Course Syllabus

Introduction to Honors: The construction of knowledge

HNRS 1110
Adam Johnston / Carl Porter
Fall 2015

This course examines how knowledge is produced, what it is used for, and what it means. Specifically, it looks to compare different forms of knowledge, their bases and purposes. In our society – even within our own university – we separate and distinguish different ways of making sense out of the world. Thus, English departments remain separate from departments of physics; an art studio is across campus from a mathematics building. Although such distinctions might seem obvious, if we think of all different disciplines as representing the learning of some set of ideas and/or skills, the obvious distinctions can become more blurred.  In this course, you will consider where the edges between different ways of knowing exist, and even where the boundaries of knowledge itself must be.  We will specifically use science, nonfiction, literature, and cultural systems, seeking to understand how each of these produce a unique understanding, how they interact with one another, and how they contrast.

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