The 2026 Courses
The Courage to Be
“Courage is indispensable,” Hannah Arendt reminds us, “because in politics not life but the world is at stake.” What does it mean to act courageously in the 21st century? Which crises, conditions, and causes most demand courageous action by individuals and groups? In what ways does modern, bureaucratic society make the contours of courage difficult to discern due to shifting notions of responsibility, evil, truth, justice, and morality? How do the scale and scope of courageous action change under different historical, cultural, and political contexts? Each of the four distinct classes in this Common Course will address these questions by approaching the concept of courage from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, exploring its many articulations from antiquity to our contemporary moment, and its relevance in fields such as law, literature, human rights, religion, politics, and philosophy. This cluster of courses shares a core of two common texts: Hannah Arendt’s essay Humanity in Dark Times and Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be. In addition, the entire cohort enrolled in this Common Course will come together three times during the semester for dinner conversations, accompanied by guest speakers who will share their experiences, research, and insights on contemporary examples of courage.
The Courage to Be: Artistic Encounters with Nature
Professor: Jana Mader
In this course, we explore the theme of courage in artistic encounters with nature. Through the work of writers and artists such as Henry David Thoreau, Ansel Adams, and Georgia O’Keeffe, we examine how creative expression becomes a tool for environmental activism and cultural transformation. Literary works like Thoreau’s Walden and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring reveal the power of writing to awaken ecological consciousness and inspire conservation. We consider the ephemeral art of Andy Goldsworthy, whose sculptures made from natural materials expose the impermanence of human intervention, and study filmmakers such as Werner Herzog and Terrence Malick, whose films invite spiritual contemplation of the natural world. We also explore the music of John Luther Adams, whose compositions evoke nature’s vastness. Engaging with literature, visual art, photography, film, music, and poetry, we ask how artists courageously confront the complexities of nature—whether by challenging social norms, exposing uncomfortable truths about human impact, or inspiring a more profound connection to the earth. By semester’s end, students will gain a deeper understanding of how art reflects and shapes our perceptions of the natural world, and how artistic courage can foster environmental and social change. This course includes lectures, dinners, and shared activities with other sections of the Common Course.
Negotiating the Dream: The Great Debate over Black Identity in American Life
Professor: Thomas Chatterton Williams
This course asks: How is Black identity imagined, imposed, resisted, and reinvented? We will read writers who refuse easy answers—Thomas Jefferson and Alexis de Tocqueville wrestling with the contradictions of American freedom; Frederick Douglass redefining what it means to be self-made; James Baldwin and Zora Neale Hurston insisting on the complexity and creativity of Black life; Albert Murray and Ralph Ellison challenging the rigidity of racial categories; and contemporary thinkers from Barbara Fields to Adrian Piper who unsettle the very concept of “race” itself. We ask: how do we create a self in a society eager to tell us who we are? We will explore that question through classic and contemporary texts, including Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, “Sonny’s Blues,” The Fire Next Time, and selections from William F. Buckley Jr., whose conservatism offered Baldwin a deeply adversarial foil in their legendary 1965 Cambridge debate. We will watch that debate, view I Am Not Your Negro, and consider how these clashes over the “American Dream” continue to animate our politics and our culture. The point is not consensus but curiosity. Students will grapple with writers who disagree not just about policy but about the meaning of justice, the role of identity, and the possibilities of American life. This is a courage to be common course. It fulfills the Difference & Justice requirement and includes lectures, dinners, and shared activities across sections of the Common Course.
The Courage to Be: Achilles, Socrates, Antigone, Mother Courage, Barbara Lee
Professor: Thomas Bartscherer
In 2001, Congresswoman Barbara Lee was the sole member of the United States Congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force that formed the legal foundation for military action in Afghanistan, and subsequently, many additional deployments of the U.S. military. Her vote was praised by many as courageous, and condemned by many others. Lee was celebrated in a poem by Fred Moten as “the unacknowledged legislator.” What is courage? In this course, we shall approach this question both directly and obliquely. We begin with Homer’s Iliad and with philosophical accounts from 5th century Athens. Should courage be understood the same way in all contexts? Is a warrior’s courage the same as that of a philosopher or a legislator? Who is truly courageous, the one who defends the regime, the one who critiques it, or both? Is the courage of Hektor or Achilles the same as that of Socrates or Antigone? Our discussion will proceed through close readings of philosophical texts and essays, both ancient and modern (Plato, Aristotle, Tillich, Arendt, Baldwin, Abani) and imaginative representations in literature and film (Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Antigone, Brecht’s Mother Courage, Fugard’s The Island, Bergman’s Shame). We will be asking, among other things, whether and in what way it makes sense to speak of a single virtue, courage, being manifest in varying circumstances and in different times and places; whether and in what sense courage brings people together or sets them apart; and what we may mean today when we characterize people or acts as courageous. This course includes lectures, dinners, and other activities undertaken in common with the other sections of this Common Course.
The Courage to Be: The David Story
Professor: Joshua Boettiger
There may be no more complex or compelling biblical narrative than that of David––the young shepherd and harpist who slays Goliath and ultimately becomes king. This course will fundamentally focus on the literary portrayal of David in the books of Samuel and Kings, and to a lesser extent, the Psalms (traditionally imagined to be authored by David). In the Jewish tradition, David’s story doesn’t end with the biblical account but continues into rabbinic literature, where his heroism is somewhat demilitarized and reconfigured in Talmudic and Midrashic texts. We’ll also look at David’s continuing legacy around questions of messianism, masculinities, power, and ambivalence of power in Jewish and Christian traditions – all orbiting around the larger theme of the different faces of courage being explored in the common course. This course includes lectures, dinners, and other activities undertaken in common with the other sections of this Common Course.
