Classes

Eating Culture: Past, Present, and Future (Gen Ed 1195)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How and why do we humans “play” with the food we eat, and on which we depend for our lives, in so many different ways—creatively, profoundly, and consequentially?

 

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Joseph Nagy

This interdisciplinary course is dedicated to exploring the proposition that the act of eating, in human civilizations from ancient to contemporary, and all the processes associated with eating—including finding, making, enjoying, and talking about food; feasting and fasting; digestion and its expected consequences and effects—that all these constitute a culture, a complex system of shared practices, beliefs, and worldview that both reflects and “feeds into” the cultures of particular communities.... Read more about Eating Culture: Past, Present, and Future (Gen Ed 1195)

Philosophy of Technology: From Marx and Heidegger to Artificial Intelligence, Genome Editing, and Geoengineering (Gen Ed 1194)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

Is technology good, bad, or neutral – and if good, should we make it central to solving all our problems; if bad, should we radically change our ways; and if neutral, then what else should be the focus as we look for solutions to global problems?

 

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Mathias Risse

Technology shapes how power is exercised in society, and thereby also shapes how the present changes into the future. Technological innovation is all around us, and new possibilities in fields like artificial intelligence, genome-editing and geoengineering not only reallocate power, but might transform human life itself considerably, to the point of modifying the essence of what it is to be human.... Read more about Philosophy of Technology: From Marx and Heidegger to Artificial Intelligence, Genome Editing, and Geoengineering (Gen Ed 1194)

Philanthropy, Nonprofits, and the Social Good (Gen Ed 1192)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How can we most effectively harness the power of philanthropic giving and nonprofit work to create positive social change and address society's most pressing challenges?

 

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Shai M. Dromi

How can charitable giving and nonprofit work be used to foster positive social impact? This course investigates this question by introducing students to the nature of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations, and their influence on civil society.... Read more about Philanthropy, Nonprofits, and the Social Good (Gen Ed 1192)

Security (Gen Ed 1020)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How do the moral implications of security, a term with a long and provocatively ambivalent history, continue to be relevant in today’s understanding of community and social responsibility?

 

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John Hamilton

Security is everywhere. Driven by hopes and fears, the need to be or feel safe determines almost every aspect of our world, from politics, foreign policy and environmental concerns to our social, communal and personal relationships. But what in fact do you desire when you desire security?... Read more about Security (Gen Ed 1020)

U.S. K-12 Schools: Assumptions, Binaries, and Controversies (Gen Ed 1189)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

What if schools were for learning instead of education?

 

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Elizabeth City

You will be involved in education your whole life. As a taxpayer, voter, or parent, you will be connected with formal schooling. You will almost certainly be in the role of teacher at various points in your life, whether in a classroom, in another professional setting, or guiding someone in something you love to do.... Read more about U.S. K-12 Schools: Assumptions, Binaries, and Controversies (Gen Ed 1189)

Rise of the Machines? Understanding and Using Generative AI (Gen Ed 1188)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

If we’re living through the emergence of a highly disruptive technology, namely Chat-GPT and similar generative AI tools, what should we do about it?

 

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Christopher Stubbs & Logan S. McCarty

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) systems such as Chat-GPT have caught the entire world off-guard. They are evolving at a pace that is overwhelming the ability of individuals, organizations, and societies to understand, adjust to, and regulate them. Current-generation GAI tools can write narrative and music, can generate original art, and can write computer programs, all from natural language requests.... Read more about Rise of the Machines? Understanding and Using Generative AI (Gen Ed 1188)

The Age of Anxiety: Histories, Theories, Remedies (Gen Ed 1186)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How have authors throughout history channeled anxiety into meaningful and imaginative works of art?

 

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Beth Blum

The poet WH Auden described the 1940s as “the age of anxiety,” but he could have been describing our own stress-ridden times: anxiety is today the most common class of contemporary mental health condition. This course pursues two guiding questions: how has anxiety changed throughout history and how has it stayed the same? And how have authors throughout history productively channeled anxiety into creating beautiful and meaningful works of art?... Read more about The Age of Anxiety: Histories, Theories, Remedies (Gen Ed 1186)

Worlds Beyond: The Past, Present and Future of Solar System Exploration (Gen Ed 1184)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How and why are space missions conducted, and what should the future of human activity in space look like?

 

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Robin Wordsworth

Earth, our home, is unique and precious, but it is almost inconceivably tiny compared to the vast expanses that lie beyond it. Through robotic and human missions over the last few decades, we have enriched our understanding of our own changing planet and discovered much about our nearby celestial neighbors, although many mysteries remain.... Read more about Worlds Beyond: The Past, Present and Future of Solar System Exploration (Gen Ed 1184)

The English Language Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow (Gen Ed 1183)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How does the English language shape our world, and how does the world shape English?

 

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Daniel Donoghue

How does the English language shape our world? And how does the world shape English? Our “world” includes our most intimate thoughts and feelings, but it also can expand into an ever-widening social network; either way, whether personal or global, the English language has a profound and reciprocal relation with its speakers.... Read more about The English Language Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow (Gen Ed 1183)

Mexico and the Making of Global Cuisine (Gen Ed 1178)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

What does the food we eat tell us about ourselves—as individuals, communities, and countries—and how has humanity’s relationship with food changed over time?

 

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Jennifer Carballo

We all need to eat and drink each day to nourish our bodies. Yet how often do you pause to think deeply about why you eat what you eat? Your food habits are likely influenced by family traditions, but also by a range of other factors like income, age, ethnicity, religion, politics, and the environment. What does the food we eat tell us about ourselves—as individuals, communities and countries—and how has humanity’s relationship with food changed over time?... Read more about Mexico and the Making of Global Cuisine (Gen Ed 1178)

Pride & Prejudice & P-values: Scientific Critical Thinking (Gen Ed 1024)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How can we (as individuals and as whole societies) better incorporate into our thinking and decision making the problem-solving techniques characteristic of science at its best?

 

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Edward J. Hall and Douglas Finkbeiner

We humans have developed rational and systematic methods for solving problems, ways carefully designed to chart a reliable path to the truth. Yet we as individuals, as groups, as whole societies fail to take full advantage of these methods.... Read more about Pride & Prejudice & P-values: Scientific Critical Thinking (Gen Ed 1024)

Harvard Gets Medieval (Gen Ed 1160)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How did our world come to be suffused with medieval images and motifs, and what do we learn about the past and ourselves as we begin to explore the fascinating time on the other side of the stereotypes?

 

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Daniel Lord Smail

Starting in the late nineteenth century, Harvard got medieval. Through direct purchase and through the collecting activity of numerous alumnae/i, we began collecting all sorts of texts and artifacts generated by the medieval world of Arabic, Greek, and Latin civilizations. The things that arrived in Harvard’s collections came in many forms, ranging from great architectural monuments and motifs to little stuff such as belt buckles, pilgrims’ flasks, and fragments of pottery.... Read more about Harvard Gets Medieval (Gen Ed 1160)

Life as a Planetary Phenomenon (Gen Ed 1070)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

Is there alien life beyond Earth?

 

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Dimitar Sasselov

What is it about Earth that enables life to thrive? This question was reinvigorated with the 2016 ground-breaking discovery of a habitable planet around the nearest star, Proxima Centauri. A decade of exploration confirmed that such planets are common in our galaxy, and the commonality of habitable planets has raised anew some age-old questions: Where do we come from? What is it to be human? Where are we going? Are we alone in the universe?... Read more about Life as a Planetary Phenomenon (Gen Ed 1070)

The Challenge of Human Induced Climate Change: Transitioning to a Post Fossil Fuel Future (Gen Ed 1137)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

What can we do now to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change, which poses an immediate problem for global society?

 

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Michael B. McElroy

Human induced climate change has the potential to alter the function of natural ecosystems and the lives of people on a global scale. The prospect lies not in the distant future but is imminent. Our choice is either to act immediately to change the nature of our global energy system (abandon our dependence on fossil fuels) or accept the consequences (included among which are increased incidence of violent storms, fires, floods and droughts, changes in the spatial distribution and properties of critical ecosystems, and rising sea level).... Read more about The Challenge of Human Induced Climate Change: Transitioning to a Post Fossil Fuel Future (Gen Ed 1137)

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