Learning What It Means to Be Human
The Human Situation fosters critical thinking through the lens of some of the world’s greatest works.
What is the purpose of an education? It is a simple but deceivingly difficult question. If you ask students what they hope to get out of their educational experience at the University of Houston, they might say they are looking to gain the necessary skills to find a good job after graduation. Others might speak about pursuing their intellectual passions — beginning a life-long exploration of engineering, architecture, biosciences or psychology.
In 1977, a cohort of professors at the University of Houston Honors College constructed a new course whose design implicitly suggested another answer to the question of a college education’s purpose. The Human Situation curriculum proposed that undergraduate students should dedicate some of their college educational experience to learning how to think well.
“If a college education is supposed to be, at least in part, a process of self-discovery, this course will be extremely useful to that end.” These of the words of Ted Estess, dean emeritus of the Honors College and one of the founders of the Human Situation course. It’s how he describes its importance in a 2017 essay to celebrate the course’s 40th anniversary.
“If a college education is supposed to be, at least in part, a process of self-discovery, this course will be extremely useful to that end.”
The Human Situation is a unique, required UH Honors College course that takes place over two semesters. During their year-long study, students engage with some of the greatest writers and thinkers in the history of Western civilization and beyond. The goal, says Jesse Rainbow, instructional associate professor at the Honors College, is to introduce students to ideas that have shaped our world — and remain relevant for anyone seeking to make sense of the society in which we live.
“We’re talking about ideas that are compelling, relevant and enduring for every person who is trying to live in a democracy,” Rainbow says.
A History of Ideas
In the late 1970s, Estess, then director and later founding dean of the Honors College, was faced with a difficult question: How can you create a shared academic experience for students within a university framework whose strength derives specifically from its diversity and specialization?
“The energy of a big university is centrifugal — things go away from the center,” wrote Estess. “That’s why sports can be so important, centripetal — they bring people together. I thought a common academic experience at the University of Houston was equally necessary because, though there was a core curriculum, students didn’t have those courses in common.”
But if an Honors College was to provide a common educational experience, what would that experience look like? The answer Estess and his colleagues devised was a course that introduces students to the ideas that already draw us together through the ways in which they have helped shape our world.
The first class commenced in the spring of 1977 with 75 students. This coming fall, more than 600 will enroll.
The Human Situation examines our cultural heritage, beginning in antiquity with classic works from the Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Christian, Islamic and Indian cultures. In the fall semester, students read the philosophers and poets of 5th-century Athens, which gave rise to the Western forms of democracy, as well as thinkers from ancient Rome, whose political structures and ideals endure as models for the contemporary world. The second semester shifts to modernity and explores how the Renaissance and Enlightenment gave birth to new ways of considering the human condition. The spring kicks off with Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Rousseau and novelists ranging from Jane Austen to Toni Morrison.
Students don’t study the same books every year, and the evolving canon allows The Human Situation course to offer a relatively brisk survey of thousands of years of scholarship in a dynamic format that focuses on examining core human questions. “Students explore many ideas and questions through these works including: the ideal or happy life, the nature of God or gods, the sources of human conflict, the art or science of politics, the effects of suffering, the nature of virtue,” says Iain Morrison, instructional associate professor at the Honors College.
“There’s great value in reading about how human beings back then dealt with the problems that they had created, and that’s really the unique contribution of the humanities,” Rainbow says. “It is a long perspective on these enduring problems.”
Learning to Think in a Liberal Arts Framework
While The Human Situation emphasizes the historical journey through the pivotal ideas and cultural movements that have shaped Western thought, its ultimate objective is not just to fulfill an academic requirement but to cultivate a liberal arts educational experience that fosters the holistic development of students.
“Liberal arts education is for everyone,” Rainbow says. “What we’re teaching them is going to enrich their lives in whatever career they choose. We provide a small liberal arts experience within the context of a global research university.”
The course is designed to challenge students to engage critically with a broad spectrum of philosophical, ethical and cultural issues. This engagement is not only about understanding the “what” and the “how” but also the “why” behind these enduring ideas. It invites students to explore how these historical perspectives can inform and enrich their personal and professional lives in a contemporary context.
At the core of this curriculum is the notion that the liberal arts are not just relevant but essential for fostering critical thinking, ethical reasoning and a nuanced understanding of human nature and society. These skills are invaluable as they prepare students to navigate the complexities of modern life and work.
“What we’re teaching them is going to enrich their lives in whatever career they choose. We provide a small liberal arts experience within the context of a global research university.”
-Jesse Rainbow
“In Socratic pedagogy, you try to lead students to their own conclusions rather than trying to persuade them of what they should think,” Rainbow says. “You take a chance of humility that you don't necessarily know all the answers. You try to show people, by asking them questions, that their ideas may be inadequate — they might not have thought about where their ideas are coming from, and they might not have thought about the consequences of their ideas.”
By integrating the study of history, literature, philosophy and the arts, The Human Situation provides a rich learning tapestry that helps students see beyond their immediate circumstances and consider more significant questions like what it means to be human living in societies.
And that is what makes The Human Situation such an invaluable component of the University of Houston Honors College education. By inviting students to engage honestly and critically with the ideas that have helped shape our culture, the course encourages and equips students with the priceless skills to become not just participants in the world around them but thoughtful contributors to it.
Book Lists
We can all benefit from a better understanding of society. Here’s the complete works being studied by Human Situation students in fall 2024, if you’d like to read along.
Alpha Booklist Fall 2024
- Gilgamesh, Penguin, trans. Andrew George ISBN 978 0140449198
- Homer, Iliad Norton, trans. Wilson ISBN 978 1324076148
- Aeschylus, The Oresteia (Agamemnon) Penguin, trans. Fagles ISBN 978 0140443332
- Euripides, Electra, Phoenician Women, Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulus (Electra) Hackett, trans. Luschnig and Woodruff ISBN 978 1603844604
- Plato, Plato on Love (Lysis) Hackett, trans. Reeve ISBN 978 0872207882
- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Hackett, trans. Irwin ISBN 978 1624668159
- Bhagavad Gita Oxford World Classics, trans. Johnson ISBN 978 0199538126
- Cicero, On the Good Life (On Friendship) Penguin, trans. Grant ISBN 978 0140442441
Omega Booklist Fall 2024
- The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940–1640 BC. Tr. R. B. Parkinson. Oxford World’s Classics. ISBN 978-1099555628
- Homer, The Iliad. Tr. Robert Fagles. Penguin (deckled edge). ISBN 978-0140275360
- Sophocles, Antigone. Tr. Richard Emil Braun. Oxford. ISBN 978-0195061673
- Plato, The Republic. Tr. Allan Bloom. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465094080
- NRSV Bible, Zondervan. ISBN 978-0061946516
- Liu Xiang, Exemplary Women of Early China. Tr. Anne Behnke Kinney. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231163095
- Cicero, On the Good Life. Tr. Michael Grant. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0140442441
- The Qur’ān. Tr. M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. Oxford World’s Classics. ISBN 978-0199535958
Built with Shorthand