Course Description

This year's First Year Program asks the question, "With so many claims of what is true and good, how then shall we live?" In the spring semester, we will consider the relationship between morality and culture. In a world of diverse cultural and religious views, how can we understand different conceptions of what is right, good, and moral? Anthropology urges us to be culturally relativist by understanding that how people see the world varies according to their cultural context. But does that mean that we should also be morally relativist, that we can't judge other people's notions of what is right or appropriate because we don't share their experiences and perspectives on the world? What if our morality compels us to challenge or stop other people from taking actions that they believe to be correct?

This course will consider complex moral questions from a cross-cultural, anthropological perspective. We will critically examine how different groups and individuals grapple with a sense of what is right and moral, and how their views and actions, as well as our responses to them, are caught up with issues of power, politics, economics, social relations, and culture. Topics will include crack dealing, poverty and infant mortality, abortion, AIDS, genocide, masculinity, and human trafficking.

Syllabus

Study GuideQuestions; Journal and Essay Topics

Announcements: Will be posted here as necessary

For more information, contact: aleshkow@holycross.edu