The Themes

You certainly can’t have a discussion about The Disciplines without mentioning their good friends The Themes. After you asked my students about the disciplines, I bet (I hope!) the next thing out of their mouth would be mention of the THEMES of the social sciences. In my opinion, the themes represent the other scorecards one can use to keep track of human activity. Thankfully, the themes I tend to reflect on pair up nicely and work well together in a complementary fashion. The themes I will focus on during my fellowship are:

Unity/Diversity- How humans are unified in some ways yet very different from each other in other ways. For example- We are all human beings, yet our cultural differences can be quite different (or similar!).

Continuity/Change- Some aspects of human activity are fairly predictable (we have breakfast), other aspects spark profound differences (September 11, 2001).

Conflict/Compromise- There are times when humans really don’t get along (Nazi Germany bombing London during World War Two), and there are times when humans get along famously (German athletes marched alongside British athletes during today’s Opening Ceremonies in London)

Independence/Interdependence- There are times when it’s better to do things by yourself (get dressed in the morning), and there are times when you absolutely need other people to help you do things (build a building).

These eight little words impress me every time. They boil down the complex nature of human activity into such succinct words that can each take hours (years?) to explain…let alone discuss.

I hope you like these themes…they are very versatile!

How do they help YOU view the world?

Thanks for joining me…~Mr. K.