AHF 1300 - A&h Foundation

Institution:

Babson College

Subject:

Description:

3.00 credits AHF1300 (Fall) Dwellings: Body, Home, and City (A&H Foundation) Dwellings are physical structures that house us and provide the external conditions for our development: We dwell in a body, a home, and a village, town, or city. Paradoxically, however, dwelling is also a mental and emotional activity. When we dwell on an idea, an event, a person, or a place, we find it difficult to let it go: it quite literally occupies us. Our dwellings-both in space and in time-shape the ways we identify with ourselves and others. In this course we will analyze works of art and philosophy that help us explore questions about dwelling: How do our bodies as lived in and as represented influence how we view ourselves and are viewed by others What is the nature of home What do our dwellings have to do with our own and others' sense of belonging in the world How do the forms and voices that artists and philosophers invent encourage new ways of understanding dwelling in relation to such structures as family, education, class, gender, and race Prerequisite: NONE AHF1300 (Spring) Nature, Culture, Progress (A&H Foundation) Humans are part of nature yet distinct from it in complex ways. Our natural instincts do not completely define us; we are also cultural beings with traditions, identities and technologies that distinguish us from nature. This distinction has led to the claim that humans are superior to nature and so are entitled to manipulate it. Humans' divergence from nature also suggests that we are capable of progress: of bettering ourselves intellectually, morally, technologically. In this course, we will examine these claims by asking questions such as: to what extent are humans a product of nature and to what extent are we formed by culture How does our answer to this question affect our perception of ourselves, others, and the world around us When is progress good, and when does it instead decrease the quality of human life and harm nature We will explore these questions through readings of literature and philosophy, and through film and the visual arts. Prerequisite: NONE

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.babson.edu

Phone Number:

(781) 235-1200

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.