This is a seminar on the idea of liberal education—that is, an education that emancipates and that prepares a person for living freely. Why do people sometimes describe their educations as liberating? From what would education free us? And are some forms of education not emancipating, but subjugating? What type of activities must the freed person learn in order to live well in freedom? The tradition of liberal education is the history of an argument about what oppresses human beings and what we are meant to do with our freedom, and thus about what type of learning we need in order to live a fuller human life. This course will require extensive reading, writing, and discussion. Readings will include classic texts from the tradition of liberal education as well as more contemporary adaptations of that tradition.
Prerequisites
PHI100 and any intermediate PHI course (151–154).