Most students meet IPHS through “Odyssey: Pursuit of Wisdom and Understanding” (IPHS 111–112Y), a year-long course that begins in the ancient world and ends at the rise of artificial intelligence. The reading runs from Homer, Plato and the Bible through Dante, Shakespeare, Darwin and Marx, the texts that built the questions we still argue about, with attention throughout to how each one speaks to the present.
Each week students attend two lectures, half given by IPHS faculty and half by colleagues from across the College, which set the reading in its historical and intellectual context. A weekly seminar of fifteen works through the text itself. Twice each semester, each student develops a substantial four-to-five page analytical tutorial paper and presents it in person, with one or two classmates, to their seminar leader. The tutorial gives students sustained practice developing an argument, writing clearly, and defending their own reading of a great text.
Odyssey is designed for students across Kenyon, including those in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, computing, and pre-health fields. For students considering medicine and other health professions, its emphasis on analytical writing, communication and ethical reasoning offers especially valuable preparation.
That first-year experience is the gateway to IPHS's living core curriculum. Later courses return to its questions through new texts, evidence and methods. Rather than a menu of electives, the concentration is a shared conversation students carry alongside their major.
Intermediate and advanced courses return to Odyssey's questions with new methods and evidence. Programming Humanity brings the humanities, social sciences, and data science into conversation. AI for Humanity pairs technical work with philosophical, ethical and social-scientific inquiry. Frontiers in Generative AI and the Senior Research Seminar give students opportunities to pursue original research at the leading edge of the field.
Together, these courses form a living core: one that changes as the world changes without losing sight of the questions that endure.
IPHS Mission
IPHS prepares students to take the past, present, and future equally seriously and to consider them in relation. Its core curriculum asks students to think together about human nature, history, freedom, and what we should create; each course reopens those questions with new texts, evidence and methods.
Frequently Asked Questions
Seminar, lecture, tutorial — how does IPHS 111-112 actually work?
Each week you attend two lectures, half given by IPHS professors and half by distinguished faculty from across the College, which set the week’s reading in context. You then meet in a seminar of fifteen, led by an IPHS professor, for a closer reading. Twice each semester, you write a four-to-five page analytical tutorial paper and present it, with one or two classmates, to your seminar leader. The tutorial is your chance to form your own response to these works, develop and defend an argument, and open a running dialogue with your professor about both the text and your writing.
How do credits, grading and requirements work?
IPHS 111-112 is a year-long course, so the December grade is provisional. It carries 0.5 units of credit each semester, satisfies the humanities requirement, and is open to all students.
"The human-centered AI curriculum at Kenyon encompassed the true essence of a liberal arts education: using a wide range of academic disciplines and approaches to discuss world-changing contemporary issues and create meaningful conclusions."