Choose Your Item:
Find a piece of art, a building, a piece of music, a play, a piece of literature, or a film out in the world beyond the course (not a piece of work specifically highlighted in our course) that crosses over and/or combines with philosophy and/or theology. The item you choose must fall into one of the categories of humanities we study in our course (remember how flexible these categories are!) and ALSO relate to either philosophy or theology (or both) in some way; your item will be a crossover and/or a combo item. Please revisit “Categories, Crossovers, and Combos” if you need a refresher on this concept.
There are many different options for this assignment, from novels to films to video games to TV shows to everyday activities. Please choose something that interests you
Please do NOT choose something that is primarily connected to philosophy/theology. For example, do not choose a newspaper column like The Stone from the New York Times, which is written by philosophers: The Stone. Do not choose a religious website, book, building, or film that is obviously theological (like “Ten Commandments” or “Noah” etc).
Describe and Identify Your Item:
Describe the artifact you have found. Provide a link to or a photo of the item. Who created it? When? Where? How? What elements of the universal Human Experience are echoed in this item?
Discuss Your Item Through a Lens of Philosophy and/or Theology:
Explain why/how the artifact is philosophical and/or theological.
First, define what philosophy/theology means to you. Refer to at least one philosopher/theologian who supports this definition. Give details about what the philosopher/theologian says or does to support your claim that this definition fits with their work, referring to specific things in the texts where relevant.
Explain why and how the activity or artifact you have found counts as philosophical under this definition.
Relate These Concepts to Yourself:
Include somewhere in your post (doesn’t have to be at the end) an explanation of one way in which you engage in philosophical/theological activity in your life outside of class, based on the definition of philosophy/theology you have given earlier. If you can’t think of anything, talk to me for help!
Specifications:
Length:
I don’t have a hard and fast rule for this; basically, it should be as long as necessary to include all the elements noted above. Still, I don’t think you can do this well in less than 750 words at a minimum, and I don’t think it needs to be more than 1500 words at a maximum (which doesn’t mean that you should try to hit the maximum, and add in unnecessary things to do so!).
