By Gerson Moreno-Riano, August 11, 2008 in Uncategorized
In light of Lee's recent post and the number of comments on my previous post, I would like to propose that one of the key courses in any general education curriculum should be one that addresses human nature or what it means to be a human being. Let's call it Philosophical Anthropology 101.
This course should not only cover philosophies of human nature but should present students with a powerful and authoritative vision of humanity that they must consider and evaluate. Consequently, students could be introduced to the anthropological visions of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Boethius, Rousseau, Nietzsche but also be presented with a vision that articulates the best of these philosophers' views while at the same time seriously considering critiques and concerns.
This course is an important "first" course for several reasons:
- It answers the all too common call of relevance- students and many faculty often argue that the material must be "relevant" in order to engage students. This course provides a powerful response to this concern since it allows for a number of contemporary issues to be introduced that can engage students in whatever place of life they find themselves.
- In order to have a sense of how the disciplines of the classical liberal arts curriculum "fit" or are important for human development, we must first assist students in understanding what it means to be a human being and what is human nature. A course like the one suggested above, may help to do this.
Building upon this first course, other courses in the general education curriculum must be related or integrated with this course and the theory it advances. Discussions about grammar and syntax, for example, must be couched not only in utilitarian concerns of communication but also in metaphysical discussions about being and existence much like Plato undertakes in the Cratylus- a dialogue about the nature of words and their usage. In essence, I am suggesting that each course must have a philosophical dimension, one that considers that nature of the topic at hand but also is related to central questions of anthropology.
The general education curriculum, then, is a philosophical education for all students. It begins in central questions of human nature and then considers various facets of human experience.
Here is my first attempt to move the conversation forward based on Lee's suggestions. I would be very interested in what others think regarding this important question.
Lee Trepanier on Aug 13, 2008 at 9:36 am
I would agree with all the thinkers listed for the Philosophical Anthropology 101 course but would add someone from the liberal tradition, e.g., Locke, Rawls.
Besides exploring the question of human nature, I would include the question of epistemology, although it would be secondary to the primary question of human nature. The exploration of the question of how human beings acquire knowledge and interact with their world could be the framework for studying such disciplines as mathematics, the natural science, the social sciences, and the humanities. However, I must emphasize that the epistemology question must be second to the primary question of human nature and flourishing; otherwise, we revert back to the typical general education program of American colleges and universities: quantiative reasoning, interpersonal skills, diversity, etc. Perhaps the biggest intellectual obstacle confronting universities in construting a coherent general education program is the refusal to ask the question of human nature and replace it with the question of epistemology.