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First-Year Writing Seminar (101-8-20)

Instructors

Pascal Brixel

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 109: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

WORK: From the time you enroll in this course, you can likely expect to spend about 90,000 hours of the rest of your life at work. But what is work? What makes work meaningful? Is there a right to meaningful work? What is free time? How much should we be working? Is there anything wrong with having to work for someone else for a living? Should all work be abolished? Should workplaces be democratic? How might technology change the nature of work and its place in our lives? If there is some work that has to be done but that no one wants to do, who should do it? What determines the division of labor in our society, and what, if anything, is wrong with this division? To help you explore these questions, you will read and critically discuss works of philosophy and social theory by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Simone de Beauvoir, Angela Davis, David Graeber, and others. The emphasis, however, will be on developing your own views and defending them in writing.

Class Attributes

WCAS Writing Seminar