Shimer College Core Program

Shimer's current 200-book reading list remains largely faithful to the original Hutchins plan; however, new works are judiciously added to the core curriculum. These have included voices originally overlooked in the formation of the canon. Now included, for example, are works by Martin Luther King, Jr., Carol Gilligan, Frantz Fanon, and Michel Foucault, along with other contemporary authors. Readings are also organized by broad historical and philosophical themes, rather than conventional fields.

Small seminars remain the sole form of instruction, in all subjects from mathematics to poetry. Classes are composed of no more than twelve students, and read and discuss only original source material. Faculty are always addressed by first name. Teachers "facilitate" discussion, and therefore may talk little during actual class-time.

Through a process Shimer internally calls "shared inquiry", "the text is the teacher, and thus the faculty member's role is to facilitate interaction between the text and the students", as well as between the students themselves. Often teachers provide historical and relational information not available from other students or the text itself.

The core curriculum of Shimer College is a sequence of 16 required courses humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and interdisciplinary studies. "Basic Studies" courses are generally taken during the first two years, and "Advanced Studies" during the final two years. The "Advanced Integrative Studies" courses, numbered are taken in the final year.

In addition to required core classes, electives offer in-depth work in a particular subject, or basic skills instruction. Tutorials follow a similar protocol, but with only one or two students per course, and are similar in structure to the Oxford-Cambridge supervision system.

Humanities

The humanities core begins with the study of visual art and music, and progresses through literature, philosophy, and theology. The culminating course, "Critical Evaluation in the Humanities," attempts to approach all the areas of the Humanities through critical evaluation of significant works of the 18th century and later. This course includes Martin Buber's I and Thou, Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment, Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, and Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling.[58]

Social sciences

The social sciences sequence opens with major works regarding the individual and society, and proceeds to classical political thought. Advanced courses investigate modern social and political theory, and conclude with the "Theories of Social Inquiry". This course focuses on interpretive methods in sociology, linguistic theory, and 20th century social thought, through works including Clifford Geertz's The Interpretation of Cultures, Paolo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish, and Karl Mannheim's Ideology and Utopia.[59]

Natural sciences

The natural sciences course examines the historical course of modern theory, beginning with the presocratic philosophers of the 6th century BCE and progressing to the development of the theory of atoms. The second course traces the evolution of theories of evolution, genetics, and animal behavior. The development of models of infinitesmals, optics, and relativity are covered in the third course. The capstone course traces the study of quantum physics and modern molecular biology. The natural science reading list includes Albert Einstein’s Relativity, Isaac Newton’s Opticks, Richard Feynman’s QED, Antoine Lavoisier’s Elements of Chemistry, and Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species.[60]

Integrative studies

The first basic integrative studies course historically intended to develop fundamental skills in close reading and argumentation students required to further work with original source texts. The of this course has been modified, and is fulfilled by fourth and fifth level courses, usually reserved for transfer students.

The second course, normally the first taken, the development of logic and mathematics are studied through readings in geometry and axiomatic systems from ancient and modern times.[56]

The advanced integrative studies courses are the capstone courses of the Shimer curriculum. The readings are arranged chronologically in a unified, full-year sequence to demonstrate their historical relationships, beginning with the ancient epic poems The Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer's Iliad, and concluding with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Reason in History.[61] Students are encouraged to explore connections between assigned texts and those studied in other courses.

Shimer's Core Curriculum

Level Humanities Social sciences Natural sciences Integrative studies I Art and Music Society, Culture, and Personality Laws and Models in Chemistry Analysis, Logic, and Rhetoric

(Previously Offered) II Poetry, Drama, and Fiction The Western Political Tradition Evolution and Animal Behavior The Nature and Creation of Mathematics Basic Studies Comprehensive Examination III Theology and Early Modern Philosophy Modern Theories of State and Society Light, Motion, and Scientific Explanation IV Critical Evaluation in the Humanities Methodology in the Social Sciences Quantum Physics and Molecular Biology Area Studies Comprehensive Examination V History and Philosophy of Western Civilization:

Ancient World – Middle Ages VI History and Philosophy of Western Civilization:

Middles Ages – Nineteenth Century Senior Thesis Degrees Granted