3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

What is “the common good”? How do individuals consider this idea, this question, and how are societies led, or misled, by its pursuit? Each year, Hopkins poses one big, common question to our community, curates a set of sources from multiple disciplines, and creates spaces for conversation. This unique first year seminar is one such space. Together, we will explore sources from a range of perspectives: What can the story of Noah, for example, teach us about the question of the common good? Or the engineering of Baltimore public transportation, the notion of meritocracy in higher education, access to vaccines, the perniciousness of pandemics, prohibition of nuclear weapons, or data sharing among scientists? Drawing from movies, interviews, and readings (authors include Rachel Carson, James Baldwin, Bong Joon-ho, Spike Lee, Michael Sandel, and more), this course is as much about how we ask and interrogate hard questions as it is about the answers themselves. Engaging deeply with the sources and each other, students will discuss the texts in class, write short responses, and give occasional oral presentations. The course will culminate in a final, collaborative project: a digital archive of new sources that investigate the common good.