PAL 127 Moral Leadership

Self, Other, Action

(HDS 2893)

 

 Instructors:

 

Marshall Ganz
Hauser Center 238 (495-3937)

Marshall_Ganz@ksg.harvard.edu  

Office Hours: Tuesday, 4:15 – 6:15
Bernard Steinberg
Harvard
Hillel (495-4695)
Steinberg@hillel.harvard.edu
Teaching Assistant: Danika Swanson
dswanson@hds.harvard.edu  
Monday 4:10 PM – 6:00 PM
Room RG-20
Faculty Assistant: Sarah Staley
Hauser Center 237 (384-9637)
Sarah_Staley@ksg.harvard.edu
 

 

 

 

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

 When I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?  

                                    - Hillel, 1st century Jerusalem sage

                                         Pirke Avot

                                                                         

If we understand leadership as accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty, when is leadership behavior “moral”? Rabbi Hillel’s questions offer insight into this question by directing us to reflect on the interaction of self-understanding, our relationship with others, and action.

 

In this class we meet for 2 hours, once a week for 12 weeks. Our pedagogy is based on a traditional form of moral reflection: the shared interpretation of narrative text for instruction and inspiration. We draw on religious and secular sources of written and spoken text that offer students an opportunity to engage with the moral challenges managing the interaction of self, other, and action in the exercise of leadership. This semester we will study the story of Moses as recounted in Biblical sources; Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee; and the written and oral work of Dr. Martin Luther King. Our objective is not only to address specific moral questions, but also to offer students the opportunity learn a process of moral reflection that can be of ongoing use to them.

 

In each class, students will pair off to consider questions posed with respect to specific textual passages, each pair reporting on their learning after 50 minutes. This learning then becomes the basis for facilitated discussion. Students must complete the reading in advance, participate fully in each section, and after each section prepare a two page reflection paper on the insight their learning affords them into addressing their own leadership challenges. At the end of the semester, students will submit a 15 page paper in which they will apply their reflective skills analyzing a narrative source of their own choosing to gain insight into their leadership challenges.

 

Books required for this class are available at the Coop and on reserve in the Kennedy School Library. Articles and book excerpts are available on line or in the coursepack. To the extent possible video and/or audio versions of spoken material will be posted to the class website.  Biblical passages are drawn from The Five Books of Moses with Translation and Commentary, edited by Robert Alter (New York: Norton, 2004) and will be available in the coursepack. Students may purchase any edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and any edition of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Selections of Dr. King’s written and oral work are drawn from A Testament of Hope: the Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, edited by Martin Luther King and James M. Washington, (New York: Harper Collins, 1986) and will be available in the coursepack.

 

Week One: Introduction: What Is Moral Leadership?

Monday, February 4.

 

We get acquainted, set goals for the semester, establish norms for our work together, identify some key questions about moral leadership, and learn how to use our interpretive learning method.

 

Reading:

 

Marshall Ganz, “Hillel’s Questions: A Call to Leadership”, Sh’ma, February 2007.

http://www.shma.com/jan_07/hillel_questions.htm

 

Bernard Steinberg, “A Pedagogy of Moral Leadership”, February 2007.

Available on PAL 127 Webpage

 

Marshall Ganz, “What is Public Narrative?”, November 2007.

Available on PAL 127 Webpage

 

Jerome Bruner, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), Chapter 2, “Two Modes of Thought”, (pp.11-14). 

 

George Marcus, The Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics, (University Park: Penn State University Press, 2002), Chapter 4, “Becoming Reacquainted with Emotion”, (pp.67-78). (T)

 

Martha Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), Chapter 1, “Emotions and Judgments of Value”, (pp. 19-33). (T)

 

Alasdair Macintyre, “The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life, and the Concept of a Tradition” in Memory, Identity, and Community: the Idea of Narrative in the Human Sciences, (Albany: State University of New York, 1997), edited by Lewis P. Hinchman and Sandra K. Hinchman, (pp. 254-257).

 

Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: the Making of Modern Identity, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992); excerpts from “Chapter 1, Inescapable Frameworks”; “Chapter 2, The Self in Moral Space.” (pp.16-19, 25-28).

 

Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions (New York: Knopf, 2006), Chapter 10, “The Way Forward”, (pp.390 – 399).

 

Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1957), Introductory Remarks, excerpts from “What Faith Is” (pp.1-2), “Types of Faith” (pp.62-64), “Life of Faith” (pp.115 – 117).

 

Moshe Halbertal, People of the Book: Canon, Meaning and Authority (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), (pp.1-10).

 

Class Work:

 

Introductions: Overview, Who’s Who, and Norms.

 

Interpretive Pedagogy: Values, Narrative and Moral Reflection.

 

Leadership Framework: Hillel’s Three Questions.

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a one page response commenting on 2 of readings #4 through #10 by Wednesday, 4:00 PM. Consider how ideas discussed in the 2 readings you select could have a bearing on learning how to engage with the leadership challenges you face. To what questions do they suggest we need to pay particular attention in our reading?

 

Week Two: Identity

Monday, February 11

Story of Moses

 

Reading:

 

The Five Books of Moses with Translation and Commentary, (New York: Norton, 2004), edited by Robert Alter, “Exodus: Chapters 1 & 2”, (pp.307-317).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Three: Calling

Tuesday, February 19 (Rescheduled due to President’s Day) – Room TBD

Story of Moses

 

Reading:

 

The Five Books of Moses with Translation and Commentary, (New York: Norton, 2004), edited by Robert Alter, “Exodus: 2:23-4:19”, (pp.316-329).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Four: Interdependence

Monday, February 25

Story of Moses

 

Reading:

 

The Five Books of Moses with Translation and Commentary, (New York: Norton, 2004), edited by Robert Alter, “Exodus: 18”, (pp.416-421).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Five: Mission

Monday, March 3

Story of Moses

 

Reading:

 

The Five Books of Moses with Translation and Commentary, (New York: Norton, 2004), edited by Robert Alter, “Exodus: 31:18-34:1”, (pp.492-507).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Six: Legacy

Monday, March 10

Story of Moses

 

Reading:

 

The Five Books of Moses with Translation and Commentary, (New York: Norton, 2004), edited by Robert Alter, “Numbers 20; Deuteronomy 32:48-33:1; 34,” (pp.782-787, 1047-1048, 1057-1060).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Seven:

Monday, March 17

Huckleberry Finn

 

Reading:

 

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (New York: Penguin, 2003), Chapters 1 - 18.

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Eight:

Monday, March 31

Huckleberry Finn

 

Reading:

 

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (New York: Penguin, 2003), Chapters 16 to end.

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Nine:

Monday, April 7

To Kill A Mockingbird

 

Reading:

 

Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird, (New York: Harper Collins, 1995).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Ten: Self, Other, Action - Beginning the Journey.

Monday, April 14

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Reading:

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Stride Toward Freedom.” A Testament of Hope: the Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, (New York: Harper Collins, 1986), edited by Martin Luther King and James M. Washington, (pp.417-467).

 

Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” November 19, 1863.  Gettysburg, PA. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gatr2.html

 

Branch, Taylor. Chapter 4, “First Trombone.” Parting the Waters, (pp.138-141).

http://spot.colorado.edu/%7Ewehr/5025B.TXT (“King stood silently” through “let us think on these things”)

 

Parks, Rosa. “Introduction to the Address to the First Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting.” A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: IPM/Warner Books, 2001), Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard, eds, (pp. 1 - 5).

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr.Address to First Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Mass Meeting.” December 5, 1955. Montgomery, AL. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/MIA_mass_meeting_at_holt_street.html

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr.I Have a Dream.” August 28, 1963. Washington, DC. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/address_at_march_on_washington.pdf

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Eleven: I’ve Seen the Promised Land

Monday, April 21

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Reading:

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Our God Is Marching On!" March 25, 1965. Montgomery, AL.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/Our_God_is_marching_on.html

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool." August 27, 1967. Chicago, IL.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/sermons/670827.000_Why_Jesus_Called_a_Man_a_Fool.html

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "The Drum Major Instinct." February 4, 1968. Atlanta, GA.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/sermons/680204.000_Drum_Major_Instinct.html

 

King, Martin Luther, Jr.I've Been To The Mountaintop.” April 3, 1968. Memphis, TN.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/I%27ve_been_to_the_mountaintop.pdf

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Assignment:

 

Post a two page response paper by 4:00 PM, Wednesday, reflecting on how you might link what you learned in this class session to your own leadership challenges.

 

Week Twelve: CONCLUSION

Monday, April 28

Conclusion, Evaluation

 

Reading:

 

Review: Martha Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), Chapter 1, “Emotions and Judgments of Value”, (pp. 31-33). (T)

 

Review: Alasdair Macintyre, “The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life, and the Concept of a Tradition” in Memory, Identity, and Community: the Idea of Narrative in the Human Sciences, (Albany: State University of New York, 1997), edited by Lewis P. Hinchman and Sandra K. Hinchman, (pp. 254-257).

 

Review: Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: the Making of Modern Identity, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992); excerpts from “Chapter 1, Inescapable Frameworks”; “Chapter 2, The Self in Moral Space.” (pp. 26-27).

 

Class Work:

 

Narrative Interpretation.

 

Conclusion and Evaluation

 

Assignment:

 

Final Paper Due Friday, May 9, 4:00 PM.

 

Students will write a 15 page final paper (double space, 12 point type) in which they use our method of moral reflection to gain insight into leadership challenges addressed by narrative of their own choosing. Narratives may be drawn from literary, religious, secular, or political sources.