Humanities College

Jennifer Bowers, Humanities College

The Humanities College provides a hospitable and nurturing environment to students interested in literary and philosophical questions and who are looking for a place to meet like-minded people. During the first semester, students take one of several sections of an interdisciplinary Foundation Seminar ("Myth, Reason, Faith") where they study and discuss classical epic, tragedy, and philosophy through authors such as Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Plato, and Aristotle. They also study the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and through Augustine, the transformation of the classical world to the Christian West.

During the second semester ,students may elect to take "Art, Nature, Knowledge." This course, which is team-taught by faculty from more than 20 departments, deals with a wide range of works of visual art, science, literature, philosophy, and music that were composed from the Renaissance through the 19th century. Figures such as Raphael, Machiavelli, Luther, Shakespeare, Galileo, Descartes, Hobbes, Newton, Schiller, Mary Shelley, Darwin, Marx, and Dostoevsky are all included in the course. A third course, "Nihilism, Modernism, and Uncertainty," follows the same format to examine 20th-century culture and history.

Weekly common hours, along with discussions, excursions, and trips to museums and concerts in New York, Washington, D.C. or Philadelphia complement the academic work.

You may continue your affiliation with the Humanities College beyond the first year in two ways. One is to opt to major in comparative humanities, a degree program that extends this critical examination of the Western tradition through upper-level seminars and language study. The second is to apply to the Humanistic Scholars Program, which offers and opportunity to do sustained work in the humanities in an environment that encourages high achievement through small classes and close contact with faculty. Students in any major or degree program are welcome to participate.