The major in Humanities critically examines the culture, ideas, and values of earlier cultures, western and non-western, both in their original time periods and as they have been appropriated and transformed by later ages. In particular, the program seeks to develop a critical awareness of how the classical past has been utilized as a symbol or an ideal by modern cultures, including American, and how western culture has developed its own particular views about itself as being distinctly different from non-western cultures. The major is especially recommended for students who have a broad interest in the liberal arts either for their own sake or as preparation for business and the professions. The Humanities program is unique in allowing students the opportunity to select a wide spectrum of courses from a multiplicity of different disciplines (history, literature, philosophy, religious studies, art history, music history).