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The Art of Meaning Making Or, How Are We to Live? Jack

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The Art of Meaning Making Or, How Are We to Live? Jack The Art of Meaning Making Or, How are We to Live? Jack Calder INTRODUCTION This course is a survey of some of the greatest thinkers and writers ever produced by humanity. Each of them attends, in their own way, to the question of meaning. What is meaning? How do we create meaning? How can we live meaningful lives? In this course students will engage deeply with these fundamental questions. We will embark on an intense close reading of each of these texts, examining how they seek to create and communicate meaning. As the course progresses, we will build an understanding of these texts as a dialogue; a conversation on the condition of humanity. Students will gain skills in reading, writing, and thinking well. They will be pushed to develop and communicate complex concepts, forming their own notions of life in the process. These skills will form an excellent basis for college studies, where students will be forced to confront and understand very sophisticated texts. Through this course, they will learn not just how to understand the concepts expressed, but also how to interrogate these concepts, develop their own response, and communicate this response in writing and speaking. Most importantly, this knowledge will form the basis for a rich and fulfilling life. In mastering the art of creating meaning, students learn the art of living well. READINGS DAY 1 – Thing Poems READING 1 In a Station of the Metro – Ezra Pound READING 2 The Panther – Rainer Maria Rilke Black Cat – Rainer Maria Rilke *** OPTIONAL *** Before Summer Rain; Faded; Spanish Dancer; The Carousel; The Grownup; Archaic Torso of Apollo – Rainer Maria Rilke Ode to a Grecian Urn; To Autumn – Keats The Fish – Elizabeth Bishop ASSIGNMENT: Write a thing poem Day 2 – Writing with Things WRITING 1 Writing Thing Poems READING 3 The Cares of a Family Man – Franz Kafka Day 3 – Away from Things; Into Ideas WRITING 2 Poem Sharing and Analysis READING 4 Excerpts from The Republic – Plato *** OPTIONAL *** Orpheus, Hermes, Eurydice – Rainer Maria Rilke The Right Use of School Studies – Simone Weil Assignment: Take an argument in either Plato or Boethius, and analyze it logically into premises and conclusions. Attempt to criticize the argument in terms of either validity or soundness. Day 4 – The Consolations of Philosophy READING 5 The Consolation of Philosophy, Book III – Boethius WRITING 3 Arguments: Logic and Image Day 5 – Away from Ideas; Into Life READING 6 The Problem of Socrates; How the ‘True World’ Finally Became a Fable – Friedrich Nietzsche WRITING 4 Arguments: Analytics and Ends ASSIGNMENT: Choose a particular “exchange” from Waiting for Godot and analyze it Day 6 – Life and Death READING 7 Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett READING 8 Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett *** OPTIONAL *** Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – William Shakespeare Day 7 – The Saved and the Drowned: A Negative Ethics WRITING 5 Reading and analyzing our “Exchange” essays READING 9 The Saved and the Drowned – Primo Levi FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Elaborate on the analysis you began w/ the first Godot Essay Day 8 – Ethics and Politics READING 10 Politics I.1-7 – Aristotle READING 11 Politics I.1-7 – Aristotle Day 9 – Politics READING 12 What is the Third Estate? – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes READING 13 To Posterity – Bertolt Brecht Day 10 – A Gesture at More READING 14 Letters to a Young Poet I – Rainer Maria Rilke WRITING 6 Final Presentations GRADING Class Participation – 50% Writings – 50% .
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