Great Books Minor

The minor in Great Books provides a variety of course options and a flexible sequence of study. The six courses capture well the point of reading classic texts and the opportunity to participate more fully in the ideal of liberal arts education. Accordingly, the minor is intrinsically interdisciplinary and horizon-expanding.

Minor requirements include:

Required Courses:

PH 105 - Human Nature Seminar
PH 107 - Ethics Seminar Seminar
In lieu of PH 105 and PH 107, students may take PH 108-109 The Philosophical Life Seminar I-II, a two-semester course, taught by one professor and covering the same topics as PH 105 and PH 107 but ordered historically.

Choose two of the six Great Books seminars:

Choose two electives from the following:

PH 271 - Great Books Seminar I: The Ancient World - Homer to Plutarch
PH 272 - Great Books Seminar II: The Medieval World - Augustine to Chaucer.
PH 273 - Great Books Seminar III: The Renaissance - Machiavelli to Pascal
PH 274 - Great Books Seminar IV: The Enlightenment and Its Discontents - Locke to Dostoevsky
PH 275 - Great Books Seminar V: The Contemporary World
PH 276 - Great Books Seminar VI: Non-Western Classics
PH 455-457 - Integrated Studies Seminars
PH 467-469 - Focused Study Seminar
As an introduction to the Major, we offer a course for freshmen and sophomores, PH 170 Introduction to Integrated Studies: Great Ideas, Great Texts, and Great People, which may count as the open elective.