Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences20:Western Thought 1

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Yakup Bektas

Class Format

Lecture (Face-to-face)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

3-4 Wed

Class

1

Course Code

LAH.S420

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2025

Offered quarter

2Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 19, 2025

Language

English

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

What are the Liberal Arts and the Humanities? Debates from Plato to C. P. Snow and Beyond:

Thought about education has undergone many changes since ancient times, changes that show no sign of stopping. The central concern in debates about education has been what it means to be human and how to be virtuous, or as Plato says, what elevates us from Hades up to Olympus.

This course will scrutinize ideas of the liberal arts and the humanities, following their evolution from antiquity through the medieval period, up to the utilitarianism and commercialization of education in the 20th century. We will discuss their relation to humanitas and humanism, and how they differ from divinity, the mechanical arts, and the sciences, and we will consider their place in modern educational systems.

We will read and study short passages from Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Varro, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Martianus Capella, Boethius, Peter Abelard, John of Salisbury, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Averroes, Thomas Aquinas, Petrarch, Francis Bacon, Hobbes, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, John Henry Newman, Thoreau, Matthew Arnold, and Thomas H. Huxley.

We will then explore debates about the worth and place in education of the humanities, focusing on C.P. Snow’s “Two Cultures.” We will touch on culture wars, creationism, multiculturalism, inclusiveness, equity, gender, critiques of the idea of a canon of literature, educational autonomy, and finally the tension between the support for the humanities and efforts to reduce expenditure.

AIMS:
To trace the history of the liberal arts and the humanities through their long and complex evolution, and how understanding that history contributes to evaluating their significance now. To help develop a better understanding of the questions surrounding the state of the humanities and their place in education today.

Course description and aims

To understand better the questions concerning the state of the humanities and their value for liberal education today. To understand better the history of ideas of the humanities and meaning of the related terminology and concepts.

Keywords

The seven liberal arts, the humanities, the history of the humanities, humanism, culture, culture and science, literature and science, Matthew Arnold, Thomas Huxley, C. P. Snow, the "two cultures"

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Conducted in lecture format. Class attendance is mandatory. Students are expected to 1) read the assigned readings prior to the class, 2) participate in classroom discussions, and 3) write short papers.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None

Reference books, course materials, etc.

There is a good list of readings, audio-visual material for each class. It will be circulated a week before the start of the course. The reading list includes:
Passages from Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oratore (51 BC)
Passages from Francis Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning (1605)
Jean Jack Rousseau, Emile, or on Education (1762)
Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?” (1784)
Henry David Thoreau, “Reading” (Walden, 1854)
Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" (1866)
Matthew Arnold, "Culture and Anarchy" (1869)
Matthew Arnold, “Science and Literature” (1882)
Thomas H. Huxley, "Science and Culture" (1880)
John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
Wilhelm Dilthey: Selected Works, I, Introduction to the Human Sciences (1989)
Jean Paul Sartre, “Existentialism as Humanism,” 1946
Martin Heidegger, The Origin of the Work of Art (1960) and “The Letter on Humanism” (1947)
Charles Percy Snow, The Two Cultures, with Introduction by Stefan Collini (2012)
P. R. Leavis, The Two Cultures? The Significance of C. P. Snow (1962), with Introduction by Stefan Collini (2013)
Anthony Grafton and Lisa Jardine, From Humanism to Humanities (1986)
Helen Small, The Value of the Humanities (2013)

Evaluation methods and criteria

Based on attendance, class participation, performance, and writing assignments (two short essays): roughly %80 for attendance and performance, and %20 for writing assignments.

Related courses

• Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences

Prerequisites

None

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

bektas.y.aa[at]m.titech.ac.jp

Office hours

One hour after every class. Other times by appointment