Western Civilization Course
Š What is “Western Civilization”? Does it really exist? How has it been “imagined”?
Š Who invented the Western Civilization course? Why?
Š Why bother studying “Western Civilization” today?
I. Imagining “Western Civilization”: What is it?
Š A Hebrew/Jewish Invention? The Tradition of Ethical Monotheism
Š A Greek Invention? Individualism, Freedom, and Reason
Š A Product of the Western Historical Imagination?
II. The “Western Civ” Course: Made in America
Š Common Historical Identity
Š World War I and Columbia’s “Western Civ” Course (1917)
Š Post-World War II and the Establishment of Western Civ
Š Critics of The “Western Civ” Course
III. Why study the History of Western Civilization today?
Š The Persistence of the West, Western Identity, and Westernization
Š Historical and Cultural Literacy
Š “Historical Thinking”: A Useful Skill