Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Silicon Valley Ethics: Case Studies
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Silicon Valley Ethics: Case Studies
(Students paired with Exeter alumni working in the technology field) In a world where the products of technology permeate almost every aspect of our lives – the internet, smart phones, thousands of apps, cloud-based voice systems, screens in our...
Spring Book Club
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Spring Book Club
This course reads down selectively The New York Times hard- and paperback nonfiction bestseller list, searching for books which would make for lively Harkness conversations about meaning, purpose and value in one’s life. The primary focus of the class...
Introduction to Philosophy
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Introduction to Philosophy
What is really real? How do I know what I know? Do I have free will? What is the good? These and other speculative questions have troubled the Western mind for millennia. This course follows a topical approach to the history of Western philosophy and focuses...
Existentialism
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Existentialism
What is the meaning of life? Does life have any meaning? Is traditional religion still relevant? Is God dead, or how do we live in a world where it appears God is absent? Focusing primarily on the 19th- and 20th-century literature of that group of writers...
Mysticism & Contemplative Traditions
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Mysticism & Contemplative Traditions
It has been said that all religions converge in the contemplative tradition – the great world illuminated by the swamis and yogis of Hinduism, the core meditation practices of the Buddha, the Kabbalist teachers of Judaism, the Sufis of Islam and the...
The Holocaust
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
The Holocaust
How did the Holocaust happen? How could some people commit such heinous crimes, while others remained bystanders, and still others risked their lives to save innocent people? We will attempt to answer these questions and many more as we examine the Holocaust...
East Asian Ways
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
East Asian Ways
Exactly what is Zen Buddhism? Through readings ancient and modern, videos, visits with a meditation instructor and independent projects, students will learn about the origins, philosophy and varied expressions of a movement that reaches back to the 5th...
Epistemology
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Epistemology
Epistemology is a philosophical term meaning “the study of knowledge,” or the question of how we know what we know about the world around us and within us. Our readings include sources in the Western philosophical tradition of reason (Plato,...
Faith and Doubt
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Faith and Doubt
This course invites students to an exploration through fiction and personal narrative of the depth and complexity of religious experience in its many forms from traditional belief through skepticism. The texts we will read range from some classics in this...
Islam
Religion, Ethics & Philosophy
Islam
Islam is the religion of over one billion people and has adherents across the world from Mecca to Brooklyn. Through readings in history, scripture, theology, law, and spirituality, as well as more contemporary memoir and artistic works, this course introduces...