History, Classics, & Philosophy   

This course will use Rembrandt van Rijn's painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.Tulp as a point of departure to explore the Dutch Golden Age in art, letters, science, medicine, and commerce. Historical figures discussed will include philosopher René Descartes, artist Johannes Vermeer, physician and naturalist Herman Boerhaave, and rebel aristocrat William of Orange. From the rise of middle-class domestic art to the frenzied economic bubble of the Tulip Mania, from philosophy to piracy, from coffee to cannabis, we will discover a tiny nation that in many senses invented modernity and launched the European enlightenment.

 

The Americans who participated in the epic struggle to separate from Britain generally accepted the idea of representative self-government, but they sharply disagreed with each other about what that meant. The men we know as "The Founders" crafted a scheme for a centralized constitutional republic. Those who disagreed, who worried about the accumulation of power and the lack of safeguards for civil rights, were also Founders. These were the Antifederalists. Their contributions and failings will be discussed.

In school we often learned myths about our founders who seemed to be beyond our ability to emulate. Today's trend is to "cancel" them because their faults err on the other extreme. The founders were humans with complex admirable accomplishments and reprehensible failings. Understanding these historic figures' contributions to the founding of the republic and their acknowledged inability to end slavery and native displacement provide a realistic analysis of our history. Learn from the founders to understand the evolution and current situation of our government.

Most often associated as an element of the ancient and medieval worlds, the concept of martyrdom became shockingly present in the modern world on September 11, 2001. This course will examine the origins of the concept of martyrdom, or the willingness to die for one’s religious beliefs, in the Western religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). The dual nature of martyrdom promotes both dying in God’s cause but also justifies killing in God's name.

This course is a detailed investigation of Homer's Iliad. We will give attention to oral-poetic aspects of the epic, including epithets, formulaic language, type-scenes, and ancient performance practices. The main thrust of the course, however, is to look at the "arcs" of the major characters, the structure of the plot, and the use of divine intervention. The goal is to base an interpretation of the work on the observations that can be made in these areas. While this is officially a lecture course, classroom discussion is encouraged and welcomed.

The Korean War has long been called the forgotten war, but recent events have rekindled interest in learning something about the first war that America did not win. The course will look at the political and diplomatic events that led to the conflict, the geography of the war, and some of the key personalities involved and how they influenced the progress of the war. It also will look at the key campaigns and the eventual outcome.

The arrival and evolution of the first people in the Americas is a story that continues to reveal itself from mystery to majesty. From the time hominids began traversing the earth until they arrived at Turtle Island, one theory after another is undone by new discoveries. This course looks at the pathways to and through the Americas, the cultures of the Indigenous peoples who populated the Americas, and their encounters with each other and an alien race that tried to subjugate or exterminate them.

This course introduces 31 Nationality Rooms of the University of Pittsburgh. The rooms were designed to represent the cultures of various ethnic groups that settled in Allegheny County but are also in use as functional classrooms. As Wesley Posvar, former Pitt Chancellor, said, "More than any other single asset, the Nationality Rooms epitomize the University of Pittsburgh character by melding culture, beauty, and learning. In their diversity, the rooms preserve and honor our ethnic identities. Collectively, they symbolize our national unity."

This course is designed to give lifelong learners a better understanding of the forces that saw Pittsburgh’s transformation from a resource-rich wilderness into an industrial powerhouse whose people and innovations helped build America. This course will present Pittsburgh’s history to the start of World War II as more than two-dimensional, grayscale ideas about rivers, coal, and steel. Rather, the city’s history is presented in a vibrant way that not only tells the stories of the names we know—Braddock, Forbes, Carnegie, Rooney—but digs deeper to pull from the margins the voices whose stories we haven’t yet heard.

The Second Indochina War, known in the United States as the Vietnam War, lasted from 1955 to 1975. During that period, nearly three million Americans served, 58,000 died, and thousands more were scarred for life. Public support for the war peaked in the mid-1960s but collapsed after the Tet Offensive in 1968. This course will examine how Hollywood's treatment of the war and its participants changed over time, reflecting America's gradual disillusionment with a conflict thousands of miles from its shores.

Part 1 of this course takes members on a virtual and chronological tour of historic places in Western Pennsylvania, from pre-history to the dawn of the Industrial Age. Participants will virtually visit several locations, from Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village in Washington County to Old Economy Village in Beaver County. The course is designed to encourage members to explore these places on their own and with their families.

Part 2 of this course takes members on a virtual and chronological tour of historic places in Western Pennsylvania, from the Industrial Age to the modern day. Participants will virtually visit several locations, from the Drake Oil Well in Venango County to Quecreek Mine Rescue in Somerset County. Part 1 is not a prerequisite for Part 2.