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Life Worth Living is an initiative of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School.
San Jose State Univ PHIL 12
Human Nature and the Meaning of Life
Riana Betzler is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at San José State University. Her teaching and research focuses on the philosophy and ethics of science.
This course offers a space for thinking about the most central of questions: What is the good life? And how do we get it?
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Course Description:
We all want to live the good life. But what does this mean? Are money, fame, and success the keys to the good life? What about family, community, service, education, and spirituality? How will you know when you have “made it”?
This course offers a space for thinking about the most central of questions: What is the good life? And how do we get it? We will examine answers that have been given by philosophical, religious, and cultural traditions around the world. In tandem with these explorations, we’ll reflect on and challenge our own assumptions about
the good life. What do our cultures, societies, and families tell us to want in life? How do we reconcile conflicting visions of the good life? We’ll use techniques such as storytelling and counter-storytelling to develop a continuous practice of thinking through questions about the good life. We’ll put our learning about the good life into action through service-learning opportunities and community-building activities.
Sample of Course Materials:
Carlos Sanchez, “You are Nepantla,” Blooming in the Ruins.
Maria Lugones, “Playfulness, ‘World’-Travelling, and Loving Perception.," Hypatia, 2(2).
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
Thich Nhat Hahn, "The Meaning of Tiep Hien," Interbeing.
Viola Cordova, "Against Individualism." How it Is.
Course Description:
We all want to live the good life. But what does this mean? Are money, fame, and success the keys to the good life? What about family, community, service, education, and spirituality? How will you know when you have “made it”?
This course offers a space for thinking about the most central of questions: What is the good life? And how do we get it? We will examine answers that have been given by philosophical, religious, and cultural traditions around the world. In tandem with these explorations, we’ll reflect on and challenge our own assumptions about
the good life. What do our cultures, societies, and families tell us to want in life? How do we reconcile conflicting visions of the good life? We’ll use techniques such as storytelling and counter-storytelling to develop a continuous practice of thinking through questions about the good life. We’ll put our learning about the good life into action through service-learning opportunities and community-building activities.
Sample of Course Materials:
Carlos Sanchez, “You are Nepantla,” Blooming in the Ruins.
Maria Lugones, “Playfulness, ‘World’-Travelling, and Loving Perception.," Hypatia, 2(2).
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
Thich Nhat Hahn, "The Meaning of Tiep Hien," Interbeing.
Viola Cordova, "Against Individualism." How it Is.
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