Introduction
to Western Humanities
The Introduction to Western Humanities sequence at Kansas
State University consists of four courses. Each
carries 3 semester hours of academic credit towards the Bachelor
of Arts or the Bachelor of Science degree at Kansas State
University. Each course is eligible to fulfill a number of
requirements for undergraduate degrees and certificates at Kansas
State University. Among these are:
These courses need not be taken in sequence.
In a given semester, a given course may be taught by more than
one instructor, so it is important, before buying texts from one
of the bookstores, to make sure who is teaching the particular
section you happen to be enrolled in.
English 231: Classical
Cultures
- An introduction to the
literature, history, and art of two major world
civilizations, Ancient Greece and Rome. We will read a
wide range of texts spanning nearly 1000 years, from the
eighth century B.C. to the second century A.D. An
important issue we will explore is how the Greeks and
Romans thought about eros - what we call love and sex.
We will read all or part of the
following: Homer, Odyssey;
Hesiod, Works and Days
(early Greek mythology), Herodotus, The
Histories (the major work by the
author some call "The Father of History,"
others, "The Father of Lies"); Plato, Symposium
(the great work of Greek philosophy about eros);
Aeschylus, The Oresteia;
Aristophanes, Lysistrata,
The Clouds;
Euripedes, Medea;
Ovid, The Art of Love
and Metamorphoses;
Petronius, Satyrica;
Achilles Tatius, Leukippe and
Kleitophon (second-century A.D.
comedy-adventure novel). Lyric poets will include Sappho,
Archilochus, Horace, Ovid, and Catullus. Through slide
presentations, videos, and assigned readings, we will
also review the origins of classical vase painting,
sculpture, and architecture. Assignments will include two
papers, a mid-term exam, a final exam, and short
assignments. [Professor Behlman's description of
the Fall 2003 edition of his course]
- An introduction to the ancient cultures of Greece and
Rome, and the beginning of our ideas of "the
humanities": literature, art,
architecture, philosophy, and
history. Readings will include selections from
Homer, several Greek plays, selections from Plato,
Aristotle, and Greek and Roman historians, Vergil, and
Roman satire and lyric. Generous use will be
made of the department's collection of slides showing
Greek and Roman art and architecture. The
material covered in this course represents the
fundamental bases of Western Civilization, and the course
is thus a good introduction to the humanities and their
materials and methods, for all majors. Grades
based on tests and final (partly short answer, partly
essay) and partly on class exercises and preparation. [Professor
Donnelly's description of the Fall 96 edition of his
course.]
Faculty who teach English 231:
English 232: Medieval
and Renaissance
- This course introduces the student to major
concepts of literature, art, architecture, philosophy,
and music which shaped western culture during the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance. Reading assignments include
works by Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Machiavelli, Montaigne,
and many others. Class activities include slides,
recordings, lectures, and discussions. Grades are based
upon careful reading, class participation, four in-class
exams, and two out-of-class essays. [Ms.
Warren's description of the Fall 2002 edition of her
course.]
Faculty who teach English 232:
English 233: Baroque
and Enlightenment
- The course explores selected
masterpieces of literature, philosophy, and the visual
arts in the context of the challenges to centuries-long
authority that emerged in the course of the 16th,
17th, and 18th
centuries: challenges to traditional pictures
of human nature, of the species' place within the cosmos,
of proper social relationships, and of political
legitimacy. Central to all of this is a series
of theological crises that bear on the authority of
religion itself, and specifically the validity of
traditional Christianity: on the authority of the Bible,
on whether Faith or Reason should predominate in
determining our ideas and actions, on the nature of God's
will concerning how human beings are to achieve Heaven
and avoid Hell (and ultimately whether Heaven, Hell, and
God even exist), on whether religion should be the basis
of civic life or should be kept out of the political
realm. Among the authors whose works we will
explore are Martin Luther, John Donne, Francis Bacon,
John Milton, René Descartes, Molière, Jonathan Swift,
Alexander Pope, Voltaire, and Immanuel
Kant. Artists with whose work we will become
acquainted are Michaelangelo Caravaggio, Gianlorenzo
Bernini, and Jacques-Louis David. This is the
traumatic period in Europe and the Americas that brought
into being what is generally called “the modern
world.” [Mr. Baker's
description of the Fall 2002 edition of his course.]
Faculty who teach English 233:
English 234: The
Modern Period
- Modern Humanities finishes the four-course
sequence of the humanities series by asking both what it
is to be "modern" and what constitute "the
humanities." Course readings are an
interdisciplinary mix of literature, philosophy, history,
and examples of the fine arts--from the time of the
French Revolution up until the present. [Professor
Brigham's description of the Fall 2002 edition of her
course.]
Faculty who teach English 234:
Go to our glossary article on the term "humanities".