Life

Worth Living: What to Expect

CCHU9065

You need to be responsible for how you learn in the course. Here are our
expectations and information about what you need to do. Apart from attending
the weekly lectures:

1. Ensure that you understand the work schedule

• BEFORE the first lecture on each tradition:
You should read the assigned readings and submit two discussion questions
based on the readings to your tutor via Moodle.
Due Date: by the Monday (noon) before the lecture which the tradition will be
discussed. From your questions, tutors will summarize the main issues so that
they can be discussed in the lecture.

• AFTER the lecture on each tradition:
You should submit witten responses to the five questions below (200 word
maximum total) to your tutor via Moodle.
Due Date: by the Monday (noon) after the lecture in which the tradition will be
discussed. (Note: some traditions have two lectures so the responses are due
after the second lecture)

According to the tradition:
a. What does it mean for life
to go well? – what is important is life’s circumstances?
to be led well? – what do we need to do in order to lead a worthy life?
to feel good? – does it matter? Might a life worth living be miserable?
b. What reasons and/or motivations does the tradition offer for a vision of a life worth living?
c. What resources does it offer for human beings to be able to have a life worth living?
d. To whom are we responsible for living our lives in a certain way?
e. What does the tradition suggest that people do when they fail to live such a life?

• THROUGHOUT all the lectures:
Throughout the semester you should use the different sessions to enable you to
write a 1500-word (maximum) essay outlining the your own personal vision of a
life worth living, and plans for a practical project that would put this vision into
action. Due Date: May 2

Throughout the semester you should use the different sessions to enable you to
prepare for a ‘debate’ or ‘reflection’ (genre to be confirmed) in the final tutorial
on April 25.

2. Ensure that you understand how you will be assessed.

Tutors will record tutorial attendance and submission of work. Tutors will grade
the quality of the submitted questions, the written responses, the debate, and
the final essay. The final essay will also be graded by the lead lecturer. The lead
lecturer will also look at samples of graded work throughout the semester.

Weighting:
Submitted questions from readings: 10
Tutorial participation: 10
Written responses to the five questions: 30
Group debate in final tutorial: 20
Final essay: 30

IMPORTANT NOTE: late reading responses and discussion questions will not
be graded and will count as a score of zero for calculation of the final grade;
late papers will receive a grade reduction of one step (e.g., from A- to B+) for
each day that they are late. Attendance at all tutorials is expected except in
case of emergencies. Unexcused absences from the class will result in a
reduction of the final course grade. Students will be expected to actively
participate in all class session both by speaking and by listening generously.

3. Ensure you understand the spirit of dialogue

This is a course about values, truth claims, and lived knowledge and not a
programme with religious information concerning different traditions. The
different lecturers believe what they teach. We encourage you to practice a
‘hermeneutic of charity’ – that is, to be open and generous to different
traditions in order to explore their truth claims as truth claims (i.e. truth as a
claim on how you live your life). The course is not about making a particular
pitch for a tradition or persuading others that one tradition is better than
another. In summary, ensure that the you understand that the course:

i. Advocates pluralism (rather than relativism) because

ii. each tradition makes a claim to truth and you may hold such a
position.
iii. Such truths are about transformational not informational knowledge
(how would your life have to change if these claims were true?)

In this way, the class discussion and Q&A session in the lectures should be
fruitful and meaningful.