following questions: Why do an increasing number of scholars claim that humans are predictably irrational? Given the recent developments in AI, is it legitimate to assume that humans are not currently the most rational beings? How can we train our minds to be more rational? How can we avoid fallacious reasoning? What is a logically valid and sound argument? |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Knowledge with New School |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Descriptions for Course: |
The Knowledge course invites students to step back and reflect in a critical manner on the processes by which knowledge in various fields can be attained. Students learn and develop skills in identification, evaluation, analysis and synthesis in order to address such questions as: “What do I know?” and “How do I know something is true?” New School’s approach to learning is based on the principles of Critical Pedagogy and Humanistic Education. Students are divided into smaller learning groups. These groups explore the same learning competencies as in the regular course, but our facilitators give students a greater role in shaping their courses and designing their assessments. Our aim is to relate our studies to our personal and social lives, and to link the personal to the political. Go to the New School website for more information about our approach. (Cory Legassic)
New School is a different way of doing Humanities and English at Dawson, and you need to pre-register through Omnivox. (Visit our website for more details.) We use a critical humanistic approach where students collaborate in smaller self-directed learning circles. You step up and play an active role in shaping the course, from topics, to activities, to how you will be graded, all under the leadership of your facilitator. In these extraordinary times, we are moving New School online temporarily and so we are inviting you to bring your creativity and openness to our exciting experiment. This New School Humanities Knowledge course explores the meaning of stories. We look at language, representation, and visual and oral culture. What are current ideas of what makes a good story, and what makes sense? How do we decide what is true, false, helpful or useless? We explore and debunk knowledge myths to put forward a collective grounded vision of knowledge. Every story is about us. (Mari Heywood) |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Lord of the Rings and Critical Thinking |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course introduces students to the basics of metaphysics and epistemology. The course will also involve a critical examination of ethics. Are there eternal, transcendental forms? How do I know what I know is true? How should I behave? Students will study to these ideas via the writings and movies of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Past films have included The Lord of the Rings and Narnia. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Media and Storytelling |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Media Knowledge |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The media ‘mediates’ our lives and as such influences our beliefs, values, choices, and fundamentally structures our vision of ourselves and the world. It describes our most personal expectations and provides us with ways of seeing and interpreting events, influencing what we consider to constitute helpful, valid, and even ‘true’ knowledge. In this course we use sources of mass and alternative media to question objectivity of information. We consider visual communication (linking image and imagination) and examine strategies of data and information collection and persuasion. Examples from investigative journalism, advertising, popular magazines, and other sources help us develop an understanding of what we know, how we know it, and the limits of our knowledge. To evaluate what restricts and shapes knowledge and our understandings of our own and others’ lives, it is essential to know how knowledge is constructed and conveyed through media. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Men, Women and Culture |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The objectives of this course are to examine the field of gender roles and relations in a wide variety of cultures and to examine the development of this area of knowledge. Particular attention will be paid to the questions asked in this field, the methods used to collect data, the assumptions of researchers in the field, the structure of their arguments, and how the various approaches to the study of gender roles and relations can be organized, compared, and evaluated. Content includes the relationship between biology and culture, primate research, the cultural construction of masculinity and femininity, variations in the sexual division of labour and economic organization, and cultural factors which influence the degree of gender equality in a society. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Monsters, Madness, and Mourning: A Critical Introduction to Horror Cinema |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Horror cinema terrifies. So why DO we take pleasure in horror? How do these genre films work? What kind of cultural work does horror do, as it summons and exercises societal demons—from economic injustice, to white supremacy, to patriarchy? As we pursue “forbidden knowledge,” we’ll hunt down “the monster”…discovering, perhaps, that it was us all along! Dangerous difference and mirror image, monsters confront us with our deepest fears and forbidden desires—sometimes leaving us unclear which is which. Along our journey into taboo territory, we’ll test the genre’s limits (are psychological thrillers horror?). We’ll discuss the range of emotions horror films evoke and the human experiences they speak to—including loss, mourning, and trauma. With the guidance of philosophy, literature, and our own experience, we’ll navigate the nightmares and make sense of films including Night of the Living Dead (1968), Mulholland Drive (2001), and The Atlantics (2019). Join us…if you dare! |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Moral Knowledge |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is about moral knowledge and will centre on the question, “how can we come to know right from wrong?” This is what philosophers refer to as a meta-ethical question, as opposed to the sorts of questions asked in normative or applied ethics — which is to say that it will look into the ontological and epistemological status of moral values. Some initial questions that will return throughout the course are the following: • What is “the good”? • How can we know “the good”? • Are moral values real in some sense? • Do moral value claims have any truth value? • Are values learned, or innate? • Do we possess the free will to live in accordance to values? |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Native Ways of Knowing |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Over the past last 500 years, indigenous peoples of the world have lost much of their traditional knowledge due to invasion and colonization by non-natives. There have been attacks on their language and culture, commercialization of their art, and use of their plant knowledge in the development of medicine without their consent. However, there is still much to be learned from contemporary hunters-gatherers, since this knowledge is still used in their daily lives. This course deals with contemporary native peoples' knowledge of land and nature, resource management, environmental adaptation, herbal medicine, social and economic organization. It will examine the importance of preserving, promoting and protecting indigenous language, culture and knowledge. By examining this other system of knowledge in a multidisciplinary framework, students may better understand their own system of knowledge and its use. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Philosophical Dilemmas |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This knowledge course is an introduction to philosophical dilemmas. We will study lasting issues in philosophy, investigate interesting philosophical arguments, and explore creative ways of doing philosophy. By taking this course, students will develop and apply the essential skills of critical thinking. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Problems of Philosophy |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is a general introduction to fundamentals of philosophical thought and specifically looks at the way in which theories of knowledge relate to political theory. Questions to be asked include: What is justice? What role do moral values play in politics? What is human nature? What are the origins and the end of the state? Can a war be just? What are the limits of governmental power? How much liberty should citizens enjoy? Who should rule? What is the best form of government? What do we mean when we talk about freedom, equality, power, authority, legitimacy, sovereignty, natural law and human rights? How can we know the answer to these questions? What counts as a good argument? The basic aim of the course is to improve student’s critical thinking skills and their ability to analyze, develop and construct philosophical arguments. An additional aim is to introduce students to the history of ideas and their development in Western thought. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Reading the Past |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The aim of this course is to foster critical thinking about a specific field of knowledge: archaeology, the study of past material culture. The methods by which the discipline collects data, assesses evidence and builds arguments will be examined. The course will demonstrate how archaeology can be used to reconstruct ancient beliefs, answer larger questions about past societies, test the veracity of written accounts and challenge traditional reconstructions based on literary sources. It will also show how archaeological evidence can be used to construct and test theories meant to explain past trends, namely why societies collapse. Relevant case studies will be drawn from a variety of times and places, such as Rome, the ancient Near East, pre-Columbian America, the world of the Vikings and early Islamic Jordan. A section on pseudo-archaeology will allow for the critical examination of mistakes in reasoned argumentation, while studying popular conceptions about the past. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Sex and Death: An Introduction to Psychoanalysis |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Few fields of knowledge have been as influential, and controversial, as psychoanalysis. Its founder, Sigmund Freud, pioneered a revolutionary form of therapy, the talking cure, designed to help patients resolve their symptoms and free up their desire. He taught that we never really overcome our childhood. That every story we tell is also a cover story. The unconscious, the “I that is another,” pulls us along, sometimes catastrophically, without us realizing it. To make sense of this startling situation, psychoanalysis introduces a new way of “reading,” one which we will apply to works of philosophy, film, and literature. The course also asks us to interpret our own lives—particularly the seemingly “marginal” realm of dreams, jokes, and slips of the tongue. Sometimes derided as outdated, what remains of psychoanalysis in the 21st century? As we put the field into dialogue with feminism, queer theory, and anti-racism—as well as our own so-called selves—tentative answers will emerge. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
States of Nature |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course looks at two political theorists who tried to understand the human condition and its implications for politics. Their ideas have since influenced modern institutions, governments, philosophers, social movements and literature. Thomas Hobbes has had an enormous influence on the social sciences and the assumptions on which they operate. Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been considered an inspiration for the French Revolution, Romanticism and social movements throughout the world. These two political theorists attempted to devise solutions to the problems of their times based on observations of history and humanity. This is a knowledge course, so our task will be to examine their claims in a critical manner. What steps did they take in order to claim valid arguments? |
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| 345-101-MQ |
The Examined Life |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
For Socrates “The unexamined life is not worth living” (Apology, 38a). In this Knowledge course, students will “apply a logical analytical process to how knowledge is organized and used” (345-101 competency). We will attempt to examine our own lives by studying his. The course will consider arguments, how to evaluate and produce them. The students’ logical skills will be honed, allowing a better understanding of the world and an enhanced ability to communicate and succeed. This will be done by gaining an appreciation of the reasoning abilities of Socrates. We will begin with a look at the world that Socrates was born into, Athens, the Greek myths he grew up with and the war with Sparta. We will then read some of the works of Plato, in which Socrates is the main player, and consider the debate over what we can know and what is worthwhile. The perspective taken will be the thoroughness of understanding and argumentation in establishing and refuting positions. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
The Hijacked Brain |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
If there is one kernel of knowledge that has united neuroscientists and philosophers, ancient thinkers and modern ones, it is the tacit assumption that humans are bad. It's a notion that drives newspaper headlines and guides the laws that shape our lives. From Plato to Augustine, Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Pinker, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we're taught, are by nature selfish and governed primarily by self-interest. But what if it isn't true? It is possible that believing in human generosity and collaboration isn't merely optimistic---it's realistic. Let’s find out how this might be true. This knowledge course will critically appraise our traditions, challenging some elements and affirming others. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
The Personal is Political: An Introduction to Autotheory |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
“This book is not a memoir. (…) It is a body-essay. Fiction, actually. If things must be pushed to the extreme, this is a somato-political fiction, a theory of the self, or self-theory.” Just like these lines pulled from the autotheory text Testo Junkie, autotheory is a mutant, combining elements of memoir, critical theory and autobiography. The Personal is Political: An Introduction to Autotheory serves as an introduction to the genre, beginning with its roots in second-wave feminism and visual art, before crossing other disciplines. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to autotheory as a form of knowledge, combining elements of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and autobiography in order to construct, or deconstruct, the subject. In addition to reading works of autotheory, students will be encouraged to engage in their own autobiographical (autotheoretical) writing and other creative projects. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
The Poetics of Philosophy |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This Knowledge course is an introduction to critical thinking from two converging perspectives: literature and philosophy. Students will begin with a medieval poem (Dante's Purgatory) as the background to understanding the first novel in the western world (Cervantes' Don Quixote). A bridge from there to the modern world follows with Voltaire's philosophical novel Candide and Camus' monologue on the human condition (The Fall). By the end of the course, students will have completed their own "quest for truth" across 700 years of history in the intellectual company of great writers who were also great philosophers. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
The Power of Stuff |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
The Self: Theories and Constructions |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course introduces students to the problem of knowledge (epistemology) and its relevance for theories of the self. In thinking about the "self" various related notions are apparent: soul, mind, consciousness, self-consciousness, subjectivity, body-image, self-image, self-concept, psyche and personality. We will ask what these notions mean and how they relate to what having or being a self involves. For example, is the self (or soul) best described as an immaterial thing that "thinks"? Is our individuality only really guaranteed by our corporeality, suffering or happiness? Is the self better described as a self-reflexive process, the origin of which is rooted in experience? Is the self a construction, mere habit or illusion? Is the self a radical freedom or a "no-thing" as Sartre proclaimed? Is the self a unified and singular thing, or is it an essentially divided, layered and conflicted process? Is the self a culturally learned "manner of being" we are asked to perform? |
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| 345-101-MQ |
The Story of Us: The Oral Tradition and Digital Culture |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Thinking About Knowledge |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course strive to introduce students to elements of reasoning and argumentation to enable them to examine some aspects of the theory of knowledge. We will look at what knowledge is and how it is acquired in various domains. We will take a critical look at the reasoning involved both traditional and contemporary accounts of knowledge and philosophical issues surrounding it. |
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| 345-101-MQ |
Thinking Critically about Race |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will examine race and racism as fields of knowledge. Where did the concept of race originate? What do we mean when we speak about race? To what degree is race a determinant for success in society? How can we create good arguments against racist claims? In this course we will attempt to answer these, and many more, questions. We will discuss the origins of race and racism, the historical and present-day manifestation of these concepts, and the damage racism has wrought. We will begin the course by learning about critical thinking and argumentation. Then we will use our critical thinking skills to analyze the concepts of race and racism, using historical and modern examples of racial prejudice, focusing predominantly on the African American population in the United States. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Thinking Critically About the Present and the Past |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Thinking in Systems |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
A system is a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Systems are all around us, from bodies to businesses, ecosystems to economies. Systems have a life of their own, which is what makes them so tricky to understand and control. But systems big and small, natural and artificial, share a hidden structure that we can learn to see and use. Once you start thinking in systems, the world will make sense to you in a whole new way. This course will introduce you to Systems Theory: the interdisciplinary field of knowledge that studies how systems work. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Thinking in the Humanities |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
What does it mean to be human? |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Descriptions for Course: |
With science steadily progressing in areas such as eugenics, the increasing attention surrounding bioethical issues and the struggle for religion and philosophy to describe the human condition in this current landscape, a definition of “being human” is a matter of renewed importance. This course will consider the question of what it means to be human from three distinct disciplines: science, philosophy and religion. The purpose of this course is to help students develop an analytical perspective on the concepts of humanness and personhood and what the ramifications for society each concept brings. It does so through an examination of the topic through different branches of learning in an effort to find a “working definition” of what it means to be human by looking at where the different disciplines intersect, complement and complete each other. (Eric Van Der wee)
With science steadily progressing in areas such as eugenics; the increasing attention surrounding bioethical issues; and the struggle for religion and philosophy to describe the human condition in this current landscape, a definition of “being human” is a matter of renewed importance. This course will consider the question of what it means to be human from distinct disciplines, in an effort to build up a knowledge base for which one can answer the question: What does it mean to be Human? The purpose of this course is to help students develop an analytical perspective on the concepts of humanness and personhood and what the ramifications for society each concept brings. It does so through an examination of the topic through different branches of learning in an effort to find a “working definition” of what it means to be human by looking at where the different disciplines intersect, compliment and complete each other. (Eric Van Der wee) |
|
| 345-101-MQ |
Writing Life: Knowledge and the Art of Nonfiction |
3 - 1 - 3 |
60 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course investigates the way that language and writing generate knowledge about the self. We will define knowledge in a particular way: not just as data or information about the world, but as an invitation to occupy certain subject positions. Knowledge, as we will define it, doesn’t just tell us about the world: it asks us to be a certain kind of person in the world. We investigate different definitions of ideology, moving from the Marxist concept of ‘false consciousness’ to the Foucauldian concept of discourse as the production of subjectivity. We will then define critical thinking as an interrogation of how we are told to be subjects. Focusing on the personal dimension of nonfiction writing, we will look at the role knowledge plays in forming us as subjects. Final essays are a substantial part of this course and students will use what they have learned about knowledge and the personal dimension of nonfiction in order to self-reflectively address their own subject formation. |
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