May 04, 2024  
2015-2016 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Catalog 
    
2015-2016 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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ARGS 820 - Tools of the Titans: Psychodynamic Myths

3 credits
While modern psychology and psychiatry assume familiarity with names like Oedipus, Orestes and Orpheus, neither terminology nor clinical descriptions provide the awareness, understanding and insight that the ancient Greek stories themselves offer.  This course examines foundational figures like the Olympians (Demeter, Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Athena, Apollo and Dionysus), as well as divinities and humans whose skills and labors form instructive patterns (Prometheus, Atlas, Heracles, Sisyphus, Daedalus and Pygmalion).  Students also explore concepts of “fate” (including potential medical manifestations) and “freedom” through the individual choices and family relationships that haunt the houses of Cadmus (Oedipus, Jocasta and Antigone) and Atreus (Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Electra and Orestes) and motivate those engaged in or affected by the Trojan War (Odysseus, Penelope, Helen, Telemachus and Nausicaa).



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