Participation and academic citizenship (15%):

You will be expected to attend every class, to carefully read the assigned texts, and to constructively participate in class discussions and activities.   

Class presentation (10%)

Every third class, a group of two or three students will offer a ca. 15 minute presentation on contemporary adaptations of an ancient philosophical or spiritual tradition.

Forum posts (10%)

You will be expected to post a total of three 400-600-word reflections on the assigned readings to the Luminus forum. The purpose of this assignment is to stimulate critical thinking about questions raised by the readings we will discuss in class and to provide a starting point for class discussions. 

Reflective Journal (25%): 

You should try out a total of four technologies of the self inspired by the traditions we discuss in class and, for each of them, write a 600-800 word reflection on what you did, why you did it, how it relates to a text we studied in class, and what you got out of it.  

Role-playing assignment (10%): 

In week 12, groups of two or three students will act out an imagined conversation between the authors we discussed, focusing on the similarities and differences between the technologies of the self they recommend (ca. 10 minutes). 

Final paper (30%):

The final paper (ca. 2500 words) calls for a deeper and more extended reflection on the ideas and practices we have encountered in this module.

N.B.: The schedule below may be updated and revised.