In its original meaning, philosophy is “the love of wisdom." Aristotle, one of the greatest and most influential philosophers of the western tradition, defined politics as “the master science of the good.” The public represents a multi-dimensional domain of shared consciousness, ideals and action. Established in 2003, the Philosophy, Politics & the Public honors Program brings together many of Xavier’s traditional curricular strengths in an innovative and rigorous undergraduate honors program of study focusing on the unifying concept of “the public." Through course work that is both multi-disciplinary as well as centered in a particular disciplinary concentration, students are encouraged to follow their own interests in the theoretical engagement of the public in its many embodiments and meanings.

The Program represents Xavier University’s core values in a highly concentrated way. It issues from Xavier’s academic strengths, while at the same time, expresses in a concrete manner the educational ideals of the Society of Jesus. Its graduates will go to careers in law, diplomacy, public life, business, or the academy. Regardless of vocation, they will be distinctive for the depth and breadth of their comprehension of the complex constellation of issues that constitute the public, and the breadth of knowledge that they can bring to bear on its problems. What is more, they will engage these issues as citizen leaders in a manner that embodies the Jesuit ideal of being men and women for others.

REQUIREMENTS

Students in PPP have a great deal of freedom to tailor the program according to their interests, but at the same time they must satisfy certain fixed requirements. These requirements fall into several categories: (1) those requirements that are mandated by the undergraduate core curriculum of the university and thus necessary for any Xavier degree; (2) those requirements that serve as the foundational courses in the program; (3) those courses that fulfill the requirements for the Elective Concentration area; (4) those courses which are free elective courses in the program; and (5) the courses related to the senior thesis. There will be some overlap here, that is, some courses required by the program also satisfy several of the requirements in the core curriculum. Students completing the program will have completed several full minors together with the specific requirements of the PPP program itself.

(1) requirements that are mandated by the undergraduate core curriculum of the university and thus necessary for any Xavier degree. For the specific requirements in the university core curriculum, please consult http://www.xavier.edu/core_curriculum/

(2) requirements that serve as the foundational courses in the program:

1. HIST 133-134 -- European History is required of all PPP students and is taken in freshman year (in block format together with Phil 100 Ethics As Introduction to Philosophy, and Phil 290 Theory of Knowledge if possible).

2. A second two-semester history sequence of the student’s choice -- taken from the following offerings: HIST 123-124 African History, or 143-144 U.S. History, or 151-152 Latin American History, or 161-162 Asian History, or CLAS 120-121 From Homer to Plato and From Alexander to Cleopatra, or CLAS 160-161 From Romulus to Octavian and From Augustus to Attila the Hun. The student should tailor their choice to their own specific historical interests.

3. A full Language Minor, or the completion of two languages through 202 level (reading proficiency). Students are encouraged to continue with the language that they studied in high school.

4. Two semesters of Political Science. POLI 120 Comparative Government & Politics and POLI 140 American Government & Politics are recommended but may be replaced by political science courses offered as part of Constructing the Public I & II. In the past, these have been courses in Mass Media & Politics and Legislative Politics.

5. Two semesters of Economics. ECON 200 Microeconomics and ECON 201 Macroeconomics are required for the program.

6. Constructing the Public I – IV. Constructing the Public I & II will focus on the public from the perspective of politics, economics and social science. Constructing the Public III & IV will engage the concept of the public from the perspective of culture, the arts, literature, philosophy, etc.

(3) courses that fulfill the requirements for the Elective Concentration area (see PPP Elective Concentrations below)

(4) courses which are free elective courses in the PPP program – these will be electives designed specifically for the PPP program on issues concerning various dimensions of the public.

(5) the courses related to the preparation of the PPP senior thesis.

The PPP Elective Concentrations

The Elective Concentration forms the conceptual center of the PPP student’s course of study, supplying the dominant framework from which he or she investigates the complex content of “the public.” These Elective Concentrations are full academic minors and students are encouraged to choose a concentration that most closely fits their academic interest in “the public.” Thus a student whose primary interest lies in politics might select a political science minor as their Elective Concentration. For that student, Political Science would become the main academic perspective for organizing her or his personal course of study within the program. Your Elective Concentration can be either a discipline-based minor or one of Xavier’s interdisciplinary minor concentrations (see below). In most concentrations, some of the stated requirements will be satisfied in the process of satisfying Xavier’s core curriculum requirements or in the process of completing the PPP required courses. What remains are the hours needed to complete the concentration, and the number of free elective hours for PPP elective courses. Given the courses involved in the Constructing the Public sequence, PPP students may be able to complete more than one full discipline-based minor.

I. Philosophy, Politics & the Public combined with one of the following Interdisciplinary Minors:

1. Concentration in Gender & Diversity
2. Concentration in International Studies
3. Concentration in Latin American Studies
4. Concentration in Peace Studies
5. Concentration in Catholicism & Culture

II. Philosophy, Politics & the Public combined with one of the following Discipline-based Minors:

1. Concentration in Art History
2. Concentration in Business
3. Concentration in Classical Humanities
4. Concentration in Communication Arts
5. Concentration in Economics
6. Concentration in English
7. Concentration in History
8. Concentration in International Affairs
9. Concentration in Philosophy
10. Concentration in Political Science
11. Concentration in Psychology
12. Concentration in Theology