Core Curriculum

As a Jesuit University, Fordham seeks to help its students develop the habits of heart and mind that are the hallmarks of liberally educated men and women. Consisting of eighteen courses, the Core Curriculum is designed to provide the student with a broad humanistic background, to enhance communication skills, to enable the student to sample a range of academic disciplines and fields of study, and to provide a solid foundation for achievement in any of them. The areas of study, and the specific courses comprising each, are as follows: (Course titles are in italics.) Writing - 1 course English Composition/Rhetoric: The fundamental language skills and the more advanced stylistic strategies that make writing sophisticated, clear and effective; the rudiments of using library resources and the preparation of academic research papers. (Students who need a preparatory course will first take BasicWriting Skills.) Literature - 2 courses Close Reading and Critical Writing: The practice of reading literature and understanding the figurative language central to poetry, drama, and fiction. The second course can be chosen from among Literature and Society, Poetry and Poetics, History and the Novel, Tragedy and Comedy, Traditions of Story Telling, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton. Philosophy - 2 courses Philosophy of Human Nature: The most basic questions regarding human existence (e.g., freedom and responsibility; the relationships between the self and the other, mind and body, feeling and reason). Philosophical Ethics: Diverse approaches to morality and its role in personal, social, and political life. Theology - 2 courses Faith and Critical Reason: The phenomenon of religion in its varied manifestations (e.g., Christianity, Judaism, etc.) and some critical categories for evaluating this phenomenon. The second course can be chosen from a number of courses that focus on the classic documents of one or more religions, including: The Old Testament, The New Testament, Sacred Books of the East, The Torah, Classic Religious Texts, Classic Jewish Texts, etc. History - 2 courses The West from the Enlightenment to the Present: The European roots of the present world from a Western perspective. The second course can be chosen from among the introductions to Modern American History, Ancient History, Medieval History, Latin American History, Asian History, African History, or Middle East History. Mathematical Reasoning - 1 course Most students fulfill the mathematical reasoning component by taking either Finite Mathematics or Structures of Computer Science. (A Mathematics Workshop course is available for students who need preparatory work.) Natural Science - 2 courses Designed to introduce students to both scientific methodology and scientific ways of understanding nature and natural phenomena. Students take either a two-course sequence in biology, chemistry or physics, or one course in a physical science (chemistry, physics) and one course in a life science (biology, psychology, physical anthropology). Social Science - 2 courses The first course can be chosen from Basic Macroeconomics, Basic Microeconomics, or the introductions to Politics, Cultural Anthropology, or Sociology. The second course can be either another one of these, or a second course in the same field, or a course in Communication and Media Studies. Senior Values Seminar - 1 course An opportunity for disciplined, critical reflection on issues in personal or social ethics, religious conscience, human relations or social action. Seminars will be offered in theology and philosophy, as well as other fields. All students will include within (not in addition to) their core, major, and elective course choices a Freshman Seminar course (coded F) intended as a community-building introduction to college work, a course with a Global Studies focus (G), and an American Pluralism course (P) dealing with diversity issues.