Courses – Spring 2025 / History and Philosophy
The courses listed below, in the general area of history and philosophy, are currently offered at Quest.
Click on any title to view the related course page.
EXPLORATIONS IN PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE
Coordinators: Larry Shapiro, Steve Allen, Bob Belfort
For each session, we will read an essay, classic short story, or excerpt from a play.
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY
Coordinators: Ilene Winkler, Susannah Falk-Lewis, Penelope Pi-Sunyer, Michael
Wellner
This semester, the history of New York City that you didn’t learn in school, will focus on the beginning of the 19th century through the Civil War.
NEW AND CLASSIC ESSAYS
Coordinators: Steve Allen, Martha Drezin, Larry Shapiro
Each week the course coordinators will pick an essay designed to provoke new perspectives, to ask us to question assumptions, and to encourage thoughtful discussion.
NYC AND ITS ENVIRONS: PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
Coordinators: Paul Golomb, Bob Reiss, Sandra Abramson
Starting as a trading post on the tip of Manhattan, today it is a region that reaches beyond the city lines.
POWER: THE GLORY OF IT
Coordinators: Andrea Irvine, David Bartash, Marion Schultheis
Power: The word comes from the Latin word for “to be able.” This course continues the prior semester’s presentations, which covered a whole range of “powers”: the ability to move things, to move people, to move emotions, to move ships at sea, to move other nations.