Meaning and Motive in Social Thought
This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Master of Liberal Arts curriculum.
This core course in the Social Sciences studies classic works of social thought that remain foundational in contemporary theory, law, and policy. Among the central questions to be explored are the relationship between the individual and the social, the nature of personhood, the sources of belief, the function of ritual, the connections among the psychological, spiritual, and the material, the duality of reason and unreason, and the meaning of power, progress, violence, culture, and enlightenment.
- Fulfills the Core - Social Science requirement
About the Professor
Amy Dru Stanley
Amy Dru Stanley is an associate professor in UChicago’s history department. Her research and teaching focus on US history, from the early Republic through the Progressive Era. She is especially interested in the history of capitalism, slavery, and emancipation, and the historical experience of moral problems. Methodologically, she works at the intersections of intellectual, social, and legal history. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, from institutions including the Center for Human Values at Princeton University, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Museum of American History, the American Bar Foundation, and the New York University Law School. She has also been awarded the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2009 and a Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring in 2005.