Life Worth Living

01. Introduction

Course Week 1  

Course Introduction (seminar)    

• Rob Riemen, Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal, 83-96

Implicit and Explicit Visions of the Good Life (seminar)

• James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom, 19-27, 93-103
• David Foster Wallace, “This is Water”

The Tripartite Structure of the Good Life (lecture)

• Robert Nozick, “The Experience Machine,” Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 42-45
• Martha Nussbaum, Therapy of Desire, 359-366, 386-401
• Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, excerpts
• “The Tripartite Formal Structure of Human Flourishing: A Hypothesis”

Course Week 2

What is a Tradition? (seminar)

• Philip J. Ivanhoe, “Being in and Learning from Tradition,” Confucian Reflections: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times, 1-16
• David L. McMahan, The Making of Buddhist Modernism, 28-31,36-39
• Saba Mahmood, The Politics of Piety, ix-xii

The Tripartite Structure of the Good Life (seminar)

• Robert Nozick, “The Experience Machine,” Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 42-45
• Martha Nussbaum, Therapy of Desire, 359-366, 386-401
• Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, excerpts
• “The Tripartite Formal Structure of Human Flourishing: A Hypothesis”

Course Questions (lecture)

02. Utilitarianism

Course Week 3

Utilitarianism & Happiness (seminar)

• John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
• Peter Singer and Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, “The Good Life—A Utilitarian Perspective”

Effective Altruism (seminar)

• Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save, 3-41
• Peter Singer, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(1972): 229-43

A Life Shaped by Utilitarianism (guest lecture)

03. Judaism

Course Week 4

The Tanakh (seminar)

• Genesis 12:1-7, 17:1-17, 21:1-5; Deuteronomy 5-6, 28; Leviticus 19:9-18; Job 1-7, 42; Psalm 100, 119:1-16; Amos 5:1-6:7; Isaiah 57:14-61:11    

The Rabbis (seminar)

• Pirkei Avot, selections

A Life Shaped by Judaism (guest lecture)

Course Week 5

Judaism, Work, & Rest (seminar)

• Genesis1-3; Exodus 1-3, 5, 12, 14, 20; Lev 25
• Susannah and Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, vii-xvi; 1-32; 95-101
• Jonathan Sacks, “If I Ruled the World,” Prospect, July 18, 2013
• Jonathan Sacks, Radical Then, Radical Now, 130-135

04. Yale’s Vision of a Life Worth Living

Yale and the Good Life (seminar)

• Dan Schawbel, Me 2.0, 1-22
• Pascal Bruckner, Perpetual Euphoria, selections
• “Yale’s Most Popular Class Ever: Happiness,” New York Times, Jan 26, 2018
• William Dereschewitz, “Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League”
• Hartmut Rosa, “Two Versions of the Good Life and Two Forms of Fear,” selections
• Marina Keegan, “The Opposite of Loneliness”
• Peter Salovey, “Repair the World!”
• The Mission Statement of Yale College

 Yale and the Good Life (guest lecture)

05. Expressive Individualism

Course Week 6

Origins of Expressive Individualism (seminar)

• Friedrich Schleiermacher, Soliloquies, 9, 26–48, 69–88
• Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism,” selections

Authenticity (seminar)

• Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity, 13-53

Expressive Individualism in Popular Culture (lecture)

Course Week 7

Self-Reflection, Self-Realization, Self-Expression (seminar)

• Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism,” 247–53
• ––––––, De profundis, selections

06. Christianity

New Testament (seminar)

• Mark, Matthew 5-7, John 14-17, Romans 5-8, Revelation 21-22

A Life Shaped by Jesus (guest lecture)

Course Week 8

The Human Place in the World (seminar)

• Miroslav Volf, “Epilogue,” Flourishing, 201-204
• Marilynne Robinson, “Psalm 8,” 227-244
• Alexander Schmemann, “The World as Sacrament,” For the Life of the World, 217-227

Christianity & Forgiveness (seminar)

• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 74-109
• Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom, 90-107
• Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway, 3-19, 141-157

Secular Faith (lecture)

• Martin Hägglund, This Life, selections  

07. Nietzsche

Course Week 9

Friedrich Nietzsche (seminar)

• Friedrich Nietzsche, selection from “Letter to His Sister”
• ———, The Gay Science, ## 125, 140, 143, 343, 353, 377
• ———, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, “Zarathustra’s Prologue” (## 3-5), “On the Three Metamorphoses,” “On the Pitying,” “On the Tarantulas,” “On Redemption”
• ———, On the Genealogy of Morality, 1.13-14, 2.24-25

Nietzsche and Overcoming (seminar)

• Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, ## 22, 36, 259
• ———, The Gay Science # 349

Nietzsche’s Vision of a Good Life (lecture) 

08. Buddhism

Course Week 10

The Buddha (seminar)

• The Story of Gotama Buddha (selections)
• Life of the Buddha, 5.1-39, 14
• Wheel of Law (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta)

The Self and the World (seminar)

• Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics, 123-126
• Milinda Pañha, 32-34
• The Dalai Lama, How to See Yourself As You Really Are, TBA

A Life Shaped by the Buddha (guest lecture)

Course Week 11

Buddhism and Compassion (seminar)

• The Dalai Lama, How to See Yourself As You Really Are, 32-38, 49-59, 67-73, 175-184, 201-208, 223-236

09. Islam

Muhammad (seminar)       

• Martin Lings, Muhammad, 43-55, 58-69

A Life Shaped by Islam (guest lecture)

Course Week 12

The Way of Islam (seminar)

• Asad Tarsin, Being Muslim: A Practical Guide, 1-35, 155-163,217-225
• Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir, Agenda to Change Our Condition, 1-2
• Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittack, The Vision of Islam, 120-131, 175-181, 267-288

Islam & Prayer (seminar)

• Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir, Agenda to Change Our Condition, 40-46
• Asad Tarsin, Being Muslim, 44-73

10. Conclusion

Course Week 13

Transformation & Commitment (seminar)

What Is a Life Worth Living? (seminar)

• Presentations and discussion of student visions

Visions of Flourishing Life (lecture)

• Student presentations of their visions of flourishing life.