This course must be taken as the student's final course in the Core in that it draws on all the Core Courses. It is divided into two parts. The first part is an overview of the intellectual history of the previous four millennia--the Ancient Near East (2nd millennium BCE), the Classical Period in China, India, and Greece (1st millennium BCE), the Age of World Religions (1st millennium CE), and the Age of Science in the West (2nd millennium CE). The second part of the course will consist of student presentations applying the ideas studied in the first half to the present and the future. Regarding the present, students will explore the effects of these ideas on such areas as the politics (e.g. human rights, feminism, "animal rights," the environment), religion, economics, and technology (e.g. genetics, computers) of contemporary America. Regarding the future, students will debate such topics as whether human intellectual history suggests the domination of one culture or a synthesis of major cultures, and whether the future will exhibit a cyclical or linear pattern.

Important note: All other core courses (BLHS 100 through 110) must be completed before taking this course. Exceptions must be approved by the B.A.L.S. office in advance.