Great Books Honors

B.A. with a Major in Great Books Honors

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Great Books Honors cultivates wisdom through engagement with the foundational texts of the human tradition and offers students a coherent course of study centered on the classics of philosophy, literature, theology, science, art, and political thought.

The core of the major is an eight-course sequence, accompanied by discussion sections and intensive preceptorial seminars, which form the basis for further curricular and extracurricular educational experiences for the students. Students read works from ancient thinkers to those of the twentieth century and are introduced to multiple traditions—Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian, Enlightenment, Romantic, and beyond. Interdisciplinary by design and integrative in spirit, this major inquires into the internal debates which have animated the most spirited disputes of Western Civilization, and which illuminate the encounter between East and West.

Courses emphasize close reading, dialectical reasoning, and open but rigorous discussion. Students wrestle with the enduring themes of human life to become problem-solvers who think dynamically, write persuasively, and lead with character and purpose.

Great Books Honors is designed to be integrated with numerous other pursuits and majors across the university. A non-honors option is available for internal transfer students. The B.A. in Great Books Honors is offered in partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas.