Comprising ideas in politics, biology, psychology, philosophy, ethics, and linguistic culture, this course will focus on analysis of ten expertly crafted essays (meditations, expositions, arguments) by a range of meticulous and stylistically distinct writers. The authors, spanning the mid-20th to the early 21 century, include Stephen Jay Gould (“Nonmoral Nature”), Annie Dillard (“Heaven and Earth in Jest”), George Orwell (“Shooting an Elephant”), James Baldwin “(Stranger in the Village”), David Foster Wallace (“Consider the Lobster”), Steven Pinker (“The Moral Instinct”), Martin Luther King, Jr. (“Letter from Birmingham Jail”), Cynthia Ozick (“The Question of our Speech: A Return to Aural Culture”), E.B. White (“Once More to the Lake”), and Mark Slouka (“Arrow and Wound”). Connections among these essays will be facilitated by weekly pairings that encourage informed and creative thinking about abiding questions: Are moral principles innate or derived? How do we foster a more just society? Are all living organisms entitled to our empathy and respect? How do memories shape us—and we them? Of what import is the loss of high literacy in an increasingly oral/visual society? We will also “go meta”—i.e., we will consider the writerly strategies that make an essay engaging and enduring. If you are inclined toward careful close reading and engagement in debatable ideas, you are likely to enjoy this course.
Each class will begin with a brief introduction followed by discussion, guided by questions provided before each meeting. Weekly preparation time will be approximately two hours reading and thinking before each meeting.
Please note that the last class is December 9, 2026, which is during the make-up week.