Explores the best strategies for meeting new love prospects. Relationship experts discuss the various ways in which singles meet and reveal how such factors as proximity, timing, and intent affect the outcome. Internet dating services and the role of alcohol in the meet-and-greet process are discussed.
Languages: English
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What Attracts men? What Turns Men Off?
Men share their thoughts on what attracts them. Relationship experts explain why men fall in love faster than women but are slower to commit. Students learn why men often find women more attractive than women find themselves and why the innate “hyperarousal response” predisposes men to be hypersensitive to criticism and shame.
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What Attracts Women? What Turns Women off?
Women share opinions on the qualities that attract them most. The lesson helps provide answers to Freud’s question, “What do women want?” Lecture reveals what male attributes are deemed “good” by women, why women fall prey to the lure of “bad boys”, and how the evolution of the female brain directly affects this dichotomy of impulses.
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Kafka, The Metamorphosis
Discussion focuses on the story as a modern parable, suggesting that the reality to which Gregor awakens is the truth of his life. Of what does this truth consist? In what ways can Kafka’s story be compared to “The Death of Ivan Ilych?” Students explore the story’s theme and plot, determine its purpose, and debate where the story’s climax lies in the narrative. How do elements such as pose style and tone, use of detail, and point-of-view contribute to the story’s effect? To what extent does the “rage to be normal” lead us to treat those who are different from us as non-human?
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Course Overview (Summary)
The final episode review the works in the course identifies enduring themes and concerns. Highlighted members of the class choose and justify their favorite works.
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Military Marriage
Do military marriages have special challenges and needs? This special bonus video allows students to learn about the unique situations that arise in military marriages. As you view the video, consider the challenges that confront military couples in building a solid and loving marriage.
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Dante, Inferno (Part 1)
These two lessons center on the nature of allegory, the law of symbolic retribution, and how the nature of the soul according to St. Thomas Aquinas influenced the structure of Dante’s Hell. How should one read Inferno for the first time? To what extent is Dante a new epic hero? To what extend does his journey constitute a new epic “action?” What is Inferno really about, and what was Dante’s purpose in writing it? The episode of Paolo and Francesca is singled out for particular attention. Featured interview: Professor Zyg Baranski (University of Reading)
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Dante, Inferno (Part 2)
These two lessons center on the nature of allegory, the law of symbolic retribution, and how the nature of the soul according to St. Thomas Aquinas influenced the structure of Dante’s Hell. How should one read Inferno for the first time? To what extent is Dante a new epic hero? To what extend does his journey constitute a new epic “action?” What is Inferno really about, and what was Dante’s purpose in writing it? The episode of Paolo and Francesca is singled out for particular attention. Featured interview: Professor Zyg Baranski (University of Reading)
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Shakespeare, Hamlet (Part 1)
Discussion centers on Hamlet’s unique prestige in Western culture as the Mt. Everest of plays, so much so that it is often referred to simply as “The Play”. What accounts for this unique prestige? How modern a play is Hamlet? What political issues does it raise? The class considers a feminist and an existential reading of the play, discussing Hamlet’s attitudes toward the sexualized maternal body and the universal fear and disgust it can evoke. “The Play” also poses the question of how to act in the world when one cannot know anything with certainty. Featured interview: Professor Mick Hattaway (University of Sheffield), author of a critical text on Shakespeare’s Hamlet
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Shakespeare, Hamlet (Part 2)
Discussion centers on Hamlet’s unique prestige in Western culture as the Mt. Everest of plays, so much so that it is often referred to simply as “The Play”. What accounts for this unique prestige? How modern a play is Hamlet? What political issues does it raise? The class considers a feminist and an existential reading of the play, discussing Hamlet’s attitudes toward the sexualized maternal body and the universal fear and disgust it can evoke. “The Play” also poses the question of how to act in the world when one cannot know anything with certainty. Featured interview: Professor Mick Hattaway (University of Sheffield), author of a critical text on Shakespeare’s Hamlet