HONOR 2045 - Building a Good Life

What is a “good” life? One that involves pleasure? One with purpose? One that entails service to others? One that allows for great achievements? One that maximizes self-control? To what extent is a good life shaped by cultural and historical circumstance? What are the relatively ‘invisible’ ways that our own context is shaping our sense of the good life? Is it possible to resist that shaping, and if so, with what consequences? How is a good life cultivated? Through trial and error and experimentation? Through commitments to others? This year-long colloquium intended for first-year students explores ideas about the good life that are grounded in diverse scholarly traditions, from philosophy to biology, as well as in memoir, fiction, popular press, and via the notion of the “quantified self.” Experiential components of the course promote micro-experiments in living that are related to discussions and readings, as well as reflection on students’ own emerging scholarly life.