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Sep 17, 2024
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HP 200 - Sustainability of Knowledge (Freshman Seminar)
Credits: 4
The Sustainability of Knowledge seminar initiates students on their honors journey at Saint Joseph’s College with the premise that the pursuit of sustainable knowledge is about learning how to learn, thinking well about how to think. This seminar is therefore one in which students will consistently undertake assignments—especially a variety of written assignments—that inculcate in students the ability to reflect well upon their own ways of thinking and communicating (e.g. students will frequently write, do peer-reviews of written work, and revise their writing). This seminar prioritizes, in short, the value of self-knowledge and self-reflection in the shaping of the life of the mind. But because Saint Joseph’s College honors its Mercy heritage, a heritage within the broader tradition of Catholic social teaching, acquiring knowledge that is sustainable—learning how to learn, thinking how to think—cannot be an end in itself. The Catholic social-ethical tradition that the Mercy heritage champions encourages all people of good will to assume a posture of humility, justice, and compassion in solidarity with the marginalized. At Saint Joseph’s College, sustainability of knowledge is not just learning how to think well but learning how to think well about social realities that demand our attention. The Sustainability of Knowledge seminar therefore serves to introduce students to the tradition of Catholic social teaching through the prism of the college’s Mercy heritage, and to do so in such a way as to foster each student’s ability to evaluate their own habits of thought and correlative practice.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to do the following:
- Describe and discuss the diverse human condition, human society, and the natural world through a sustained engagement with Catholic social teaching, especially as reflected by Saint Joseph College’s Mercy heritage.
- Indicate skills in critical thinking by applying key concepts in Catholic social teaching to practical, real-world problems; students will apply these skills especially through a process of writing, peer-review, and revision.
- Explain connections between the multi-disciplinary domains of knowledge (reflected in the concerns of the Mercy Tradition), and thereby express the ability to evaluate, acquire and synthesize new information.
- Discover connections between the Mercy tradition and one’s (potential) chosen professional field. The Mercy tradition’s inflection of Catholic social teaching will provide one means to foster students’ ability to make these connections; self-reflective, critical thinking skills acquired in the course through writing (and comparable) assignments will provide another means to make these practical connections.
- Assess oneself and one’s own learning in the course and by assessing and discovering the relation of one’s learning to other areas of academic interest and personal development.
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