Bard College Berlin was founded with the aim of returning small-group seminar teaching and interdisciplinary undergraduate education in the liberal arts to the highest levels of the European university context where it first originated. The two degree programs that Bard College Berlin offers are predicated on the principle that specialized study in individual disciplines should proceed on the basis of a broad and thorough knowledge of intellectual traditions and the major debates, works, and transformations that have animated them. The academic lineage of 'social thought', which has its roots in post-war Germany and in the United States, is committed to examining the key innovations of human life and culture within the framework of their social and political determinations. Bard College Berlin's core courses in intellectual history directly reflect this commitment, but it is also a guiding ideal of the programs as a whole.