Department Head's message to Candidates

Recent global and regional changes, especially the increasing importance of non-western civilizations, raise the question of what exactly is the western civilization we are so interested in defending? Classical studies, the study of the culture of the Greeks and Romans, is the starting place. Classical thinkers and writers (such as Homer and Sophocles, Plato and Aristotle, Virgil and Ovid, Livy and Tacitus) had a monumental influence on this civilization because they formed an essential part of the education of people such as Al Farabi, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, Galileo, Hobbes, Adam Smith, Rousseau, John Locke, Nietzsche, Heidegger and just about every other important thinker and writer in the West. What was it about the culture of ancient Greece and Rome that aroused such interest and created such influence? This is one of the larger questions that studies in this department can help you comprehend. We believe that everyone needs to find his or own answer to such questions.