This course is designed to
give you an introduction to our university, its resources, and the study of the humanities at it. In the
process, we will be raising a larger set of questions concerning the purpose of a university-level education
(“higher education”), the meaning of the “humanities” and “liberal arts” and the value of studying them,
and the different ways that different cultures throughout history have answered these questions. Our
strategy will be to pursue these questions through examining a diverse selection of some of the most
important works of literature, music, philosophy, history, religion, visual art, language study, psychology,
anthropology, political theory, and even economic, sociological, and natural science, in world history. All
of these we will consider as practices of the “humanities” or at least indissociable from them. The essence
of this course is our examining, thinking through, discussing these issues together, in a communal
atmosphere that should prove both challenging and fun. As you begin considering what you wish to study
and pursue at this university, and even more importantly, as you begin to consider the arc, pursuits, and
priorities of the rest of your life, we will consider together, in a spirit both searching and critical, how
some of the most original, influential, and diverse voices, practitioners, and theorists of the humanities
and arts have engaged such questions before us.
Keystone Project: During their first semester students will choose a topic/issue for a creative or research project; begin researching their topic; start a bibliography; and write a brief project proposal.
Course Syllabus (PDF) Updated for Fall 2008!
