The main goal of this course will be to make an initial acquaintance with the basic concepts of culture. This will be achieved with the use of the Fucaultian notion of "Episteme", meaning, the system of beliefs dominating a given era. In that context, we will examine the system of beliefs of three main eras: The classical and the modern eras, as well as the era of the critique of modernity. The system of beliefs will be examined each time in four perspectives: The ontological perspective dealing with the question of what is; the epistemological perspective dealing with the question what can be known about what is; the ethical-social perspective dealing with the question of the proper conduct of man in particular and society in general, and the aesthetic perspective dealing with questions about the essence of art and beauty.

Death is an event that at the same time belongs to the natural order of things and that stands at the very core of every human culture, insofar as the first burial sites of the homo sapiens can be considered the proof of the existence of social organization. The course follows the development of different approaches towards death in European history from the end of the Roman Empire to contemporary times, through the analysis of textual and iconographic evidence provided by Western literature and arts. History of death since the seminal works by Philippe Aries, Edgar Morin and Michel Foucault in the seventies of last century has become in recent years a field where a complex theoretical discourse has developed, drawing from psychoanalysis as well as from sociology, from anthropology as well as from philosophy. In particular we will deal with the evolution of some tropes and symbols related to death in Western culture in the last two millennia such as the Totentanz, the maiden and the death, the memento mori and others.

The course deals with some major issues in urban thought. We will examine the big city as a phsical-architectural space as well as a human space. We wikk discuss the crucial issue of the representation of the big city in a literary text, the possibilities and limitations of representation, and fundemental approaches to the mapping of the urban theme. A basic underlying assumption of this course is that the description and representation of the big city is a tradition in Hebrew narrative fiction. this tradition developed between the second half of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, going through some phases which reflect gradual changes in space design, in ideological approaches to the city's presence and in the status of the individual, his or her point of view and position in the dialogue with the urban environment.

The purpose of the course is to present the way in which Israeli existence is perceived in its many shades through comics.

The Israeli comics created before the establishment of the state and up to the present day, reflect the values of society and its content from every possible angle: a nation under siege, army and security, social stereotypes, and the place of the individual in Israeli existence.

During the class, comic series published in children's newspapers, before and after the establishment of the state, in daily newspapers, and in books (the graphic novel) will be presented.

At the same time, we will host seven comic book artists from different sectors.