HNRS 283-01: Humanist Hermeneutics
This
200-level course will be a full-year, two-semester sequence (I and II),
although each semester’s course is fully independent and can be taken without
the other. The two semesters cover the
entire historical span of ancient and modern rhetoric and hermeneutics in
depth.
“The New 21st
Century Humanism: Hermeneutics as Equipment for Living” introduces hermeneutics
as one of the most provocative concepts of twentieth-century thought, and its
confluence with the discipline of rhetoric as one of the most potent pathways
ahead for liberal humanism. “Hermeneutic
rhetoric” is considered as a mode of understanding and application that
challenges many of the standard presuppositions of modern knowledge production,
and offers an alternative paradigm of social reason and practical wisdom. In the first semester, students will explore
the way hermeneutic experience and understanding transform the praxis of
rhetoric. In the second semester,
students will explore the unique resources a hermeneutic rhetoric provides for
deliberative practice, civic engagement, and social reasoning. The cumulative experience introduces students
to a conceptual innovation that may play a profound role in transforming
intellectual culture.
Term: Fall 2009
Credits: 4
Fulfills: GE Requirement in Social Science (E)
Cross-listed: COMM 215-02
Meeting times: 14:30-15:50 MW
Instructor: John Arthos
Open to: Sophomores/Juniors/Seniors only
