The unifying character of the Ph.D. program in the Institute of Philosophic Studies finds its chief expression in its Core Curriculum. It summons the IPS faculty and students to the task of recovery and renewal of the tradition of Western liberal education and the Christian intellectual life.
Recovery says that there is wisdom in the past.
It insists that those who went before have much yet to teach those who come after. It holds that in the search for wisdom about the most important things, the ingenious, formative minds of the past should be chief companions in the inquiry. Moreover, it implies that any grasp of present realities and any serious projects for the future are intimately bound up with the principles of the tradition. Renewal reminds us that history always puts a new face on the difficulties that beset those who endeavor to seek truth and justice in their own time. The IPS faculty accepts the challenge to think critically and creatively about the most significant issues.