Academic Year 2024-2025 -- Fall Offering
Humanist Philosophies & Understandings
Class will be Zoom Connect and Canvas Platform
Instructor: James Croft (he/him/his), M.A., Ed.M, Ed.D, FRSA. University Chaplain and Lead Faith Advisor to the University of Sussex.
Fall term: Starts September 14 and ends December 15th, 2024
In-class sessions via zoom: Tuesdays 12:30-3:30 Eastern
Course Description:
If you are not religious, how do you answer the great questions of life? Who Am I? Why am I here? How do I know what is true? How should we treat each other? These are questions religions exist to answer - but if you are not religious, is there anything to say? Humanist philosophy can be understood as an attempt to provide nonreligious answers to these questions, answers which question traditional assumptions about God and the soul and embrace a secular, this-worldly view. In this course we will explore these existential and spiritual questions through a Humanist lens, clarifying the nature of Humanism by seeing how different Humanist philosophers respond. You will be invited to dialogue with their ideas, and in the process develop your own.
Course readings are selected to be provocative rather than comprehensive - this is not a survey course, but should leave you with an appreciation of the essence of Humanist philosophy. As well as traditional philosophical texts, novels, articles, clips from films and TV, and other media are used to convey ideas and encourage thought. Each class begins with a short presentation drawing out themes from the week’s readings and other material. Then a moderated discussion will follow, in which you can advance, defend, abandon, and develop your own ideas.