The aim of philosophy at the University of Dallas is to recover the possibility of a wisdom dealing with those "first things" which ground and locate human experience within the whole of being. Philosophy explores the totality of human existence. It analyzes the frameworks within which other human endeavors occur and recommends ways in which they might be situated so as to throw light on the character of the totality. Such illumination, in turn, affects those other human endeavors by giving them perspective. By reason of its location in a Catholic institution, the Department is particularly interested in the ways revelation has led to developments within a properly philosophic wisdom available to believers and nonbelievers alike.
The major tool of philosophic research lies in the careful study of classical texts from Plato and Aristotle to Heidegger and Wittgenstein. The cultivation of competence in logic and facility in at least one classical and one modern language are viewed as indispensable auxiliaries in the project. The underlying conviction is that texts which have continually attracted reflective minds throughout the centuries contain profound insights into the fundamental issues of being and thought, and that we neglect such insights at our own peril, especially since they have been instrumental in the formation of our own mental horizon. Hence polemical reaction takes second place to sympathetic dialogue. Not so much "Where do they go wrong?" as "What did they see?" governs the approach. Such an approach does not aim at the indifferent cataloguing of historical positions. Rather, it aims at understanding "the things themselves" through dialogue with the masters. The aim is to see the same things in different ways and thereby learn to assess the value and limitations of the differing ways with a view toward an ever-deepening wisdom of the whole.
Aspiring drama (and perhaps also English) major Klemens Raab, BA '23, has been hanging around UD his whole life, since he only lives about a mile away from the university's Irving campus, and his parents (Klemens, BA '00 MA '06, and Gina (LeBaron), BA '99) are both alumni. He's already experienced the Rome campus, too, having participated in the summer High School Rome Program Shakespeare in Italy last year.
+ Read MoreThe University of Dallas Board of Trustees has added another alumna to its ranks: Mary Devlin Capizzi, BA '88 MBA '89, a one-time Spanish major who is now a partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP, a national, full-service law firm founded in Philadelphia in 1849.
+ Read More"I ended up at UD by accident," said Professor of Management Bruce Evans, who has taught at UD for 50 years now. Half a century ago, he and his brother were heading home to the East Coast from a camping trip and stopped by UD on a whim; Bob Lynch, dean of the newly formed Graduate School of Management (now the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business), hired Professor Bruce, as he is known by students, on the spot.
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