Love and Happiness

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015
12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Whitewater Room, Idaho Commons

Tom Drake

Department of English



Abstract

Tom Drake set out to design an interdisciplinary course built around what students think about more than anything else: themselves.  He wanted a class that would be both immediately valuable to them, serving their current interests, needs and desires, while simultaneously serving them throughout the entirety of their lives, regardless of their careers or life paths.   

Based on these criteria, he decided on a course addressing the most fundamental questions we all ask:  What is love? What is happiness? How I can love and be loved?  Will loving make me happy? 

Now in its fourth year, the course looks at what various religious, philosophical and literary traditions and sources, as well as contemporary scientific approaches and research, have to say about these questions. Ideally, the course provides students an opportunity to learn about great intellectual movements while looking into their own most intimate desires, hopes and fears.

Biography

Tom Drake has been teaching writing, critical thinking and literature courses at the University of Idaho since 1994. Whether exploring political philosophy in literature or the nature of true love and happiness, his courses focus on making often abstract and difficult intellectual concepts accessible, relevant and applicable to all of his students.