Program Overview
Description
In this year-long program, we will examine the nature and place of work in human life and culture. Studying literature, philosophy and history, we will develop an understanding of work that goes well beyond the concept of work as a way to pay the bills. We will consider important questions: Why is work important in a complete human life? What roles can it play both for an individual and for the whole social system? What ways of working should a person strive to practice? Who does what work? Our primary lens will be Western; however, we will make some important connections and comparisons to other traditions as well.
Credits will be awarded in literature, history, and philosophy.
Winter Quarter
Building on our work during Fall Quarter, this quarter's work will move to a study of ideas about work and working as they evolved during the Industrial Revolution and continue to the present. We'll study Marx, Walden , Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South , Tess of the D'Urbervilles , The Human Condition , Chekov's Uncle Vanya and other readings.
