What is a human? Although deceptively simple, this question lies beneath nearly every institution we build, every problem we confront, and every solution we propose. Schools, prisons, healthcare systems, economies, technologies, and governments all embody assumptions—often implicit—about what human beings are like and what they need to flourish. But what if many of those assumptions are wrong? In this seminar, we investigate a series of increasingly sophisticated claims about what it means to be human, using James Paul Gee's What Is a Human? as our anchor text. Rather than surveying many social issues, each student will choose one human problem or phenomenon they care deeply about and spend the course repeatedly reinterpreting it through richer accounts of human nature. Along the way, students will read a companion book related to their chosen problem, engage with current scholarship, participate in collaborative inquiry, and contribute to a growing community of ideas. This course is not organized around finding simple solutions. Instead, it is organized around becoming a more sophisticated inquirer. Students will learn to approach complex human problems with systems thinking, evidence, intellectual humility, and the courage to remain productively uncertain. Through sustained inquiry, students will develop increasingly sophisticated theories of humans and use those theories to rethink problems that matter—in education, society, and their own lives. Learning in this course extends well beyond the classroom. Much of the deepest intellectual work happens before and after class through reading, writing, and reflection. Class meetings are devoted not to reviewing readings, but to testing ideas, challenging assumptions, making connections, and helping one another think more deeply. Together, we will build an intellectual community grounded in the belief that inquiry does not begin when class starts, and it does not end when class is over.