Masterpieces of Western Literature and Philosophy, popularly known as “Lit Hum,” offers students the opportunity to engage in intensive study and discussion of some of the most significant texts of Western culture. An interdepartmental staff of professorial and preceptorial faculty meets with groups of approximately twenty-two students four hours a week to discuss texts by, among others, Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Vergil, Augustine, Dante, Boccaccio, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Austen, Dostoyevsky, and Woolf, as well as Hebrew scripture and New Testament writings. The objective of the course is to consider particular conceptions of what it means to be human and to consider the place of such conceptions in the development of critical thought.
What is required?
When?
Fall and spring semester of first year.
Can I test out?
No.
Special Notes:
All first-year students should be prepared to discuss the first six books of The Iliad on the first day of class, which meets during Orientation week. Every member of the class will be given a copy of The Iliad as a gift from the Columbia College Alumni Association.