Philosophy of Love - MIT Prison Initiative

3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H · Undergraduate

Explores the nature of love through works of philosophy, literature, film, poetry, and individual experience. Investigates the distinction among eros (desiring or appreciative love), philia (mutuality), and agape (love as pure giving). Students discuss ideas of love as a feeling, an action, a species of 'knowing someone,' or a way to give or take. Authors include Plato, Kant, Buber, D. H. Lawrence, Rumi, and Aristotle. Taught inside a secure Massachusetts correctional facility with a mix of MIT students and incarcerated students. Limited to 10.