So you are wondering -- 'Why bother taking this course seriously?' If you have already read the short page on Aude Sapere, then the answer is here. If you are not convinced that learning is worthwhile in and of itself (John Henry Newman's position, among others), and if you are not convinced that learning will improve yourself (Socrates et alia), or that as you learn, you can help others (Confucius) then consider:

       The main point of all my courses is not just to to learn a great deal about a particular subject (although that is important);  nor is the main point to learn things of a more general nature (also significant);  nor is it to evaluate them critically (definitely worthwhile);  nor is the main point to deepen your understanding of the methods of researching serious questions and then communicating that learning effectively (yes, such very important tools); nor is the most important aspect to be found in this small class-journey joined together on a quest of the ordered-disciplined-focused learning experience that is before us all -- all that and more, yes. But. Here it is:

       The main goal of mine is a hope. First let me describe this hope's "minor cousin...." -- as you go through your life, from job to job (a statistical average: Americans go through 4.4 major occupational changes -- not just jobs but whole new fields -- in one lifetime) the skills we hone here will help you learn these new jobs well and easily. But work is only work.  Beyond that, my main hope is that our discussion-debate sessions may deepen your "life of the mind" -- a life outside of jobs that will help you (and me) to keep finding the fun, the joy, in active grey cells and in living the "good life" -- and so reduce the stress/problems/number-of-therapy-sessions as we go from this and then to that, followed by to the next situation over the coming years. Reduce how? By not being enslaved to any idea, but to be the master of your own thinking.

       The Life of the Mind, and its close friend, "The Party of the Mind", might not answer all the ultimate questions in and about life, but they can help in so many ways, and can point to more beyond and besides.

       That's my hope for you, me, this class, every class, every student.  Cheers, mm