{"id":133,"date":"2017-02-12T19:10:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-12T23:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/?page_id=133"},"modified":"2017-03-23T19:39:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:39:59","slug":"explanations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/explanations\/","title":{"rendered":"Explanations"},"content":{"rendered":"

We now move beyond the issue of description to explore the topic of\u00a0explanation<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 For\u00a0social scientists, this means focusing on\u00a0causation<\/em>. For example, if we pose the following question, \u201cHow do we account for the fact that \u2018Hell happens\u2026?\u201d we are automatically compelled to consider possible causes.\u00a0 Since one or more causes are conceivable options, we have to make a choice about better or worse explanations. This bring up a second issue. How do issues of cause and effect become muddied as a result of different understandings<\/strong> of a topic like Hell?\u00a0 If I believe Hell means one thing and you believe it means something quite different, we may identify different causes.\u00a0 As we move along in this seminar, we will see that these issues have important implications for our actions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IMAGE FOUR: TYRANTS, KILLERS, AND MADMEN:\u00a0 \u201cTHE DEVIL\u2019S DEEDS\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Alternate Title: \u00a0Are we \u201ckillers\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

13. Thursday, February 23<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discussion<\/em>:\u00a0 In this section, we discuss explanations of Hell that focus on the role of individual human beings.<\/p>\n

Robert Todd Carroll, \u201cSatan,\u201d in the\u00a0The Skeptic\u2019s Dictionary<\/em>:\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

Milovan\u00a0Djilas<\/a>,\u00a0Conversations with Stalin<\/em>, pp. 56-84\u00a0\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

Hannah\u00a0Arendt<\/a>,\u00a0Eichmann in Jerusalem<\/em>, pp. 36-55\u00a0\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNarcissistic Personality Disorder\u201d:\u00a0\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Background information about various \u201cdevils\u201d:\u00a0National Public Radio\u00a0interview with Riccardo Orizio about\u00a0Talk about the Devil<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0LISTEN<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IMAGE FIVE: STALIN\u2019S TERROR: \u201cA SELF-IMPOSED<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

13. Tuesday, February 28<\/strong><\/p>\n

Film:\u00a0 TBA<\/p>\n

“Interrogation”: \u00a0READ HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

I will show you this shocking but immensely revealing film about the Stalinist terror in Poland in the Nanovic Institute<\/span>. \u00a0At class time, we will meet in the Institute to watch the first half of the film; then we will meet for dinner in the Institute to see the rest of the film in the evening. \u00a0We will begin at 6:00.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

14. Thursday, March 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yevgenia Ginzburg,\u00a0Journey into the Whirlwind\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0(Read the first half of the book)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

15. Tuesday, March 7<\/strong><\/p>\n

On this date, we will meet again\u00a0in the Rare Books Room of Hesburgh Library. Natasha Lyandres, director of Special Collections, will show us the absolutely wonderful\u00a0Ginzburg family archive<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

16. Thursday, March 9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yevgenia Ginzburg,\u00a0Journey into the Whirlwind\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0(Finish the book)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

MID-TERM BREAK:\u00a0 MARCH 12 \u2013 MARCH 19<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE SIX: TECHNOLOGY\u201dR\u201dUS:\u00a0 \u201cA HELL OF YOUR OWN MAKING\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

17. Tuesday, March 21<\/strong><\/p>\n

We begin discussing of one of the most prophetic works of modern times.\u00a0 In fact, it is so prophetic that it captures much of our world today:<\/p>\n

Aldous\u00a0Huxley<\/a>,\u00a0Brave New World<\/em>. Read chapters 1-5.<\/p>\n

Disneyland \u201dR\u201d Us:\u00a0\u00a0READ AND PRINT<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook “R” US: \u00a0READ AND PRINT<\/a><\/p>\n


\n18. Thursday, March 23<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finish discussion of Aldous Huxley,\u00a0Brave New World.
\n<\/em>
\nAre there elements of Huxley\u2019s argument in \u201cLoving Donation\u201d and “baby design”? \u00a0Or is this just an example of the positive uses to which modern technology can be put? \u00a0I would be grateful for your suggestions about other examples of technological innovation that allow us to raise these questions?<\/p>\n

\u201cLoving Donation\u201d:\u00a0\u00a0BROWSE THROUGH ALL OF THE PAGES ON THIS SITE<\/a><\/p>\n

Let’s Design Better Babies: PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMary had a little lamb\u201d\u00a0RECITE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

18. Tuesday, March 28<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discussion<\/em>:\u00a0 What are the moral implications of the way we define what matters most in the world?\u00a0 Today, we will begin to discuss the moral implications of utilitarian judgments of human worth. \u00a0There is a serious kernel of utilitarianism throughout\u00a0Brave New World<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Peter Singer, \u201cTaking Life: Humans,\u201d from\u00a0Practical Ethics\u00a0<\/em>(HAND-OUT)<\/p>\n

Harriet Johnson, \u201cUnspeakable Conversations\u201d\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

“Catholic Social Teaching and the Dignity of the Human Person\u201d\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

Abdulaziz Sachedinar, \u201cReflections on Human Personhood: an Islamic Perspective\u201d\u00a0\u00a0PRINT AND READ<\/a><\/p>\n

For this discussion, I recommend that you surf around a bit to acquire a very general understanding of the philosophical approach known as \u201cutilitarianism.<\/p>\n

As you read Singer\u2019s work, consider an alternative perspective on human worth that is reflected in the passage from Jacques Maritain below. \u00a0Maritain was one of the greatest Catholic philosophers of the twentieth century and the intellectual father of Vatican II:<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us think of the human being, not in an abstract and general way,\u00a0but in the most concrete possible, the most\u00a0personal\u00a0<\/em>fashion.\u00a0 Let us\u00a0think of this certain old man we have known for years in the country\u2014this old farmer with his wrinkled face, his keen eyes which have beheld\u00a0so many harvests and so many earthly horizons, his long habits of\u00a0patience and suffering, courage, poverty and noble labor, a man perhaps\u00a0like those parents of a great living American statesman whose\u00a0photographs appeared some months ago in a particularly moving copy\u00a0of a weekly magazine. Or let us of think of this certain boy or this girl\u00a0who are our relatives or our friends, whose everyday life we well know,\u00a0and whose loved appearance, whose soft or husky voice is enough to\u00a0rejoice our hearts \u00a0. . . . We perceive intuitively, in an indescribable not inescapable flash, that nothing in the world is more precious than\u00a0one single human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Jacques Maritain, \u201cThe Immortality of Man\u201d (1941)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

19. Thursday, March 30<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Second Great Debate!<\/em><\/p>\n

Topic:\u00a0 \u201cWhen it comes to human dignity, Singer is far more humane than the Roman Catholic Church<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OMG:\u00a0\u00a0Please leave your technology at home.\u00a0 This includes electronic devices of any kind, such as laptops, i-Pads, i-Pads2, I-Phones 12, FBI trap-and-trace tools, Kindles, video cameras, or other personal digital devices.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We now move beyond the issue of description to explore the topic of\u00a0explanation.\u00a0 For\u00a0social scientists, this means focusing on\u00a0causation. For example, if we pose the following question, \u201cHow do we account for the fact that \u2018Hell happens\u2026?\u201d we are automatically … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-133","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/133\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/images-of-hell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}