BA Integrated Studies in Philosophy and Literature
Overview
Through encounters with great literary and philosophical works, you will strengthen your capacity for ethical and reflective thought, allowing you to refine your own thinking in light of the record of human intellectual and creative expression. The integrated curriculum of philosophy and literature fosters an appreciation of language and the art of thoughtful questioning. Both are central capacities without which meaning eludes us.
Learning to engage with a literary or philosophical text and apply it to real-world challenges is an essential first step in human self-understanding. The practice of deep reading, as understood and developed in this major, is itself an experiential and engaged activity, often overlooked and undervalued in today’s technology-saturated world.
New England College commits itself to a curriculum that seeks to understand the natural and civic worlds/environments that are the basis for sustaining life and promoting human flourishing. To that end, philosophy and literature provide us with some of the most enduring and vital explorations of our relationship to both. This major complements every other discipline, providing a foundation for every profession, and a commitment to a life of human excellence.
Program Details
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Live What You Learn
Reading, reflection, writing, discussion, collaboration, communication, and understanding—These are the hands-on skills you’ll employ daily in your work with faculty and your fellow students.
Integrated Studies in Philosophy and Literature is a distinctively designed program at NEC. Few schools provide a full course of study that so carefully integrates its curriculum. You can look forward to courses taught by faculty in both disciplines, providing a uniquely blended set of perspectives, styles, and methodologies.
Through engaging the literary imagination, you will strengthen your own capacity for sympathetic understanding and moral reflection on the relationship between self and other.
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Career Opportunities
The Integrated Studies in Philosophy and Literature program complements every other discipline at NEC, providing a foundation for every profession and a commitment to a life of human excellence.
You will develop sound reasoning and creative questioning and will demonstrate clarity of expression, all of which are highly valued and sought-after skills in any profession. In fact, when visiting CEOs or accomplished alumni speak at NEC, these skills are precisely those that they identify as most needed in the business and professional world.
While these skills or capacities provide a sound base for graduate studies in any discipline, they are particularly suited to the study of law, journalism, politics, and education.
Degree Requirements
Integrated Studies in Philosophy and Literature, B.A.
Requirements
Required Courses in Philosophy and Literature
(8 credits)
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PL 1100 - Making Sense of the World: An Introduction to Great Works in Philosophy and Literature
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PL 4300 - Imagining the World: The Poetic Mind in the Digital Age
Cultural History
Three courses required in the Literature and/or Philosophy of a specific historical period, marking a foundation for or significant shift in a culture's thought for a total of 12 credits
Ancient Philosophy/Literature
(4 credits)
One course from the following:
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PL 2991 - Topics in Ancient Philosophy and Literature
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PL 3050 - Ancient Philosophy & Literature
One course from
Renaissance Philosophy/Literature
Or
Modern Philosophy/Literature-(4 credits)
Courses fulfilling this requirement are:
Renaissance Philosophy/Literature
(4 credits)
Or
Modern Philosophy/Literature
(4 credits)
Contemporary Philosophy/Literature
(4 credits)
One course from the following:
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PL 3994 - Topics in Contemporary Philosophy and Literature
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PA 3350 - Contemporary Philosophy
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PA 3510 - Existential Philosophy
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EN 2002 - Topics in Contemporary Literature
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EN 2850 (EN 3850) - Modernism: Revolt and Discovery
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EN 3860 - Post‐Modernism: Irony Takes Center Stage
Interpreting Experience
4 courses for a total of 16 credits, with at least 12 credits at or above the 3000 level. These requirements will be fulfilled through careful course selection in conversation with student advisors in order to best support the interests and direction of the individual student's course of study.
Appropriate courses will explore our understanding of self in relation to the arts, morality, nature, culture, society, reason or science, and May be drawn from either philosophy or literature or a course that integrates both. Courses used to satisfy credit in Cultural History and Interpretive Experience May not count for credit in both areas.
Courses fulfilling this requirement are:
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PA 2810 - Philosophy of Science
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PA 4110 (WS 4110) - Feminist Philosophies
- PL 2990 - Topics in Philosophy and Literature
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PL 2991 - Topics in Ancient Philosophy and Literature
- PL 3992 - Topics in Renaissance Philosophy and Literature
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PL 2993 - Topics in Modern Philosophy and Literature
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PL 3994 - Topics in Contemporary Philosophy and Literature
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PA 2710 (WS 2710) - Philosophy of the Irrational
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PL 3050 - Ancient Philosophy & Literature
- PL 3990 - Topics in Philosophy and Literature
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PL 3070 (EN 3070) - Dystopian Literature
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EN 2000 - Topics in Literary Movements
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EN 2001 - Topics in Modern Literary Movements
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EN 2002 - Topics in Contemporary Literature
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EN 2070 (WS 2070) - Comparative Mythology
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EN 2850 (EN 3850) - Modernism: Revolt and Discovery
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EN 3000 - Advanced Topics Literary Movements
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EN 3860 - Post‐Modernism: Irony Takes Center Stage
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EN 3950 (TH 3950) - Shakespeare
- CO 1000 - Learning to Look: Contemporary Art and Media or
- AR 1000 - Learning to Look: Contemporary Art and Media
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TH 2430 - Survey of Western Drama
Liberal Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum, Bachelor's Degree
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LAS 1000 - Bridges to Learning
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WR 1010 - Composition
or approved LAS Writing Course.
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MT 1100 - Quantitative Reasoning
(MT courses numbered higher than 1100 are acceptable)
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LAS 1 (LAS 1110) - The Natural Environment - Understanding Our Place in the Natural World
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LAS 2 (LAS 1120) - The Civic Environment - Democratic Values
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LAS 3 (LAS 2110) - Creative Arts
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LAS 4 (LAS 2120) - Social Sciences
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LAS 5 (LAS 2130) - Natural and Biological Sciences
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LAS 6 (LAS 2140) - Humanities
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LAS 7 (LAS 3110) - Global Perspectives
- LAS Elective Credits: 4 (One additional course that meets any LAS requirement or combination of two 2-credit approved electives.)
Electives
Select additional electives to reach 120 credits for a Bachelor's degree.