INQ-120 | La Dolce Vita

Full Title: La Dolce Vita: Italian Interpretations of the Good Life

Topic Description:

From early days through the turbulent twentieth century, Italy’s people wrestled with a variety of religious, economic, political, and aesthetic traditions to answer the essential question, “How should one live?” We will read and consider examples ranging from the Futurist manifesto to Galileo’s Discourses to the creation of the Slow Food Movement. We will study the ethical dilemmas everyday Italians faced during rise of Fascism and Italy’s entry into World War II. We will consider both the historical contexts that produced these thought traditions and the foundational philosophical work of Aristotle and other philosophers who preceded and informed them. Students will produce writing and create presentations that analyze how Italians have answered—and continue to answer—the question “how should one live?”

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: November 2020