Students in a First-Year Seminar at Drake University are studying ethics through the lens of “Star Trek.” The course, taught by Associate Chief Information Technology Officer for Campus Relations Jerome Hilscher, places the vast “Star Trek” canon in the context of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mills and Jeremy Bentham.
Hilscher discussed the course recently with Drake alumnus Daniel Finney, metro columnist for The Des Moines Register. The full column is available on the Register‘s website.
“Other first-year seminars at Drake more directly address the issues of the day,” Finney wrote. “One deals with the Black Lives Matter movement. Another is titled ‘Whiteness.’ I’m fairly certain I could have visited any of them and heard an equally thoughtful discussion.”