The Conduct of Life in Western and Eastern Philosophy
HLS 2392
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Prerequisites: None
Exam Type: Extended take-home examination; take-home exam not administered by HLS
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.
No prerequisites other than a willingness to consider a wide range of problems and materials.
Note: This course is jointly-listed with HDS and FAS.
Class Notes
Prerequisites: None
Exam Type: Extended take-home examination; take-home exam not administered by HLS
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.
No prerequisites other than a willingness to consider a wide range of problems and materials.
Note: This course is jointly-listed with HDS and FAS.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
