A philosophical look at the meaning of religious orientations. The contrast between Western and non-Western religious persepctives will be considered. Wilderness and the Heart Thoreau's Walden , Emerson's Nature , and Henry Bugbee's Inward Morning will be explored for the philosophic insight they might yield regarding individuality, moral perfectionism, wilderness, embodiment, solidarity, solitude, perishing, and compassion and the place of these concepts within the wider philosophical tradition. The religious as well as the philosophical dimension of these texts will be developed. A consideration of contemporary issues in ethical theory.
Topics vary from semester to semester.
An inquiry into the nature of art and literature. An investigation of contemporary and classic film art, employing Heideggerian concepts such as world, dread, and care. Films are described as ontic evocations of worlds, great films as ontological openings to the question of Being. A critical study of femenist contributions to philosophy. Nonfeminist aproaches are included to the extent necessary for the students to engage in meaningful criticism of the feminist contributions.