A two-course sequence, Core explores a range of issues related to the mission statement of the school, including its commitment to such values as peace, human rights, and the creative co-existence of nature and humanity. Core also provides an introduction to the various ways of knowing that characterize the major divisions of the undergraduate curriculum, thereby laying the foundation for the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study that underlies a Soka education.
In this exploration, Core courses stress an understanding of the social and historical contexts necessary to make meaningful comparisons among civilizations both of the East and the West. Upon completing the Core, students will be able to question and probe the commonalities and differences of the human experience and thus their own lives from multiple perspectives. They will be provided the tools to speak and write intelligently about those perspectives and more generally about the difficulties and nuances of cross-cultural description, in preparation for the day when they will take their place as citizens of the world. Building on a set of common readings, individual members of the faculty help shape the core through reading selections drawn from their special training, expertise, and interests. Student learning outcomes for the Core area are:
This course looks at the central questions that Eastern and Western cultures have posed about what makes for a meaningful and successful life. These questions include personal and group identities, notions of community, interactions with nature, and transcendence. The course is offered in a seminar format that requires active participation and reading of primary texts.
This course examines how people from around the world have continued to embody virtue, contribute to the social good, interact with nature, and explore the meaning of life. Although texts provide some sense of the development of these themes historically in the East and West, the course focuses on contemporary perspectives.
