HCRT-306: Death

Death lurks behind everything we do. It generates fear, grief, and shame, but also ambition, hope, and curiosity. To confront it, we'll conduct class more as a philosophical experiment than a traditional academic exercise. You'll be asked to read about death and dying every week, produce new designs and artworks, and participate fully in class discussions. In the process, we'll focus on some traditional philosophical questions: Is death an evil? Is survival after death likely (or even desirable)? How is death related to creativity? to personhood? to eroticism? We'll address difficult ethical issues like suicide, euthanasia, abortion, capital punishment, war, martyrdom, genocide, the exploitation of death, and the eating of animals. We won't conclude much of anything, but ideally we'll each gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world.