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Core Courses

 

Honors Courses take the place of the regular University Core Courses.  In other words, you do not take the Honors Core Curriculum in addition to the University Core Curriculum.  Your coursework, therefore, consists of classes for your Major, classes for your Honors Core, and classes for Elective credit. 

The University Honors Core Curriculum begins with an intensive undergraduate experience combining six interdisciplinary courses in the humanities and sciences with an individualized sequence in writing, critical thinking, and cultural studies.  A second-year sequence in historiography, theology, and natural philosophy prepares the Honors student for the third-year seminars in ethics, interdisciplinary study, and Thesis preparation.  The fourth-year results in the publication of the capstone Thesis project: the culmination of independent research under the individual guidance of a Professor and the participation in the Senior Thesis Forum. 

There is also a Foreign Language Requirement of proficiency to the level of nine semester hours (AP or Transfer credits may apply) and University Core offerings from Arts (critical or creative) and an upper division (300-level) Theological Studies course.

Below is the typical sequence of Honors Core courses.  Click on the title for a course description as well as a list of texts you may encounter.

Year One

HNRS 100: College Writing Tutorial
HNRS 101: American Persona
HNRS 105: Wealth of Nations
HNRS 115: On the Sublime
HNRS 120: On Human Dignity
HNRS 130: Society and Its Discontents
HNRS 140: On Motion and Mechanics

Year Two

HNRS 215: Imago Dei                                         
HNRS 220: Republic to Prince                                  
HNRS 230: Age of Leviathan                                            
HNRS 240: On the Nature of Things                                                      

Year Three

HNRS 330: Beyond Good and Evil
HNRS 398: Interdisciplinary Seminar
HNRS 495: Thesis Seminar I

Year Four

HNRS 496: Thesis Seminar II
HNRS 497: Honors Thesis

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Honors Core Curriculum is the relationship with the LMU Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department where students can include rare books and archival collections in their Honors experience. Our students find it especially rewarding to work with centuries-old books as part of their studies and research.

Would you like to examine the beautiful 1481 edition of Dante’s Divina Commedia, a masterpiece of Renaissance printing? Or page through an actual copy of Shakespeare’s famous First Folio?

These books and many other rare editions of titles included in the Honors Program course lists are available to you in the Library. Please see the Archives and Special Collectionsfor more information, and note that the books and illustrations depicted on these pages are from titles housed in the Library’s Department of Archives and Special Collections.  

Click on the text below each image to go directly to that book's catalogue information. Then, make an appointment to see the book in person!

 

HNRS100
[Back to Year One course list]

Writing Tutorial

1 Semester Hour

Individual tutorial which guides students in the writing of clear, logical, and cogent essays, with an emphasis on close and accurate readings of the texts from HNRS 115.  Concurrent enrollment in HNRS 115 required.

The text for this course is The Book required of all First Year Students.  A private meeting with the Author is also scheduled for each Fall.

HNRS101 [Back to Year One course list] American Persona 3 Semester Hours A critical or creative art course, involving intensive writing, based on film, theatre or other artistic works that reflecting the political, social, and literary diversity of the cultures in which we live. In the past, plays have been taken from the following authors: Eugene O’Neill August Wilson Marsha Norman Lillian Hellman Cherrie Moraga Tennessee Williams Arthur Miller Luis Valdez Octavio Solis David Henry Hwang Steven Dietz Edward Albee Philip Kan Gotanda Paula Vogel Suzan-Lori Parks Elizabeth Wong Sam Shepard Terrance McNally Tony Kushner Ntozake Shange William Yellow Robe LeRoi Jones (Baraka) Hanay Geiogamah Culture Clash

Portrait of Walt Whitman. Engraved frontispiece from: Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1855. First edition, first issue.

 

HNRS115 [Back to Year One course list] On the Sublime 3 Semester Hours A Great Ideas series that establishes the overarching themes of the intellectual tradition commonly called the humanities: literature, philosophy, history, theology, political science, psychology, and economics. Some texts may be drawn from the following list: Aeschylus, Oresteia Aristophanes, Lysistrata Austen, Pride and Prejudice Beethoven, Sonatas Chaucer, Canterbury Tales De Botton, The Art of Travel Derrida, Memoirs of the Blind Desbiolles, The Cuttlefish Dickens, Great Expectations Dickinson, Poems Euripides, Hippolytus, Bacchae Fadiman, Ex Libris Hayden, Quartets Homer, Iliad, Odyssey Leader, Stealing the Mona Lisa Milton, Paradise Lost Morrison, Playing in the Dark Mozart, Don Giovanni Munro, The Lives of Girls and Women Schubert, Songs Shakespeare, Henry V, King Lear, Sonnets Sontag, On Photography Sophocles, Theban Cycle, Philoctetes Wagner, Tristan and Isolde

The Trojan Horse. Woodcut from: P. Virgilii Maronis Opera. Venetiis [Venice], 1542.

 

HNRS120 [Back to Year One course list] On Human Dignity 3 Semester Hours An examination of what it means to be human as reflected in and fashioned by significant philosophical works, both classical and contemporary. Some texts may be drawn from the following list: Aristotle, Metaphysics Aurelius, Meditations Confucius, The Analects Descartes, Meditations Foucault, 'What is Enlightenment' Hume, Treatise of Human Nature Kant, 'An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment' Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics Plato, Meno, Gorgias, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Parmenides, Theatetus, Sophist, Timaeus, Phaedrus Virgil, Aeneid

Map of the voyages of Aeneas. Engraving from: P. Virgilii Maronis Opera. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam], 1746.

 

HNRS130
[Back to Year One course list]

Society and Its Discontents

3 Semester Hours

A discussion of culture and ideology from the perspective of various critical thinkers and political theorists.

Some texts may be drawn from the following list:

• Aristotle, Politics
• Augustine, Confessions
• Brown, Life Against Death
• Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Spheres
• Euclid, Elements
• Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Civilization and its Discontents
• hooks, All About Love
• James, Psychology, Briefer Course
• Locke, Second Treatise of Government
• Marx, Capital, The German Ideology, Communist Manifesto
• Mill, On Liberty
• Plato, Laws
• Rousseau, Social Contract, The Origin of Inequality
• Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise

HNRS140 [Back to Year One course list] On Motion and Mechanics 3 Semester Hours An experiental course employing the use of scientific and engineering methods to study the environment around us and solve technical problems. Some texts may be drawn from the following list: Aristotle, Physics Dedekind, Essay on the Theory of Numbers Descartes, Geometry, Discourse on Method Einstein, Selected Papers Galileo, Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Harvey, Motion of the Heart and Blood Hatton, Science and Its Ways of Knowing Heisenberg, The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory Huygens, Treatise on Light, On the Movement of Bodies by Impact Kaku, How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry Lobachevsky, Theory of Parallels Millikan, The Electron Newton, Principia Mathematica Nicomachus, Arithmetic Sobel, Longitude Zubrin, The Case for Mars

Chemical apparatus. Engraved plate from: Lavoisier. Essays Physical and Chemical. London, 1776.

 

HNRS215 [Back to Year Two course list] Imago Dei 3 Semester Hours An exploration of the historical, social, and theological images of creation and the divine. Some texts may be drawn from the following list: Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Summa Contra Gentiles Bach, St. Matthew Passion, Inventions Bible Cicero, De Divinatione Dante, Divine Comedy Des Pres, Mas Koran Luther, The Freedom of a Christian Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamikarika Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli St. Augustine, Confessions Stravinsky, Synphony of Psalms Torah

Portrait of St. Augustine. Engraved frontispiece from: Les Confessions de S. Augustin. Paris, 1686.

HNRS220 [Back to Year Two course list] Republic to Prince 3 Semester Hours A study of history and the construction of civilizations from the ancient to early modern periods. Some texts may be drawn from the following list: Erasmus, The Education of a Christian Prince Euripides, Helen Freud, 'Some Thoughts for the Times' Herodotus, Histories Livy, History of Rome Machiavelli, The Prince O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home Owen, Collected Poems Plutarch, 'Lycurgus', 'Solon', 'Caesar', 'Cato the Younger' Sassoon, The War Poems Shakespeare, Henry V Tacitus, Annals Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

Death of Cato the Younger. Engraving from: Plutarch’s Lives. London, 1727. English translation by John Dryden.

 

HNRS230
[Back to Year Two course list]

Age of Leviathan

3 Semester Hours

An historical presentation of the major concepts, ideologies, and movements that have dominated the path to contemporary globalization.

Some texts may be drawn from the following list:

• Barker, Another World
• Baudrillard, Simulacra & Simulation
• Burgess, Clockwork Orange
• Cannistraro, The Western Perspective
• Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
• Dash, Tulipomania
• Foucault, History of Sexuality
• Hobbes, Leviathan
• Kafka, The Trial
• Kurlansky, Salt: A World History
• Levi, Surviving Auschwitz
• Razac, Barbed Wire: A Political History
• Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others
• Trumbo, Johnny Got his Gun

HNRS240
[Back to Year Two course list]

On the Nature of Things (syllabus)

3 Semester Hours

An examination of the history, philosophy, and nature of scientific discovery, theory, and practice.

Some texts may be drawn from the following list:

• Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses
• Aristotle, Physics, On Generation and Corruption
• Bieri, "Humanoids on Other Planets?"
• Darwin, Descent of Man, Origin of Species
• Dawkins, The Selfish Gene; The Blind Watchmaker
• Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea
• Descartes, Discourse on Method
• Grinspoon, Lonely Planets
• Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
• Lakatos, "The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes"
• Lamarck, Zoological Philosophy
• Leibniz, Monadology, Discourse on Metaphysics, Essay on Dynamics, Philosophical Essays, Principles of Nature and Grace
• Lucretius, On the Nature of Things
• Miller, Finding Darwin's God
• Montaigne, Essays
• Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
• Pollan, The Botany of Desire
• Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery
• van Fraassen, The Scientific Image
• Watson, The Double Helix

 

HNRS330 [Back to Year Three course list] Beyond Good and Evil 3 Semester Hours A critique of moral problems through the study of ethics, considering select issues in social justice, science and technology, business and society, medicine and bioethics, or media and responsibility. Some texts may be drawn from the following list: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Bok, Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment Carroll, A Philosophy of Mass Art Coleman, 'Pushing the Boundaries of Personal Ethics' Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil Ravitch, The Language Police Walter, 'Human Gene Transfer' Wenner, 'Manufacturing Movie Markets' White, 'Sharing the Planet: Business, Ethics, and Dolphins'

Caption title of Aristotle’s Ethica, in Greek and Latin. From: Aristotelis Opera Omnia. Parisiis [Paris], 1848-1887.

 

HNRS398
[Back to Year Three course list]

Special Studies: Interdisciplinary Seminar

1-3 Semester Hours

An in-depth, interdisciplinary analysis of a particular theme, problem, or period.  Coursework often involves the student with faculty writing and research, resulting in co-authoring and publication opportunities.

Some recent HNRS 398 course titles include:

• Visions of Freedom
• Diverse Voices
• Myths of Making/Making Myths
• Early American Art, Literature, and Ideas
• Sales Management
• The Axial Age
• Contemporary Art and Cultural Politics
• Issues in Biotechnology
• Science, Theology, and the Future
• Surrealism
• Palestine/Israel Conflict
• Our American System of Taxation
• Body, Desire, Spirituality
• Confession and Exposure
• Achilles in Vietnam

HNRS495
[Back to Year Three course list]

Thesis Seminar I

1-2 Semester Hours

The proposal and preliminaries of the Honors Thesis.

HNRS496
[Back to Year Four course list]

Thesis Seminar II

1-2 Semester Hours

The research, draft, and oral presentation of Thesis progress.

HNRS497
[Back to Year Four course list]

Honors Thesis

1-2 Semester Hours

The publication and submission of the Honors Thesis.