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The Literature of Crisis
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The Literature of Crisis

Author: Martin Evans and Marsh McCall

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Our lives are not simply given to us, Socrates used to maintain, but also something we make. As we examine the circumstances of our existence, recognizing certain facts as immutable and others as subject to our control, we all face the challenge of fashioning out of them a way of living that is both meaningful and justifiable. "The Art of Living" explores different ways to think about the nature of that challenge -- how to accommodate conflicting demands and values, how to make our choices "artfully," how to use works of imaginative literature to inspire us. Should we regulate our behavior socratically, according to rigorous standards of reason? Must we seek to conform ourselves to God's wishes? Should we fashion values for ourselves through our own artistic activity? Or could we follow some other strategy altogether? To take a stand on these questions, to decide how to live well and beautifully, is at the same time to answer why we live at all.
20 Episodes
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The collapse of the Western empire and the transfer of the capital from Rome to Ravenna. Lady Philosophy's role and Boethius's arguments concerning predestination versus free will and the nature of the good.
The collapse of the Western empire and the transfer of the capital from Rome to Ravenna. Lady Philosophy's role and Boethius's arguments concerning predestination versus free will and the nature of the good.
The collapse of the Western empire and the transfer of the capital from Rome to Ravenna. Lady Philosophy's role and Boethius's arguments concerning predestination versus free will and the nature of the good.
Course Ideas Overview

Course Ideas Overview

2007-03-3043:11

The nature of Humanities in general and the role of literary studies in particular. The historical origins of the Humanist movement. Theories concerning the unchanging human heart. Seeing the world from a new emotional and intellectual center.
Introduction to early Greek philosophy and education. The sophists. The career of Socrates. The Peloponnesian War. Socrates' trial and defense speech. Socrates' imprisonment. What do you owe to the laws of your country? Socrates' view of death.
Introduction to early Greek philosophy and education. The sophists. The career of Socrates. The Peloponnesian War. Socrates' trial and defense speech. Socrates' imprisonment. What do you owe to the laws of your country? Socrates' view of death.
The intellectual crisis of the sixteenth century -- the three revolutions. The problem of Hamlet. The theological and moral solutions. The Oedipal interpretation of Hamlet. The aesthetic solution and an alternative.
The intellectual crisis of the sixteenth century -- the three revolutions. The problem of Hamlet. The theological and moral solutions. The Oedipal interpretation of Hamlet. The aesthetic solution and an alternative.
Shakespeare, Hamlet

Shakespeare, Hamlet

2007-03-3047:07

The intellectual crisis of the sixteenth century -- the three revolutions. The problem of Hamlet. The theological and moral solutions. The Oedipal interpretation of Hamlet. The aesthetic solution and an alternative.
Introduction to Periclean Athens. The function of theater in Athenian society. Oedipus the King and the Peloponnesian War. Guilt and innocence, fate and free choice. Aristotle's "fatal flaw."
Introduction to Periclean Athens. The function of theater in Athenian society. Oedipus the King and the Peloponnesian War. Guilt and innocence, fate and free choice. Aristotle's "fatal flaw."
Introduction to Periclean Athens. The function of theater in Athenian society. Oedipus the King and the Peloponnesian War. Guilt and innocence, fate and free choice. Aristotle's "fatal flaw."
Most human lives contain major turning points: crises that transform an individual’s future development. On a much larger scale, cultures undergo crises too: political, intellectual, and religious changes that alter forever the course of human history.
Vergil, Aeneid Day II

Vergil, Aeneid Day II

2007-03-3050:101

The impact of Roman imperialism, Greek epic, and Stoic philosophy on Vergil's poem. The limits and costs of power as the Aeneid presents them. The interactions between fate and free choice in Aeneas's experience. Optimism and pessimism in the Aeneid.
Vergil, Aeneid Day III

Vergil, Aeneid Day III

2007-03-3024:25

The impact of Roman imperialism, Greek epic, and Stoic philosophy on Vergil's poem. The limits and costs of power as the Aeneid presents them. The interactions between fate and free choice in Aeneas's experience. Optimism and pessimism in the Aeneid.
Vergil, Aeneid Day IV

Vergil, Aeneid Day IV

2007-03-3047:291

The impact of Roman imperialism, Greek epic, and Stoic philosophy on Vergil's poem. The limits and costs of power as the Aeneid presents them. The interactions between fate and free choice in Aeneas's experience. Optimism and pessimism in the Aeneid.
Vergil, Aeneid

Vergil, Aeneid

2007-03-3047:51

The impact of Roman imperialism, Greek epic, and Stoic philosophy on Vergil's poem. The limits and costs of power as the Aeneid presents them. The interactions between fate and free choice in Aeneas's experience. Optimism and pessimism in the Aeneid.
Voltaire's text as a re-working of classical and renaissance epic traditions. The Lisbon earthquake and its effect on Voltaire's belief system. Three solutions to the problem of evil. Candide as a critique of Optimism and Manichaeism.
Voltaire, Candide

Voltaire, Candide

2007-03-3042:231

Voltaire's text as a re-working of classical and renaissance epic traditions. The Lisbon earthquake and its effect on Voltaire's belief system. Three solutions to the problem of evil. Candide as a critique of Optimism and Manichaeism.
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