HON 211 | Forbidden Knowledge

Honors 211 examines the biblical story of Adam and Eve, one of Western culture’s key foundation myths, by following its preoccupation with forbidden knowledge in the works of authors ranging from the 17th-Century poet John Milton to contemporary women writers of the psychedelic movement, who like Eve, ingest forbidden wisdom-giving "fruit." In doing so, we enlist the help of philosophers, neuroscientists, and psychologists to explore such questions as: Should certain kinds of knowledge be forbidden or is knowledge an unqualified good? Who should decide? What does it mean to be in a state of innocence, or of experience? What aspects of the human psyche are involved in occupying these states and what kinds of knowledge are they capable of acquiring? These questions will in turn invite us to(re)assess what we understand to be the nature of reality and the deepest aspects of our human identity.