Education as Self-Fashioning: Curiosity

Curiosity is a personal interest about something that often has no specific application in the real world or is not part of an overarching goal. Curiosity is often dismissed as irrelevant, useless, and even unethical, but it is just as often touted as the foundation to an intellectually rich life. Albert Einstein once remarked, "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious," and he insisted that only curiosity makes life worth living. Thomas Fuller, by contrast, warned: "Curiosity is a kernel of the forbidden fruit, which still sticks in the throat of a natural man, sometimes to the danger of his choking." Is it possible to reconcile these opposing views on curiosity? What role does curiosity play in a liberal education? What is the role of curiosity in technology and "progress?" What is the relationship between curiosity and individualism? How does curiosity help us develop as critical thinkers? How does curiosity coexist with (or enable) intellectualism? In this course we¿ll examine cabinets of curiosities, and read a wide variety of texts spanning from Antiquity to today, including the legend of Faust, and texts by Goethe, Kafka, Hoffmann, Aristotle, Plato, and Augustine, that explore the nature of curiosity, its pitfalls and possibilities, as well as its importance for living a fulfilled and interesting life.