NEH Enduring Questions Course on Good and Evil

FAIN: AQ-50310-10

Morehead State University (Morehead, KY 40351-1686)
Scott Alan Davison (Project Director: September 2009 to April 2014)

The development of a course that examines the nature of good and evil through the study of philosophy, literature, sociology, psychology, and film.

What is the nature of good and evil? This enduring question has occupied great minds for thousands of years. Trying to answer it with any confidence will require asking a number of other questions, including the following ones: "Are good and evil objective features of the world, or in the eye of the beholder? Are good and evil exclusive and opposite qualities? Do people deserve praise or blame for being good or evil"? This course will involve students at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to reflect on the concepts of good and evil in detail, despite the importance of these concepts in ordinary life and contemporary political discourse. It will introduce them to some of the most influential answers in history in order to help them decide for themselves what to think.