The study of a "core curriculum," or a selection of classic texts and great books, is the primary focus of inquiry within the Institute of Philosophic Studies. Each of the works read in the program is distinguished by its extraordinary power to illumine reflective minds through an exploration of the human soul at the deepest moral and metaphysical plane.
The concentration disciplines come into dialogue with each other through a common core of course work. Occupying twenty one hours in the doctoral curriculum, it comprises courses that engage fundamental texts, principles, and issues that are formative of the literary, political and philosophical strains in the Western intellectual tradition. The following six courses are taken by all students in all three concentrations. They are scheduled in a three-year cycle, one course each semester.
Study the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer and Vergil's Aeneid.
Read the seminal texts by two thinkers who laid the foundations of Western philosophy; ordinarily these texts are the Republic and the Nichomachean Ethics.
Study two of the great Christian thinkers; readings include Confessions, City of God, and the Summa Theologiae.
Read Dante's The Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost.
Study the Leviathan and various works of Rousseau, such as Emile, the Social Contract and the two discourses.
Study the three thinkers in transition between modernity and postmodernity. Texts are typically the Preface to the Phenomenology of the Spirit, the Genealogy of Morals, and the Brothers Karamazov.
The seventh core course is one in the Bible. This requirement may be satisfied by a number of courses, whose principal text is some portion of the Bible. Such courses are offered most frequently by the Theology Department but also intermittently by the other departments in the Institute.
Dallas-area native and Door Number 9 designer Elisa Choffel Low, BA '03, will have her latest dress design showcased on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 22. The silver open-back vintage-style gown includes a striking chainmail jewelry inset created in collaboration with Toronto jewelry designer Kyra Matsui.
+ Read MoreOn Friday, Sept. 13, the university community welcomed George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the father of two UD alumnae. Celebrated for his two-volume biography of St. John Paul II and many other intellectual contributions, Weigel presented an exploration of the current Catholic situation in light of a new interpretation of the past 250 years of the church's interaction with social, cultural, economic and political modernity.
+ Read MoreGabe Dickey, DBA '19, recently successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Exploring the Human Side of Audit Quality: Team Engagement and Partner Leadership Behaviors," for UD's Doctor of Business Administration. Dickey has spent his career in the accounting profession, the vast majority as a certified public accountant working in auditing. He began UD's DBA program three years ago, drawn in by his interest in broader business issues and the program's practitioner-oriented focus.
+ Read More
