FYS: What is the Common Good?
AS.001.100 (01)

What is "the common good"? How do individuals consider this idea, this question, and how are societies led, or misled, by its pursuit? 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 research project that seeks to map the common good and move the conversation forward.

• Credits: 2.00
• Level:
• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 3:30PM
• Instructor: Watters, Aliza
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Plato and Poetry
AS.040.626 (01)

This graduate seminar will explore Plato’s contributions to the “old quarrel” between poetry and philosophy, encompassing such topics as the relationship between poetic inspiration and human reason, the role of literature in pedagogy, and the metaphysical implications of poetic fiction. We will focus on several Greek texts from the Platonic corpus related to these themes, as well as some later sources that engage with Platonic ideas.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: F 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Smith, Joshua M
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Proseminar
AS.060.602 (01)

This course is intended to train students in skills required by the discipline, help prepare them for a range of futures, and integrate them into the university community.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Miller, Andrew
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

Milton: Black and White
AS.060.618 (01)

In Milton: Black and White we will consider Milton and the discourses of racialized categories (poetical, political, and embodied), specifically attending to his role in the historical developments of white identity; concepts of justice; the genre of epic; and universal notions of personhood through the liberal tradition. We will also consider how Black writers have responded to Milton (including Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, the gospel tradition, Toni Morrison, Chris Ofili) through readings of Paradise Lost and selected prose, as well as readings in contemporary critical theory.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Achinstein, Sharon
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

Character Studies
AS.060.650 (01)

What are literary characters? Can we imagine literature without them? And how do they relate to questions of form and society? Starting with Aristotle, and moving through 20th- and 21st-century critics such as Lukacs, Barthes, and Woloch. We will pay special attention to the historical relationship between theories of character and approaches to the novel.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Rosenthal, Jesse Karl
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

The Time and Space of Captial
AS.060.652 (01)

This course will look at the relationship between the logical and historical aspects of Marx’s analysis of capitalism, which special emphasis on key arguments in volumes 2 and 3 of Capitalism. We will ask questions about capital’s use of time and space in the service of accumulation, and read more recent secondary material all term from anti-colonial, feminist, queer, Indigenous, and Black radical traditions, in order to develop a fresh picture of the complex interrelation or different types of oppression and exploitation across capitalist history. Some familiarity with the concepts and argument of Capital, volume 1 will be helpful, but are not required.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Nealon, Christopher
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

Independent Study
AS.060.800 (01)

This course is a semester-long independent research course for graduate students. Students will have one-on-one assignments and check-in's with designated faculty throughout the semester.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Cannon, Christopher
• Room:  
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Independent Study
AS.060.800 (02)

This course is a semester-long independent research course for graduate students. Students will have one-on-one assignments and check-in's with designated faculty throughout the semester.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Mao, Douglas
• Room:  
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Independent Study
AS.060.800 (03)

This course is a semester-long independent research course for graduate students. Students will have one-on-one assignments and check-in's with designated faculty throughout the semester.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Nealon, Christopher
• Room:  
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Individual Work
AS.060.893 (01)

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times:
• Instructor:
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 40/40
• PosTag(s): n/a

Independent Reading
AS.060.894 (01)

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times:
• Instructor:
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Journal Club
AS.060.895 (01)

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Daniel, Andrew
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Introductory Topics in Computation for Scholarship in the Humanities
AS.100.682 (01)

The first half of this seminar course consists of non-mathematical introductions to, and discussions of, the fundamental motivations, vocabulary, and methods behind computational techniques of particular use for humanistic research. The second half combines selected readings chosen to address specific questions raised by these discussions with hands-on application to students' research goals. Each participant will lead discussion for one of the selected readings relevant to their interests.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: Th 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Lippincott, Thomas
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

Franz Kafka in Philosophical and Literary Perspective
AS.213.643 (01)

This course is devoted to close study of the writings of Franz Kafka from both philosophical and literary perspectives. Writings will include Kafka’s short prose works and novels along with philosophical and literary critical interpretations thereof. Readings may include commentaries by Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, Giles Deleuze, and Giorgio Agamben. Primary texts for students from the German section will be in original; any other students may read Kafka in translation.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: W 1:00PM - 3:00PM
• Instructor: Gosetti, Jennifer Anna
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): GRLL-ENGL

What is a Person? Humans, Corporations, Robots, Trees.
AS.300.618 (01)

Knowing who or what counts as a person seems straightforward, until we consider the many kinds of creatures, objects, and artificial beings that have been granted—or demanded or denied—that status. This course explores recent debates on being a person in culture, law, and philosophy. Questions examined will include: Should trees have standing? Can corporations have religious beliefs? Could a robot sign a contract? Materials examined will be wide-ranging, including essays, philosophy, novels, science fiction, television, film. No special background is required.

• Credits: 0.00
• Level: Graduate
• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Siraganian, Lisa Michele
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): n/a