Great Issues - Purdue University
Event Timeline 1951 SEP (±)17 - 1952 JAN 24
LIBERAL SCIENCE 90
One of the most important, if not the most important, service a university can perform for a student is teaching him to think independently. Another important service it can perform for him is that of making him aware of major problems that he will meet and live with when he graduates. Purdue’s School of Science is starting this course on the Great Issues with the hope that some of the major problems and issues of contemporary world society can be discussed by you in such a manner that you show awareness and the ability to think about them independently.
In introducing a course designed to give you an opportunity to talk about and think about world problems, and personal problems too, we follow the lead of other universities that have experimented with courses of this kind, finding them to be stimulating to the student and successful. If this course succeeds in helping you think out problems of society and helps make you aware of what others say about them, then it will do what is hoped for it.
Liberal Science 90 should be a course that gives you both information about great issues and a chance to talk them over while you think about them. In order to do this, time is provided for group discussions, stimulating reading, and lectures. The lectures and the reading assignments have one principal function -- that of helping you understand some phases of the issues we will talk about, and present as many points of view on them as possible . They should be useful aids in helping you reach your own conclusions. You may not agree with the views of an author or of a lecturer but you should be able to say why you disagree. The first semester’s topics should give you something to think about. They range from the problems of feeding the mushrooming population of the world and the use of resources to Communism as a threat to the American way of life. The second semester topics continue the discussion -- and move on to the ethical and moral problems of the individual living in a revolutionary age and how best to meet them. You will be presented with many ideas and many solutions. In some form or other you Will have to seek and find answers to these issues or others like them for the rest of your life.
The mechanics of the course are easily described. On each topic or issue there will be given one or more lectures. Each lecturer will suggest certain books and magazines to read. These are to be found in the Purdue library on shelves reserved for Liberal Science 90. The reading lists have been put together with the purpose of giving you informative discussions of the topic in question from as many points of view as possible . You will note that some selections are marked A and some B. This is done where authors disagree or present material in such a way that their conclusions may cause you to revise some of your own opinions. It would be well to read some of the A selections and some of B. naturally we hope you can find time to read everything suggested on each reading list. When this is impossible we think between 80 and 100 pages a week should be enough. However, the amount of reading you do will be up to you. Your grade in the course will depend on how you show your ability to think independently and to use the ideas and information you get from the lectures and the suggested readings. Tests will be given at least twice and will be constructed so that you can show how you think and on what basis you form your judgments.
This year the staff is experimenting with the topics for lectures, the organization of reading materials, the best methods for conducting discussion sections , and with the general mechanics of running and developing a course of this nature. At the moment, there are planned 17 lectures and 14 discussion periods. Most of the lecturers are members of the Purdue staff who have volunteered their services. It is hoped that lecturers, authorities on their respective topics, can be brought in from outside. As the course moves along various kinds of discussions will be tried in order to find out which are the best ways of stimulating you and helping you think through your questions. It will be most helpful if you will tell us what you like and do not like about how we are carrying on the discussions and lectures.
With this brief introduction is a mimeographed list of some of the readings for the lectures on the first topics of the course. There is also a tentative calendar of events. The days for lectures and discussions may be changed, especially when we have a visitor from off campus. But it will serve as a guide. You will be given new reading lists at least a week before you will be expected to talk about them or to hear the lectures on the appropriate topic.
LS90 9/51 RBE:ew 75
| Meeting Number |
Date |
Topic | Lecturer | |
I. |
Causes of Tension | |||
1 |
Sept. 25 | A. Introduction | Eckles | |
2 |
Sept. 27 | B. Geopolitics and Conflict | Erselcuk | |
II. |
Soviet Union and War | |||
3 |
Oct. 2 | A. International Communism, Tactics and Strategy | Albjerg | |
4 |
Oct. 4 | B. Korea and Its Implications | Murphy | |
5 |
Oct. 9 | Discussion | ||
III. |
Atomic Energy and Its Problems | |||
6 |
Oct. 11 | A. The Nature of Atomic Fission | Lark-Horovitz | |
7 |
Oct. 16 | B. Controlling the Use of Atomic Bombs | Lark-Horovitz | |
8 |
Oct. 18 | Discussion | ||
9 |
Oct. 23 | Discussion | ||
IV. |
How To Get Peace | |||
10 |
Oct. 25 | A. Western Europe As A Bulwark | Eckles | |
11 |
Oct. 30 | B. Is the U. N. A Success? | Forster | |
12 |
Nov. 1 | C. World Government, Should We Have It? | Fitch | |
13 |
Nov. 6 | Discussion | ||
14 |
Nov. 8 | Discussion | ||
V. |
The Communist In the United States | |||
15 |
Nov. 13 | A. Problem of Fighting Communism At Home | Ogle | |
16 |
Nov. 15 | B. Conflict of "Security" vs. Basic Freedoms | Murphy | |
17 |
Nov. 20 | Discussion | ||
VI. |
Fighting Communism Abroad | |||
18 |
Nov. 27 | A. Ambitions and Needs of Colonial and Submerged | Forster | |
| Peoples | ||||
19 |
Nov. 29 | B. Economic Aid Abroad | Wiley | |
20 |
Dec. 4 | Discussion | ||
21 |
Dec. 6 | Discussion | ||
VII. |
Making Capitalism (Democracy) More Effective | |||
22 |
Dec. 11 | A. How to Measure Our Effectiveness Compared With | Thomas | |
| Other Nations | ||||
23 |
Dec. 13 | Discussion | ||
24 |
Dec. 18 | B. Safeguarding the Health of the Nation | Karling | |
25 |
Dec. 20 | C. The Welfare State | Helmreich | |
26 |
Jan. 8 | Discussion | ||
27 |
Jan. 10 | D. Conflict of the Ideas of Progress and Security | Estey | |
28 |
Jan. 15 | Discussion | ||
29 |
Jan. 17 | Discussion | ||
30 |
Jan. 22 | Exams and Close-out | ||
31 |
Jan. 24 | Exams and Close-out |
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