Breadth Over Depth: In Favor of Exploration

I was a first-year when I fell in love with philosophy.

To say I fell feels misleading. The process was more akin to a rediscovery. Philosophy allowed me to put a name to and study the questions that I had long toyed with, and to revisit authors whose works had enticed me in high school.

This would not have happened without my enrollment in Humanities 10.

Hum10 is a course that offers a broad introduction to the humanities. Reading works across a variety of disciplines — including literature, history, philosophy, the classics, and African American studies — students in the course have the opportunity to get a taste of what a variety of humanities fields have to offer.

Reading Plato’s Symposium and Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, and engaging in a Hum10 seminar with philosophy professor Alison J. Simmons allowed me to explore a field of study which I had not previously considered as a real possibility.

Hum10 is one of few courses that bring together such a wide variety of fields for exploration. While Harvard offers a plethora of introductory courses in various departments, there are very few courses that provide a similarly broad overview of the fields studied across Harvard’s many departments. This can and should change if Harvard wants to foster intellectual growth and exploration — the pinnacle of a liberal arts education — among its students.

While some students accepted to Harvard already know their academic passion, this is not the case for all. Many, including me, have found new interests while at Harvard. This is good. If every Harvard student began and ended their time here with the same interests, it would be anything but “transformative,” the oft-repeated mission of the College according to our dean.

Harvard’s academic departments should collaborate to find ways to offer similar introductory courses across their faculty. If we have Hum10, why not offer a similar course in the natural sciences, bringing together faculty on the cutting edge of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics to show students where a degree in these disciplines could lead them?

Courses of this kind would be very different from courses like Life Sciences 1a, designed to provide life sciences concentrators with basic skills to continue their academic work. I propose courses that do not aim to provide a thorough introduction to a single discipline, but rather motivate intellectual curiosity and provide a chance for students to see the many paths that exist within the liberal arts and sciences.

While it may appear as though General Education courses fill this role, these courses — as outlined by the college — offer a distinct focus on real-world applicability. Although students who graduate Harvard need to be ready for the world, there is a separate and important need for them to understand their academic interests.

The approach of GenEd courses — to bring together students across departments — provides an example of this philosophy in action, but students still must understand what the many academic disciplines offer before they choose to concentrate in one.

How can students know if sociology is their calling if they have never even spoken to a sociologist? How can students know if research in biology is their passion if they would never consider taking a biology course to begin with?

Exposure to multiple fields in an interdisciplinary setting provides students a chance to explore and discover passions without requiring them to dive head first into a course whose topic may be a mere passing interest.

If Harvard wants to remain true to its stated purpose as a liberal arts institution, then it must make the liberal arts and sciences more open to exploration for those without prior experience or interest.

Without the opportunity afforded to me by Hum10 — a chance to explore many fields — I would not have considered the Philosophy concentration which has grown near and dear to my heart. Harvard should work to help more students discover their passions with greater ease through broader survey courses so that we can experience the fulfillment of a liberal arts education, not only in the future, but also now.

Allison P. Farrell ’26, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a Philosophy Concentrator in Leverett House.