No other historical event so affected the psyche of the post-WWII world as the standoff between 'The Free World' and 'The Evil Empire.' This course brings two bitter enemies − the Soviet Union and the United States - back together in a final battle. Like the Cold War, this one will be fought through proxies: the literary, cinematic, and cultural texts of the two Super Powers. It addresses the ideologies and paranoia that divided the world into an 'us' and a 'them,' and the terror and lunacy that the bomb, spy mania, and witch-hunts evoked.

Russia was transformed by communist revolution into a global superpower that challenged the dominant ideologies of liberalism and nationalism. It became a powerful alternative to capitalism. In 1991, this imperial state collapsed and underwent an economic, political, and cultural revolution. What explains the Soviet Union's success for 70 years and its demise in 1991? What sort of country is Russia as it enters the twenty-first century? Is it a democracy? How has Russia's transformation affected ordinary people and Russia's relationship to the West?

This course aims at expansion of students' vocabulary and improvement of both writing and speaking skills.The course is intended for students who have completed at least four semesters of Russian or the equivalent. Heritage learners of Russian (those who speak the language) will also benefit from the course. With a strong emphasis on integrating vocabulary in context, this course aims to help students advance their lexicon and grammar, increase fluency, and overcome speaking inhibitions. We will read and discuss a variety of texts including short stories, films, and articles.

Revolution is far from over. First came the explosion in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the USSR, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, bloodless overthrows of old elites in Indonesia and the Phillipines, and what Hugo Chavez calls the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuala. The goal of revolutions may no longer be socialism, it may not even be directed at greater liberty. But revolutions continue to affect millions of people's lives and reflect states' responses to global change and social dislocation. They are still with us as the Arab Spring so clearly demonstrated.

This course will explore topics that philosophers have grappled with for thousands of years, and that still undergird (or sometimes threaten to undermine) our understanding of the world, our knowledge, ourselves, and each other. In historical and modern texts of the Western intellectual tradition, we will discuss questions such as: What exists? What knowledge can we claim? What are people like? What is, or should be, our role in the world? In considering these answers, we will learn to do philosophy ourselves, developing our own careful reflections on these issues.

This course will explore topics that philosophers have grappled with for thousands of years, and that still undergird (or sometimes threaten to undermine) our understanding of the world, our knowledge, ourselves, and each other. In historical and modern texts of the Western intellectual tradition, we will discuss questions such as: What exists? What knowledge can we claim? What are people like? What is, or should be, our role in the world? In considering these answers, we will learn to do philosophy ourselves, developing our own careful reflections on these issues.

This course will introduce students to philosophy and its methods by looking at what philosophers, past and present, have said about three important and interrelated topics: God, morality, and freedom. We will ask questions such as: Does God exist? Is it rational to believe in God? What should I do if I want to do the right thing? When is it ok to criticize other cultural practices? How much do I owe to others? Do we have free will? Can we ever be held responsible for anything?

An introduction to ancient Greek philosophy, focusing mainly but not exclusively on the works and ideas of three Athenian philosophers who worked and taught in the period between the Persian Wars and the rule of Alexander the Great, more than 2,300 years ago: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Topics to be discussed include: What is the nature of the world? What is truth, and how can it be known? What kind of life should we live? We will work to understand each philosopher's responses to these questions, but we will also learn to develop our own answers.

This course will focus on classic and contemporary work on central topics in ethics. The goal will be to see whether there is anything to be said in a principled way about what to do and how to live. The core of the course will be an examination of the central traditions in moral philosophy in the West, typified by Aristotle, Kant, and Mill. We will also examine vexing contemporary moral issues with an eye to whether moral theories can give us practical guidance.

This course cultivates sound reasoning. Students will learn to see the structure of claims and arguments and to use those structures in developing strong arguments and exposing shoddy ones. We will learn to evaluate arguments on the strength of the reasoning rather than on the force of their associations and buzzwords.