Enduring Values: Gilgamesh to Frankenstein

FAIN: AQ-50118-09

Luther College (Decorah, IA 52101-1041)
Philip Freeman (Project Director: November 2008 to September 2012)

The preparation and teaching of an undergraduate seminar addressing questions of friendship, love, and human dignity.

The Luther College course Enduring Questions: From Gilgamesh to Frankenstein, is an exploration of crucial questions through the careful reading of key works from some of the greatest minds in human history. This seminar course will ask what is the nature of love and friendship, and what do we mean by human dignity? Students will read The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Antigone of Socrates, several Platonic dialogues, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Dante's Inferno, Machiavelli's The Prince, Shakespeare's King Lear, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The readings will be supplemented by attendance at local artistic and dramatic events and by the study of material artifacts in museums.