The summer programs bring together students and professors to explore the enduring ideas of Western civilization through the disciplines of political philosophy, philosophical anthropology, ethics, literature and Law.

“THE STUDY OF WESTERN INSTITUTIONS”
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, USA
JUNE 25 - JULY 23, 2011

OPENING SEMINAR
The Opening Seminar is designed to provide a proper introduction to the summer course as a whole. Students will meet their professors, classmates and coordinators; review the calendar of curricular and extra-curricular activities; learn all they need to know about life at Notre Dame; etc. The Seminar will take place in the morning of Sunday, June 26th. Participation is compulsory for all students.

HEROISM RECONSIDERED
(3 Credits)
Dr. John X. Evans
Professor (em.) of English Literature
Arizona State University

Starting with the heroic quest paradigm that originated with Gilgamesh and Greek mythology, we will explore the attributes and evolution of heroism from ancient to modern times. Because the warrior-heroes of history have often ignored the common good with disastrous consequences, we will look at the various faces of heroism and ask if mankind would profit by loosening the grip that warrior-heroes have on the human imagination. Collaterally, we will explore what can be appropriated from competing models of the hero for personal strength of character, happiness, and humanity’s hopes for peace on earth.

Texts: Homer’s Iliad (Robert Fagles’ translation); Virgil’s Aeneid, Book II; the Bible (Moses, David, Jesus); selections from John Milton’s Paradise Lost; selections from Early Christian Fathers;  Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth (film); Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses; war poetry of World War I (Wilfred Owen, On Passing the Menin Gate and Siegfried Sassoon, Dulce et Decorum Est); World War II war letters from Andrew Carroll’s Behind the Lines;  Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and Sophie Scholl (film).

Dr. John X. Evans.- Founding Director of the Phoenix Institute. Professor Emeritus of English, Arizona State University. Ph.D. Yale University. Works include: The Works of Sir Roger Williams, as well as articles in The Huntington Library Quarterly, Shakespeare Quarterly, English Studies, Recusant History, Religion and the Arts, and other academic journals.

PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
(3 Credits)
Dr. Bradley Lewis
Associate Professor, School of Philosophy
Catholic University of America

What is law?  How is it related to morality? What is the character of legal as distinct from moral obligation? What is the relationship between legal norms and the structure of political society more generally? How should we think about legal rights and duties?  These are among the most central questions of philosophical jurisprudence and have been vigorously debated by proponents of the two perennially dominant jurisprudential camps: legal positivism and natural law theory. In this course we shall investigate them through a study of the two most authoritative contemporary statements of those two perspectives: H.L.A. Hart's 1961 book The Concept of Law and John Finnis's 1980 book Natural Law and Natural Rights.

Dr. Bradley Lewis.- Ph.D., Government and International Studies, University of Notre Dame. M.A., Government and International Studies, University of Notre Dame. B.A., Government and Politics, University of Maryland. Associate Professor at the School of Philosophy of The Catholic University of America. Associate Editor of The American Journal of Jurisprudence.

THE POLITICS OF RECONCILIATION
(3 Credits)
Dr. Daniel Philpott
Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies
University of Notre Dame

All over the world, over the past generation, a historically unusual concentration of societies has sought to confront dolorous pasts of civil war, genocide, and dictatorship.  From South Africa to Chile, from Poland to East Timor, countries have debated the meaning of justice in the aftermath of its massive despoliation. The dominant “orthodoxy” within the UN, western governments, and human rights organizations, known as “the liberal peace,” proposes human rights, democracy, and judicial punishment as the way forward. But in numerous locales, a “heterodoxy” has arisen that goes under the name “reconciliation.” More often than not reconciliation is advocated by the religious. In contrast to the liberal peace, it proposes a far more holistic approach to past injustices, involving acknowledgment, reparations, apology, the transformation of emotions and beliefs, and, most distinctively and controversially, forgiveness. What exactly is reconciliation? Why has it arisen at this historical moment? What are its theological roots? What does it offer to broken societies? What controversies and ethical dilemmas does it entail? The course will explore reconciliation in a multidisciplinary fashion, drawing on theology, political philosophy, film, literature, and numerous examinations of actual cases from the past generation.

Dr. Daniel Philpott.- Ph.D. Harvard. Pursues interests in international relations, political philosophy, and peace studies. Works include: Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation (forthcoming); The Politics of Past Evil: Religion, Reconciliation, and Transitional Justice (Editor); and Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations (Author), among others. He has held fellowships at Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Virginia, the Erasmus Institute at Notre Dame, the Hertie School of Governance, and the Wissenschaftzentrum Berlin.

Costs for the Notre Dame Summer Seminar

$2,665.00 USD (Tuition, double/triple-occupancy accommodation, 10-Meals per week Meal Plan, fees for computer labs, libraries, and recreational facilities included).

Non-US Students who are selected to the program will receive the Form I-20 from Notre Dame University. This form is necessary in order to obtain student visas for entry into the USA.

Because of the high cost of medical treatment in the United States, all students must purchase a medical insurance policy prior to arrival at the University of Notre Dame.

6 is the maximum amount of credits that a student can obtain per Summer Seminar. Thus, all students must choose two out of the three courses offered. Please notice that the course on “Heroism Reconsidered” is mandatory for all first year students.

Summer Seminars are now open for registration

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download the 2011 brochure!