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  2. HDS 2313

The Conduct of Life in Western and Eastern Philosophy
HDS 2313

Jointly Offered with: Faculty of Arts & Sciences as RELIGION 116, Harvard Law School as HLS 2392

Course Information

Description

A study of approaches in the philosophical traditions of the West and the East to the conduct of life. Philosophical ethics has often been understood as meta-ethics: the development of a method of moral inquiry or justification. Here we focus instead on what philosophy has to tell us about the first-order question: How should we live our lives?
This year a major concern will be the study and contrast of two such orientations to existence.  One is the philosophical tradition focused on ideas of self-reliance, self-construction, and nonconformity (exemplified by Emerson and Nietzsche).  The other is a way of thinking (notably represented by Confucius) that puts its hope in a dynamic of mutual responsibility, shaped by role and ritual and informed by imaginative empathy. Jointly offered in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Religion 116 and the Law School as HLS 2392.

School Harvard Divinity School
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Not Available for Cross Registration

Not Available for BTI Cross Registration

Course Component Lecture
Instruction Mode In Person
Grading Basis HDS Student Option (LG/SUS/AUD)
MTS/ThM Area of Focus Religious Thought, Philosophy, and Theology
Arts of Ministry N/A
MDiv Histories, Theologies, and Practices Non-Tradition Specific
Language Course Type N/A
Language Taught N/A
MDiv Scriptural Interpretation N/A
Course Level N/A