Basic Program of Liberal Education

Courses

Quarter
Day(s)
sculpture of Aristotle
BASC80038 Summer

Reading Aristotle, On the Soul (De Anima, Peri Psyches) Reading Aristotle, On the Soul (De Anima, Peri Psyches)

In this relatively short but important and foundational work, Aristotle explores the nature of the life force, psyche or soul. Soul, as Aristotle addresses it, is a philosophical and scientific...

image of Shakespeare
BASC70242 Summer

Shakespearean Comedies: As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure Shakespearean Comedies: As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure

In this course we’ll read three of Shakespeare’s comedies, all believed to have been written between 1599 and 1604. There are elements that unite these three plays – disguises, heartache, severe moral...

sculpture of spinoza
BASC70254 Summer

Spinoza's Ethics Spinoza's Ethics

A deep dive into seventeenth-century's most controversial philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, variously portrayed throughout history as: "the accursed Jew of Amsterdam" and "the Atheistic Euclid" by some; a...

sculpture of Suetonius
BASC70245 Summer

Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars

In The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius examines the amazing and sometimes bizarre lives of the early rulers of the Roman Empire, beginning with Julius Caesar and ending with Domitian. Composed as...

Supreme Court building
BASC80036 Summer

Supreme Court Review, 2023-24 Term Supreme Court Review, 2023-24 Term

The Supreme Court of the United States will be completing its 2023-24 term this summer. In this course, we will read and discuss a selection of its most important decisions.

old books
BASC70248 Summer

The Apocrypha and other Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period(400 BCE to 100CE The Apocrypha and other Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period(400 BCE to 100CE

This course on the Apocrypha and other Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period will be followed with a three quarter sequence on the New Testament 2024-2025.

film camera on set
BASC70256 Summer

The Grammar and Syntax of Cinematic Style—Past, Present and Future The Grammar and Syntax of Cinematic Style—Past, Present and Future

This course is a continuation of a project examining the nature and history of cinema with reference to (1) techniques of representation and attendant psychological depictions of emotional networks...

old black and white drawing
BASC80035 Summer

Three Misanthropes Three Misanthropes

This course covers three plays focused on misanthropes: two by Shakespeare that are more tragic in tone (Timon of Athens and Coriolanus) and one comedy by Moliere (The Misanthrope). What makes these...

tropical islands
BASC70243 Summer

What are Islands for, in Novels? What are Islands for, in Novels?

This course covers classic and more recent ‘island novels’ with a view to asking what the island affords the novel. Not what the island means, but rather what kinds of stories the island enables the...

woman in white
BASC80039 Summer

Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White

The “woman in white” of the title is a mysterious young woman in distress whom art teacher Walter Hartright attempts to help. Much like The Moonstone, the story is an early detective novel told by...