About

About This Course

This course sits in the tradition of practical philosophy. Rather than pursuing knowledge for its own sake, it asks how philosophical reflection can help us think more clearly about our own lives — and specifically, about work.

The course takes a few basic assumptions as its starting point:

• Rational reflection can improve our lives, and may be an essential part of living well.
• Philosophy offers useful tools for identifying and working through the kinds of questions that arise in a working life.
• Thinking carefully about work is likely to improve how we experience it over time.

The goal is to form a community of inquiry — one that takes up hard questions about work, meaning, and happiness together.

Welcome

If you're enrolled in this course, head to the Policies & Assignments page for information about expectations and goals.

If you've found this site on your own, feel free to look around. The course calendar organizes each class session around a theme relevant to thinking philosophically about work. Each page includes goals, discussion prompts, and suggested readings.