PL 293.01 Cultural and Social Structures I

Limited to members of the PULSE Council

This course is one in the four-semester cycle of courses designed for members of the Boston College PULSE Council. In this course we attempt to lay a foundation for understanding contemporary ways in which people choose to structure -- literally and figuratively -- the way they live together. Our study centers on questions about how our cultural and social structures are the concrete expression of what we value, of the things we consider meaningful and important.

The texts we have chosen to guide us in this pursuit will lead us to raise these questions in a way that will direct our focus somewhat to western, particularly North American ways of creating these cultural and social structures.

As the late Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, that distinguished Boston College alumnus whose name adorns our library, Thomas P. O'Neill was fond of saying: "All politics is local." No doubt he derived that from his reading of Aristotle's Ethics. Understanding that as a sort of underlying theme of all four semesters of this course, we hope to look closely at the origins and development of some of the guiding themes and ideas that ground those local politics: the structuring of the culture in which we find ourselves today.

Accordingly, we have selected texts from what might appear to be a broad range of disciplines. As usual for this seminar, some may initially appear to have little to do with what you think of when you hear the word "philosophy." They all, however, have a great deal to do with what you might need to think about when trying to answer such questions as: "Is there a philosophy behind what it means to be a citizen of a particular country?" or "What does it mean to be a member of a particular society?"

Texts: Christian Norberg-Schulz, Genius Loci; Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden; Jane Jacobs, The Economy of Cities. A Gospel to be determined.

Joseph Flanagan, S.J.
David Mc Menamin

Last Updated: 4/2/2003