MLT 340 - Grounding in German Texts

Course Units: 1

This course will explore an array of perspectives implied by the term “ground” and how these perspectives define the human relationship to the world. The ground offers a complicated and sometimes controversial focal point for a consideration of human activity. Many possible correlates of “ground” in German-the terms “Grund,” “Boden,” and “Erde,” for example-include semantic fields that extend to reason, basis, territory, soil, earth, and world. Through the examination of perspectives ranging from metaphorical, to philosophical, to material, we will investigate how the ground functions in diverse contexts, forming at times the basis for human exceptionality, becoming the great unifier of organic and inorganic matter, and finally setting the scene for a decentering of an anthropocentric understanding of the world. Readings and discussion in English. Cross-Listed: GER 341