Concentrators should get Music 51 (Elementary Harmony) out of the way as soon as possible. The daily grind of harmony exercises may not be exciting, but few students found it difficult. As for Music I, it is one course that everybody enjoys. In addition to being a gut, for a music concentrator it takes a comprehensive glance at everything written since Gregorian chants.

Merritt believes that the Department should be more than a training school for potential professionals, and some of the courses definitely are slanted toward the non-professional. However, this is not a field for the casual music lover. Advanced courses will prove quite difficult for all but the most adept.

Philosophy

Number of Concentrators: 52.

1951 Commencement Honors: cums, 7; magnas, 2; summas, 1.

Although full of rather abstruse sounding courses like "Metaphysics: Substance & Cause" and "Relational Logic," the Philosophy department can make an interesting and useful concentration for many besides the professional scholastics.

A good field for students who are simply out for a "liberal education", Philosophy is also very valuable preparation for any profession which stresses either analysis or argument, such as the law and education.

Concentrators are required to take at least 12 half-courses in Philosophy. Of these, only four may be elementary, that is "Primarily for Undergraduates." Another four may be in related fields. The department has a very liberal policy in respect to these fields, which include political theory, theory of art, religion, psychology and sociology.

Condidates for honors may concentrate in one of a number of combined courses: Philosophy and Classics, Philosophy and English, Philosophy and Mathematics, Philosophy and Gevernment, and Philosophy and History.

Although there are no required courses, a student's schedule is somewhat determined by the rather demanding General Examination system. Each concentrator is required to take three three-hour generals in his senior year--one in modern philosophy.

In the systematic exam the student can choose between Metaphysics, Ethics and Logic. In the ancient and modern philosophy exams he has a choice of a long list of authors on which he will be intensively examined--one in each period.

The requirements for honors candidates are exactly the same, except for a thesis due at the end of the senior year. Tutorial is provided for all honors candidates in or above Group III in the Junior and Senior Years. Group III sophomores may have one term of tutorial.

There is no set order in which courses are to be taken. Most students either take the extremely popular Philosophy 1 or 2 and 3 as an introductory course, depending on whether they want an historical or systematic approach. Other important and popular courses in the department are 152, 130, and 164.

Nine courses--75, 3, 74, 110, 120, 122, 155, and 165--will not be given next year. While there will be four additions. President Conant gives the new 146-A Philosophy of Science. Professor I. A. Richards will give a course (146) in Modes of Meaning. Professor D. Wild will initiate a new course (171) in Ethics and Social Order. Philosophy 139 is a course in the Philosophy of Whitehead.

One of the major criticisms of the department is that too many courses rely primarily on regurgitation of memorized material instead of original philosophical thinking. This may or may not be remedied in the future.