Intellectual Heritage

The Intellectual Heritage I and II courses (IH 1196, 1297, 1996, and 1997) have been replaced with Mosaic I and II (IH 0851, 0852, 0951, and 0952) effective Fall 2008.

Prerequisite: College Composition (English 1002, 1012, 1022, or 1977) or Analytical Reading & Writing (English 0802, 0812, 0902) or its equivalent.

Requirement: Intellectual Heritage 0851 or 0951 (3 credits) and Intellectual Heritage 0852 or 0952 (3 credits). Students normally should take Intellectual Heritage 0851 or 0951 in the semester immediately following the completion of Analytical Reading & Writing, and Intellectual Heritage 0852 or 0952 immediately after completing 0851 or 0951.

Intellectual Heritage, the most distinctive feature of Temple's Core Curriculum, is a required writing-intensive, two-semester course sequence introducing students to "seedbed texts" in the western intellectual tradition, from ancient Greece to the Bible through the twentieth century.

These are case study courses, not surveys. Students read primary texts in depth, building reading and interpretative skills. Lectures and class discussions provide historical and cultural background, but the emphasis is on analysis. The interdisciplinary structure of the courses -- with readings drawn from diverse cultures and time periods and reflecting different methodologies -- encourages students to seek out common elements and to discern the ways in which cultures and texts remain unique and irreconcilable.

Intellectual Heritage constitutes two of the five writing-intensive courses required in the Core Curriculum. In addition to essay examinations, students complete several papers or other written assignments.