Course Objective

European History: An Inheritance of Ideas takes students on a time traveler’s tour of that continent through its philosophical traditions – from pre-Socrates to just post-Sartre (actually, his junior contemporary, Camus) – because these ideas and their evolution are what students eighth grade to early college find most relevant to understanding the world they live in today and choosing how they want to live in their world of tomorrow.

This course’s touchstone text is the English translation of the philosophical novel Sophie’s World by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder. 

This book’s fictional narrative with a young-adult protagonist is by design disarming and surreptitious, like many of the videos in the curated library that accompany this course, sneaking up on readers through the “bagatelle”* of entertainment to challenge them with concepts they’d probably not otherwise consider.

To summarize, our course objective is not to make your students history, or even historians of philosophy, but to have them philosophize.

Or, as Sophie’s mentor, Alberto, would say: to commit philosophy.

Bon voyage et bonne chance!

* Nope, not just an SAT word: in the novel, Sophie’s mentor Alberto will make this addition to our future philosophers’ vocabulary clear, early and often. Enjoy!