Course Description:
In this liberal advanced-level course, students will be challenged to integrate multiple perspectives on wisdom and spirituality in late adulthood, the prime time for development of ‘personal wisdom’. A sociological foundation for longevity will provide a foreground for how wisdom and spirituality are acted out through behaviors and attitudes; the lifespan psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson provides a developmental framework for aging; readings in spirituality through the ages and through different cultural lenses provide contextual dimensions to enrich our views on wisdom and spirituality; and a neurological foundation explains age-enhanced changes in social, emotional and cognitive domains. Students will integrate well-established developmental theories with foundational neurological evidence to better understand wisdom and spirituality as expressed through writings from cultures through the ages and across the globe. They will explore the social phenomenon of 'wisdom' through research, through observation and analysis of self and others, and through evaluation of evidence from psychosocial, neurological and narrative sources, requiring integration from a number of frameworks for exploring the aging self.
Prerequisites: A student will need advanced-level critical thinking skills, with successful completion of at least one course in human development, sociology, or psychology. A background in human development or the social sciences is strongly recommended.
NOTE: This course was previously offered as Wisdom and Spirituality in the Aging Self. Students, who completed 284314, cannot take Development of Wisdom and Spirituality.
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