NEH Enduring Questions Course on Suffering

FAIN: AQ-228859-15

American University (Washington, DC 20016-8200)
Paul K. Wapner (Project Director: September 2014 to December 2017)

The development and teaching of a new undergraduate seminar on the meaning of suffering.

Suffering is an inescapable part of being human. This course studies how thinkers throughout the ages have made sense of it. It asks: Why is there so much pain and misery in the world? Is there a purpose to such affliction? How do we relate to our pain and that of others? In short, what is suffering? The course will use literary, philosophical, medical, and psychological texts as well as works of visual art to uncover various attitudes to suffering and invite students to investigate their own understandings.