Topic: Greek Philosophers and Chinese Sages  Is there one single set of
truths-how the universe is structured and how people are-or can there be
many Truths and many paths to understand Truth?  Is there one master-wisdom
or are there many different-perhaps contradictory-kinds of wisdom?  Is
Reason a single method of thinking, or may there be different ways of valid
thinking?

"Two Ways to Wisdom" will examine questions such as these by exploring the
earliest awakenings of philosophical thought in two of the greatest cultures
of ancient times: Greece and China during the period 500-200 B.C.-the "Axial
Age," when intellectual inquiry reached its first flourishing.  We will
examine, through their own writings in translation, the very different ways
in which thinkers such as Plato and Heraclitus in Greece, and Confucius and
Lao Tzu in China approached the great questions of the nature of the world
and the nature of human beings.  We will ask also whether these perspectives
from an early point in human cultural history may refresh our own views of
ourselves and our world.

"Two Ways of Wisdom" will be team-taught by Paul Eisenberg, a specialist in
Greek philosophy, and Robert Eno, who studies Chinese thought.  The course
grade will be based on class participation, several short written
assignments, and periodic quizzes and tests.