Feb 18, 2025  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

PHL 1500 - The Philosophy of Fun

Credits: 4


Contemporary U.S. culture has a tense relationship with pleasure, joy, and fun. On the one hand, the Puritan roots of American society attempt to regulate, control, and redirect pleasure, joy, and fun. On the other hand, the U.S. is often characterized as a land of excess, hedonism, and larger-than-life entertainment. Is there perhaps a middle ground between these positions? In addition, western culture operates with a pervasive stereotype that caring about fun and joyful activities isnon-serious and trivial rather than essential and worthy of investigation. This honors class asks, what is joy, and what is fun? We investigate human joy and fun and the various ways joy and fun are manifested and produced. Why are joy and fun important to human beings? Where do joy and fun come from? Does joy and fun have political potential or power? Does joy and fun matter to evolution? Is joy and fun a human right? Why does society not take joy and fun seriously? What are the psychological and health benefits of joy and fun? Can we measure and study joy and fun? What is the history of joy and fun?

The class will be one-third reading and discussion, one-third hands-on activities, and one-third field trips. As we investigate joy and fun, we will also try different dance forms, listen to or attend musical performances, visit museums, learn DJing, and go to a dance Jam. Students will also make and share food from their respective cultures. The instructor will try to minimize the cost of field trips (varying semester by semester). The estimated total cost of the field trips per semester is 100 USD. If a student has financial issues covering the cost of the field trips, they can contact the Honors Program for some financial support. The instructor will also provide free on-campus alternative activities for students with financial barriers.