On-Campus Course Schedule for Spring 2022

After Empire: Cul, Pol, Soc

Note: The statue of a 17th-century slave trader, Edward Colston, toppled in Bristol by BLM protesters in the spring of 2020, sparked a global conversation about Britain’s attitudes to race, slavery, identity, empire, and belonging. This has also led to a renewed debate about the moral and ethical underpinnings of British and other European empires as well as highlighted the complex and interconnected legacies that were left behind around the world, from Cape Town to Washington, DC. For example, the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings, the British Governor-General of India, by the House of Lords in the late 18th century was cited as a precedent during the 2021 impeachment deliberations in the United States Senate. In this class, we use an interdisciplinary lens of theoretical readings, literature, and film, along with sources such as historical documents, print media, documentaries, and oral histories to consider the complex cultural, political, and economic legacies of colonialism that continue to shape global societies to this day.

DLS Foundational 2

This seminar examines cross-cultural thinking about the nature of Truth. In Western philosophical terminology, this is a matter of ontology, which is the determination of what actually exists when one gets beyond mere appearances to view the world correctly. A comparative examination reveals very different ways cultures have approached ontology, which encourages critical awareness that the matter of Truth is always framed by larger values and objectives. We will explore these different ways of framing knowledge through Western and Asian sources. The first half of the course looks at reflections on the role of the imagination in relation to philosophical and religious truths: Is the imaginative faculty distinct from and opposed to truth, or is it critical to its determination? The second half of the course continues this theme by looking at contemporary debates about religion and science, which encompass the voices of Christian theology, contemporary Western philosophy, and Buddhism. The examination of two different cultural approaches does not presume a neat division between them. Rather, comparison brings out innate tensions within Western tradition itself, which the perspective of a different cultural system helps to highlight. For that reason, comparative study enables greater understanding of one’s home tradition in addition to expanding one’s knowledge base.

Note: DLS Seminar 2, must take in sequence. DLS students only.

DLS Foundational 4

Note: This section is offered online remote (weekly meetings via Zoom).

Free Speech and Supreme Court

Note: Free Speech is very much about line-drawing. We are generally agreed that political speech, no matter how heated, is the hallmark of an open society, and highly protected under the First Amendment. We are also generally agreed (per Justice Holmes) that you can't cry fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire; and that child pornography is bereft of any constitutional protection. Those are easy. What about the gray areas, where unfettered speech is a threat to safety, to reputation, to national security, to morality? In pushing the free speech envelope, how far is too far? Where (if at all) should society -- and the Supreme Court -- draw the line? Justice Brandeis, a champion of free speech, noted that "freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth." Justice Jackson, also a proponent, nonetheless cautioned that speech free of reasonable fetter, if unchecked, can lead to anarchy and convert the Bill of Rights "into a suicide pact." Who is right? Or are they all right? When is speech so uncivil that domestic tranquility takes precedence? What is lost and what is gained as a society in resolving these tensions? This course grapples with these issues. Through historical analysis and case study of the leading Supreme Court speech cases from the Founding to the present, we will examine the interplay between speech and censorship, liberty and order; majoritarianism and libertarianism; and the legal, societal and ethical implications of the Supreme Court's First Amendment pronouncements in this volatile, contentious/perpetually vexing area.

MALS Continuous Reg. (HT)

Note: Must be taken by MALS candidates who have an "Incomplete" in Thesis Writing. No scheduled classes.

MALS FND: Humanities

Note: This course is required for and is restricted to MALS students.

MALS FND: Social Sciences

Note: For MALS students only. This is the third MALS required foundational course.

MALS Thesis Proposal

Note: This course is required for all MALS students and counts for half-time status. MALS students must complete this course before registering for MALS Thesis Writing.

MALS Thesis Writing

The MALS Thesis Writing course must be taken upon completion of the MALS Thesis Proposal course (LSHV 800) in the subsequent fall or spring semester and is the final curricular requirement for the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree. In the MALS Thesis Writing course, students will work directly with their appointed thesis mentor to produce a master’s thesis and participate in a thesis defense. Students are expected to work directly with their thesis mentor and library representatives to actively write and produce the thesis argument. At the commencement of the thesis writing semester, students will develop milestones in consultation with the thesis mentor to ensure consistent progress.

Note: This course is required for and is restricted to MALS students. Only students who completed MALS Thesis Proposal with a grade of "B" or better are eligible to register.

Social Brain, Moral Mind

This course examines advances from cultural anthropology, social psychology, moral psychology, and neuroethics that are impacting conceptions of human nature, our proclivity to be social, and our capacity to be moral. The implications of these developments on theories of ethics are explored.