SEMINAR IN S,SEASN - Models of the Mind: A Comparative View from South India

Almost by definition, the imaginary is unreal. The realm of children, dreamers, poets, artists, religious visionaries, the superstitious, and lunatics, it is often discussed as an epiphenomenal curiosity—a creative byproduct of the mind, but a misleading one. In this seminar, we will take imagination more seriously. Through a series of readings, in combination with several invited guests and lectures, we propose to explore how imagination is in fact fundamental to a wide range of academic disciplines, and even to human existence itself.  Readings will therefore be drawn from a broad range of communities, from Indian and Chinese literature to Jewish mysticism and Psychoanalytic theory.  In February, the course will join with a stand-alone four-week seminar on “Models of the Mind” being taught by David Shulman of Jerusalem University, Spring 2016 Avenali Chair at the Townsend Center for the Humanities.  These weeks will culminate in a series of Townsend Center events on dreaming and the imagination that students will be expected to attend.  Note that students may enroll in Shulman’s four-week seminar separately through the Townsend Center.  No prerequsites.