The class involves discussions and lectures, some by guest experts, on the particular forms of art and their context in Western history. Two thirds of this two-course sequence is devoted to reading and discussion of great books concerned with education, ethics, and politics, including authors such as Plato, Aristotle, and Machiavelli, read in chronological order. Students write several papers on the works read or the performances viewed. This course meets the composition requirement of General Education. This course is the continuation of GH 1810 and involves further fine arts readings, performances, field trips, and readings in Shakespeare, Locke, Adam Smith, American State Papers, etc.
Students write additional papers, with increasing attention to synthesis of the total curriculum.
This segment of the course meets both the Fine Arts and English Literature requirements of General Education. This advanced undergraduate seminar is devoted to the study of such authors as Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Calvin, Dostoevsky, and readings in Christian spirituality. Students discuss and write on such persistent issues as the problem of evil, the nature of virtue and vice, the mystery of divine providence, and the meaning of human suffering. Papers and discussion build on the skills developed in GH 1810 and 1820. This course meets the second BTS requirement and the philosophy requirement of General Education.