Plato is a key figure from the beginnings of Western philosophy, yet the impact of his lived experience on his thought has rarely been explored. Classicist Carol Atack of Newnham College, University of Cambridge, explores how Plato’s life in Athens influenced his thought, how he developed the Socratic dialogue into a powerful philosophical tool, and how he used the institutions of Athenian society to create a compelling imaginative world.
Whether deciding on lunch or a career, changing our routines or other people’s minds, it can feel difficult to make the decisions that align with the things we care about. Neuroscientist Emily Falk, author of What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change, explains how we can work strategically with our brains to make more fulfilling choices by connecting our decisions with our core values, which can make us less defensive, broaden our curiosity through different perspectives, and spark innovation.
In the decades preceding World War II, professional architecture schools enrolled increasing numbers of women, but career success did not come easily. Architectural historians Mary Anne Hunting and Kevin D. Murphy tell the stories of the resilient, resourceful women who surmounted barriers of sexism, racism, and classism to take on crucial roles in the establishment and growth of Modernism across the United States.
Within decades of each other during the Renaissance, Lavinia Fontana and Artemisia Gentileschi achieved the status of painters of international renown by taking on Biblical and mythological themes, formerly the province of men. Art historian Elizabeth Lev surveys their remarkable careers, the obstacles they shattered, and how these painters offered a new, feminine—if not feminist—view of the most captivating heroines of Western art from Mary Magdalene to Judith. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Percival Everett’s novel James from 2024 powerfully rewrites Mark Twain’s 19th-century Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the runaway slave Jim. Literature professor Joseph Luzzi explores the themes that drive both of these groundbreaking works and considers how Everett’s modern re-imagining addresses major concerns in American life today, especially ones related to race.
On May 7, 1945, after almost six years of brutal combat and death and destruction in the European Theater, German military leaders unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. On the 80th anniversary of this significant event, historian Mitchell Yockelson discusses how the death of President Roosevelt, the decision by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower not to enter Berlin before the Russians, the war’s final battles, and the suicide of Adolf Hitler led to Nazi Germany’s capitulation.
The Olmec culture on Mexico’s southern gulf coast, best known for creating colossal stone heads more than 3,000 years ago, produced other distinctive artworks in a variety of materials. It also has left some of the earliest evidence of urban planning in North America and of a system of numbering and of glyphic writing. Cultural historian George Scheper explores the archaeological and sculptural wonders of the Olmec, along with their role in shaping the culture of Mesoamerica.
The instantly recognizable moai statues of remote Easter Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, pay silent tribute to the extraordinary seafaring skills of Polynesian migrants and their stewardship of an ecologically fragile island. The rediscovery of Easter Island by Western explorers in the modern era has led to debates about how its original settlers reached such a distant location and carved and transported such large statues. Historian Justin M. Jacobs explains how these giant statues came to dominate the most remote inhabited island in the world.
