CONSCIOUSNESS AND MIND:
Examination of the mind in works of literature, philosophy, and science
JuNE 30–July 6, 2024 | Annapolis, MD
Thinking, perceiving, remembering, imagining, dreaming...for human beings, such activities of the mind are seemingly as natural and inevitable as breathing. We take them for granted. But what exactly is the mind, and how does it accomplish all of these remarkable things? What does it mean for the mind to grasp reality, and what might be the limits of its ability to do so? Such questions have taken many forms throughout the history of philosophy, literature, and science, and they remain open and alive for us today. Along with authors including Descartes, Darwin, Virginia Woolf and others, we’ll question everything from the very nature of consciousness itself, to whether or not earthworms can think. Examining the limits and capacities of the mind will surely lead us to the heart of what it means to be the conscious, thinking, perceiving, remembering, imagining, dreaming creatures that we are.
Readings include The Waves, Funes the Memorius, Tao Te Ching, Passions of the Soul, and Darwin
Classes and Readings
Coming Soon
Summer Academy Sessions
June 23–29, 2024
A Week with Socrates
At the St. John’s College Summer Academy, the community formed among students is a natural extension of the friendships and ideas formed in the classroom. To this end, Summer Academy students experience life at St. John’s by taking lessons in croquet, swing dancing, sailing, and choral singing. Students’ conversations about justice, nature, and law will continue as they are taken on a tour of the Maryland State House and attend a performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest by the Annapolis Shakespeare Company.