Curriculum & Requirements>>2009 & Earlier

General Requirement: Class of 2009 and Earlier

The General Requirement is comprised of seven sectors:

I Society:

Courses in this sector use many analytical techniques that have been developed to study contemporary society, with its complex relations between individuals and larger forms of mass participation. Read more

II History and Tradition:

This sector focuses on studies of continuity and change in human thought, belief and action. Read more

III Arts and Letters:

This sector encompasses the means and meaning of visual arts, literature and music, together with the criticism surrounding them. Read more

IV Formal Reasoning and Analysis:

These courses emphasize mathematical and logical thinking and reasoning about formal structures and their application to the investigation of real-world phenomena. Read more

V The Living World:

This sector deals substantively with the evolution, development, structure and/or function of living systems. Read more

VI The Physical World:

This sector focuses on the methodology and concepts of physical science. Read more

VII Science Studies:

Scientific thought and practice in their cultural, historical and philosophical contexts. Read more

The General Requirement has two chief objectives. It is designed to ensure the breadth of knowledge essential to the educated inhabitant of a complex world. It is also designed to expose students to the variety of disciplines and approaches to knowledge pursued in the modern university early enough in their courses of study to help them make informed choices about their majors and the rest of their studies. To fulfill these objectives, the faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences has divided courses offered through the College of Arts and Sciences into seven sectors.

These divisions do not necessarily reflect the departmental organization of the School. Rather, they reflect the faculty's collective judgment about a useful and informative way to organize the great variety of humankind's intellectual and social accomplishments to the present time and the many ways in which human beings interact with their ever-expanding environment.