Faculty & Staff Achievements

Cavanaugh Receives NEH Enduring Questions National Grant

Philosophy professor Thomas Cavanaugh of the has received the Enduring Questions National grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities agency for his new innovative course, "What is Wisdom?"

Cavanaugh's course is an enquiry-driven seminar class sponsored by the NEH's Enduring Questions program, and endeavors to answer the questions:

  • What is wisdom?
  • Who is wise?
  • Will wisdom make us happy?
  • Why pursue wisdom?

The course will attempt to answer these questions by incorporating concepts of Socrates, Confucius, Descartes and the French existentialist Simone Weil; by reading the Tao Te Ching and novels such as Brave New World; by watching movies like The Matrix and Gattaca.

The class will also visit the San Francisco Asian Art Museum to see fascinating ancient objects related to Confucianism.

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