What Does It Mean To Live A Good Life

HUM4606 What Does it Mean to Live a Good Life?

4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

This advanced liberal arts elective investigates what it might mean to live a 'good life', and how these interpretations might contribute to your own discoveries and thinking as you head out into the 'real world' beyond Babson. Rather than a philosophy or psychology or self-help course (although all of this is intertwined), this course is based around how writers and filmmakers and other creative thinkers have tried to explore this enduring focus of human inquiry. Through a wide range of literature, film, podcasts, and other media, we will examine differing efforts to perceive and live out a 'good life.' How can we define and measure happiness, and whether that should even be our ultimate goal? How important are extrinsic rewards like achievement and money compared to more internal ones like relationships and human connection? How do we avoid being overwhelmed by the news of the world and instead to create stories that matter and move us to positive action? Where can we find value in odysseys and unexpected detours? What is the meaning of work and its relationship to play? How can we better approach mortality and loss? And how can we grasp the simultaneous individuality and immensity of the human condition in ways that strive to make ourselves and the world better? Together, we will wrangle with these and other ongoing life questions.

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)