"Star Wars" will be used as the basis for a philosophy course to be offered at Glasgow University this coming May. The course title is "Star Wars and Philosophy; Destiny, Justice and the Metaphysics of the Force". The course aims to attract students to study philosophy by using contemporary material.
Philosophy is being offered by universities as a non-credit course. Students who take it gain general knowledge but no credit. This resulted to less number of students enrolling in the course. By using "Star Wars" as the basis for the seminar, Glasgow University professor of Philosophy, Dr. Donaldson believed that students will find the course fun, according to BBC.
"Star Wars" was a film first released in 1977. It captured a huge number of audiences and since then, new sequels were added to the series. Star Wars was so popular that all films in the series became box office hits.
Using contemporary or popular culture in teaching philosophy has been practiced by other professors in the past year. It has been effective in capturing students' interest. The course will use episodes from the film for students to reflect on.
"Star Wars" was an epic story set in a very distant galaxy a long, long time ago. People were governed by the "Force" and it controlled their destiny. The course will focus on man's free will and how it affects man's choices and decisions, according to STV News.
The introductory course is expected to provide students an opportunity to reflect on the nature of their existence and the world. They would have to understand how they will have freedom of the will in a world where "The Force" controls their lives.
The course will first run on May 4, which fans of the film declared as "Star Wars Day." Registration fee of £30 will be charged to those who will attend.
