HON 201 Critical Perspectives on the Common Good
3 hours
This course addresses the common good from across the humanities and social sciences, and from perspectives across cultures, genders, as well as social and economic classes. The idea of a common good has been used in the construction of just social orders, the moral improvement of human beings, the liberation of oppressed groups, as well as, at times, as an excuse or justification in projects of oppression. Students in this course will learn to critically explore not only how central questions about the common good have been shaped by various different institutions and social practices across the world (e.g., religion, race, colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism, anthropocentrism, etc.) but also how diverse conceptions of the common good that emanate from diverse societies in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas can be used to address contemporary issues that impinge upon the common good of what is now a global society.
Prerequisite
ENG 201: and restricted to students in the John Jay Honors Program or the Macaulay Honors Program
Notes
This course satisfies the Flexible Core: Individual and Society area of the Gen Ed Program.