Sections offered FALL 2020:
#13568 |
NORMAN FURNISS |
MW 1:10-2:25pm |
WEB |
CLASS NOTES: COLL Intensive Writing section; IUB GenEd S&H credit; COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry credit; Satisfaction of the English composition requirement
Above class meets 100% Online with a combination of Synchronous and Asynchronous instruction. For more information visit https://fall2020.iu.edu/learning-modes/
We Americans, and people around the world, face immense challenges to our normal ways of living and to our normal ways of thinking. The coronavirus has highlighted these concerns. Our purpose in this seminar is to use the ideas of liberty, equality, and democracy to help us understand the nature of our challenges as they play out in our private lives, as members of society, as citizens of the United States, and as citizens of the world. We will look at questions such as these: Is a basic level of privacy necessary for the value of liberty to flourish—and is such a level feasible in the age of Facebook, smart phones, surveillance of all kinds? How much social and economic equality is required for a democracy like ours to function properly? What implications do the global threats of pandemics and climate change pose for our understandings of “liberty” and “democracy”?
These and related questions do not yield a single “correct” answer. Our basic educational purpose is to promote independent thinking. There will be a variety of course materials—classic texts, works of fiction, “TED Talks.” Together they will be brief enough to allow us to engage with arguments, not just to absorb information. Written assignments will center on a series of short essays based on class readings, discussions, and your own life experiences. Additional “research” will be useful only occasionally. I should note explicitly that while we will pay a good deal of attention to the November General Election as it relates to, and is illuminated by, our major ideas, this seminar is not about the election campaigns themselves.
I welcome anyone who is potentially interested in the seminar to contact me by email. My address is furniss@indiana.edu