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In my teaching of the Cultural Foundations sequence, I am much concerned with the question of what we can learn from artistic works that are hundreds, even thousands of years old. Art and literature reveal at least as much about the basic structures of human behavior and human relations as the modern social sciences (anthropology, psychology, sociology) do. They engage and challenge us more directly, existentially and spiritually, than the natural sciences. In order to see beyond the distractions, fashions and
trends of a given historical moment (including our own), we need to debate and learn to pay attention to what is essential.
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