Details
INSTRUCTOR: H. Scott Fingerhut
SECTION: U05
SCHEDULE: Monday, 3:00 PM – 5:50 PM
Course Description
“And when I sleep,” President Bartlet said, “I dream of a great discussion, with experts and ideas and diction and honesty. And when I wake up,” he continued, “I think — I can sell that.” Every day, in everyday America, we sell. We buy and we sell. No more so than in law. And law is everywhere. So in this course, in the tradition of the grand salon, at the dawn of this new decade, we enter what shall, to others, is a mysterious world of thoughts and ideas; informing, inspiring, incubating — even amusing — as we refine our taste and increase our knowledge, and launch a new Age of Conversation. And about what shall this new exchange of ideas involve? Everything. Everything. And nothing. But all about law. And justice. And America. And what liberty and freedom mean to you, in your America. The Gathering shall speak of current United States Supreme Court cases. Pending state and federal court decisions. New legislation. Legal “goings-on” about our community, our town, our country, and our world. Indeed, in this course, we are les precieuses, arising from the aristocratic schools of civilite – we are chivalrous; the intellectual and literary circle where the witty and educated yearn to be. In our room. But to be sure, we are more. For we are Honors FIU. Honors FIU. And, as Masefield writes, “[t]here are few earthly things more beautiful than a university – a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, and where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see.” So let us strive to know. Let us make others see. We are The Gathering – the unique place for academic, impolite discussion; what Dena Goodman calls “the very heart of the philosophic community,” integral to the process of Enlightenment. This course is for big thinkers. Adoring of nostalgia. We are The Gathering. Making our country a better, fairer place, part of a better, fairer world.