Life Worth Living (University of Sheffield)

What does it mean for a life to go well? How does one live life well? What is a flourishing life? These questions have shaped intellectual endeavour and the decisions of people for millennia. Life Worth Living explores approaches to these questions through engagement with diverse traditions/thinkers including classical Greek philosophy, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Existentialism, Marx, and Nietzsche.

The module includes historical analysis of these traditions, visits from individuals whose lives are shaped by them, fieldwork to discuss the ideas beyond the classroom, and assessments to help students develop their own vision of a life worth living.

Life Worth Living explores the ways that different religious and philosophical traditions have approached the following questions:

1. To whom or what are we responsible for living our lives a certain way?
2. What is a human being and what is their place in the world?
3. What does it mean for life:
   1. to feel good?
   2. to go well?
   3. to be led well?
4. What is the role of suffering in a good life?
5. What should we do when we fail to live a good life?

In short, this module invites you to answer the question ‘how do I want to be in the world’ by critically engaging with some of the most notable historical responses to that question.

To do so, this module draws upon a range of philosophical and religious traditions to help students develop habits of reflection and critical thinking that will equip them for the lifelong process of discerning the good life.

• To read and critically engage with foundational texts of each tradition (in English translation).
• To develop students’ ability to articulate in writing and orally the content of and historical circumstances for the emergence of the ideas in each tradition.
• To host guest practitioners from the various traditions examined in order to discuss how these texts and traditions shape their life, ethical thinking, and vocation.
• Oral and written exercises to help students to present their own views on what makes a life worth living.

By the end of the unit, a student will be able to:

1. Describe what each of the relevant traditions advocates to be the good life by articulating what it means for life to go well, be led well, and to feel good.
2. Summarize texts from each tradition that provide the basis for these views on the good life.
3. Discuss and critically analyse the reasons and motivations each tradition offers for its view of the good life.
4. Outline what each tradition suggests a person should do when they fail to live the good life.
5. Engage in thoughtful and respectful dialogue with other students, instructors and members of the public about their views on each tradition and the form of the good life.
6. Disagree peacefully and productively with other students, instructors, and dialogue partners about the big questions of life, namely, what provides joy and meaning in life.
7. Articulate a personal vision of the good life and explain what personal changes in thought, action, or feeling are necessary in order to live in this way.
8. Explain the difference between engaging with a text and/or tradition in a descriptive and critical manner versus engaging with a text and/or tradition in a constructive and normative mode.

This module is assessed through three types of work. First, there is a learning journal that reflects how the weekly preparation for and discussion in the seminars informs your thinking about what is a life worth living. Second, there is a 2,500-word coursework essay that explores the history of one of the traditions under consideration. Third, there is a summative essay of up to 1,000 words in which you will outline your vision for a flourishing life in dialogue with aspects of the traditions studied in this module. The mark will be composed of 20% for the reflective learning journal, 40% for the coursework essay, and 40% for the summative essay.