Philosophy Study Tour
The Struggle for Freedom and Dignity 
20 May—4 June 2009

You can visit Europe and receive academic credits at the same time.  The Philosophy Department at Suffolk University is organizing a course and study tour to Central Europe for two weeks during the Summer I Session.

Prague & Krakow/Oscwiecim (Auschwitz)

A tour designed and led by Jeffrey Johnson, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Suffolk University

For more information please contact Professor Johnson at: Department of Philosophy
1 Bowdoin Square, 6th Floor
Telephone: (617)973-5318
email: pjohnson@suffolk.edu  

Tour / Course Description

Freedom and dignity are at the heart of our humanity.   These qualities enable us to develop and realize the fullness of our humanity.   Yet these qualities are very difficult to acquire and sustain.  It seems that what is most essential to our humanity is also the most elusive for so many of us.  The purpose of this study tour is to study and seek some level of understanding of this enigma.   The totalitarianism, wars, and genocide of our time are clear indications of the difficulties we face in achieving, acclaiming, and maintaining our humanity.  These three phenomena undermine and destroy the social and spiritual conditions that foster the freedom and dignity critical to our humanity.  We will be visiting places very closely associated with this scenario: Prague, Auschwitz, and Krakow.  By understanding the tragedies and struggles associated with these places we hope to gain a knowledge that will aid us in our contemporary struggles for human freedom and dignity. 

We will study and hear lectures on such topics as:

• Totalitarianism: Fascist and Communist
• The Roots of Violence and Genocide
• The Challenges of Transition: From Totalitarianism to Democracy
• The Struggle to Build a Civil Society

Aside from organized tours in these locations, there will also be ample opportunities for the students to independently explore them.  This will give Suffolk students a chance to visit an area of the world that has been at the heart of the greatest conflicts in recent times.  By being “there” the students will be able to connect what happened with some of the reasons related to how and why certain things happened.  They will be able to see how concrete events and places relate to philosophical understanding.

The title of the course is Philosophy of Freedom: PHIL 309 (4 semester hours, undergraduate credit); graduate level PHIL 609.

Along with the participation in the tour, the readings, and the lectures, a journal and a major paper will be part of the course requirements.

CALENDAR

20 May: Flight from Boston to Prague
21 May: Free day in Prague
22 May: Morning Lecture;  Visit to Prague Castle, Saint Vitus’s Cathedral, and Charles Bridge
23 May: Free Day
24 May: Free Day
25 May: Morning Lecture;  Visit to Pinkas Synagogue Holocaust Memorial and Old Jewish Cemetery
26 May: Morning Lecture;  Visit to Terezin
27 May: Morning Lecture;  Visit to Museum of Communism and Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral
28 May: Morning Lecture;  Velvet Revolution walk
29 May: Travel from Prague to Krakow
30 May: Free Day
31 May: Free Day
1 June: Morning Lecture;  Visit to Jewish Quarter and Ghetto
2 June:  Visit to Auschwitz/Birkenau
3 June:  Morning Lecture;  Visit to Wawel Castle and Cathedral
4 June:  Travel from Krakow to Boston 
There will be mandatory class meetings at Suffolk University on Mondays and Wednesdays before and after the tour.

Apply At:

Center for International Education
Suffolk University
73 Tremont Street, Floor 6
Boston, MA 02108