This class examines one of the major issues faced by people throughout history, whether and under what circumstances an individual should act against the wishes of society. The great philosophical and historical works of the ancient world shed light not only on how the Greeks and Romans approached the idea of personal responsibility but also on the assumptions we today make about human nature and the relationships on which society depends. No prior knowledge of the ancient world required. All readings are in English.

Persuasive discourse as inquiry and advocacy grounded in practical inductive and deductive reasoning. Discovery, analysis, and testing of practical arguments. The nature and function of proof. Some emphasis on applied presentation.

Examinations of institutional interactions in emergency services, justice/law, medicine, family school encounters, journalism and politics. Shows how the work of society gets done through interaction. Students get hands-on experience analyzing persons' conduct in these interactions. This course is designed to develop students' analytic skills in studying social interaction in institutions, using recorded data in the form of naturally-occurring interactions in these settings.

Introduction to Critical Inquiry provides the foundation for an informed and meaningful college experience through the cultivation of intellectual curiosity. Through the study of media and popular culture and the completion of short writing assignments, students learn how to develop and scale a personally-motivated research question, refine their topic, determine effective search strategies for finding credible and appropriate information, and learning to recognize bias and logical fallacies. Important aspects of the research process are learning how to analyze different types of argument and to evaluate information sources from a variety of venues. Critical Inquiry fosters the self-awareness and intellectual perspective that are the hallmarks of well-educated persons and lifelong, engaged students in the twenty-first century.