Program

What is knowledge?  What can we know, and how do we know that we know it?

What is the place of science in our social, economic, and political lives?  What is the relationship between humanity and technology?

How has technology impacted American culture, in its literature, film, and beyond?

What does it mean to be free and self-aware?  What does freedom require of us?

What are the limits of justice?  And why are people capable of both great nobility and great evil?

What are my obligations to others as their fellow-citizen and as an engineer?

What is the meaning of art?  Does it convey truth?  And if so, how do its truths differ from scientific truths?

How does beauty bring sense to life?  Do human beings need beauty to live meaningful lives?

What is the role of creativity in engineering?  How is the engineer like an artist?

Is truth merely relative?  Or is it universal?  How do I distinguish my inherited opinions from the truth?

What is the relationship between truth and beauty?  Truth and faith?  Truth and justice?

Is there a God, supreme being, or supernatural power of some sort?  What might his intentions be for humanity?  And why is faith so challenging for human beings?

How do history, politics, culture, and technology inform our identities as individuals?

How do aspects of an individual’s heritage inform their senses of self and belonging?  What is the impact of history, oppression, and colonialism on our individual identities?

What is human nature?  And how do our identities inform how we conceive of it?