As Roger Shattuck suggests in Forbidden Knowledge, the seeking for forbidden knowledge tends to be about the history of curiosity. “Is curiosity the one human drive that should never be restricted?  Or does it embody the greatest threat to our survival as ourselves?” (7)  

This Inquiry explodes the differences among mythologies/religions and sciences/technologies by embracing what they share: the desire for forbidden knowledge.  A long time ago, Eve wanted an apple.  Recently, scientists in Texas wanted to clone a cat.  So far, everybody has succeeded.  Knowledge might be forbidden because it is inaccessible or unobtainable.  It might be prohibited by divine, religious, moral, military, or secular authority.  Authority might sanction it as dangerous, destructive, or unwelcome.  But information wants to be free.  Can you handle forbidden knowledge?  Should you want to?  Should you fear to?  This course asks you to decide. Through stories, films, case studies, field research, art, science fiction, and original projects, we will amplify and elaborate on these arenas of inquiry with our own questions and ideas. 

The initial year of the university experience should expose you to new ways of seeing and exploring the world, and from this personal inquiry you should be prepared to choose a major field of concentration. In this course, we will approach the scared and profane of forbidden knowledge images and topics from a number of perspectives. Philosophy, including “natural philosophers,” or scientists, religion, history, and literature are strongholds for the inquiry of forbidden knowledge  Literary, anthropological, and cinematic theorists, for instance, might study the fin-de-siecle or appropriation of aesthetic transmutations in myths, novels, film, poetry or short stories. Does their approach differ from or complement how historians and artists would proceed? Will an environmental scientist apply chaos theory in the same way that a literary critic would? Professionals in the sciences and in the humanities in fact can help each other to understand the complexities of forbidden knowledge by deploying simultaneous scientific and fictional discourses. In doing so, they gain an appreciation for other disciplines. Embarking on the Forbidden Knowledge inquiry will involve you in this journey of personal and professional discovery.