What is the meaning of life? Is human existence meaningful or absurd? Is it even worth asking this kind of question? If it is worthwhile, how is it best pursued?

 This course charts how the question of life's meaning has been pursued through the ages, highlighting the Western philosophical, religious, artistic, political, social and economic paths in the human search for meaningful living. In this way the course is designed to help students in Liberal Studies understand more clearly and practice more effectively for themselves the dual goals of interdisciplinary inquiry and values reflection.

 By investigating the ways in which our civilization has grasped the question of meaning and by proposing a specific type of purposeful inquiry, the course is intended to assist students in developing the tools to come to terms with the question in a direct, practical way by offering a framework for both understanding the history of the human path to meaning and for navigating that path as an individual, personal concern.