Students study European history from the Late Middle Ages to the end of World War Two, with a special focus placed on political and societal change. Within the scope of this course, these changes are explored through the study of works of history, political philosophy, and imaginative literature. Political and societal changes include, but are not limited to, the historical development and theoretical justification of modern constitutional government. Additionally, students will explore questions concerning the basis of property rights, the birth and growth of modern ideologies in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the causes and effects of revolution. Recommended texts for this course include, but are not limited to: Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality.

Standards-based course content for each time period should include, but not be limited to:

Late Middle Ages: Understand how the Black Death, the Hundred Years’ War, and tensions within the Medieval Church led to ruptures in medieval society that paved the way for the Renaissance.

The Renaissance: Determine how the Renaissance period opened the door for humanistic thinking, more nationalized monarchies, and open calls for social/political reform. Special emphasis may be placed the writings of Machiavelli, Castiglione and Mirandola.

The Reformation: Recognize the central tenets of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, noting especially the diverse beliefs among Protestant groups and the social/political impact of the movement.

The Age of Religious Wars: Examine the violent nature of confessional wars across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, noting especially the gradual shift toward considerations of domestic and international society adopted by the politiques.

European State Consolidation (English Constitutionalism and French Absolutism): Analyze the means by which England and France consolidated political power in the hands of the state, noting especially the political theory behind Constitutionalism and Absolutism. Examine the intricacies of the English Civil War, the legacy of Oliver Cromwell, the significance of the Glorious Revolution, and counterexample of Louis XIV’s absolutism.

Scientific Revolution: Discuss the ideas associated with major thinkers of the 16th and 17th centuries who emphasized empiricism and a new philosophy of science. Explain why this new epistemology was “revolutionary” and was poised to supplant more traditional means of knowing.

18th–Century Thought and Life: Recognize the most salient aspects of the Old Regime, noting the social, political, economic, and intellectual tensions that existed therein that paved the way towards the French Revolution. Careful attention is given to the Enlightenment, including its major thinkers and their calls for reform of religion, politics and society.

The French Revolution and the Modern Nation-State: Discuss the political, intellectual, industrial, and societal themes that lead to the French Revolution and its aftermath. Recognize the common themes in the definition and formation of modern European nation-states.

19th-Centuray Thought, Politics, and Culture: Investigate the many new threads which are woven together to create the aspirations, ambitions, and tensions which set the stage for the World Wars.

The World Wars: Recognize historical facts about WWI and WWII.  Analyze the origins of these wars.  Discuss the relationship between the end of WWI and the beginning of WWII.  Examine how WWII created the early conditions of the Cold War and modernity more generally.

Students study the emergence of Greek civilization from an oral to a literary culture.  They witness the historical effects of literacy as it generates the first surviving documents of historiography and comparative ethnography, while seeing first-hand how new ideas emerge from geo-political competition and the intellectual ferment enabled by the dissemination of texts throughout the Mediterranean.  By following the emergence of seminal ideas in history, politics, theology, philosophy, drama, and epic poetry, students will sharpen their abilities to distinguish between historical events and the social significance invested in interpretations of these events.  The emergence of the philosophical tradition provides an opportunity to reflect upon the nature and value of the theoretical outlook.  Recommended texts for this course include, but are not limited to: Iliad, Herodotus’ Histories, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Antigone, Crito, Apology, Republic, Nicomachean Ethics.

Humane Letters 3 – History Learning Outcomes:

•        Outline the ways in which ideas from Greek history, politics, philosophy, and literature continue to influence Western culture.
•        Compare and contrast mythological and historical ways of relating to one’s cultural past.
•        Compare and contrast the conditions and characteristics of oral culture with literary culture.
•        Discuss the nature of education in an oral society and the role of Homer’s epic poetry.
•        Describe the ideals of virtue seen in Homer (Homeric ethics), and compare these to later historical developments.
•        Use Herodotus to discuss the motivations, methods, and conventions visible in the birth of Greek historiography and ethnography.
•        Discuss the causes, significant events, and effects of the Persian wars and their relation to the prominence of Athens and Sparta among the Greek poleis.
•        Describe the differences in approach and method which contrast Herodotus’ and Thucydides’ historiography.
•        Analyze Thucydides description of the cause of the Peloponnesian wars, and explain how it embodies a conflict between the differing ideals of Athens and Sparta.
•        Describe the social role of Greek tragedy and give examples of how it exemplifies the Greek attitude towards divinity.
•        Compare and contrast ancient monotheism and ancient polytheism as evidenced among the Greeks
•        Contrast the modern, aesthetic approach to Greek tragedy as “works of Art” with the original social and religious context of Greek drama; compare this to theories of artistic representation in Plato and/or Aristotle
•        Describe the ways in which Greek tragedy approaches virtue and happiness (tragic ethics) and compare this to later and earlier instantiations of ethics
•        Contrast the ancient Greek notion of “piety” in Euthyphro and Apology with the modern conception.
•        Outline Meno’s description of learning and knowledge and lay out the apparent paradox regarding the possibility of education
•        Use Pericles’ ‘funeral oration,’ Antigone, and Plato’s Republic to consider the social roles and challenges for women in ancient Greece.
•        Discuss the relationship of the argument in Plato’s Crito to later European ideas regarding the ‘rule of law’ and ‘social contract theory’.
•        Describe the purpose of philosophy, according to Apology, and be prepared to defend or critique it
•        Relate the four ‘cardinal’ virtues found in Republic to previous conceptions of virtue in Homer and tragedy and to Aristotle’s subsequent conception of ‘ethics’ in Nicomachean Ethics.
•        Distinguish between three types of political systems in evidence among the Greeks, and discuss Republic’s critique of each.
•        Discuss the interrelation between freedom, tyranny, happiness, goodness, justice, virtue, and vice in relation to Greek politics and philosophy, and compare this network of concepts with later moments in Western civilization.
•        Analyze how the democratic concepts developed in ancient Greece have influenced and continue to influence the United States’ federal republic.

Students study the emergence of Greek civilization from an oral to a literary culture.  They witness the historical effects of literacy as it generates the first surviving documents of historiography and comparative ethnography, while seeing first-hand how new ideas emerge from geo-political competition and the intellectual ferment enabled by the dissemination of texts throughout the Mediterranean.  By following the emergence of seminal ideas in history, politics, theology, philosophy, drama, and epic poetry, students will sharpen their abilities to distinguish between historical events and the social significance invested in interpretations of these events.  The emergence of the philosophical tradition provides an opportunity to reflect upon the nature and value of the theoretical outlook.  Recommended texts for this course include, but are not limited to: Iliad, Herodotus’ Histories, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Antigone, Crito, Apology, Republic, Nicomachean Ethics.

Humane Letters 3 – History Learning Outcomes:

•        Outline the ways in which ideas from Greek history, politics, philosophy, and literature continue to influence Western culture.
•        Compare and contrast mythological and historical ways of relating to one’s cultural past.
•        Compare and contrast the conditions and characteristics of oral culture with literary culture.
•        Discuss the nature of education in an oral society and the role of Homer’s epic poetry.
•        Describe the ideals of virtue seen in Homer (Homeric ethics), and compare these to later historical developments.
•        Use Herodotus to discuss the motivations, methods, and conventions visible in the birth of Greek historiography and ethnography.
•        Discuss the causes, significant events, and effects of the Persian wars and their relation to the prominence of Athens and Sparta among the Greek poleis.
•        Describe the differences in approach and method which contrast Herodotus’ and Thucydides’ historiography.
•        Analyze Thucydides description of the cause of the Peloponnesian wars, and explain how it embodies a conflict between the differing ideals of Athens and Sparta.
•        Describe the social role of Greek tragedy and give examples of how it exemplifies the Greek attitude towards divinity.
•        Compare and contrast ancient monotheism and ancient polytheism as evidenced among the Greeks
•        Contrast the modern, aesthetic approach to Greek tragedy as “works of Art” with the original social and religious context of Greek drama; compare this to theories of artistic representation in Plato and/or Aristotle
•        Describe the ways in which Greek tragedy approaches virtue and happiness (tragic ethics) and compare this to later and earlier instantiations of ethics
•        Contrast the ancient Greek notion of “piety” in Euthyphro and Apology with the modern conception.
•        Outline Meno’s description of learning and knowledge and lay out the apparent paradox regarding the possibility of education
•        Use Pericles’ ‘funeral oration,’ Antigone, and Plato’s Republic to consider the social roles and challenges for women in ancient Greece.
•        Discuss the relationship of the argument in Plato’s Crito to later European ideas regarding the ‘rule of law’ and ‘social contract theory’.
•        Describe the purpose of philosophy, according to Apology, and be prepared to defend or critique it
•        Relate the four ‘cardinal’ virtues found in Republic to previous conceptions of virtue in Homer and tragedy and to Aristotle’s subsequent conception of ‘ethics’ in Nicomachean Ethics.
•        Distinguish between three types of political systems in evidence among the Greeks, and discuss Republic’s critique of each.
•        Discuss the interrelation between freedom, tyranny, happiness, goodness, justice, virtue, and vice in relation to Greek politics and philosophy, and compare this network of concepts with later moments in Western civilization.
•        Analyze how the democratic concepts developed in ancient Greece have influenced and continue to influence the United States’ federal republic.

After three years of studying the linear and internal historical development of specific Western political entities (the United States; the several political units of Europe; ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel), Humane Letters 4—History takes a topical and comparative approach to all of these historical entities previously studied.  The course theme is diachronic and transnational innovation within an historical and intellectual tradition of continuity.  The selected texts present case studies in which innovative fusions occur between the concrete historical culture of an author and another text, author, or idea far removed in time and/or space.  Students will be guided towards the features of texts which cause them to be considered a part of the ‘great conversation,’ which is the history of the development of thought in Western civilization.  This development will be considered as both the cause of historical change and the effect of historical contingencies.  Recommended texts for this course include, but are not limited to: Aeneid, Augustine’s Confessions, Aquinas’ Treatise on Law, Dante’s Inferno, Machiavelli’s Prince, the philosophy of Descartes, and The Brothers Karamazov (The recommended texts list entirely overlaps with Humane Letters 4—Literature, but the two complementary courses make use of these texts for different purposes).

Humane Letters 4 – History Learning Outcomes:

•        Outline the mytho-historical parallels between Homer and the Aeneid; explain how Virgil fuses these elements to create a unique account of the origin and destiny of the Roman people.
•        Identify the lines of Aquinas’ thought that are derived from the Christian and Augustinian tradition, and contrast these with Aristotelian innovations.
•        Analyze how the spread and influence of the Latin language influenced Western civilization.
•        Discuss how Dante fuses Christian monotheistic ideas into the form of epic poetry.
•        Identify the ways in which contemporary politics inform Dante’s epic narrative techniques, and explain the ways in which this might have led to an historical evolution in the sense of European (Italian) identity.
•        Describe the political influence of the church and its relation to secular sources of power which forms the cultural context of Machiavelli’s Prince; explain how this text marks a departure from the Constantinian fusion of church and state power.
•        Contrast the authority of Descartes’ philosophical method with the traditional authorities of church and state; explain how Descartes may be considered a revolutionary turning point within modernity.
•        Examine the conflict between religious thought and strains of modernist philosophy (rationalism, idealism, nihilism).

After three years of studying the linear and internal historical development of specific Western political entities (the United States; the several political units of Europe; ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel), Humane Letters 4—History takes a topical and comparative approach to all of these historical entities previously studied.  The course theme is diachronic and transnational innovation within an historical and intellectual tradition of continuity.  The selected texts present case studies in which innovative fusions occur between the concrete historical culture of an author and another text, author, or idea far removed in time and/or space.  Students will be guided towards the features of texts which cause them to be considered a part of the ‘great conversation,’ which is the history of the development of thought in Western civilization.  This development will be considered as both the cause of historical change and the effect of historical contingencies.  Recommended texts for this course include, but are not limited to: Aeneid, Augustine’s Confessions, Aquinas’ Treatise on Law, Dante’s Inferno, Machiavelli’s Prince, the philosophy of Descartes, and The Brothers Karamazov (The recommended texts list entirely overlaps with Humane Letters 4—Literature, but the two complementary courses make use of these texts for different purposes).

Humane Letters 4 – History Learning Outcomes:

•        Outline the mytho-historical parallels between Homer and the Aeneid; explain how Vergil fuses these elements to create a unique account of the origin and destiny of the Roman people
•        Identify the lines of Aquinas’ thought that are derived from the Christian and Augustinian tradition, and contrast these with Aristotelian innovations.
•        Analyze how the spread and influence of the Latin language influenced Western civilization.
•        Discuss how Dante fuses Christian monotheistic ideas into the form of epic poetry.
•        Identify the ways in which contemporary politics inform Dante’s epic narrative techniques, and explain the ways in which this might have led to an historical evolution in the sense of European (Italian) identity
•        Describe the political influence of the church and its relation to secular sources of power which forms the cultural context of Machiavelli’s Prince; explain how this text marks a departure from the Constantinian fusion of church and state power.
•        Contrast the authority of Descartes’ philosophical method with the traditional authorities of church and state; explain how Descartes may be considered a revolutionary turning point within modernity
•        Examine the conflict between religious thought and strains of modernist philosophy (rationalism, idealism, nihilism).