Great Books/Liberal Studies Courses

GBLS 1F90
Great Books Seminar I
Important works of Western literature, philosophy, science and theology from the Greco-Roman world to the 20th century, including Homer, Sophocles, Plato, the Bible, Galileo, Shakespeare, Austen, Darwin, Twain and Freud.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 1P91
Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking
Kinds of argument and their employment in everyday affairs as well as in science and the humanities. Topics include the syllogism, analogical arguments, arguments from authority, and inductive arguments. Instruction in the construction and analysis of arguments.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 1P92
Introduction to Argumentation and Rhetoric
The fundamentals of rational persuasion. Classical dialectics and refutation, arguments that make special appeals such as ad hominem arguments, the different functions of linguistic communication, fallacies and the rules governing interpersonal dispute resolution.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 1P93
Great Books World Tour
Selections from the masterworks of world literature and thought, examining human nature from earliest times to the 20th century. Texts include selections from the Gilgamesh epic (perhaps the first written story), Plato, Confucius, Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji (perhaps the first novel), Jonathan Swift, The 1001 Nights, Mao Zedong, Martin Luther King, Jr., Leacock, and short works by many Nobel Prize winners.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 2F90
Great Books Seminar II
Important works of Western literature, philosophy, science and theology from Homer to Shakespeare, including Aeschylus, Aristotle, the Bible, Vergil, Aquinas, Dante, Machiavelli, Calvin and Copernicus.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: GBLS 1F90 or 1P91 and 1P92 or permission of the Director.

GBLS 2F97
Shakespeare
(also offered as ENGL 2F97)
Poetry and Sonnets; representative plays from all genres: histories, comedies, tragedies and romance; a selection of Sonnets.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: GBLS 1F90 or one ENGL credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.
Completion of this course will replace previous grade assigned in DRAM 3F97

GBLS 2P90
Reason and Persuasion
Important issues in the theory of argumentation through a consideration of the practice of and the theoretical relationships between logic, rhetoric and dialectics. Classical sources (Plato and Aristotle) as well as 19th- and 20th-century developments.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: GBLS 1P91 or 1P92 or PHIL 2P25 or permission of the Director.

GBLS 2P99
Ideas and Culture, 1700-1850
(also offered as HIST 2P99)
Intellectual and cultural developments in Europe and North America during the 18th and early 19th centuries, with particular attention to the exchange of ideas across the Atlantic. Developments in literature and the arts as well as the relationships between high and low culture.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 3F42
Poetry and Poetics
(also offered as ENGL 3F42)
Language, form and technique in poetry with a focus on the modern and contemporary periods.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisites: one ENGL credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 credit and two ENGL credits numbered 2(alpha)00 to 2(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.

GBLS 3F93
Literary Criticism
(also offered as ENGL 3F93)
History, principles and practice of literary criticism. Emphasis on the Classical tradition (Plato, Aristotle, the Renaissance, Neoclassicism); Romantic and late 19th-century developments; 20th-century revitalization.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisites: one ENGL credit numbered 1(alpha)90 to 1(alpha)99 and two ENGL credits numbered 2(alpha)00 to 2(alpha)99 or permission of the instructor.

GBLS 3P00
Ideas and Culture Since 1850
(also offered as HIST 3P00)
Intellectual and cultural developments in Europe and North America during the late 19th- and 20th- centuries.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 3P90
Great Books Seminar III: Part I
Important works of modern Western literature, philosophy, science and theology including Descartes, Milton, Rousseau, Mozart and Goethe.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 3P91
Great Books Seminar IV: Part I
Important works of modern Western literature, philosophy, science and theology including Cervantes, Hobbes, Vico, Lessing and Kant.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 3P95
Aesthetics of Music
(also offered as MUSI 3P95)
Issues of meaning, beauty, value, and greatness in music through analysis of selected readings from Aristoxenus to the present.
Lectures, seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: MUSI 1F50 and 2F90 or GBLS 2F90 or permission of the instructor.

GBLS 3V90-3V94
Special Topics in Great Books/Liberal Studies
Selected topics in Western or non-Western works of literature, philosophy, history, science and/or theology.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 4P01
The Philosophy of Law
(also offered as POLI 4P01)
Traditional and contemporary accounts of law and their implications for issues of contemporary concern.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS (single or combined) majors with either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4P02
Principles of Classical Political Philosophy
(also offered as POLI 4P02)
Premodern political philosophy examined in the works of Plato and Aristotle, emphasizing those features distinguishing ancient political science and philosophy from that of modernity.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS (single or combined) majors with either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4P03
Modern Political Theory
(also offered as POLI 4P03)
Modern political theory examined in selected texts. Topics may include historicism, consent, progress, equality or a selected author such as Rousseau, Kant, Hegel.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS (single or combined) majors with either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4P04
Politics and Tyranny
(also offered as POLI 4P04)
Comparative accounts of ancient and modern tyranny examined in light of the question: has political domination varied significantly in the Western tradition?
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS (single or combined) majors with either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4P05
Shakespeare's Politics
(also offered as POLI 4P05)
Issues of justice; politics, law and morality; republican, mon-archical and tyrannical government as explored in selected Shakespearean comedies, tragedies and histories.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS (single or combined) majors until date specified in the BIRT guide. After that date open to English Plus, ENGL (single or combined) and HIST (single or combined) majors. Students must have either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4P06
Philosophy, Politics and the Family
(also offered as POLI 4P06)
Family relations and their significance for the political community as both have been treated by ancient and modern political philosophers and by contemporary feminists and their critics.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisite: POLI 2P91 and 2P92 (2F90) or 2P93 (2P01 and 3P01) or permission of the instructor.

GBLS 4P07
Postmodern Political Theory
(also offered as POLI 4P07)
Perspectives on the postmodern condition in the works of selected 20th century thinkers. Topics may include notions on the self; aesthetics and politics; reason and power; the construction of meaning.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS (single or combined) majors with either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4P10
Great Books Seminar III: Part II
Important works of modern Western literature, philosophy, science and theology including Flaubert, Eliot, Tolstoy and Nietzsche.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 4P11
Great Books Seminar IV: Part II
Important works of modern Western literature, philosophy, science and theology including Tocqueville, Dostoevsky, Freud and Foucault.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.

GBLS 4P40
Practicum in Great Books/Liberal Studies
Independent study combined with teaching responsibility in Great Books Seminar I.
Restriction: permission of the Director.
Note: each participant will team teach for four weeks with a senior faculty member and complete a written assignment reflecting on the best pedagogical approach to the texts read, suggesting alterations and/or innovations which might enhance the learning process. Post-class discussion and analysis are central to the course. Enrolment by Application to the Director.

GBLS 4P99
Senior Essay and Workshop
Discussion of ideas and issues related to the preparation of a senior Great Books/Liberal Studies essay.
Seminar, tutorial, two terms.

GBLS 4V00-4V09
Selected Problems in Political Theory
(also offered as POLI 4V00-4V09)
A particular writer, work or theoretical problem in political philosophy.
Seminar, 3 hours per week.
Restriction: open to GBLS (single or combined) and POLS single or combined) majors with either a minimum of 14.0 overall credits and a minimum 70 percent major average or approval to year 4 (honours).

GBLS 4V70-4V79
Text and Context
Topics in Literature and Intellectual History