Humanities, B.A.

The overarching guiding principles of the humanities program (as well as for the philosophy program) are "knowledge, responsibility, and society." Students do not simply gain facts about the world, but they gain "responsible knowledge," that is, knowledge that is rooted in and answerable to the needs of individuals, groups within society and the larger human and natural community. We expose students to culturally significant objects (both past and present), systems of thought and belief, and practices. The goal is that students should be able to place themselves within their world, and understand the influences on and meaningful aspects of their world and the worlds of others. We are, thereby, engaged in shaping the worlds to come.

The Humanities program seeks to accomplish the following aims:

To identify and clarify significant, representative examples of cultural creation and practice, for example, art, literature, philosophy, and religion, in various social and historical contexts, at the same time showing important continuities and discontinuities
To analyze and explain typical interconnections between different cultural forms as expressions of understanding, imagination, and feeling
To examine the interdependency between facts and values, and the implications that knowledge has (and should have) for individual and social action
To assess the relevance and prospects of an interdisciplinary, multicultural perspective within the humanities for problems and tasks that face us

As Lorraine Code said:

Epistemic responsibility... is to be found in intellectual virtue and in... a certain orientation to the world and one's knowledge-seeking self as part of the world. An intellectually virtuous person would value knowing and understanding how things 'really' are, to the extent this is possible, renouncing both the temptation to live with partial explanations when fuller ones are attainable, and the temptation to live in fantasy or illusion. Such a person would consider it better to know, despite the comfortable complacency that a life indiscriminately governed by fantasy, and illusion, might offer.

Honors in the Major

Students considering graduate school are strongly encouraged to apply for Honors in the Major. Requirements are outlined in the Undergraduate Catalog Requirements.

More Information

Related Faculty

Bruce B. Janz
Department Chair
Research Interests: Research on Place and Space; Contemporary African Philosophy; Cultural Philosophy; Contemporary European Philosophy; Aesthetics and Visual Culture; History of Mysticism; Interdisciplinarity

Shaun Gallagher
Professor
Research Interests: Phenomenology and philosophical psychology; Cognitive Science; Embodied cognition; Action theory; Self and personal identity; Time

Nancy A. Stanlick
Assistant Department Chair
Research Interests: Ethics; Social Philosophy; Academic Ethics; History of Modern and American Philosophy

Jennifer Mundale
Associate Professor

Claudia Schippert
Associate Professor
Research Interests: The central focus of Schippert's research in queer theory and religion is the body: how bodies are discursively constructed in religious traditions as well as in American culture; how popular culture and various media affect representations and practices of bodies; and how these questions can be pursued in ways that call attention to the role of gender, race, and sexuality in contemporary society.

Mason Cash
Assistant Professor