SSI1-194: Honors - Technologies of Power
Honors students only

This course focuses on the changing forms and mechanisms of power, coercion, and control. Students consider the workings of power, from the interpersonal physical violence of the Classical world through developments in surveillance and technology that have transformed control from a question of physical strength to more subtle and pervasive systems of dominance. The course considers how dominance and ideology interact: What does a culture’s manifestation of power say about its beliefs and values? How do different forms of coercion and control reflect or affect human nature? How do systems of dominance shape individual and collective experience? How does power intersect with categories of identity such as gender, race, religion, etc.? How does power negotiate the relationships between the individual and society? Students consider these and other questions about human nature, society, and technology across multiple eras and societies. Affiliate department: English. Satisfies the Seminar in Scholarly Inquiry 1 core requirement. Prerequisite: Admission to Honors program.

SSI-1 195: Honors – The Scientific and Romantic Revolutions
Honors students only

This course develops analytical skills fundamental to your academic success at Puget Sound—specifically, the ability to frame questions, think critically about your insights and those of others, develop interpretive claims, and support them persuasively both in conversation and in writing. We'll hone these skills by exploring the causes and consequences of two decisive turning points in Western intellectual history: the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries (weeks 1–7) and the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (weeks 8–15). In doing so, we will come to appreciate the complex nature of these cultural upheavals in their political, religious, economic, scientific, and aesthetic dimensions, and understand how their legacy continues to shape contemporary attitudes and values. Affiliate department: Honors.