• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • Real Clear Arts
    • Judith H. Dobrzynski
    • Contact
  • ArtsJournal
  • AJBlogs

Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

What Are the “Enduring Questions” of Life?

Back in early May, writing about the way humanities are viewed nowadays, here, I mentioned that the National Endowment for the Humanities had started a program called “Enduring
Question_mark.jpgQuestions,” offering grants of up to $25,000 (and said I’d return to the subject). Here’s what it aimed to do:

Enduring Questions [is] a new grant program that encourages faculty and undergraduate students to grapple with the most fundamental concerns of the humanities by reading influential thinkers past and present.

The winners — 20 colleges in 15 states for a total of $478,677 — are creating pilot courses and were announced this week.

So what are the “Enduring Questions”? No big surprises. They are indeed the eternal puzzlers. The wording may differ, but basically undergraduate students will have a chance to explore:

  • What is happiness?
  • What is justice?
  • What is freedom?
  • What is human dignity?
  • What is evil?
  • What is leadership?
  • What is the meaning of life?

And:

  • Do we need God for the good life?
  • How should we view mortality (especially given biomedical advances)?
  • What are the dangers of individualism?
  • Should art be moral?

All food for thought for the weekend.

The NEH made many grants this week ($21.4 million worth all told) and they are posted here. 

Primary Sidebar

About Judith H. Dobrzynski

Now an independent journalist, I've worked as a reporter in the culture and business sections of The New York Times, and been the editor of the Sunday business section and deputy business editor there as well as a senior editor of Business Week and the managing editor of CNBC, the cable TV

About Real Clear Arts

This blog is about culture in America as seen through my lens, which is informed and colored by years of reporting not only on the arts and humanities, but also on business, philanthropy, science, government and other subjects. I may break news, but more likely I will comment, provide

Archives