About the Course
Empirical research paired, week by week, with first-hand experience.
What is it actually like to be alive, and what does science know about it? This course treats being human as something to be studied and something to be lived. Each week pairs empirical research and a book chapter with a first-hand experience: singing together, moving hard, looking slowly at art, eating with attention, seeking awe, connecting with a stranger, and savoring pleasure.
We read to sharpen our attention, we go out to gather the raw material, and we return to think together about the gap between the paper and the lived thing. The course is deliberately experiential: most weeks include an activity at a site on or near campus — the Harvard Art Museums, the Arnold Arboretum, the Charles River — each with a low-cost, mobility-accessible alternative. The emphasis is on attention and reflection, not on athletic, musical, or artistic skill.
Where & When
Proposed — not yet on the books.
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Harvard Summer School
PSYC S-number TBD (seven-week session)
In development — proposed for Summer 2027.
What Students Say
Nothing yet — by design.
Being Alive has not yet met its first class, so there are no student evaluations to share — the first cohort will write them.