Current Courses

This course explores how great books address perennial human questions about knowledge, nature, love, justice, and freedom. The course is team-taught by two faculty members and prioritizes conversation over lecture. Together we read a range of great books from the ancient world up to the present day, such as novels by writers like Jane Austen and Toni Morrison, classical works by Homer, Plato and Augustine, and influential works of political thought by Aristotle, Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt.

What does it mean to live a good human life? What are the conditions for human happiness? Does human life have meaning? In this course we will study great books by writers like Homer, Augustine, and Virginia Woolf. With these texts as our guides, we will discuss fundamental human questions about love, family, fate, divinity, and self- knowledge. Our goal is both clear and elusive: we want to know how best to live.

Freedom is the great theme of modernity. In politics, art, and philosophy, freedom is regularly held up as the highest human good. But what are the conditions that promote freedom, and are we really as free as we like to think? Are humans free by nature? Should freedom have limits? American novelists and Enlightenment philosophers have much to say on this subject. We put them in conversation with a diverse set of ancient and contemporary writers.

This seminar will normally focus on a single work of literature, philosophy, or political theory that has been extraordinarily influential. The subject of the seminar will vary from year to year. The purpose of the course is to provide students with an introduction to advanced research methods, and to provide preparation for graduate-level study in the humanities. Enrolment is open to Great Books honours students, or other upper-year students with permission from the professor.

This course explores how great books address perennial human questions about knowledge, nature, love, justice, and freedom. The course is team-taught by two faculty members and prioritizes conversation over lecture. Together we read a range of great books from the ancient world up to the present day, such as novels by writers like Jane Austen and Toni Morrison, classical works by Homer, Plato and Augustine, and influential works of political thought by Aristotle, Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt.

What is humanity's relationship to nature? Are humans natural beings, or uniquely free? How does the scientific revolution change humanity's relationship to nature? Modern science and technology have undoubtedly made life easier, but have there been costs? By studying works of natural science-ancient and modern-philosophy, literature, and theology we will explore various historical perspectives on nature and consider the consequences - both good and bad - of our technologically mediated lives. Fulfills Group C Requirement.

That love and friendship are essential to human flourishing is self-evidently true. As Aristotle said, no one would choose to live without friends (philoi) even if he had all the other goods (Ethics, 1155a5). For many of us, love and friendship are near constant preoccupations. But what is love? Is it a passion, an activity, a god? Is love rational? Does love make us selfish or selfless? And what do we owe to our friends? These are some of the questions we examine in this course.