Philosophy & World Religions

The focus of the Philosophy & World Religions curriculum is on major world religions and cultures. The program includes study of cultural thought and belief systems, historical events, and philosophical movements. Through the Philosophy & World Religions curriculum, students explore principles of decision-making, inquire into the spiritual dimensions of life, and examine a variety of religious traditions. Students build an individual understanding of the meaning of interconnections-with self, with others, with their own spirituality, and with the universe. The study of world religions is also integrated into the Humanities I and II courses in the 9th and 10th grades.

Elective Courses

African American Spirituality and Philosophy
With the premise that environment, perception, and behavior are inextricably linked, the African American Spirituality and Philosophy course examines the African American experience with a particular emphasis upon the following: African Americans' perceptions of the world around them from their arrival in America as slaves to the modern day; the development of African Americans' spiritual and philosophical traditions as they have sought to make meaning of their world. The course will begin with a brief overview of African traditions prior to the advent of the slave trade. Students will spend the term examining African American interpretations of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, as well as the development of Rastafarianism.

Buddhism
The essence of Buddhism is to awaken, to be free in the midst of this changing world. The function of that awakening is to give, to be able to love unconditionally, and to serve people. The path to Buddhist awakening is a deep curiosity about the mind, how it makes us unhappy, and how it can be trained to unveil our natural deep contentment and joy. This class is experiential; it offers teachings and skills that give students an opportunity to change the way they perceive themselves and their world, to see more clearly and be more authentic. The course studies Buddhist ethics, the Two Truths, the Eight-Fold Path and the profound teaching of dependent arising. It is important to make these teachings come alive in daily life, so "paying attention" assignments are given regularly. Time is spent in each class in meditation. We will study characters in movies and discuss how they illustrate different states of mind. Field trips are taken to visit a number of Bay Area Buddhist communities such as Green Gulch Farm and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Buddhism has a long and rich history from ancient India to the Bay Area. That history will be studied with an emphasis on how Buddhism has impacted the West, revolutionizing disciplines from neuroscience and psychology to education.

The Bible and Popular Culture
This course reads and studies the Bible as a piece of literature-an enormously influential work that has shaped and informed Western culture for thousands of years-considering its meaning and implications in depth. The class investigates the myriad ways in which the Bible appears in and shapes Western popular culture today. Along the way, close reading, hypotheses, exploration of texts, and discussion will be emphasized. Works studied will include: The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Who Wrote the Bible? (Friedman), Religion and its Monsters (Beal), and examples from music, literature, and film.

Comparative Philosophy
This course grounds students in the study of philosophy and explores central philosophical questions within a comparative framework. Students read a wide range of responses to shared concerns, largely centering on the following three core questions: What is the good life? (What does it mean to be human? Why be good? What is happiness?) What is the role of the individual in society? (What is his/her responsibility? What does society owe the individual? How should we relate to others?) What is justice and the role of judgment within it? (What constitutes freedom, liberty, and justice? What is the just state?) To address these questions, students read classical and contemporary philosophers from the East and West and draw upon film and literary selections as supplemental texts. Students pursue a separate inquiry of their own central question as a final project.

Existentialism
This course examines existentialist philosophy via multiple disciplines, including literature, psychology, religion and film. Students consider basic existential themes such as the meaning of human existence, freedom and responsibility, the limits of reason, the significance of death, the individual versus society, and the role of suffering. Students are asked to consider questions of freedom and authenticity, and to what extent they have the power to make a mark on the world through their actions and choices. Readings include works by Kant, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Paul Tillich and Victor Frankl.

Faith and Religion in America
This course is an examination of religion in the United States, studying the major faiths of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as well as investigating religious subcultures from Mormonism to Wicca, Scientology, and beyond. Students consider the role that religion has played in our development as a nation, the ways in which religion informs our political system, and the ways in which unique faith traditions allow and/or impede Americans from co-existing harmoniously as a people. Texts include A Religious History of America by Edwin Gaustad, American Fascists by Chris Hedges, What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America, by Tony Schwartz, Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion by Marc Galanter, and excerpts from: Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer; as well as a selection of films and music.

Hinduism
This course is a thorough grounding on the religions of India based on the Vedas and the Dravidian religions that preceded them. The course focuses more on textual and mythical analysis and worship rather than on Hindu philosophy and spirituality. The course also examines many of the ways Hinduism has been represented and misrepresented to outsiders. Over the course of the term, students will: differentiate between the various strands of Hindu devotion (Saivism, Vaisnavism, and Goddess-worship), write a historical analysis of Hinduism's history and its contact with outsiders, engage in close readings of primary sources, write an in-depth research paper on a topic of their choice and present their findings to the class. Students will also visit a Hindu temple in the Bay Area.

Homer and Aristotle: Applied Ethics in Popular Culture
This course introduces the branch of philosophy known as Ethics, and examines the many ways in which basic ethical conflicts animate both drama and humor in modern life as seen in popular culture. The course concentrates on The Simpsons because this series is familiar to students and is one of the most intelligent and allusive comedies on television. The primary text used in the course is The Simpsons and Philosophy, a collection of 18 essays that connect the characters and conflicts with the thinking of Socrates, Marx, Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, Kant and other key philosophers. Students write short papers exploring ethical issues, and as a final project they write a longer paper that describes and defends (or attacks) the ethics portrayed in an artifact of popular culture such as a TV show, movie, magazine, music video, or album.

The Problem of Evil
What constitutes evil and why does it exist? This course focuses on these important questions through studying the liabilities of freedom. The path takes us through literature, philosophy, and theology, as students examine how people try to explain the existence of evil in the world. Works studied will include: The Problem of Evil: Oxford Readings in Philosophy, The Doors of the Sea: Where was God in the Tsunami? (Bentley), All My Sons (Miller), Dark Nature: A Natural History of Evil (Watson), and excerpts from articles, journals, music, literature, and film.

Utopia/Dystopia
In this course, students explore both utopias and dystopias, ideal societies, real or imagined, meant to be seen as either better or worse than the actual world in which readers live. As the class reads and discusses, students will discover that philosophers and literary and political authors all grapple with notions of what would make the most ideal society or, by contrast, the least ideal society. We will also discover that fashions in utopias and dystopias have changed over the millennia, centuries, even decades. Texts include The Utopia Reader, 1984 by George Orwell, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach.