Finding Meaning In Life: “A Path with a Heart”
RELP 1577
Section 5610 MWF 2:00-2:50pm ADM 319 Fall 2005
Syllabus
Dr. Seth Holtzman
office: 308
Administration Bldg,
hours: MW
3-5; T 10-11; Th 10-11 (and 11-12 if no meeting); & by appointment
phones: 637-4229
office; 636-9666 home; 637-4428 secretary
email: sholtzma@catawba.edu
Course Summary:
“Any path is
only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it
if that is what your heart tells you….Look at every path closely and
deliberately. Try it as many times as
you think necessary. Then ask yourself,
and yourself alone, one question….’Does this path have a heart?’ If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t,
it is of no use.”
This course examines how the
vocation of a human being includes having a meaningful existence; that is,
right living (“a path with a heart”) requires us to discover what is
meaningful. We will consider meaning in
various contexts--relationships, experiences, actions, and plans, but we will
focus on the need to discover meaning in a career and in the larger life one is
living.
The culture spews a bewildering
array of explicit messages about careers: Do what makes (the most) money. Do what others are doing. Do what is easy to do. Do what fits in with the status quo. Do what is respected by others or what your
parents approve of. And what is wrong
making money, fitting into one’s society, gaining the respect of others, and
meriting one’s parents’ approval? But there
are reasons to ask if these “have a heart”.
If one’s career isn’t meaningful to oneself, doesn’t that have a destructive
effect on one’s life and self. As important as this criterion of success is,
though, what other criteria are there?
At least the culture sends out
strong, explicit messages about careers.
Often there is only a loud silence regarding the need to, and how to,
live a meaningful life. Religion
addresses that issue, of course. But
some people do not find their way into a religion or are alienated from one. Other people involved in a religion remain
blind to what it has to offer. In any
case, the work of religion needs to be bolstered by the voice of the culture. And our culture provides little in the way of
a voice at all. We will examine what the
culture does convey, usually implicitly:
that one should live a life that satisfies one’s desires; or that one
may choose most any life, since there are no standards for judging a good/bad
or better/worse life. We will consider
problems with these approaches to life.
We will consider what traditional wisdom and contemporary knowledge have
said about how to shape up a meaningful life.
And we will see why our era is one in which meaninglessness threatens to
a degree never experienced before.
Throughout this, we want to examine
our own lives. Are we pursuing a path
with a heart? How can we find one? What should we look for? Will we know when we have found it? Do we need time and experience? We will consider some people’s stories of
search and discovery. And we will
consider the role of education in helping us identify a meaningful life and career.
Class
formats will be lecture, Socratic questioning, and guided discussion.
Requirements
and Grading:
1) Attendance is
required. During class, I may elicit
ideas from you to test your grasp of readings, lecture, and the course. Try to participate through questions,
comments and discussion. Be present,
mentally active and prepared. Participation can raise your grade by 1/3.
2)
An essay midterm requiring you to show
an understanding of the broad ideas of the course, on Oct. 7th. Bring blue book; write in pen. 25% of
your grade
3)
We will meet outside of class both to
watch a film and then discuss it in light of course ideas. You will then write some on the movie. Early November. 20% of
your grade
4)
A 4-5 page paper about some idea(s) from
the course. Due Dec. 2. 25%
of your grade
5) A final exam, at least part essay. Bring
blue book. Fri., Dec. 16, 8:00-11:00am. 30% of
your grade
Criteria employed in evaluating
written work include these:
Responsiveness to the Assignment
Writing
should fulfill the purpose of the assignment directly and completely.
Content
Writing should reflect an understanding of
the subject. Your writing should make good
use
of the relevant concepts,
distinctions, positions, and reasons included in course readings or
brought out in lecture or in discussion.
Writing
should be organized so ideas are arranged
logically
and clearly. Main points should be
supported by substantial and relevant details.
Your
work should be backed by good reasons. Your
claims and reasons should be
consistent with each other. Anticipate and respond to any reasonable
objections.
Execution
Writing should use precise words and
well-constructed sentences that clearly represent the
writer’s
reasoning. Writing should adhere to
conventions of grammar, capitalization,
spelling,
and usage. The writing style should be
appropriate to the academy. Your
work
should be clearly written, its claims
precise, its structure clear, with an explicit overall
direction. It should be intelligible to an interested
student.
Citations and Documentation
Writers must clearly differentiate their own material from the source
material. When writers
use
material that is not their own, or that is not common knowledge, they must
document
the
source of the information using a standardized (i.e., either MLA or APA)
method.
Complete
assignments in a timely fashion. Other
expectations about your writing: typed,
paginated, tidy (stapled or bound), standard margins and fonts, and dark
print. Failure to meet these
expectations will hurt your assignment grades.
-------------------------------------
Grading: "A"
"B" Good mastery
“C” Satisfactory achievement
“D” Less than satisfactory achievement
“F” Unsatisfactory achievement; Failure to
achieve minimum competency
I use +/- grades, though A+ is not a possible final course grade.
A+ 97-100 B+ 87-89 C+ 77-79 D+ 67-69
A 93-96 B 83-86 C 73-76 D 63-66
A
- 90-92 B
- 80-82 C
- 70-72 D
- 60-62
Grades can measure achievement only, not effort.
Texts:
1) Living
a Life that Matters, by Harold Kushner
2) The Road Less Traveled
by M. Scott Peck
3) The Art of Loving,
by Erich Fromm
4)
handouts
Reading and taking notes:
I expect you to do all the reading;
you will need to, in order to do well in the course. Some of the material is easy and accessible
on your first try. Other assignments are
quite taxing and will require multiple readings. I suggest the following strategy for any
difficult reading: read it once quickly
simply to get the gist; then read it carefully for details, not worrying about
the overall picture; then read it normally, fitting the details into the
overall picture.
Lectures
(and assignments) might sometimes track the readings but may also range far
afield. Come to class having done the
readings. Since lectures can cover
material not in the readings, this is another reason to attend each class.
Most
students take very sketchy notes.
Perhaps they think that they cannot both take notes and listen or
perhaps they do not appreciate the value of taking notes. Learn to write while you listen; it not only
can be done, it usually enhances your grasp of what is being said. Take as many notes as you can, without losing
too much of what is being said. This
class is not one in which you can get by with writing down only key terms and
definitions. Your notes are an
invaluable resource for understanding the course and for the final exam. This course focuses on understanding concepts
and ideas, not on memorizing facts. Your
notes should reflect that.
Absences and violations:
To help with attendance--and to
learn names--I will create a seating chart on the second day. Pick your permanent seat; notify me to change
it. I will check attendance promptly at
the start of class. If late, you risk
being counted absent; if late enough, it may count as absent anyway. Tardiness should be rare; if you are often
late (without reason), I will deliberately count you as absent.
No absences
are excused. After 3 penalty-free absences—no
explanation needed--others lower your final grade: 4-5 by 1/3 grade, 6-8 by 2/3 grade, 9-10 by 1
grade. Missing class just before or
after vacation counts double. Over 10 absences
for other than an emergency is automatic grounds for an "F" (or an
"I" in some cases), regardless of your grades. Sleeping and other forms of mental
non-attendance (such as working on something not related to our course) count
as an absence.
When absent, you are responsible for
missed assignments and classroom material.
Get notes from a classmate. If
you still have questions, you may then contact me.
Respect the
people and ideas in our class. With rare
exceptions, it is illegitimate to attack the person, only the person’s
ideas. I don't care if you bring a drink
to class or sport a hat or wear rags. I
care that you pay attention to me and to others (deactivate cell phones and pagers/beepers),
that you are on time and ready to work, that you bring a positive attitude to
class, and that you make a positive contribution to the class.
Cheating, working
with another student to complete individual assignments (unless specifically allowed),
as well as falsifying an emergency to skip class or an assignment, all violate
the Honor Code. So, too, does plagiarism, employing a
writer's ideas (and even words) without giving the writer due credit. See me if you have any question about borrowing
someone's ideas or words for your use.
OUTLINE OF COURSE TOPICS
I. The problem of meaning
“Man is the only animal
for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.”
a) Life versus a life
b) Meaning as constitutive
c) Contexts of meaning
d) Human nature, identity and education
e) Human needs
f) Human
experience of the transcendent
g) The modern threat to meaning
II. Meaning and career
“Choose a job you love,
and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
a) Messages
from the culture about career
b) Problems
with cultural conceptions of career success
c) Work,
leisure, and fulfillment
d) Finding
your gifts
e) Doing
what you love
f) Being
productive
III. Meaning and the human
vocation
“The true
profession of man is to find his way to himself.”
a) Messages from the culture about living a
life
b) Problems with those cultural conceptions
of living a life
c) The idea of a human vocation
d) Meaning and the human vocation
e) Rejecting the self-centered self
f) living from the perspective of the
Ultimate