FROM PANDORA TO PSYCHOPATHY: CONCEPTIONS OF EVIL FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT   [Archived Catalog]
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
   

CLASS 1240 - FROM PANDORA TO PSYCHOPATHY: CONCEPTIONS OF EVIL FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT


Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
This lecture course introduces students to the ways in which humanity has struggled to comprehend and explain the existence of evil. The focus lies not on natural evils (such as earthquakes and epidemics) but on moral evil: Why are human beings at time so manifestly wicked? In this course we will look at the many theories and explanations given by poets, philosophers, and theologians over the course of our intellectual history and critically examine their explanatory value as well as their unintended consequences. The course is highly interdisciplinary. It will take into account the literature of various periods, beginning from early bronze age to the 21st century, but also invite students to engage with texts from such different genres as poetry, ancient and modern philosophy, theology, and modern psychology. The aim of the class is to empower students better to evaluate and critique facile contemporary views and prejudices concerning the nature and origin of moral evil.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis
Course Attributes: DSAS Phil. Think or Ethics General Ed. Requirement


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