The Study of Consciousness
THIS COURSE IS NO LONGER OPEN FOR REGISTRATION
10/8-11/26 (7 weeks. All materials remain available to participants for two weeks after the course ends.)
New materials are released each Friday for the duration of the course. You can go at your own pace—there is no set time that you must be online to access the materials and discussion forums.
Overview of the course:
This course is intended to introduce students to the study of the phenomenon of consciousness, with the goal of helping them to identify and discuss select philosophical, scientific, and religious as well as psychological perspectives surrounding consciousness itself. We will also look into how these perspectives relate to the idea of the transformation of consciousness.
We will begin with an examination of consciousness in the general sense, and we will focus on the “hard problem” or “mind-body problem" as it is revealed through philosophical and scientific discourse. We will introduce a discussion of life and the connection to consciousness, and we will continue with a broad overview of the human consciousness in an effort to distinguish a couple of its elemental features that differentiate the latter from other forms of consciousness. Participants will then be ready to address the question: Does the human consciousness transform or evolve? In doing so, we will also view the transformation of the human consciousness as response to crisis.
Instructor bio:
Ersi Danou has been a scholar of Consciousness Studies since 2010, and holds a masters degree from the University of Philosophical Research. A New York University Tisch School of the Arts and American Film Institute graduate, she has also had a long career combining film art and journalism. She co-founded the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, the International Project Discovery Forum (a film development program) and the newly constituted International Cinema Circle Los Angeles. She has been a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for two decades, and is active in several committees as well as projects concerning Non-English films and film restoration. Currently she is developing a feature documentary on ancient Greek practices of art & healing, tentatively titled Oedipus’ Journey.
