西方傳統的通識教育著重兩大面向：思考批判之博雅能力與廣闊知識之通達視野；這兩大面向都奠基於心靈的自由自主性。人文領域的通讀課程設計，是否能貼近生活，觸動學生的心靈深處，是課程設計成敗的一大關鍵。本文提由「通識教育的生活關懷」、「哲學與生活的綰結－以「哲學與生活」為例」以及「儒家『情感』思想對通識課程之啓發」等三方面來論述，期能呈現通識教育的理想，應要達致貼近生活、關懷生活的全人教育。文中以「哲學與生活」的課程為例，嘗試使課程內涵與生活經驗彼此融滲，在課程內容上，搭配哲學經典閱讀，帶領學生從追尋生活的意義，到思索理性和情感的關係與情感的定位，進而能適當的運用守常與權變，且融通生活的各種價值觀，最後邁向生活之理想目標。希冀透過各種哲學學說的引導，一來可讓學生學習各種不同的哲學理論，引發學生對哲學的興趣，二來可帶領學生作生活的反省思維，檢視自己的道德觀，使學生對生活的意義與價值的實現有深入的體驗，激發對生活的熱愛。俾使課程在引領學生證悟深層的哲學思維之同時，也落實完備的生活教育，發揮通識教育的精神。

Liberal Arts Education has two dimensions: One is the ability to think critically; the other is the broad vision And these two dimensions all aim at the liberty of mind. The key points to make successful the curriculum design of general education in humanistic field are those which can be closer to life and easier get to the inmost hearts of students. In this article, the course of Philosophy and Life was proposed to be an example that will relate the course content with life experiences. With the reading of classic philosophy, the students are inspired to search the meanings of life, to think the relation between reason and emotions, and to further understand the universality and contingency in moral standards, and finally, to be aware of the different views of value of life. Hopefully through various philosophic theories, all the students can not only learn various philosophic theories with more attention on philosophy but also apply the theories to do reflecting thinking and examine their own morality. Thus, students can further experience the meanings of life and carry out the values, in addition to be inspired the love for life. At the same time, the holistic education will be truly practiced and the spirit of general education will be reinforced.