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. And every few weeks, each student writes a short tutorial paper and presents it in person, with one or two classmates, to their seminar leader, a chance to defend their own reading of a great text.
Intermediate and advanced courses carry those questions forward. “Programming Humanity” (IPHS 200) introduces programming through humanistic questions: will our technologies program us, or can we program humanity into them? “AI for Humanity” (IPHS 300), the first course of its kind in the world, moves among the theory, practice and ethics of AI. “Frontiers in Generative AI” (IPHS 400) takes advanced students into agents and multimodal systems, and the Senior Research Seminar caps the program with a semester of original work.
IPHS Mission
IPHS prepares students to take the past, the present and the future equally seriously. Students who know how we got here are equipped to tackle the issues emerging from our technological present, and to shape what's coming next.
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. Every three weeks or so, you write a four-to-five-page 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, and to open a running dialogue with your professor about 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."