Ancient Ideas in the Modern World UCL

Overview

The Ancient Ideas in the Modern World course from UCL Summer School will focus on Greek ideas like democracy, philosophy, hospitality, fair play, athletics, drama, eros and love, and how these ideas have been generated through specific Greek cultural systems or artistic modes of representation (literature, painting, sculpture, theatre).

How were these ideas born and what is their influence in the modern world? How does Greek literature relate to these ideas? And more generally, what is the relationship between these ideas and Greek life and thought?

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students will have:

• Recognised interactive ways in which they can reflect on the ancient world and its ideas and hence generate ideas and compile information about the modern world in a new way.

• Evaluated how classical ideas were appropriated by ancient and modern cultures through evidence from the texts and made judgements about the information digested.

• Analysed, compared, contrasted and classified information offered by primary and secondary bibliographies and investigated the validity of these sources in the modern world.

• Described the methodological problems relevant to the field and demonstrated understanding of the ideas and concepts discussed together with how they can be interpreted to suit modern needs.

• Employed appropriate evidence and tested arguments in oral discussion, using existing knowledge to solve new problems or applying their knowledge to new situations.

• Manipulated evidence and argument effectively in written presentation by exhibiting memory of previously learned material together with newly learned concepts.