Gutenberg College is a place for students who want to think deeply, learn in community, and grow in faith and character. At Preview Days, Gutenberg opens its doors to high school students and transfer students who are considering Gutenberg’s bachelor’s degree program in liberal arts. Please join us for Fall Preview Days.
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you run through waving fields of grass, climb frigid mountains, and cross expansive, sandy deserts. With its huge, open world to explore, it is no wonder that it has appeared on lists of the best video games of all time. But, of course, no matter how realistic the game is, the world you are exploring is not real… or is it? What about the beauty of the landscape and the rightness of defending the world from evil—are these real? Are you having real fun while you fight and explore? What does it mean for something to be real, anyway? (Could the fields and mountains even be real in some sense???) Finally, if video games are not as real as the world we live in, does this mean that playing them is a waste of time? If you like video games and you like to ask questions, come join us—this session is for you.
Young Philosophers is an online discussion for high-school-aged students. Join us for “Reality in Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild” on Thursday, December 1, from 4-6 p.m. Pacific time. The discussion will be led by Gutenberg tutor Brian Julian. Participants should have played Breath of the Wild enough to have some familiarity with it, although they do not need to have completed the game. (For the record, the instructor has defeated Calamity Ganon, solved all 120 shrines, and obtained the Master Cycle Zero, but he has not found every korok.)
Attendee Requirements: High-school age
Maximum Attendees: 12
Brian Julian joined the Gutenberg College faculty in 2021 after having taught philosophy and writing for several years at colleges in the Boston area. He holds a B.A. in liberal arts from Gutenberg College and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University. He specializes in the history of philosophy and has published research on Aristotle. He writes (and cartoons) for Thinking in the Light, a website where he aims to make philosophical ideas accessible to a general audience.
Four young friends face a world of supernatural horrors in a small, idyllic American community. The lives of loved ones are suddenly at stake, and as the dangers unfold, friendships and family relationships are pitted against personal interests and powerful dark forces. To complicate matters, the appearances of many of the characters—such as the scientist, the sheriff, the cool boyfriend, and the hysterical mom—do not reflect their true natures. How will the friends respond? Will they trust the adults? Will they trust each other? Who is lying, and who is telling the truth? Throughout the eight episodes, issues of trust, loyalty, and selfishness are consistently in view. We will discuss the various choices that the characters make, who they trust, and why. If you loved Stranger Things, join us for an examination of trust and loyalty in the face of adversity.
Young Philosophers is an online discussion for high-school-aged students. Join us for “Trust in Stranger Things Season One” on Thursday, January 26, from 4-6 p.m. Pacific time. The discussion will be led by Gutenberg tutor Chris Swanson. Participants should watch the first season of Stranger Things prior to class.
Attendee Requirements: High-school age
Maximum Attendees: 12
Chris Swanson is the president of Gutenberg College where he has been a tutor since the college opened its doors in 1994. He has a B.S. in physics and math and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics. He has also done post-doctoral research at the University of Oregon and taught at Westmont College in California.
Loki, the god of Mischief, has been detained by the Time Variance Association who employ him to catch a variant of himself to protect the sacred timeline and preserve the multiverse. Loki begrudgingly complies, all the while maintaining that he is destined to be King while also being completely free to choose his own path. This presents a paradox: When Loki makes a choice, does he do so by his own free will, or are all of his so-called free choices pre-determined by He Who Remains, the TVA’s puppet master? If a choice isn’t “free,” is the chooser personally accountable for the choice? Is one’s purpose in life forged through personal decisions, or is one’s life purpose assigned by a “higher power”? Is it possible for freedom to work alongside determinism, or are they mutually exclusive? Together, we will investigate the intersection of purpose, freedom, and personal responsibility.
Young Philosophers is an online discussion for high-school-aged students. Join us for “Free Will in Marvel’s Loki” on Thursday, March 2, from 4-6 p.m. Pacific time. The discussion will be led by Gutenberg tutor Eliot Grasso. Students should watch the entire first season of Loki before class.
Attendee Requirements: High-school age
Maximum Attendees: 12
Eliot Grasso is the vice president and a tutor at Gutenberg College where he teaches art seminars and leads discussions in Western Civilization and the Great Conversation. Eliot holds a B.A. in music from Goucher College, an M.A. in ethnomusicology from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance.
Gutenberg College is a place for students who want to think deeply, learn in community, and grow in faith and character. At Preview Days, Gutenberg opens its doors to high school students and transfer students who are considering Gutenberg’s bachelor’s degree program in liberal arts. Please join us for Spring 2023 Preview Days.
Pop music is inescapable. We hear it in movies, in commercials, when shopping in stores, when we turn it on ourselves to enjoy it. And amidst the catchy melodies and insistent beats, quite often the lyrics sing about love. New love. Tragic love. Deep love. Unrequited love. Love that is so, so incredibly over. Frequently we are so lost in the music that we don’t even pay attention to these lyrics… but what if we did? What is their conception of love, and what do we think about it? Is love a feeling? What is it that we love—the way someone looks, what it feels like to be with them, the whole person? In this session, we will examine a selection of popular songs from recent years (with a few classics thrown in) in order to think about what love is, what our culture says about love, and what to do with the fact that when we are listening to music we are simultaneously taking in ideas.
Young Philosophers is an online discussion for high-school-aged students. Join us for “Love in Pop Music” on Thursday, May 11, from 4-6 p.m. Pacific time. The discussion will be led by Gutenberg tutor Brian Julian. Participants will receive a Spotify playlist with the songs we will cover, along with the lyrics, and everyone should listen to the songs carefully at least once prior to the discussion. In addition, participants should be mature enough to listen to and discuss the material: part of the goal is to think about what the culture is saying in some of its most prominent songs, and while we will avoid songs that are grossly obscene, a couple of the selections may have occasional expletives or PG-13 content.
Attendee Requirements: High-school age
Maximum Attendees: 12
Brian Julian joined the Gutenberg College faculty in 2021 after having taught philosophy and writing for several years at colleges in the Boston area. He holds a B.A. in liberal arts from Gutenberg College and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University. He specializes in the history of philosophy and has published research on Aristotle. He writes (and cartoons) for Thinking in the Light, a website where he aims to make philosophical ideas accessible to a general audience.