Great Works Courses offered in the Voluntary Core Curriculum Program for the Fall Semester of 2013:
Political Science 150 - 00P Foundations of American Democracy
Professor Randall Strahan
Course Time: T TH 2:30 - 3:45
A course on the foundational ideas that underlie American democracy and the major debates in American politics from the revolutionary era to the present, ranging from the reasons for revolution to the best constitution for a democracy, from how to achieve racial equality to the competing visions of American liberalism and conservatism. Readings include John Locke, The Federalist, Democracy in America, as well as writings and speeches by Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr., Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama.
History 185 - 00P Great Works in Western Civilization
Professor Patrick Allitt
Course Time: MWF 9:00 - 9:50
Note: Only the History 185 section taught by Professor Allitt is part of the Voluntary Core Program.
Certain great books have been immensely influential across the centuries, and continue to influence the way we think, act, and understand ourselves today. Major themes include religion (sections from the Bible), history (Herodotus, Julius Caesar, the Venerable Bede), politics (Machiavelli), economics (Adam Smith, Karl Marx), biology (Charles Darwin) and psychology (Sigmund Freud). Students will be encouraged to read critically, not reverently, and to take these authors’ ideas as the starting point for debate.
Philosophy 115-00P - Introduction to Ethics
Professor Ann Hartle
Course Time: T TH 8:30 - 9:45
Note: Only the Philosophy 115 section taught by Professor Hartle is part of the Voluntary Core Program.
This course in “moral philosophy” addresses one of the most important questions that philosophers and all thoughtful human beings ask themselves: “What is the best way of life for a human being?" We will examine the way in which Aristotle, St. Augustine, Hume and Kant have answered this question.
Classics 150 - 00P Masterworks of Classical Literature
Professor Christine Perkell
Course Time: MW 11:30 - 12:45
This course will introduce student to masterworks of the Classical Greek and Roman world, with emphasis on major genres, themes and moral questions that have significantly shaped the literary and cultural traditions of the Western world. Texts may include works by Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Vergil and Augustine.
New Course To Be Offered in Spring 2014:
English 150 - Great Works in Literature
Professor Mark Bauerlein
Course Time: TBA
This course focuses on great works of literature written in English from the medieval to the modern era, including Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Jane Austen in English literature, and Franklin, Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Twain, and Edith Wharton in American literature.