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Classes

Introductory Latin (Instructor)

Semester: 

N/A

Offered: 

2014

An intensive ab initio Latin course covering basic grammar, short introductory texts and the history of the Latin language.

Hist 1300 Western Intellectual History: Greco-Roman Antiquity (Head TF)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2013

A survey of major themes in the intellectual history of the Greek and Roman World, with special attention to metaphysics, psychology, ethics and the philosophic life. Readings in the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Epictetus, Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Augustine, and Boethius.

with Professor James Hankins

ER34 Liberty (Head TF)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2013

What is liberty? What considerations justify taking away an individual's freedom? All modern political philosophies and all forms of government claim to be liberating individuals or groups from oppression, but can these claims withstand critical scrutiny? Is power in the hands of the state the best way to secure the freedom and happiness of individuals? Beginning with an intellectual history of ideas of freedom in the Western tradition, the course proceeds to examine a series of issues and debates that invoke the value of freedom in the modern world: taxation, private property, public...

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Hist 1133 The Renaissance in Florence (TF)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2012

The Renaissance has been described by historians as a revival of antiquity, as a revolt against the Middle Ages, and as the beginning of the modern world. This course examines these claims in the context of a detailed examination of the society and culture of Florence, the most important Renaissance center, from the time of Dante to the time of Machiavelli.

with Professor Hankins (History)

Hist 1011 The World of the Roman Empire (TF)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2012

The Roman empire was a very big place: contemporaries were already talking about world rule as early as the second century BCE.  Networks of roads emphasized a closely connected world, and left nobody who used them in any doubt about the centrality of Rome and the power of the Roman state.  The majority of Roman subjects whose views we can trace today could identify correctly the current emperor most of the time.  But there was nothing inevitable about Roman supremacy, and this sense of unity is only part of the story.  In this survey class...

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