| Affiliations: | |
| Project Leader: | David Anderson davidjanderson@tamu.edu Philosophy |
| Faculty Mentor: | Dr. Michael Hand, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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TBD |
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Team Size:
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8
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| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Participants can participate in the full fall iteration of the project
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Team Needs:
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Participants do not have to be religious or belong to any religion. They only need to be interested in monastic phenomena and be willing to read a variety of things. Participants will need to commit to reading two short books collectively and be able to commit to reading one ~25 page article or book chapter on their own each week during the summer. Participants will also need to commit to virtually attending a weekly zoom meeting with the team over the summer (Times and duration TBD)
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Description:
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The COVID-19 pandemic has or reminded us of many contemporary social problems such as pervasive distrust of experts/authorities, lack of cooperation between individuals and communities, economic instability, and the “loneliness epidemic.” It may be time to examine past forms of life for models of how to restructure or improve contemporary communities. One such model is monasticism. Small but growing literatures in fields such as economics, anthropology, and philosophy are taking an interest in monastic phenomena including monasteries’ economic and ecological sustainability, institutional longevity, and social-political organization. Not only have various monks/nuns across religions been importantly involved in the history of philosophy, the monastic phenomena are philosophically interesting in their own right, even (or especially) if one is not religious themselves. Participants will help a current philosophy PhD student read through and create outlines and learning modules based on books and articles from a variety of fields including philosophy, religious studies, economics, and anthropology
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