Hermeneutics Seminar I - Program Requirements

June 17-21, 2024

The week of online classes precedes a summer workshop in Dublin hosted by the Fonds Ricoeur that begins June 24.


Many of the instructors have committed to attend all or most of the class sessions and office hours, even when they are not the class instructor themselves. All of the instructors have committed to participating in office hours on the day they teach.


Requirements

1. It is expected that every student will read Homo Interpretans before the seminar begins. Classes will review chapters in depth.

2. We will also ask students to write and submit before the seminar a short response to the book, encompassing 5 questions or comments. The seminar instructors will incorporate these questions into class sessions to address them.

 3. Class attendance is mandatory, with only one excused class absence permitted during the week.

4. The class will proceed by short instructor presentations but mainly by class discussion. Active class participation is required. (If a student is not a native English speaker, the classes provide an opportunity to practice English in a low-key environment.)

5. In the final class session, on Friday afternoon, students will submit a 2-page abstract (approximately 500 words) for a proposed longer paper. (The abstract could subsequently be submitted as a proposal for various conferences, such as the Society for Ricoeur Studies conference, the North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics, or the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy.) The session will discuss the abstracts.

6. Instructors will review the submitted abstracts and offer written feedback (without a quantitative grade). If a submission is not of minimal quality, the student will be given the opportunity to rework the abstract and resubmit it for new evaluation.

7. Successful completion of the course will lead to the awarding of a certificate.