NEH Enduring Questions Course on "Why Cooperate?"

FAIN: AQ-50411-11

Arizona Board of Regents (Tucson, AZ 85721-0073)
Robert Schon (Project Director: September 2010 to August 2014)

The development of an upper level course on the question, Why cooperate?

Without a doubt, one of humankind's most enduring qualities is our propensity to cooperate with one another. As a result, we have left our mark on the planet more than any other species. None of these accomplishments could be achieved by individuals acting alone. At the same time, we have now reached a stage where our collective actions (and collective negligence) can greatly affect our future in profound ways. Thus, the need to evaluate the nature of cooperation is paramount. The course, to be designed in conjunction with an Enduring Questions Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will explore the nature of cooperation from a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, philosophy, literature, political science, biology, and mathematics. The goal of the class is to enable students to think in novel ways about the nature of cooperation and the role it plays in their lives.