An Introduction to University Life

Aristotle's Ethics

June 13 - 19, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA

Program fee is $475 ($25 of total fee to accompany application, balance due upon acceptance).

Click here to complete the online application.

What is a university education and what can you expect from it? Is college just a way to prepare for a profession? Can it be something more?

The Summer Philosophy Seminar offers entering high school seniors a unique opportunity to experience a college-level class in the humanities. For five days, the students read and discuss a classical philosophical text. The classes are held in seminar-style and are led by an experienced college professor.

Each summer the seminar centers on one classic philosophical text which is accessible to the student but also demands serious effort. The readings are meant to raise deeper life questions, the kinds of questions that any student—whether a humanities major or not—should reflect on during his college years.

The Seminar

The text for the seminar is Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. The topic of this book is the fulfilled human life and includes discussions of happiness, virtue, and friendship. For over two thousand years, and even to our times, it has remained the starting point for all discussions of ethics.

The seminar will be taught by Dr. David M. Gallagher, former professor of Ethics at The Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.) and a Consulting Scholar at the James Madison Program of Princeton University.

Present Day Issues

Joining Professor Gallagher will be other professors and lecturers who will offer an additional one-hour session each day on a cultural, scientific or technological development about which serious students should be aware. These discussions are designed to enhance students’ sense of what to look for in a comprehensive college program.

Each day some time will be dedicated to reviewing the assigned readings in preparation for class.

As part of the daily schedule, participants will have a chance to grow spiritually. Mass will be offered each morning, and there will be an opportunity each afternoon to pray the rosary and spend time in personal prayer. A priest will be available for spiritual guidance and the sacraments.