Degree Requirements for Honors Program

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Requirements

One year of residence in an Honors living-learning community, preferably the first year with its attached Seminar in Scholarly Inquiry.
Research, write, and publicly present a thesis, normally in the student’s major.
Completion of the five-course interdisciplinary minor in “Consciousness, Creativity, and Meaning”:
1. Gateway course: HON 211 (normally taken spring semester, first year)
2. Capstone course: HON 401 (normally taken spring semester, senior year)
3. Three Elective courses: A minimum of three elective courses (listed below) usually taken during the sophomore and junior years. Elective courses introduce students to revolutions in human understanding as seen in various world religions, philosophical traditions, and scientific discoveries in disciplines such as cognitive neuroscience, quantum physics, and the emerging field of psychedelic studies. Elective courses also expose students to the distinctive ability of the arts to invoke modes of understanding and experience that defy conceptual definitions and categories. These courses are drawn from a range of Puget Sound programs and departments, including but not limited to Philosophy, Physics, English, Humanities, Religion, Spirituality, and Society, Politics & Government, Psychology, Neuroscience, Art and Art History.
Students must complete a minimum of one course in Honors each Academic Year to remain in the program.

Once admitted to the Honors program, a student continues so long as they maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 in all university work and a minimum GPA of 2.5 in the Honors minor, or until they resign from the program. The Honors faculty annually reviews the performance of Honors students to determine their continuance in the program. Dismissed students may apply for readmission upon evidence of satisfactory academic improvement.

Elective Courses

CONN 303 Art-Science: Inquiry into the Intersection of Art, Science, and Technology

CONN 344 Magic and Religion

CONN 357 Exploring Animal Minds

CONN 365 The Science & Practice of Mindfulness

CONN 393 The Cognitive Foundations of Morality and Religion

ENGL 232 Romanticism, Consciousness, and the Psychedelic Renaissance

ENGL 238 Afrofuturism

ENGL 242 Introduction to Native American Literature

HON 206 The Arts of the Classical World and the Middle Ages

HON 212 Origins of the Modern World View

HON 214 Interrogating Inequality

HUM 202 The Psychedelic Renaissance

PHIL 215 Classical Chinese Philosophy

PHIL 230 Philosophy of Mind

PHIL 312 Latin American and Latinx Philosophy