L01: Introduction

HSH1000 The Human Condition

A/P Loy Hui Chieh
Agenda
• Today’s main agenda = Helping you understand how the course
works, and by implication, how you can best participate in it to
gain the most value for yourself!

• Introducing a trio of concepts—descriptive, prescriptive, and

predictive statements; paying attention to differences in
thinking expressed in language.

https://pollev.com/loyhuichiehl068
The HSH1000 Teaching Team

Welcome Video & Welcome Poster –both (and more) linked in Canvas > Major Resources
https://canvas.nus.edu.sg/courses/39234/pages/major-resources
What is HSH1000 about?
HSH1000 The Human Condition
What is the essence of being human? Across intellectual traditions of the
world, fundamental concerns relating to the triumphs and problems of
social organization and what a worthwhile life is have persisted through the
changing circumstances of every historical age. This course introduces you
to some of these enduring concerns and gives you the opportunity to
engage critically with them through reading and discussing texts and other
media. In the process, you develop an appreciation for the complexities of
being human as you practice and sharpen useful and transferable critical
thinking skills that are useful in a variety of contexts.
HSH1000 in the CHS Common Curriculum
6 General Education Modules
Writing Quantitative Reasoning

Design Thinking Artificial Intelligence

Unrestricted CHS
Community & Engagement Computational Thinking Electives (12 Common
modules) Curriculum
5 Integrated Modules 2 Interdisciplinary Modules 48 MCs (13 modules)
Integrated Asian Studies Interdisciplinary Module I 52 MCs
Integrated
Integrated Humanities
Humanities Interdisciplinary Module II Major
Integrated Social Science requirements
(15 modules)
Scientific Inquiry I
Foundation in learning capabilities: Transferrable 21st
60 MCs
Century Skills useful in a variety of contexts through an
Scientific Inquiry II introduction to interdisciplinarity
HSH1000 as a Course in General Humanities
• Q: What are the “Humanities”?
• A: Administratively, within NUS: Philosophy, History, The natural
English Literature, English Language and Linguistics,
world, people,
Theatre and Performance Studies, and Global
Studies are tagged as the “humanities majors”. society, etc.

• Humanities as the study of the human experience.

• Especially those aspects that are not well suited for
scientific, mathematical, experimental approaches.
• Language and qualitative critical thinking.
• General rather disciplinary humanities.
Science Humanities
The Course’s Title “The Human Condition”

Access via https://www-oed-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/

Some Themes, and the Unifying Question
Is it morally justified for a society to sacrifice a few to advance the happiness of many
What makes us civilized rather than wild? How does one face the inevitability of our
mortality? Is friendship an important part of what makes our existence meaningful?
Does the bodily comfort made possible by modern industrial civilization make us happ
What is more important: being able to do as one wishes, or having self-control? Can w
really resolve societal problems without ever resorting to violence? Should we pursue
education just to become more effective in gaining material rewards, or is education f
the sake of something more than that? How does our relationship with other people
affect our own well-being and freedom? How does the past affect our present pursuit
a meaningful existence? How should we live to make the most meaning for ourselves?
The Course’s Aims
• Helping students become more aware of
the issues relating to our individual and
collective experience.
what does it • Helping students gain your own first
mean to be considered thoughts about the human

human?
condition.

• Your own – we don’t all have to agree,

for each of us and even if we can also do with company…
• First – a lifelong journey begins…
for us collectively • Considered thoughts – informed by a
variety of expressions about the human
experience, grounded in critical thinking.
The Course’s Material
• Considered thoughts – informed by a
variety of expressions about the human

what does it experience, grounded in critical thinking

mean to be Texts from different times

human?
for each of us and
and places, covering a
variety of themes

for us collectively Critical reading-and-thinking

skills, or “Humanities Kungfu”
Essential Texts • All in Canvas, with Reading
Guides attached.
• Themes are introduced
• Ursula Le Guin, The Ones who Walked Away from Omelas
through discussing them.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh • Gain critical-reading-and-
• Mahatma Gandhi, Hind Swaraj thinking skills by reading
• Xunzi (selected passages) and discussing them.
• John-Paul Sartre, No Exit
• Their job is to challenge us,
• Caryl Churchill, A Number not to give us ready made
• Carol Adams, Sexual Politics of Meat (extracts) opinions to swallow!
What is the Course about? TL;DR

Course’s Aim
Course’s Action Helping students
Read texts from a become more aware of
Course’s Subject
variety of backgrounds the issues relating to
The human condition,
Discuss themes by our individual and
what it means for us to
engaging with the texts collective experience,
be human, individually
Gain critical-reading- and gain your own first
and collectively
and-thinking skills in considered thoughts
the process about the human
condition
I’m a _____ student…
• Q: I’m a physics/chemistry/biology/mathematics/etc.
major and I was from the “science stream”, should I be
worried that I can’t cope?
• Q: I’m a History/English/Philosophy/etc., major and I was
from the “arts stream” back in JC/IB too, can I slack off?

• A: The module is designed with both of you in mind, to

be accessible to both groups.
• Historically, the science students have typically done just
as well overall as the arts students.
I’m a _____ student… (con’t)
• Q: I’m a physics/chemistry/biology/mathematics/etc.
major and I was from the “science stream”, will the things
learnt be relevant to me?
• Q: I’m a History/English/Philosophy/etc., major and I was
from the “arts stream” back in JC/IB too, will the things
learnt be relevant to me?

• A: The human experience isn’t an arts vs. science thing…

being able to reflect upon the experience of our condition
is part of what it means to be a thoughtful person.
• Two challenging thoughts: Are you only what you study?
What’s your time-horizon?
How might this matter for you?
Engaging the material can be enjoyable—
• Being alive to the whole range of human expression and to appreciate
both the commonalities and the sheer diversity—this can be enjoyable
and interesting.

Those critical reading-and-thinking skills are pragmatically useful—

• To critically reflect upon the human experience, you need the ability to
analyze qualitative information and make a rational and persuasive case;
the soft power in the “soft skills” is useful in a variety of contexts.

This power doesn’t come

A safe space to reflect and discuss ideas—
from ‘watching’: you need
• A small step towards finding and refining meaning for yourself!… the ability in yourself!
Getting the Most for Yourself
Critical thinking-and-reading skills
—your best aim here, is to strive to become someone
• Who is perceptive about how words affect thinking
• Who can reliably use those skills
• Who is more aware of the stakes Aiming for
what’s useful
Content knowledge, i.e., about the texts, what others for the short
have said about the themes, etc.
term, vs., for
—your best aim here isn’t to “master” or necessarily
to “agree” with the authors; instead, engage the texts life (long after
to gain experience dealing with challenging ideas and your degree
an expanded horizon has expired)…
Getting the Most out of College!
For Emily Zurek Small, college did what it’s supposed to do.
Growing up in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania,
she had career and intellectual ambitions for which college
is the clearest pathway. “I just kind of always wanted to
learn,” she told me recently. “I wanted to be able to have
intelligent conversations with people and know about the
world.” … Emily Zurek Small compared graduating to
“unlocking a door.” She is no longer a student, but, she
said, “I am still exploring what’s on the other side of that
door.”
Assessments and Resources
 How the Assessments Relate to the Course (details in Canvas)
Themes Texts Kungfu
Morality, friendship, the city and the Omelas, Gilgamesh, Hind Swaraj, Xunzi, Kinds of thinking represented by words,
natural environment, life in modern No Exit, A Number, Sexual Politics of closing reading, reasoning with words,
industrial civilization, mortality, self- Meat… metaphors and other rhetorical devices,
mastery, non-violence, how we ought to anachronisms and perspective taking,
live, what does it mean to be human, etc. etc…

Engagement with the themes— Comprehension of the books Critical Reading-and-

your own attempts to make sense of the we are reading and the thought they Thinking skills that upgrade
human condition. present about the different themes of your engagement with the themes and
the course. texts, but that are also useful everywhere
you need to engage with qualitative
information.

35% Writing+ 35% Quizzes

20% Group Discussion Summaries x 4, 15% Final Project Quizzes x 7 (best 6 scores)

30% Participation
20% Tutorial Tasks, 5% Surveys, 5% Meme Competition
Weightage and Differentiating Power
• Peer Reviews and Surveys 5% Difference purely We are ok with the
entire class scoring
• Tutorial Preparation Tasks 5% driven by participation ≥45 out of 50pts…
vs. non-participation.
• Tutorial Participation Tasks 15%
Which is what
Engagement components; normally happens!
• Group Competitions 5% difference mostly driven
by participation vs. non- In other words, so
• Group Discussion Summaries x 4 20% participation, less so by long as you put in
“performance”. your bit of effort,
you are essentially
• Final Project 15% Difference almost all guaranteed to pass
(or get an “S”).
• Quizzes best 6 of 7 35% driven by “performance”.
Advice About the Quizzes (1)
• Quizzes test whether you understood the
concepts and can apply them precisely in
messy contexts.
• Every option is right/wrong for a specific
reason; each will be explained in debriefs
published via Canvas Discussions.
• You will have 3 attempts for each quiz
and the best score is taken.
• Answers and debrief released after the
quiz has closed on Canvas.
• My standard practice: If you really think
that there’s been an ambiguity on our
part, write in!
• Don’t stress yourselves unnecessarily:
• It is normal not to score full marks! (Most
don’t score full/close to full marks.)
• Don’t overestimate the weightage of the
quizzes…
Advice About the Quizzes (2)
A rough idea about quiz achievement
(normalized to 100%):
• 80-100 Excellent
• 70-79 Very good
• 60-69 Good
• 50-59 Competent
• 40-49 A bit more improvement needed
• <40 Seek help, consult tutor, etc.
Resources
Make good use of Canvas—pretty much everything you
need is either on it or linked from it!
• Canvas page for each lecture and tutorial has the main
coordinated learning objectives for that session.
• Files you need are all hosted on Canvas.
• All the deadlines are in Canvas.

Make use of the resources created to help you:

• Discussion threads on Canvas.
• Reading guide attached to each essential text file.
• HSH1000 Course Guide (advice on how to be effective).
• HSH1000 Primer (longer explanations for key concepts;
can go beyond what is strictly needed for the course).
• HSH-with-me reading sessions (more later).
HSH-with-Me Sessions
Thinking with Words
How Language Matters
• A big part of the work of the course lies in getting
you to notice how the words we use—to think, to
express ourselves—affects things that we care
about as human beings!

• How does it not matter?

• How does it matter?
• What is it that matters?
• What does it matter for?

• It’s always about the thinking conveyed by the

words, never just the words themselves! https://medium.com/thrive-global/language-
matters-it-sets-the-tone-for-what-you-do-
and-what-you-value-288d09d685f1
Different Issues in the Human Condition
Questions to do with how things are/were—
• Examples: What are the characteristics that make up human nature? What are the
features of our social and physical environment? What were the past happenings that
lead to the way things are in the present?

Questions to do with how things should be, are good/bad, right/wrong, etc.—
• Examples: What are our moral duties? It is right to sacrifice a few so that the rest of us
can live happily ever after? Is friendship needed for a good form of life? Since human
beings are mortal, how should they face their inevitable fate?

Questions to do with how things will be, i.e., in the future—

• Examples: Will people still desire love and friendship with flesh and blood human beings
once made-to-order bots becomes cheaply available? Will AI become good enough to
write code currently produced by entry-level software engineers?
“Describing”
“Singapore is an island state
with more than 5.5 million
inhabitants” (True)
The way things actually are
“It snows in Singapore from
December through January
each year” (false)
“There are more left handed
women than left handed
men in Singapore” (unknown
whether true or false)
“Predicting”
“The sea level is going to rise
so much that all of East Coast
“Singapore will merge with
will be under water by 2100”
Malaysia”
“We will check emails using
our contact lenses by 2050”

The way things actually are

?
The way things actually
are in the future
“Prescribing”
“We ought to build seawalls to
“Singapore should/should guard against of sea level rises”
not merge with Malaysia”
“We should not eat things
with high transfats”

The way things actually are The way things ought to be

(i.e., to be good/right)
Let’s learn some concepts

Descriptive Claims/
Statements/accounts Prescriptive Claims/
Predictive Claims/
Statements/accounts
• A claim/statement/account Statements/accounts
• A claim/statement/account
about how things are.
about how things ought to be • A claim/statement/account
• They describe.
• They prescribe. about how things will be.
• They make predictions.
• All three can be true or false, general or particular (Primer 1.4-6).
• Just one item in a critical reading-and-thinking toolkit.
• The hidden descriptive/prescriptive/predictive. more about this
• A significant class of prescriptive (or normative) claims = moral
next week…
claims, claims about what behaviors are morally right or wrong,
what social arrangements are morally just or unjust.
Some further thoughts
• Are all statements covered by these three? (No!)
• Is a wish a description?

• Unlike descriptive statements, prescriptive and

predictive statements are explicitly about
something that doesn’t/may not exist at all—
the future, the ideal; what’s the difference
between them?

• What about fictional statements? For instance, a

description of the city of Omelas?
Different Questions to Ask as you Read
Questions to do with how things are/were—
• What is Omelas like? What are the arrangements in the city? What are the constraints?

Questions to do with how things should be, are good/bad, right/wrong, etc.—
• Should the child be kept locked up? Is that good/right?
• Should Omelas the city continue on its ways under existing arrangements?
• If you were a citizen, what should you do?

Questions to do with how things will be—

• If you were to find yourself in a similar circumstance, what would you do?
Next week
Read/watch before lecture:
• Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas
• David Brook, “The Child in the Basement”
• The Trolley Problem | BBC Radio 4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOpf6KcWYyw)