Liberal arts students and graduates might be comforted by the claims in recent years that their degrees might not be as “useless” as they thought (or were told) they would be. The discourse around the demand for liberal arts graduates in the workforce especially revolves around hi-tech companies. It is skills such as “critical thinking,
TagApril Matias
The Right of Necessity
Students of the Property Core Course had the good fortune to have Professor Andreas Blank conduct a seminar about Samuel Pufendorf’s theory of necessity on May 30th. Professor Blank is a teacher of early modern philosophy in the University of Hamburg and his expertise was most helpful in comparing Pufendorf’s notions of ownership and necessity with
Babette Babich: “The Aesthetics of the Between: On Beauty and the Museum”
On May 21st, ECLA students had the honor of having Professor Babette Babich for a guest lecture titled “The Aesthetics of the Between: On Beauty and the Museum”. Babette Babich is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University in New York and her works have covered studies of Nietzsche and Heidegger, as well as theories in philosophies of
The Path Of Kings
Spring term’s Berlin architecture class took a trip to Potsdam on April 29th with the aim of exploring Frederick the Great’s favoured place of residence, Sanssouci, which means “without worry”.The architecture class has so far dealt with various museums located in Berlin’s city center and their historical significance — how the architectural design as well
Reiventing Political Culture
On March 5th ECLA welcomed Professor Jeffrey Goldfarb from the New School for Social Research in New York for a lecture on his new book Reinventing Political Culture. To start the discussion, two ECLA students delivered short introductions on how Professor Goldfarb’s book is relevant for their own research projects. The first was fourth year
Bruno Macaes: Democratize the economy!
On February 1st, ECLA Professor Bruno Macaes led the first winter term meeting of the Politics Club regarding the Eurozone crisis. Bruno is currently a senior policy adviser to Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and is on leave from his teaching duties at ECLA. Bruno’s firsthand account of the inner workings of Portuguese politics
‘Tis the Season to be Jolly
In Berlin, even before snow sets in and the decorations are put up, holiday spirit abounds. You can go to your friendly neighborhood supermarket in November and see a bevy of seasonal sweet treats like: Stollen, Lebkuchen, Pfeffernüsse and Spekulatius. Christmas markets must be the most anticipated holiday fixture in the city, which seem to fill up every
An Evening with Euclid
On November 16th, students and faculty, led by Michael Weinman, came together for a seminar on Euclid’s Elements which was a supplementary seminar to the Academy Year core course on Plato’s Republic. The discussion aimed to relate Euclid’s propositions to the concept of the divided line found in Book VI of the Republic and Socrates’ suggested educational