Wednesday Session 2   

Sociologists of religion provide a taxonomy for identifying religious groups beyond the normative title of ‘church’—specifically sects and cults. Sects provide an alternative religious society often derived from a larger religious entity. A cult is constellated around a seer or a new revelation specific to one or two individuals. This course will take these sociological identifiers and show how they look in the religious landscape of America. Specifically, we will consider five movements or sects and demonstrate the ways in which each fall within these sociological categories: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Latter-Day Saints, Scientology, Westboro Baptist Church and the “Spiritual not Religious” adherents.

In this interactive online discussion course, we will explore famous philosophical thought experiments and their practical applications. How does the trolley problem relate to the question of whether self-driving cars should be programmed to protect passengers inside the car or the pedestrians outside the car if brakes fail? What does John Rawls’ “veil of ignorance” thought experiment teach us about how to set up a just society? Participants will receive text handouts which we will study during the class sessions. Come join the conversation!

 

The Korean War has long been called the forgotten war, but recent events have rekindled interest in learning something about the first war that America did not win. The course will look at the political and diplomatic events that led to the conflict, the geography of the war, and some of the key personalities involved and how they influenced the progress of the war. It also will look at the key campaigns and the eventual outcome.

This course introduces 31 Nationality Rooms of the University of Pittsburgh. The rooms were designed to represent the cultures of various ethnic groups that settled in Allegheny County but are also in use as functional classrooms. As Wesley Posvar, former Pitt Chancellor, said, "More than any other single asset, the Nationality Rooms epitomize the University of Pittsburgh character by melding culture, beauty, and learning. In their diversity, the rooms preserve and honor our ethnic identities. Collectively, they symbolize our national unity."

This course will explore the lives and careers of actors and actresses in the 1930s and 1940s who prided themselves on their abilities to inhabit any role. In addition to focusing on notable legends like Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Hepburn and Tracy, Jimmy Stewart, and Judy Garland, the course will also note the lesser-known actors of the era like Luise Rainer and Robert Donat. The course will conclude with an examination of one of the most storied years in Hollywood history: 1939.

This course explores the art and architecture of ancient Greece, from temples and tombs to pottery and paintings. Structured chronologically, illustrated lectures explore the visual arts of ancient Greece by period, from its beginning in the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1200 BCE) to the end of the Hellenistic Period (ca. 323-31 BCE). The focus is key monuments and works of art and the artistic and technological developments that gave rise to them, an archaeological approach that considers the social function of Greek art in its wider Mediterranean context.

Cognition and culture will be explored in animals, using evolutionary theory as the framework for this course. Topics include animal learning, the accelerated process of domestication, and an examination into our companion animals' behavior. However, the majority of the course will be dedicated to the culture of wild animal populations and their cultural behavior that includes hunting, foraging and thieving behavior—to name just a few. Short videos will be shown in class, and readings are available upon request.

Our democracy relies upon a vigorous and independent media, as our founders realized when they added the First Amendment to the Constitution. But mass media has changed over the years and has become much less a force in the conduct of our national affairs. This course offers an insight into the development of media from Gutenberg to the internet. How and why consolidation has lessened the number of media voices and the effect that has had on our democratic institutions will be subjects of discussion in this course.

In school we often learned myths about our founders who seemed to be beyond our ability to emulate. Today's trend is to "cancel" them because their faults err on the other extreme. The founders were humans with complex admirable accomplishments and reprehensible failings. Understanding these historic figures' contributions to the founding of the republic and their acknowledged inability to end slavery and native displacement provide a realistic analysis of our history. Learn from the founders to understand the evolution and current situation of our government.