Statement of the Competency: to think critically about world views. Students who successfully complete the WORLD VIEWS course in Humanities should be able to:
The WORLD VIEWS course introduces students to the idea of using conceptual frameworks for understanding, from culturally and historically diverse standpoints, how the world is structured, functions and develops. Students are encouraged to increase their awareness and understanding of different views of humanity and its place in the world.
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| 345-102-MQ |
Age of Suspicion |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The past two centuries represent an Age of Suspicion. The suspicion of traditional ways of understanding the self, the human condition, and the world have inspired radical new world views such as existentialism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, modernism and postmodernism. The course begins with a glance at some of the traditional world views that incited the age of suspicion, such as monotheism and the Enlightenment, and then moves on to the modern “masters of suspicion,” such as Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud, whose ideas inspired generations of artists and thinkers. We will explore how the ideas of these masters of suspicion have influenced the development of modern literature, politics, philosophy, science, and the fine arts throughout the world. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Ancient Greek World Views |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Ancient Greek Civilization is remarkable for its inventiveness and sophistication in fields as diverse as politics, science, and art. Its influence has been deep and pervasive for over two millennia on the development of European, Middle Eastern, North African and Anglo-American cultures, and the world views developed by the Greeks continue to be an important force in shaping our own. What sort of world did the Greeks build for themselves, and how did they understand the human condition? This course will explore three distinct but related modes of inquiry pioneered by the Greeks – myth, history, and philosophy – each of which expresses a world view, or ‘take’ on reality. We will consider each of the three modes in relation to the others, drawing connections across time and over a variety of genres, training our ability to recognize the assumptions at work in different perspectives. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Animal Liberation Apocalypse |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will lift the veil on the current ambivalent (at best) and brutal (at worst) relationship between most Westerners and nonhuman animals. We will explore this relationship through the work and world views of some of the most influential animal liberationists, including Peter Singer, Tom Regan and Daniel Quinn. A parallel exploration of key theories and works of horror, documentary and avant-garde cinema will reveal the power of horror as a rhetorical strategy for illuminating our occulted relationship to the animal kingdom, and to a sense of our own bodies as “meat.” Theories around the pleasures of horror from Aristotle onward will reveal how horror texts bring to light the beast in the human and the human in the beast. Students will critically analyze and evaluate the soundness of these world views, and construct plausible arguments in defence of their own position. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Art and Revolution |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will explore the production of art and its ability to spread political world views and social and cultural values. By analyzing the forces that influenced the creation of art in the West (from the Medieval to the Neoclassical), students will understand how and why art reflected political movements and thought, promoted change, dissent and, ultimately, social and political revolution. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Body, Mind, World: Western Encounters with the Yoga Tradition |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Yoga as it is practiced in Western societies often focuses on the physical aspect of yoga. However, this physical practice is but a small part of a broader, long-standing cultural, religious and philosophical tradition originating up to 5000 years ago in India. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to this broader world view and to examine its interaction with contemporary Western culture, especially in relation to conceptions of the mind and body. As yoga is not merely a theoretical discipline, but also a practice that has to be experienced to be understood, this course will include practice workshops on: body awareness and body movement; conscious and directed breathing; and meditation. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Classic Ideas Contemporary Lens |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Classic Ideas Revisited Through the Contemporary Lens |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
There have been many great thinkers and philosophers who have contributed great insights to how we see the world and our place in it: Nietzsche, Descartes, Mach, Kant and others have put forward notions of the nature of humanity and the planet we live on. Science, however, continues to provide us with new discoveries and emerging disciplines provide a new lens from which we can examine some of these classical world views. Students will learn to appreciate the world views and ideas put forward by some of the great western thinkers in history and then examine them from the modern outlook of the 21st century with the all the advances made in various fields of learning. Students will understand the historical context from which these ideas came and how they remain useful in constructing a modern world view. The students will determine if and how contemporary findings force us to reexamine ideas of community, humanity and happiness. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Communist World Views |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
For over fifty years after the end of the Second World War in 1945, the entire world was divided between communist nations and their various foes. This class focuses on how those communist nations understood themselves in relation to others—and how many tried to develop a world view that would someday overwhelm all others. We will use critical thinking and logical analysis to understand communist world views, explore the effects of communist ideology on the formation of a world view, and debate whether or not the world views of communist nations can be entirely attributed to their revolutionary ideology. It is vital for us to learn the skills to recognize and analyze a world view because communism was not the last ideology that sought to transform the world. Through our analysis of communism we will expand our understanding of our own world views and develop the skills we need to evaluate the perspectives of others. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Consciousness |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
All over the world, across millennia, there have been certain people (saints, mystics, and laymen alike) who have reported a radical insight into the nature of consciousness. In this course, we will examine the impact that world views have on these individuals who have attained such insights, and how a society relates to someone making such claims. For example, Jesus and Buddha both preached a similar message (emphasizing that compassion and generosity were far more important than ritual and literary). Yet, even though they both ruffled the feathers of the religious hierarchy, Jesus was put to death in his early 30’s while the Buddha lived and taught into his 80’s. We will see that much of the reason for this lies in how Jewish and Indian world views interpreted the insights of these teachers. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Cultural Identity and Cultural Rights |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will examine how and why societies accommodate, protect and commodify cultural difference. Students will identify and analyse the historical development of world views on the rights and status of minority groups. They will learn to identify, understand, compare and analyse the concepts of assimilation, multiculturalism, pluralism, and individual vs. collective rights, with focus on the Canadian context. Course readings and lectures after the midterm will focus on the issue of the commoditization and commercial exploitation of minority cultures by investigating and examining the issue of cultural appropriation as it applies to hip hop culture and music. We will be exploring whether hip hop is primarily a world view reflective of African American experience, or whether it mainly furthers commercial interests and even feeds into racist and sexist stereotypes. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Current Political Ideologies |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The different world views of a variety of political ideologies will be considered and contrasted in this course. This course explores ideologies that are historically and currently influential, including Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism and Feminism. Students will learn how to identify forms of these prominent ideologies, learn how they developed historically, and contrast them. There will be a focus on comparison, especially through their application in human rights debates, political structural differences and in public policy debates. Ultimately they will assess their own ideological beliefs. By the end, students will learn more about how to articulate arguments both verbally and in written form. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Diversity in Women's Movements |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course looks at the similarities and contrasts between areas of concern and activism within women's movements in several countries in order to give students an understanding of the diversity of views concerning gender equality and inequality. By analyzing the issues surrounding inequality in the context of worldviews, students will understand how cultural and historical factors have produced distinct situations, problems and proposed solutions for women in various times and places. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Dystopian Fiction |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Dystopian Literature |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Dystopias are worlds gone wrong, fundamentally flawed societies. Students will examine how the world views of dystopian writers were shaped by the political movements and social developments of their times. There will be particular emphasis on the conflict between the Communist East and the Capitalist West, and the attempts of mid-twentieth century dystopian writers to expose the actual and potential dangers to be found on both sides of this ideological divide. Students will also analyze how dystopian works, film as well as fiction, reflect a myriad of current anxieties. Works to be studied include George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and short stories by Kurt Vonnegut and Harlan Ellison. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Early Childhood Education |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The objective of this course is for students to develop an understanding of different views about child rearing and child education. Major theories of child development and education will be explored. Students will examine various worldviews about child rearing practices and educational methods and how these worldviews shape the education of young children in different societies. Students will develop skills in the analysis and comparison of diverse world views. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Existentialism |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
From Kierkegaard to Sartre to Monty Python, Existentialists illuminate and face up to the absurdities of human life. What does it mean to be human? Does my life have meaning or purpose? How can I live morally when it is clear that the world is so often a place of despair, inequality, and confusion? This class introduces and surveys the major philosophers, literary artists, and filmmakers who adhere to the Existentialist world view. As we compare and contrast Existentialism with competing world views, we shall see that they consciously challenge and disdain the neat and set answers to life offered by Christianity, Marxism, science, mass culture, and the current preoccupation with technology, comfort, and security. Instead, they insist that the only meaning to be found in life is that which starts from a real encounter with one's self. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Explorations in Canadian Culture and Society |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course examines the work of Canadian writers of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The course focuses on the nature of Canadian society and culture, the lifestyles of individual citizens and the socialization processes experienced by Canadians in forming value systems and behaviour patterns. Through class discussion, lectures and reading of short stories, students will analyse the acculturation process of first and second generation immigrants to Canada. Topics covered will include ethnicity, cultural values, language, education, diversity and the Canadian identity. Through this course, students will come to a greater understanding of the diversity of world views and their own self identity. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Faith and Reason |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course focuses on the lives and work of two twentieth century men, Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. Freud represents the scientific, secular world view, the life of reason and Lewis the religious, spiritual world view, the life of faith. We will spend some time examing the nature of faith and we will also look at some of the historical and philosophical background of the relationship between faith and reason. Students will be asked to reflect on the role of faith and reason in their own lives and world views. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Food for Thought:Cultures & Cuisine |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This multidisciplinary course, emphasizing food and culture, introduces students to the concept of world views and how they shape society. Food habits from around the world are discussed in the context of the cultural systems that created them. This leads to a greater understanding of how food influences and is influenced by a number of different factors, including politics, economics, climate, geography, technology and culture. A variety of sources, including literature and film, will be used to determine how people use food to define themselves as individuals, groups or whole societies. Topics include how food functions symbolically and metaphorically to provide meaning on the social and personal level; food as a commodity situated within economic and cultural realms of consumption; and food as a medium for subjective and cultural feelings and beliefs. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Gendered World Views |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Assumptions force men and women into specific roles, and from a very young age, we socialize boys to be aggressive and girls to be "nice" -- the aesthetic assigned to each group reflects this. What does it mean to see the world through gendered terms? This course will investigate three different, and sometimes competing gendered world views: feminism, hegemonic masculinity, and the perspective of LGBTQIA activists. We will start by examining feminist discourses that help expose what it means to be a woman living in a man's world. Then we will investigate how North American society constructs masculinity and places another set of behavioural expectations on men, demonstrating that men also struggle with assumptions about gender. Finally, we will ask how the LGBTQIA community navigates the treacherous terrain of gendered expectations, and what this means for how they see the world. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Global Social Perspectives |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course provides an understanding of social policies from different global perspectives. Students will have an opportunity to analyze and compare different world views associated with a number of issues discussed in the international arena. The course explores the impact of the United Nations and its governance, the World Bank, development theory, democratization, sustainable development and global economics on selected regions or third world cultures. Issues covered include the environment, militarization and armaments, nutrition and world hunger, international human rights, poverty and the status of women |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Greek Mythology |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will introduce students to the Ancient Greek world view. We will begin with an overview of the Ancient Greek world, examining the Greek educational system, political structure, and its hierarchical social system. To gain an understanding of what the Greeks valued, which is necessary for understanding any culture's world view, we'll pay particular attention to the stories the Greeks told about themselves, their myths. We'll read the stories of how the world was formed, how the gods and goddesses were created, and why and how men and women came to be put on earth. We will read myths that attempt to reinforce key values - to glorify certain figures that embody what the Greeks value most about themselves, or to vilify those who challenge dearly held ideals. We will also look at some contemporary adaptations of classic myths and think about what relevance these Greek stories might have for our lives today. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Green Living |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
While problems of ecology, environment and sustainable development are typically portrayed as concerns of “special interest” groups, this way of understanding these issues is fundamentally mistaken. All human beings indeed all forms of life - need an environment that will sustain them and enable them to thrive. The domain of ecology is therefore clearly something that concerns us beyond our belonging to groups or communities defined by age, gender, income, political and ideological persuasion, or national and/or ethnic affiliation. This course is designed to acquaint students with the fundamental features of an ecologically informed and responsible worldview, and to provide an understanding of the necessity of such a world view as well as of the many factors that work against its adoption. The nature of the course is interdisciplinary, drawing (among others) on sources in science, philosophy and ethics, history, economics, psychology and politics. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Hinduism and Buddhism |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will examine the key elements of Hindu and Buddhist world views as a way of gaining greater understanding of the philosophies that influence nearly 20% of the world's population. With increasing Western interest in yoga and meditation, it's more important than ever to understand the contexts from which these practices originate and understand them on their own terms. We will be looking specifically at Indian culture, both past and present, and examine its assumptions, doctrines, and beliefs as a way of answering the questions, what if I were born into this culture? How would I see the world differently? |
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| 345-102-MQ |
How to Think Like a Philosopher |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
You will be able to identify various aspects of your own world view and learn to evaluate and refine your conception of yourself and the world in light of different philosophical attempts to address the same concerns. This course will introduce you to several fundamental philosophical theories and ideas through stories that will provide a starting point for discussion and exploration. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to identify, describe and evaluate several major philosophical world views. You will be able to show an understanding of the importance of—and the problems with—these world views. Using appropriate vocabulary, you will be able to describe, evaluate, and refine your own world view. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Ideas Revisited through the Contemporary Lens |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
There have been many great thinkers and philosophers who have contributed great insights to how we see the world and our place in it: Nietzche, Descartes, Mach, Kant and others have put forward notions of the nature of humanity and the planet we live on. Science, however, continues to provide us with new discoveries and emerging disciplines provide a new lens from which we can examine some of these classical world views. Students will learn to appreciate the world views and ideas put forward by some of the great western thinkers in history and then examine them from the modern outlook of the 21st century with the all the advances made in various fields of learning. Students will understand the historical context from which these ideas came and how they remain useful in constructing a modern world view. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Imaging Violence and Nonviolence |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Imaging Violence and Nonviolence combines a Humanities 102 course (Violence and Nonviolence) and a Cinema-Communications complimentary course (Imaging Technologies), allowing students to fill two General Education requirements in a learning community format. The focus is on an urgent contemporary issue: why is violence so widely accepted in our world and how can we build resistance. The Humanities component questions some of our widely-held ideas about violence and explores how acceptance of violence is socially-constructed, while examining a world view that rejects violence on both ethical and practical grounds. The cin-com component provides students with the tools to deconstruct the visual language that makes violence possible, and engages them in the creation of a student-led media project that resists violence. This unique educational experience emphasizes close collaboration between students and faculty, and allows students to advance their work in both courses at the same time. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Institutions and Identity |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Students in this course will examine the influence of institutions on world views. They will be introduced to the concept of legal personhood and debate whether it is possible for a legal person to express a world view. Students will critically compare the world views of institutional actors in government, schools and businesses. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify different institutions in which they participate and critically assess the influence these institutions have on their own world views. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Institutions, Identity and World Views |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-102-MQ |
Introduction to Ideologies |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Political and social life is filled with people who describe themselves with some kind of label. Some people call themselves feminist, separatist, ecologist, or conservative. Often these terms become insults. What do these labels mean? Ideologies are sets of world views that understand social, economic and political life in a particular way, and seek to solve problems based on that said understanding. This course will examine how these world views developed historically. Have these ideologies changed or adapted over time? Who supports these ideas and why? We will then ask deeper questions about ideology. To what extent do culture or religion influence ideas about politics? Is there a relationship between economic interests and political ideas? Do ideas matter? Is there a real diversity of values and world-views in our society, or is there rather a dominant ideology that stifles healthy debate on a wide range of issues? |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Introduction to Political Ideologies |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The aim of this course is to introduce students to world views through the concept of political ideologies. Ideologies are systems of ideas and ideals that form the basis of economic or political theory and government policy. The politics of the modern world have been shaped by the key ideological traditions, which makes ideologies a crucial resource for ordering, defining, and evaluating the political environment in which we live. This course will familiarize students with the most influential ideologies of modern history: namely, liberalism, conservatism, socialism, anarchism, nationalism, fascism, and feminism. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Introduction to Political Philosophy |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course provides an introduction to some of the central questions of political philosophy and to some of the historically most important attempts to answer them. Among the questions that will be considered are: What is the state? How can the state be justified? What would life be like without the state? How is political power to be distributed? How can democracy be justified? How are we to balance the interests of the state against the liberty interests of the individual? What sorts of distribution of economic goods can be justified? How? |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Justice, Development and Change |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course, we study opposing world views in an increasingly globalized world. These world views are made up of different ideas of justice, varied interpretations of what can be called development, and conflicting versions of how change takes place. Specifically, we consider meanings and ideas about feminism and equality, capitalism and fairness, environmentalism/consumerism and excess. These ideas are linked to how people understand gender, race, class, and how they understand those with whom they are not familiar or who are living far away, the outsiders. Such ideas lead to differing views about conditions in ‘first’ and ‘third’ worlds, what qualifies as discrimination, and whether change is possible. According to these conflicting world views, what can or does encourage or prevent justice? What are appropriate action, legitimacy, reliability, and responsibility? |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Justice: Retribution, Redress |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Justice: Retribution, Redress, Reconciliation |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
A worldview is made up of background assumptions which together create a framework for understanding the world and our place in it. Often, we do not recognize these assumptions until they are challenged. We may find other people’s worldviews confusing, offensive or even humourous. Justice is one topic of debate where we can find contrasts between worldviews. In this course, you will be introduced to a variety of understandings of justice. You will practice situating these approaches within specific worldviews and you will have a chance to compare these worldviews with your own. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Justice:Retribution,Redress,Reconci |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-102-MQ |
Landscapes |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-102-MQ |
Languages of Art |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Art offers a way of approaching experience that is different from any other activity. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that it tries to understand and represent experience in primarily visual terms. The objective of this course is to introduce students to the ways in which the visual arts in different cultures and different periods of history have comprehended and depicted distinct world views. Accordingly, the major goals of this course are to help students become familiar with the principles and practices involved in art making, to introduce them to the cultural values that guide artists in choosing to represent the world in one way rather than another, and to acquaint them with the features that distinguish art from other forms of experience. As a consequence, students will be better placed to understand different ways of comprehending the world visually, and to understand why certain images and visual styles attract them and speak to their own ways of viewing the world. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Medieval Civilization |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, we study medieval civilization across ten centuries with a special focus on the evolving Medieval world view, social and cultural institutions, and political and philosophical ideas. Among the more important themes studied will be: the decline of classical antiquity in the late Roman Empire and the contribution of classical culture to the Medieval world view; the Germanic tribal cultures and their contribution to the world view of the Middle Ages; the contributions of Islam and Byzantium; the transmission of classical learning and literature; the emergence of a new Western European society and world view during the Carolingian period; the rise of urban centers and universities in the Late Middle Ages; and the decline of medieval civilization in the 14th century. We will also place special emphasis on those areas of the medieval world view that have had a lasting impact on Western society and culture. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Moby Dick and the Romantic Tradition |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
All of us have been profoundly shaped by world views from the Age of Enlightenment, which emphasized objectivity, science, and reason. We have been equally shaped by world views from the Romantic Era, which challenged Enlightenment assumptions by emphasizing subjectivity and strong feelings. This course explores key figures of the Enlightenment such as Locke and Kant, along with key figures of Romanticism such as Rousseau and Kleist. The core of this joint course is an examination of Herman Melville’s 1851 masterpiece of dark romanticism, Moby-Dick. Melville’s novel has been called many things: transgressive, experimental, flawed, overwrought, Transcendentalist, anti-Transcendentalist, realist, naturalist, Gothic, epic, Shakespearean, and proto-modernist. The varied responses are a testament to the work’s power as an exploration of America’s (and humanity’s) deepest and most conflicted desires and fears. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Modern Political Ideologies |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
What are “ideologies”? How did they originate? What role do they play in our lives? What are the characteristics of, and the differences between, the most influential political ideologies? This course introduces students to the major political ideologies. It analyzes the roots of these world views and examines their role in shaping politics and society. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Multicultural Identity: The Peacock Effect |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course introduces the student to the main methodological and ontological approaches to cultural identity and to the process of acculturation which forms the basis for most of the course. The acculturational attitudes of Integration, Assimilation, Separation and Marginalization reflect the interaction of world views of immigrants to Canada that are demonstrated and compared via the literature of Canadian authors of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds in the main course book Pens of Many Colours. The course examines and compares the world view of Canadian writers of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Each work focuses on the nature of Canadian society and culture, the world views of individual citizens and the socialization processes experienced by Canadians in forming value systems and behaviour patterns. |
|
| 345-102-MQ |
Nietzsche & Dostoyevsky |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines the interplay of two immensely influential world views as developed by two literary giants: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881). Although they never met, Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky wrestled with the same issues surrounding God and morality. However, while Nietzsche announced the death of God as something positive enabling the liberation of man, Dostoyevsky pointed to the same decline as something that must be surmounted and replaced with a still stronger faith in God. Students will thus learn to compare and contrast the world views of both Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky (i.e., life against God vs. life with God), both as literature and philosophy. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Nietzshe's Impact on 20th Century |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
"It is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified." -- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy (1872). Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a philosopher of spectacular fame and influence, whose star (like that of many a lonely and struggling artist) only began to rise after his death. Nietzsche's trickster artistry -- his capacity to move easily between many voices and many positions -- was something he himself called "perspectivism." But Nietzsche's legacy -- like that of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud -- became transformed into "Nietzscheanism," a phenomenon that embraced a whole range of cultural and political world views. In the history of the twentieth century, there is probably no larger or more seminal figure: indeed, "whatever we call modernism or define as 'the modern spirit' finds Nietzsche in attendance." |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Plato's World |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course introduces students to the philosophy of Plato. Its main purpose is to study the birth of a particular type of rationalist world view, known as Platonism, by studying the writings of Plato. This course will examine how Plato ponders the human condition and defines humans as would-be practitioners of the most important art form: philosophy. Some of the themes considered will be Plato's response to the challenge of the Sophists and the death of Socrates; the nature of knowledge; the foundations of morality and of society; man's relationship to nature; the nature of education. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Political Christianity |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is for all students, regardless of religious or non-religious background, who are curious about how political movements in the past and present have been influenced by religion. By comparing modern events with historical examples, we will see how a world view rooted in religious belief will naturally see political issues in terms of religious problems and solutions. Although the examples presented will refer to Christianity, many of the conclusions apply to other religions as well, and students will be encouraged to discuss different religions in class. At the end of the course, successful students will understand how specific elements within the Christian world view tend to lead (sometimes surprisingly) to particular political positions |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Political Ideologies |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course explores the world views and political ideologies that are currently or recently influential, especially through their application in human rights debates and political applications. Students will first learn about the different forms of liberalism. Then we will review socialism, conservatism, feminism, fascism and totalitarianism. Throughout, there will be a focus on comparison and the connection between world views and ideology and how they are translated into public policy. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Political World Views |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course is an introduction to political world views through a study of key central problems: What is the state of nature? Could the state be justified? Who should rule? What should be the place of liberty in society? What is the just way of distributing property? Also, we will analyze and assess the most interesting arguments made by political thinkers to solve these problems as well as investigate how these arguments are influenced by their world views. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Politics, Power and Place |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to various environmental worldviews. We will be attempting to make sense of the "politics of the Earth" and in so doing will analyze (1) the concept of survivalism (the idea we are headed toward environmental disaster, given unrestrained economic and/or population growth); (2) environmental problem-solving techniques (political-economic responses within the context of industrial society); (3) sustainability (the notion that economic growth and environmental protection can be complementary processes); and (4) green radicalism (the rejection of industrial society and a radical shift toward green consciousness). |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Popular Aesthetics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Do popular media like Hollywood movies and television shows constitute something we could call a world view? If something so diverse as popular media could be given so general a description, one might say that Hollywood and television are predominantly melodramatic, that is, that they are predominantly sensationalistic and sentimental. Horror movies, action thrillers, mysteries, sentimental love stories, family melodramas, talk shows, the nightly news and reality television all rely on making viewers cry, scream, squirm, look away, be shocked, be made afraid, be exalted or be morally outraged in one way or another. Frequently their simplicity is compensated only by their sensational and "special effects". Movies and television focus feelings at the expense of social and political commentary, and at the expense of the complexity of our interior lives. The implicit "world view" is that only "feelings" really matter. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Problems in Modern Political Thought |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
A world view, much like an ideology, is “a comprehensive set of ideas that explains and evaluates social conditions, helps people understand their place in society, and provides a program for social and political action” (Ball et al, p. 4). World views are related to our beliefs about human nature and human freedom, which in turn are the root of our understanding of our political rights and political obligations. The purpose of this course is to examine the development of Western political thought throughout the modern period and likewise to understand how the debates of this period inform contemporary political discourse. This course will provide an overview of the origins of liberalism, conservatism, socialism, communism and anarchism. The course aims to improve student’s critical thinking skills as well as their ability to analyze, develop and construct philosophical arguments. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Protest and Propaganda |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course explores the relationship between politics and the visual arts. By analyzing historical and contemporary examples, we will see how art can be used as an instrument of propaganda, as well as an instrument of protest and change. Students will be introduced to a multitude of world views, and a variety of visual mediums (i.e. public art, performance art, video, monuments, etc.). We will begin by looking at the role of visual arts in both world wars (with an emphasis on communist Russia and the rise of Socialist Realism), to be followed by an examination of art and its role in Maoist China. Contemporary examples will also be considered, as we examine how so-called "underground art," meant to be transgressive and subversive, has been adopted as a vehicle for mainstream politics. We will also be considering Canadian examples, such as the Automatiste movement in Quebec in the 1940s, which was, in part, a reaction against conservative and outdated religious and political views. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Quebec in the Modern World |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The purpose of this course is to describe, analyze and explain the emergence of a world view within Quebec society and to examine its implications for Quebec society and the Canadian polity. Discussions based on lectures and audio-visual material will facilitate the learning process. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Reason and Sentiment |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Religious Fundamentalisms |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Social Themes in European Art |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The Symbolist movement of the nineteenth century tried to give expression to the hidden (“mystical”, “occult”) dimension of human experience. Symbolist poets thought there was a close correspondence between the sounds and rhythms of the words they used and their meaning, and Symbolist painters thought that colour and line in themselves could express ideas. This course is a survey of European Symbolist art of the nineteenth century, focusing on the world views of artists and the impact of social forces on the arts. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Soldiers and Philosophers |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
The Age of Suspicion |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The past two centuries represent an Age of Suspicion. The suspicion of traditional ways of understanding the self, the human condition, and the world have inspired radical new world views such as existentialism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, modernism and postmodernism. The course begins with a glance at some of the traditional world views that incited the age of suspicion, such as Christianity and the Enlightenment, and then moves on to the modern “masters of suspicion,” such as Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud, whose ideas inspired generations of artists and thinkers. We will explore how the ideas of these masters of suspicion have influenced the development of modern literature, politics, philosophy, science, and the fine arts throughout the world. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
The Foundation of Violence |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
The goal of this course is to discuss different, often opposing views on the nature, origin and morality of violence. From these competing theories, we will attempt to deepen our understanding of the foundation of violence, of how ordinary people commit acts of atrocity, and of the morality of our violent acts; in effect, we will attempt to deepen our understanding of the human condition inasmuch as it is fashioned by violence. From a broader perspective, we hope to gain critical insight into the relation between the foundation of violence and our worldviews, and to discern the presuppositions and implications inherent in this complex relationship. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
The Languages of Art |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course explores world views through the visual arts. Art offers a way of approaching experience that is different from any other activity. The objective of this course is to introduce students to the ways in which the visual arts in different cultures and different periods of history have comprehended and depicted the human world. Accordingly, the major goals of this course are to help students become familiar with the principles and practices involved in art making, to introduce them to the cultural values that guide artists in choosing to represent the world in one way rather than another, and to acquaint them with the features that distinguish art from other forms of experience. As a consequence, students will be better placed to understand different ways of viewing the world visually, and to understand why certain images and visual styles attract them and speak to their own ways of comprehending the world. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
The Meanings of Love |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Utopia and Dystopia |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Violence and Nonviolence |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Beliefs about violence are important components of our world views, but, both as individuals and societies, we examine them far too rarely. In this course, we will question some of the common assumptions and justifications that support violence and war, while examining the ways in which these ideas are reinforced by powerful societal institutions. Then we will examine the perspective of an alternative world view that rejects violence on both ethical and practical grounds. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Visions, Rebellions and Elections: |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Visions, Rebellions and Elections: Religion and Politics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
Many of the decisions and actions that shape our increasingly secular world have been, and still are, motivated by religious world views. This World Views course examines medieval peasant rebels, apocalyptic movements, Marxist guerrillas and our current politicians to understand how religious world views affect political and social movements. We will see how different emphasizes and interpretations, even within one religious tradition, can create different world views and place believers on opposite sides in conflicts or ideological disputes. Although we will focus on Christian world views, students are encouraged to discuss other religious traditions as well. This course is for all students, regardless of religious or non-religious background, who are curious about the sometimes surprising influence of religion on the world around us. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
War, Peace and World Order |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course will give students an understanding of the diversity of views on the problem of war, and provide them with the tools to recognize and articulate their own perspectives on how the world is and should be. Students will critically analyze the realist world view, which sees competition, inequality and war as inherent features of our state system, and then compare it to a number of alternative perspectives, inspired by such sources as liberalism, pacifism, socialism, feminism, anarchism and ecologism. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Working Out a Worldview |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course uses works of short fiction as a starting point for asking questions whose answers are fundamental components of a world view: Do we have free will? What is the nature of the mind? Is the world what it appears to be? Does God exist? These topics, and others, will be explored from a philosophical perspective, allowing students to investigate and evaluate many alternative views. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
World Views Journeys |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
World Views of Great Social and Political Thinkers |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course seeks to enable students to understand, explain, and to evaluate the validity of differing major world views regarding society and government. The world views chosen are those of the leading theorists of the conservative, liberal, democratic, and socialist views of society and government, respectively those of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Karl Marx. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
World Views of Great Social Political Thinkers |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-102-MQ |
World Views with New School |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Descriptions for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-102-MQ |
Worldviews of Southeast Asia |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Southeast Asia is an economically dynamic and politically important region with a unique world view. This course aims to instill an awareness of the current political and cultural conditions of the area as well as an understanding of the historical development of the region’s world view from prehistoric times to the post-colonial period. This task will be accomplished through dealing with such issues as the development of international trade, the arrival of new religions, interactions with neighboring regions (i.e. India and China), the increased dominance of European colonial powers and the eventual emergence of independent Southeast Asian states. Recent events in Southeast Asia will be placed in the context of the Cold War, the rise of a global economy and the increased importance of the Pacific Rim as a place where a diversity of world views interact. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Worldviews of the Ancients |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
In this course we will look at the world views of the ancient Maya, Greeks and Egyptians and study in detail their respective beliefs about the cosmos and man's place in it. Students will first be introduced to the history of our knowledge of these past civilizations and how over time our vision of them has changed in fundamental ways. We will then discuss some of the modern methodology for the study of ancient societies and the challenges that we face in trying to understand cultures different from our own. We will also study what we know today about the history, culture and intellectual achievements of the Maya, Greeks and Egyptians. Finally, we will examine in detail the key themes and ideas that characterize the myths, religion and literature that make up the world views of each civilization. |
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| 345-102-MQ |
Worldviews Underpinning Human Interactions with Nature |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
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| Description for Course: |
This course focuses on the world views which underlie human interactions with nature; students will explore the functions of different world views in society and be introduced to the world views offered by a number of religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, and Jainism. Gandhi's environmental thinking, the philosophy of animal liberationists, and radical environmentalism will also be explored and discussed. Students will be required to analyze and evaluate the soundness of these world views, and to construct plausible arguments in defence of their position. |
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