Political polarization is a clear symptom of the national disorder which afflicts us. As a country, we've been working as opposites-us against them-for so long that our social compact has suffered grievous harm. The course will hope to renew the substance of our polity, our stake in each other. Even in Charlottesville, supposedly the happiest place on earth, we never achieved a real dialogue on the Western Bypass; and a heated argument smolders about what to do with the Confederate statues. Our challenge is not to win a debate. It is to walk uphill together. To enable that musculature, we will use philosophy from Martin Buber and others, exercises adapted from Outward Bound, research into perception, and inquiry into the substance of our experience of others to improve the culture of the country we live in.
Considering recent events this course description has been updated:
Political polarization is a clear symptom of the national disorder which afflicts us. As a country, we've been working as opposites-us against them-for so long that our social compact has suffered grievous harm. The course will hope to renew the substance of our polity, our stake in each other. Even in Charlottesville, supposedly the happiest place on earth, we never achieved a real dialogue on the Western Bypass. Has the political process that resulted in the removal of confederate statues resolved the dispute among us? Our challenge is not to win a debate. It is to walk uphill together. To enable that musculature, we will use philosophy from Martin Buber and others, exercises adapted from Outward Bound, research into perception, and inquiry into the substance of our experience of others to improve the culture of the country we live in.
