Peace

This seminar examines the ways political ideals of order, possibility, and change are linked to visions of ultimate reality. Special attention will be paid to the meaning of human agency in relation to varying conceptions of nature—philosophical, religious, scientific—especially in light of the contemporary ecological crisis and the recent global resurgence of fascism. The course will focus on a specifically Western history of ideas, since such ideas remain deeply codified in the language of law, policy, public debate, journalism, and reflect deeply held (though often unexamined) positions about religion, selfhood, and reality. The presumption here is not that there is no “outside” of so-called Western thought (there is, and it matters tremendously), but rather that in order to dismantle structures of domination including racism, sexism, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and the justification of extractive dispositions to the planet, certain Western traditions must be understood and subjected to rigorous critique. This is not a substitute for, but a preparation for and a complement to the dreaming, feeling, and knowing of what we have also been and may yet become.