HON - Honors Course Descriptions

HON 101 Seminar I: Early Classical Thought

Begins the exploration of the origins of Western tradition in the epic poems of Homer, the plays of the great Greek dramatists of the Athenian Golden Age, and the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program

HON 102 Seminar II: Later Classical Thought

Continues the work of the first seminar with a focus on the writings of Plato and Aristotle and a transition to the literary and philosophic works of Roman authors and others who write about Rome and her legacy. With this seminar the work of syntopic reading begins as students reflect upon the relation of the ideas of one age upon those of another.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 101

HON 201 Seminar III: The Early Fathers

Focuses on the writings of the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church and introduces into the syntopic discussion the ideas, teachings, and discipline of Christianity.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 102

HON 202 Seminar IV: Medieval Thought

Focuses on great works form the high Middle Ages, including the philosophical and theological writings of Saints Anselm, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas, and the literary writings of Langland, Chaucer, and Dante. The syntopic discussion continues by viewing the syncretism of medieval Christendom against the classicism of Greece and Rome.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 201

HON 301 Seminar V: The Renaissance

Focuses on great works from the Renaissance, including the writings of Machiavelli, Montaigne, Pascal, Descartes, and Shakespeare. The syntopic discussion continues reflection on the relation between Renaissance thinkers and their Christian and classical predecessors.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 202

HON 302 Seminar VI: The Enlightenment

Focuses on great works from the Enlightenment, including the writings of Swift, Hobbes, Locke, Voltaire, Burke, and the founding fathers of the United States. The syntopic discussion continues weighing the influence of the critical ideas of the past during the beginnings of significant political and economic transition in the Western world.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 301

HON 401 Seminar VII: The 19th Century

Focuses on great works from the nineteenth century, including the writings of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and Newman. The syntopic discussion continues its critical comparison of ideas, attempting to appreciate the influence of the past on the beginnings of modernity.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 302

HON 402 Seminar VIII: The 20th Century

Examines the works of selected influential writers, profane and religious, from the 20th century, including Sartre, Camus, Eliot, and St. Pope John Paul II. In the future, some of these books may find their way securely onto the list of 'great books,' others may not. At any rate, the Honors Program comes to a close with an attempt to achieve some initial understanding of how our predecessors' ideas, good and bad, have shaped our own times.

4

Prerequisites

Admission to the Honors Program and HON 401