Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 1.5 hours / session
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Course Description
Non-violence is more than a political and social strategy. It can be a comprehensive ethical stance. In this course, we examine both the efficacy and ethics of such a stance. We first look at the question of what a non-violent life entails. We read the primary exponents of non-violence, Tolstoy, Gandhi, and King. Next, we investigate the ethical dimensions of non-violence. Can we derive a comprehensive moral theory from the principles of non-violence? Last, we look at specific ethical challenges from the perspective of non-violence. We consider the issues of lying, the duty to forgive, non-violent communication, the ethics of our relationship to anger, the possibility of loving enemies, and the ethics of punishment and rehabilitation.
Course Requirements
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Attendance and Participation | 10% |
| Paper 1 | 30% |
| Paper 2 | 40% |
| Daily Conflict and Resolution Journal | 20% |
For more information on the activities above, see the Assignments section.
Calendar
| WEEK # | TOPICS | DUE DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Love, Non-violence, and Truth | |
| 2 | Non-violent Communication | |
| 3 | Non-violent Conflict Resolution | |
| 4 | Coercion and Manipulation | |
| 5 | Kindness and Cruelty | |
| 6 | Forgiveness | |
| 7 | Anger and Emotion | |
| 8 | Non-violence and Anger | Paper 1 due |
| 9 | Telling the Truth, Part I | |
| 10 | Telling the Truth, Part II | |
| 11 | Punishment and Revenge, Part I | |
| 12 | Punishment and Revenge, Part II | Turn in selected sections of daily conflict and resolution journal |
| 13 | Journal Sharing and Summing Up | Paper 2 due |
