Center For Arts and Letters

AUSTIN, TX

INTRODUCING UATX’S B.A. IN LIBERAL STUDIES:

LAUNCHING FALL 2024

statue of a man with a bird on his hand

course overview

Program layout

Intellectual Foundations

54 credit hours

Center Foundations

18 credit hours

Center Core

36 credit hours

Concentration

27 credit hours

Electives

24 credit hours

Polaris

21 credit hours

Total for degree

180 credit hours

Areas of
Concentration

Literature and Creative Writing

view of a circular building with a skylight in the middle
Center Foundations
ALT 1010
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of ancient Rome from its founding to its decline, fall, and continuation as Byzantium. Why was ancient Rome able to conquer and rule most of the Mediterranean world? Why did it eventually collapse? What did ancient Romans believe? What kind of debates did they have? What is distinctive about ancient Roman culture, and how did it change over time? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of ancient Rome.

ALT 1020
Crown, Cathedral, and Crusade (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of Britain and Europe from late antiquity to the end of the fifteenth century, including the interaction between Europe and the Arabic-speaking world. How did the legacy of Greek and Roman antiquity, the feudal system, Celtic paganism, Scandinavian heathenism, Christianity, and the encounter with Islam shape English and European culture from the fall of Rome up to the Renaissance and the Reformation? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of medieval Britain and Europe, as well as their relation to the Near East.

ALT 1030
The Renaissance and the Reformation (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of England and Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, including the interaction between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as well as some consideration of the contemporary Mughal Empire. How did the feuding city-states of early modern Italy produce unprecedented innovation in the arts? How did Greek scholars fleeing the Ottoman Empire change the course of intellectual history? Why did authors such as Erasmus and Rabelais begin to doubt the value of philosophy? What were the origins of the Reformation? And why did it lead to a century of warfare? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of early modern England and Europe, as well as some exposure to contemporary developments in the Near East and South Asia.

ALT 1040
Reason and Revolution (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of England and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with particular attention to the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. Initially, the sectarian violence of the early modern Wars of Religion gave way to new ideals of moderation, tolerance, and religious pluralism. Over time, however, Christianity encountered a new challenge in the form of philosophical materialism and unabashed atheism. What new ways of thinking prompted the Scientific Revolution? What were the arguments of the philosophes? What were the counter-arguments of contemporary conservatives? What led to the French Revolution? Did this outbreak of popular violence prove a change for the better or the worse? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England and France.

ALT 1050
Romanticism and Realism (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the restless, rapidly developing cultural, intellectual, and political landscape of England, Europe, and Russia in the nineteenth century, including the German Counter-Enlightenment, philosophical idealism, the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the populist Revolutions of 1848, and new experiments in literary and artistic naturalism. Why did German and English authors turn against the influence of the French Enlightenment? How did German philosophers move beyond the early modern tension between empiricism and rationalism? What is a ‘superfluous man’? Did the reforms instituted by Napoleon fulfill the aims of the French Revolution? What did Tocqueville and Marx think of the so-called ‘Springtime of Nations’? What was the Paris Commune? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural, intellectual, and political history of nineteenth-century England, Europe, and Russia.

ALT 1060
The Sublime and the Beautiful I: Classical, Medieval, and Early Modern (1.5 credits)

What is beauty? What is the sublime? This course introduces the history of competing claims about aesthetics, alongside acclaimed masterpieces of classical, medieval, and early modern art, architecture, and music.

ALT 1180
The Sublime and the Beautiful II: Modern and Contemporary (1.5 credits)

What is beauty? What is the sublime? This course explores the more recent history of competing claims about aesthetics, alongside acclaimed masterpieces of early modern, modern, and contemporary art, architecture, and music.
Prerequisite:  ALT 1160

Center Core
ALT 1060
Decadence, Modernism, and the Great War (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural, intellectual, and political landscape of England, Europe, and Russia at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, as fin-de-siècle decadence gave way to the ‘Great War’ we now know as World War I, as well as the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. What led to this period of violent upheaval? How do political movements such as anarchism, fascism, and Marxism both resemble each other and differ? What prompted experiments in art and architecture such as Dada, Surrealism, Cubism, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco? How did the film industry begin? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural, intellectual, and political history of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century England, Europe, and Russia.

ALT 1200
The Theory Wars (1.5 credits)

This course introduces students to twentieth-century controversies about method in the humanities. How should we interpret a cultural artifact such as painting or a poem? Students will consider the relative merits of formalism, historicism, and psychoanalysis, as well as arguments for and against “critique,” in light of movements such as Formalism, New Criticism, psychoanalysis, Deconstruction, and New Historicism.
Prerequisite:  ALT 1160, ALT 1180

ALT 1220
Postmodernism and the End of History (1.5 credits)

Is history meaningful? Does it have a direction or a purpose? This course introduces the concept of postmodernism and explores its intellectual origins and artistic expression, within the larger context of the collapse of Communism at the end of the twentieth century and the current crisis of liberalism. Students read works and excerpts from works such as Foucault, “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History”; Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition; Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation; Jameson, Postmodernism; Gray, Liberalism; Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man; and Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed.
Prerequisite:  ALT 1060

ALT 1240
Colonialism, Decolonization, and Postcolonialism (1.5 credits)

This course introduces the intellectual and cultural history of European colonialism and decolonization, focusing on the origins, effects, and legacy of European imperialism from the eighteenth century to the present day, and engaging with ongoing debates about its possible benefits to the colonized, as well as the colonizers, in light of its human cost. Students read works and excerpts from works such as Conrad, Heart of Darkness; Achebe, “An Image of Africa”; Watts, “A Bloody Racist”; Gilley, “King Hochschild’s Hoax”; Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks; Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth; Saïd, Orientalism; Lewis, “The Question of Orientalism”; Ferguson, Empire; and Biggar, Colonialism.

ALT 1260
Critical Theory (1.5 credits)

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Eastern Bloc turned away from Communism. Marxism, discredited by the evidence of history, began to take on new forms, sometimes at odds with its former premises and conclusions. This course explores the development of Marxism from the counterculture of the 1960s to the present day, with
reference to Gramsci, Marcuse, and present-day identity politics.

ALT 3320
Shakespeare: Comedies and Problem Plays (1.5 credits)

Students will read and discuss Shakespeare’s most important comedies and problem plays, including in particular A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and Much Ado about Nothing, as well as The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and The Merchant of Venice.

Assessment for all other Center Core courses in Literature and Creative Writing (listed below) includes the option of a ‘creative critical’ project responding to the primary sources under study in addition to more abstract research essays grounded in historical context and engaged in formal analysis.

ALT 1300
Tragedy (3 credits)

What is tragedy? How does it work? How has it changed over time? This course traces the history of tragedy from antiquity to the present day. Students read plays such as Sophocles, Oedipus the King; Miller, Death of a Salesman; and Soyinka, Death and the King’s Horseman, as well as selections from secondary sources such as Steiner, The Death of Tragedy, and Nuttall, Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? Students may also read short stories and watch films.

ALT 1400
Comedy (3 credits)

What is comedy? How does it work? How has it changed over time? This course traces the history of comedy from antiquity to the present day. Students read plays by authors such as Aristophanes, Plautus, Molière, Gay, Wilde, and Stoppard, as well as selections from secondary sources such as Hutcheson, Thoughts on Laughter, and Freud, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Students may also read short stories and watch films.

ALT 1500
Medieval Literature (3 credits)

This course introduces students to acclaimed and influential works of literature written in the Middle Ages.

ALT 1600
Early Modern Literature (3 credits)

This course introduces students to acclaimed and influential works of literature written in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

ALT 1800
Romantic and Victorian Literature (3 credits)

This course introduces students to acclaimed and influential works of literature written in the nineteenth century.

ALT 1900
Modern and Contemporary Literature (3 credits)

This course introduces students to acclaimed and influential works of literature written in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries.

ALT 1950
American Literature (3 credits)

This course introduces students to acclaimed and influential works of literature written in North America, ranging from the Revolutionary Period to the present day.

ALT 3300
Shakespeare: Tragedies and Romances (3 credits)

Students read and discuss Shakespeare’s most important tragedies and romances, including in particular Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear, as well as Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.

Concentration

Students concentrating in Literature and Creative Writing must take at least 6 credits of Writing Studio. This course is available to juniors and seniors in increments of 3 credits per term and may be repeated for credit. Students can take up to 18 credits of Writing Studio, of which up to 12 may count towards completing their required concentration requirements; any credits of Writing Studio above 12 will count instead as electives.

Long-form assessment for many of the Center Core courses in Literature and Creative Writing (ALT 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1800, 1900, 1950, 3300, 3320) as well as most electives in Literature and Creative Writing will typically include the option of a ‘creative critical’ project responding to the primary sources under study in addition to more abstract research essays grounded in historical context and engaged in formal analysis.

Students in other Centers of Inquiry can enroll in Writing Studio if they have completed at least 6 credits of Center Foundations and/or Center Core in Literature and Creative Writing and are simultaneously enrolled in at least 3 additional credits of Center Foundations or Center Core in Literature and Creative Writing.

In addition to the 6-12 credits that they earn from Writing Studio, students concentrating in Literature and Creative Writing must take their choice of 15-21 credits from the following list, for a total of 27. At least 6 of these credits must be selected from courses focused on material written pre-1800:   Socrates and Montaigne; Dante, The Divine Comedy; Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales; Shakespeare: The Roman Plays; Shakespeare: The History Plays; Milton, Paradise Lost; or a qualifying Special Topic or Independent Study in Literature.

ALT 4000
Writing Studio (minimum 6 credits; maximum 18 credits)

Students will undertake individual projects in creative writing under the guidance of an experienced mentor.

Choose remaining 15-21 credits from below (6 credits must be from pre-1800)

pre-1800
ALT 3100
Dante, The Divine Comedy (3 credits)

Students read and discuss Dante’s Divine Comedy. They may also read some selections from Dante’s Vita Nuova.

ALT 3160
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (1.5 credits)

Students will read and discuss Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

ALT 3200
Socrates and Montaigne (3 credits)

Students read and discuss Montaigne’s Essays, as well as a variety of sources on Socrates, including not only works and excerpts of works by contemporaries such as Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes but also excerpts of works by later authors such as Hegel and Kierkegaard.
Prerequisite:  ALT 2000   
Pre/Co-requisite:  ALT 2020  

ALT 3340
Shakespeare: The Roman Plays (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare’s plays about ancient Rome, including in particular Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra, as well as his epyllion, The Rape of Lucrece. Students may also read Titus Andronicus.
Prerequisite:  ALT 1010

ALT 3360
Shakespeare: The History Plays (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare’s plays about the English Wars of the Roses, including in particular Richard II, 1-2 Henry IV, and Henry V.

ALT 3400
Milton, Paradise Lost (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Milton’s Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.

ALT 4100
Special Topics in Literature Pre 1800 (1.5 credits)

Special Topics

ALT 4110
Special Topics in Literature Pre 1800 (3 credits)

Special Topics

ALT 4300
Independent Study Pre 1800 (1.5 credits)

Independent Study in Literature

ALT 4310
Independent Study Pre 1800 (3 credits)

Independent Study in Literature

post-1800
ALT 3500
Austen (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss a selection of Jane Austen’s most celebrated novels.

ALT 3720
Kierkegaard (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by Kierkegaard.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3700

ALT 3740
Melville, Moby Dick (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Melville’s novel Moby Dick, as well as his novella, Billy Budd.

ALT 3760
Dostoyevsky (3 credits)

Students read and discuss several of Dostoyevsky’s most acclaimed novels, including in particular Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

ALT 3780
Nietzsche (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by Nietzsche.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3760

ALT 3900
Joyce (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Joyce, Ulysses. Students may also read selections from Joyce, Dubliners.

ALT 4200
Special Topics in Literature Post 1800 (1.5 credits)

Special Topics

ALT 4210
Special Topics in Literature Post 1800 (3 credits)

Special Topics

ALT 4400
Independent Study Post 1800 (1.5 credits)

Independent Study in Literature

ALT 4410
Independent Study Post 1800 (3 credits)

Ethics and Politics

a close up of a statue of a man with a beard
Center Foundations
ALT 1010
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of ancient Rome from its founding to its decline, fall, and continuation as Byzantium. Why was ancient Rome able to conquer and rule most of the Mediterranean world? Why did it eventually collapse? What did ancient Romans believe? What kind of debates did they have? What is distinctive about ancient Roman culture, and how did it change over time? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of ancient Rome.

ALT 1020
Crown, Cathedral, and Crusade (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of Britain and Europe from late antiquity to the end of the fifteenth century, including the interaction between Europe and the Arabic-speaking world. How did the legacy of Greek and Roman antiquity, the feudal system, Celtic paganism, Scandinavian heathenism, Christianity, and the encounter with Islam shape English and European culture from the fall of Rome up to the Renaissance and the Reformation? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of medieval Britain and Europe, as well as their relation to the Near East.

ALT 1100
Faith, Reason, and Science I: Medieval, Contemporary, & Early Modern (1.5 credits)

This course examines the distinctiveness, interrelation, relative limitations, and relative scope of three sometimes-rivalrous epistemologies: faith, reason, and science. Are traditional religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam compatible with the exercise of logic, as well as the evidence of our senses? Can belief in the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent God be reconciled to the existence of human pain and suffering? Is belief in evolution compatible with belief that the world was created by God? What is the scientific method? Can we operate on the assumption that the world is entirely material, or is speculation about metaphysics and the supernatural an inevitable given of the human condition? Through guided reading and in-class discussion, students will acquire an in-depth knowledge of many of the most important and influential debates about the relation between faith, reason, and science from antiquity to the Enlightenment.

ALT 1120
Faith, Reason, and Science II: Modern and Contemporary (1.5 credits)

This course examines the distinctiveness, interrelation, relative limitations, and relative scope of three sometimes-rivalrous epistemologies: faith, reason, and science. Are traditional religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam compatible with the exercise of logic, as well as the evidence of our senses? Can belief in the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent God be reconciled to the existence of human pain and suffering? Is belief in evolution compatible with belief that the world was created by God? What is the scientific method? Can we operate on the assumption that the world is entirely material, or is speculation about metaphysics and the supernatural an inevitable given of the human condition? Through guided reading and in-class discussion, students will acquire an in-depth knowledge of many of the most important and influential debates about the relation between faith, reason, and science from the Enlightenment to the present day.
Prerequisite:  ALT 1100

ALT 3000
Plato, Republic (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Plato’s Republic. They may also read and discuss some selections from Plato’s Laws.

EPH 1610
Introduction to World Economic and Political History (4.5 credits)

This course introduces students to the basic political and economic facts of human history, seeking both to describe and explain the variation in observed economic and political outcomes across time and space, which also requires a discussion of how to approach identifying causality when studying historical change. Variation that will be studied occurs over several dimensions: material well-being, which activities people are engaged in, the scale of economic and political organizations, the degree of centralization of political power, population density, the extent of individual freedom, the geographic range of economic transactions, and the extent to which political systems are democratic.

EPH 1810
History, Historiography, and the Philosophy of History (3 credits)

This course introduces students to the discipline of history by offering a combination of the history of Western historiography and key readings in the philosophy and methodology of history. Topics include contemporary controversies over the politicization of history, the origins of the Western historical tradition, and recent debates on historical causation and counterfactuals. A key objective is to familiarize students with some of the pioneers of historical scholarship and writing, from Thucydides to Isaiah Berlin.

Center Core
ALT 1030
The Renaissance and the Reformation (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of England and Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth century, including the interaction between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as well as some consideration of the contemporary Mughal Empire. How did the feuding city-states of early modern Italy produce unprecedented innovation in the arts? How did Greek scholars fleeing the Ottoman Empire change the course of intellectual history? Why did authors such as Erasmus and Rabelais begin to doubt the value of philosophy? What were the origins of the Reformation? And why did it lead to a century of warfare? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of early modern England and Europe, as well as some exposure to contemporary developments in the Near East and South Asia

ALT 1040
Reason and Revolution (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of England and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with particular attention to the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. Initially, the sectarian violence of the early modern Wars of Religion gave way to new ideals of moderation, tolerance, and religious pluralism. Over time, however, Christianity encountered a new challenge in the form of philosophical materialism and unabashed atheism. What new ways of thinking prompted the Scientific Revolution? What were the arguments of the philosophes? What were the counter-arguments of contemporary conservatives? What led to the French Revolution? Did this outbreak of popular violence prove a change for the better or the worse? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England and France.

ALT 1050
Romanticism and Realism (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the restless, rapidly developing cultural, intellectual, and political landscape of England, Europe, and Russia in the nineteenth century, including the German Counter-Enlightenment, philosophical idealism, the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the populist Revolutions of 1848, and new experiments in literary and artistic naturalism. Why did German and English authors turn against the influence of the French Enlightenment? How did German philosophers move beyond the early modern tension between empiricism and rationalism? What is a ‘superfluous man’? Did the reforms instituted by Napoleon fulfill the aims of the French Revolution? What did Tocqueville and Marx think of the so-called ‘Springtime of Nations’? What was the Paris Commune? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural, intellectual, and political history of nineteenth-century England, Europe, and Russia.

ALT 1060
Decadence, Modernism, and Postmodernism (3 credits)

This course is a general introduction to the cultural, intellectual, and political landscape of England, Europe, and Russia at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, as fin-de-siècle decadence gave way to the ‘Great War’ we now know as World War I, as well as the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. What led to this period of violent upheaval? How do political movements such as anarchism, fascism, and Marxism both resemble each other and differ? What prompted experiments in art and architecture such as Dada, Surrealism, Cubism, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco? How did the film industry begin? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, you will acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural, intellectual, and political history of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century England, Europe, and Russia.

ALT 2000
Classical Ethics I: Plato, Aristotle, and Hellenistic Philosophers (1.5 credits)

This course compares and contrast rival claims about ethics in ancient Greece and Rome, starting with Plato and Aristotle and encompassing later Hellenistic schools of thought such as Stoicism, Skepticism, Epicureanism, Cynicism, and Neo-Platonism. Students may consider the appropriation of classical ethics by theologians committed to Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in later antiquity, as well as the revival of classical schools of thought such as Stoicism in the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the present day. Students may also consider non-Western analogues.

ALT 2020
Classical Ethics II: Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch (1.5 credits)

This course compares and contrasts rival claims about ethics in ancient Greece and Rome, focusing on the reception of Plato and Aristotle, as well as later Hellenistic schools of thought such as Stoicism, Skepticism, Epicureanism, Cynicism, and Neo-Platonism, in the work of Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch. 
Prerequisite:  ALT 2000

ALT 2100
Classical Political Philosophy (3 credits)

This course compares and contrasts rival claims about politics in ancient Greece and Rome, beginning with Plato and Aristotle and encompassing later authors such as Polybius, Cicero, Plutarch, and St. Augustine. Students may also consider non-Western analogues.

ALT 2200
Medieval and Early Modern Ethics (3 credits)

This course explores rival claims about morality and the moral implications of human psychology written in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Enlightenment, including works and excerpts of works by authors such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Montaigne, de la Rochefoucauld, de la Bruyère, Mandeville, the British Moralists, and French philosophes.

ALT 2300
Medieval and Early Modern Political Philosophy (3 credits)

This course explores works on the structure of human societies and the political implications of human nature written in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Enlightenment, including works by conservative and progressive thinkers and critics as well as proponents of liberalism.

ALT 2600
Methodological Approaches to Political Philosophy (3 credits)

How and why should we study political philosophy? This course will explore ongoing debates about method within political philosophy, as well as the relation of political philosophy to other disciplines such as sociology and political science.

ALT 2700
Introduction to the History and Culture of China (4.5 credits)

This course will introduce students to the intellectual and cultural history of China, ranging from antiquity to the present day, and including art, architecture, music, literature, theater, and film, as well as treatises and excerpts of works on ethics, politics, and aesthetics.

ALT 3220
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Machavelli’s Discourses on Livy, as well as some selections from Livy’s Ab urbe condita (“From the Founding of the City”).
Prerequisite:  ALT 1010

ALT 3340
Shakespeare: The Roman Plays (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare’s plays about ancient Rome, including in particular Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra, as well as his epyllion, The Rape of Lucrece. Students may also read Titus Andronicus.
Prerequisite:  ALT 1010

ALT 3360
Shakespeare: The History Plays (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare’s plays about the English Wars of the Roses, including in particular Richard II, 1-2 Henry IV, and Henry V.

Concentration
ALT 1220
Postmodernism and the End of History (1.5 credits)

Is history meaningful? Does it have a direction or a purpose? This course introduces the concept of postmodernism and explores its intellectual origins and artistic expression, within the larger context of the collapse of Communism at the end of the twentieth century and the current crisis of liberalism. Students read works and excerpts from works such as Foucault, “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History”; Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition; Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation; Jameson, Postmodernism; Gray, Liberalism; Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man; and Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed. 
Prerequisite:  ALT 1060

ALT 1260
Critical Theory (1.5 credits)

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Eastern Bloc turned away from Communism. Marxism, discredited by the evidence of history, began to take on new forms, sometimes at odds with its former premises and conclusions. This course explores the development of Marxism from the counterculture of the 1960s to the present day, with reference to Gramsci, Marcuse, and present-day identity politics.

ALT 2400
Modern and Contemporary Political Philosophy (3 credits)

This course explores works on the structure of human societies and the political implications of human nature written in the nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first centuries, including works by conservative as well as progressive thinkers and critics as well as proponents of liberalism.

ALT 2500
Self and Other: The Ethics and Politics of Recognition (3 credits)

This course explores the ethical and political implications of “recognition” (German, Anerkennung), including its connection to the Greek concept of thumos, as well as its relation to the social importance of “honor.” Students will focus on the role of recognition in Hegel’s thought, as well as its reception and transformation in the work of later philosophers. Students will read and discuss works and excerpts of works by authors such as Hegel, Kojève, Sartre, Buber, Lévinas, Ricoeur, Fukuyama, and Honneth.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3700

ALT 3200
Socrates and Montaigne (3 credits)

Students read and discuss Montaigne’s Essays, as well as a variety of sources on Socrates, including not only works and excerpts of works by contemporaries such as Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes but also excerpts of works by later authors such as Hegel and Kierkegaard.
Prerequisite:  ALT 2000   
Pre/Co-requisite:  ALT 2020  

ALT 3600
Montesquieu, The Spirit of Law (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws.
Prerequisite:  ALT 2100

ALT 3620
Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3600

ALT 3700
Kant and Hegel (3 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by Kant and Hegel.

ALT 3720
Kierkegaard (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by Kierkegaard.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3700

ALT 3760
Dostoyevsky (3 credits)

Students read and discuss several of Dostoyevsky’s most acclaimed novels, including in particular Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

ALT 3780
Nietzsche (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by Nietzsche.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3760

ALT 3800
Arendt and Strauss (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by Arendt and Strauss.
Prerequisite:  ALT 3760

ALT 3850
MacIntyre (1.5 credits)

Students read and discuss works and excerpts of works by MacIntyre, including in particular After Virtue; Whose Justice? Which Rationality?; Three Rival Versions of Moral Inquiry; and Dependent Rational Animals.
Prerequisite:  ALT 2000, ALT 2020, ALT 2200