Materials for COR 400G – Heroism and the Human Spirit

Fall 2025

COR-400G, Heroism and the Human Spirit

• COR-400G, Heroism and the Human Spirit TH Syllabus for Fall 2025
  
  
• Materials for COR-400G, Heroism and the Human Spirit

In-class writings, group work, and some related links

• Philosophy of the Last Day of classes
• Group work on The Breathing Method
• Group Work on Octavia Butler’s “The Evening and the Morning and the Night”
• Group work for PHL 403 on Orson Scott Card’s “Unaccompanied Sonata”
• Group work on Lisa Goldstein’s “Alfred”
• Group work on Kurt Vonnegut’s “The Foster Portfolio”
• Group Work on Kurt Vonnegut’s “Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog”
• Group Work on Kurt Vonnegut’s “Who Am I This Time?”
• Group Work on Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s “Parenting” (from A Silver Thread of Madness)
• Philosophy of Money - Preliminary notes
• Philosophy of Hair, some notes towards a lecture
• Cassandra and Jonah: some notes on open or closed futures and those who would tell us about them
• Group work on Manchild in the Promised Land
• In-class Future Autobiography exercise
• Group work on Saki’s (1870-1916) story, “The Open Window”
• Group Work on Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s “Meditations and Confessions Regarding My Disturbing Ability” (from A Silver Thread of Madness)
• Aunt Violet’s Book Museum, Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s old website (archived)
  This will link you to some of her essays and another story.
• Group Work on Le Guin’s “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas”
• Group Work on Octavia E. Butler and “Positive Obsession”
• Group Work on Octavia E. Butler’s “Furor Scribendi”
• Group work on Rebbe Nachman’s “The Turkey Prince”
• Group Work on Orson Scott Card’s “Mortal Gods”
• Group Work on Orson Scott Card’s “Bicicleta”
• Group Work on Orson Scott Card’s “Gert Fram”
• Group Work on Sex and Gender Distinction
• In-class Writing on Childhood Heroes
• In-class Writing on Night
• Group work on Orson Scott Card’s “The Porcelain Salamander”
• Group work on “Harrison Bergeron”
• Group work on Self-Deception
• Group work on Orson Scott Card’s “Middle Woman”
• Group work on The Bluest Eye
• Group work on Night
• Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Related Links from JEWISHNT – Jewish Global Information Network
• Group work on “The Body”
• Group work on Anthem
• Group work on Slaughterhouse Five
• Group work on The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Links to material on Malcolm X

Notes, instructions, and samples

• Notes for discussion of Kurt Vonnegut’s “More Stately Mansions” (in Welcome to the Monkey House)
• Notes for Lecture on “Aristotle, Becker, King, Childhood, and Scary Stories”
• Reading S. King’s “Breathing Method”
• Some notes on identity, character and culture
• Notes on Heroic Scripting
• Some notes on self-deception
• Racism as a call to deception (outline)
• Some notes on sex/gender distinction
• “P” is a sample of the writing exercise in which biological sex and social gender characteristics are not stated and cannot be inferred.
• One Way to Write a Philosophy Paper
  Provides a brief outline of one of the standard ways to go about writing a philosophy paper.
• Theodicy: The Problem of Evil
  Provides a brief discussion of some the responses to the problem of evil in the context of theodicy.
• Anthropodicy: The Problem of Evil
  A brief list of some of the explanations of human evil.
• M. Kagan’s notes for lecture on possibilities and practice

Hillel’s Patience and Akiba’s Persistence

• Hillel and Akiba links

Ayn Rand Links

• M. Kagan’s notes on and reconstruction of Ayn Rand’s Ethical Egoism, and links to other Rand/Objectivism material
• The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies

Vonnegut and Card Links

• Hatrack River – The Official Web Site of Orson Scott Card
• Links to material on Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse Five

Berne, Raffa, Campbell, Jung, and Becker

• Kagan notes on Berne from Heroic Scripting lecture
• Suppose Neo really is a machine or Trinity is “the one ”…some extra-credit work on Campbell’s Monomyth and any of the following movies: Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, or The Matrix
• “Raffa and Campbell” – M. Kagan’s notes on Jean Benedict Raffa’s Bridge to Wholeness
• Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth within Superman and Hercules
• Victor Daniel’s notes on Jung
• Kagan notes on Jung
  This includes a brief biography & bibliography and additional information on some of the Jungian ideas discussed in class.
• Becker’s philosophy of education
• Becker – Perspectives on Culture, Heroism, and Excellence
  Kagan notes from PHL 201 on Ernest Becker’s Birth and Death of Meaning
• P.S. Applying Confucius and Becker
• The Legacy of Ernest Becker: Part I and The Legacy of Ernest Becker: Part 2
  Biography and commentary on Becker’s work by Ron Leifer. M.D., one of Becker’s closest friends.