Liberal Studies: the interdisciplinary hub

Politics of Peace: Addressing the Issues of Social Justice

2012-02-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

“We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, anda level playing field, but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity,however gained.”

- Derrick Bell

This idea address one ofthe core issues of social justice, that is, the theoretical that we idealizeversus the reality that we live in. Hereat Villanova, the Social Justice course taught by Dr. Rachel Baard, seeks toprovide a synopsis on “social justice as concept and specific social justiceconcerns”. Through a series ofexamination, theories provided by the likes of John Locke, Aristotle, LeonardoBoff and many others are discussed to provide a framework in order to answerthe question of what social justice consists of. Specific issues examined relate the problematic tendenciesof society that contribute to the social injustices endured and measures takento counter them supported by published academic works. In addition to thecourse, Villanova's Graduate Department of Liberal Studies is hosting the “Politics of Peace”, a one-day conferencedesigned to open up dialogs about the issues of social justice. In an effort toresolve some of the issues at the core of social injustice, the conference willattempt to answer a series of questions that target specific problems of theissue. The Conference will be held in late spring, the date is yet to be determined,but keep an eye out for more information on both the course andconference. Information regardingthe event will be posted regularly.

The Gospel According to Reason

2011-10-25T16:25:00.001-07:00

(The Unacknowledged Terminus)

By Melissa Dugan

Once upon a time, there was abeast. A pure animal, driven bylust. Lust for food, lust for power,lust for sex. Roaring, clawing, violent,uncivilized. When he wasn’t attacking ormating, he was indulging his penchant for lassitude. Sleeping in the sun, licking his chops,snoring, useless. An animal. An animal with a meaningless existence.

Butthen one day the God of Random, Purposeless Happenings descended from the AbsoluteMeaninglessness and bestowed upon this savage beast the sacred gift ofReason. “Lo, poor beast, I grant theesalvation in the form of thy new brain, which I have bestowed upon thee for nopurpose whatsoever. Just randomly. By accident, by a freak mutation, thou hastbeen given thy Savior. And Reason willsave thee from uncertainty, from sin, from pain, and even, eventually, from death.”

And sothe poor beast was elevated to a standing above that of even the God of Random,Purposeless Happenings, for only the beast with Reason, who came to be known asMan, could bring order to the senseless world over which he now obviously andrightfully held dominion. And onlyReason could stop Man from indulging in the wild feelings that threatened tomake him lose control and revert to his weak, evil, irrational ways.

Aftera great period of darkness not worth mentioning because everything peoplethought then was completely wrong, Man finally became fully enlightened to thePower of his Reason, and a grand new era began, completely devoid of any dangerousmythologies. Man dedicated himself to thepursuit of the holiest of holies known as Knowledge. He sought to know everything, and to remakethe world in his image, which was undoubtedly superior to the chaos thatsurrounded him. He beat down the savage,evil beast that still lived within him, and he conquered his primitive driveswith help of the Sacred Commandments Determined by Logic. Now Man only attacked other human beings forsensible political reasons, only mated within the bounds of practicallysustainable relationships, and only used his leisure time to pursue healthy, productive,and socially responsible hobbies.

Appropriately controlled andfree of sin, Man now felt he could take on his greatest foes, suffering and death,as the God of Random, Purposeless Happenings had foretold. Man had proven his worthiness by meeting allof the criteria for the definition of perfection he had created, so it wassweet and right for him to have power over everything. Otherwise, he might be taken by surprise andhave to suffer! So, filled with Fear,the Holy Spirit of Reason, Man worked tirelessly to create pills, theories, andtechnologically advanced toys to give him pleasure without the risk of pain,and to prolong his youth and his life.

And,lo, what a God Man became! He flew inthe skies. He cleared all of the earthto make space for his progeny. Perhapssome still suffered, but those who battled each other with uncivilized weaponsor simply starved and died were the lesser ones, the ones who did not yetacknowledge Reason as their Savior, and so they lived foolishly, believing inmythologies that could so easily be proven false, and deserved their pain. Only the Good, those who had been saved by Education,deserved Reason’s sacred gift of the Life of Comfort and Pleasure.

Thus, after many years, Reason came to bestowthe Life of Comfort and Pleasure upon all worthy members of the humanrace. There was no need for the EducatedMan to think or care about anything, except his unquestionably just war withdeath. And when he was not fighting fordominance over death, Man was free to spend his days immersed in rest andentertainment, sleeping in the sun, eating decadent foods, and having sex, alifestyle he was able to safely and sensibly maintain without variation becauseit was free of all of the unpredictable and useless complicationsof human feeling.

Ah,progress!

Cross roads

2011-10-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

The disciplines in the humanities and social sciences intrinsically commingle.

Politics cannot get away from history or theory. Philosophy cannot get away from worldly events or cultural trends. Literature cannot separate itself from psychological or philosophical tendencies of characters. History cannot escape the religious and aesthetic movements of their periods study. Theology cannot escape its socio-political and racial implications. Anthropology cannot divorce the economic and philosophical outlook of its people from its own study. In short, the humanities and the social sciences are by nature interdisciplinary.

The Graduate Liberal Studies program at Villanova hopes to overcome the general biases and assumptions of a disciplinary degree. We give student a holistic view of the humanities and social sciences, allowing students to explore different topics with the breadth and depth. In this way our students can holistically view a subject matter and not be constrained to the methods of one particular discipline. This purpose of this blog is to give students and faculty in our program a space to show what they have been researching and thinking during the course of their studies and teaching, as well as give them a voice in the general academic community.