Our Pedagogical Principles

The program is guided by the following pedagogical principles.

Our program is above all oriented by the key principle that we are teaching the integral human being. Our program aims to address the different dimensions of human existence and to provide each one of our students with the resources, tools, and historical and cultural background to achieve their life plans and professional goals, while remaining life-long learners who are also morally mature and civically engaged.

Our pedagogy is thus learner autonomy focused. We think learning is something that should take place throughout one’s life, and thus, we cultivate in each and every student a commitment and responsibility for personal and individualized learning. There is no critical thinking or moral and aesthetic maturity without students taking charge of their own education. We educate best by teaching students to educate themselves and to see every opportunity as an educational opportunity. Learning takes place everywhere.

In tandem, we are guided by the pedagogical principle of enabling research commitment. Philosophy as a love of wisdom, a passion for learning, is thus a love of investigation and research. We think that all knowledge has some efficacy, but this efficacy has to be investigated. There is no possibility for transformation without understanding an analysis of the possibilities of action. We are deeply committed to educating knowledge producers and not simply knowledge consumers.

Our teaching is guided by the principle of cooperation. Philosophy itself is the performance and enactment of a form of epistemic friendship. To philosophize is to think within a community of enquirers. Philosophy itself is a testament to the disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration that takes place within a community of investigators. Philosophy trains autonomous learners to develop collaborative learning strategies.

Our pedagogy is guided by the principle of a dialogical cosmopolitanism. We aim to educate engaged global citizens who are ethically, aesthetically, and epistemically solicitous but who also celebrate the contributions and traditions of other communities of learners.

Finally, we seek to foster a passion for philosophy. Philosophy is already a love of wisdom, which is what the word itself means. We aim to foster in our students the kind of “examined life” that Socrates proposed. Above all, a passion for philosophy is a passion for self-reflection and gratitude towards the enlightenment we accomplish with, through, and for others.