Summer Seminars (Multiple Programs)

Summer Seminars Overview

Organization: Witherspoon Institute Inc
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
Website: winst.org

Program Description

The Witherspoon Institute offers intensive summer seminars exploring vital moral questions in social, philosophical, legal, and political thought. These small seminars are taught by leading scholars and constitute the core of the Institute's effort to encourage and inform outstanding young men and women who aspire to academic careers and rigorous scholarship.

Focus Areas

• Natural law theory
• Moral philosophy
• Political thought
• Legal theory
• Ethics (medical, business, social)
• Classical tradition
• Constitutional law and originalism
• Religious liberty
• Family and social policy

Eligibility

Programs available for:
• High school students (rising juniors and seniors)
• Undergraduate students (advanced)
• Graduate students (pre-dissertation)
• Professional students (law, medicine)
• Young professionals in policy, law, and related fields
• Early career faculty, post-docs, and ABDs

Specific Seminars Offered (Historical)

• Moral Life and the Classical Tradition
• Principles of American Politics
• First Principles
• Natural Law and Public Affairs
• Moral Foundations of the American Constitutional Order
• Church & State
• Thomistic Seminar in Philosophical Anthropology
• Medical Ethics: A Natural Law Perspective
• Moral Foundations of Law
• Themes in Aquinas and Charles Taylor

Philosophy

The Institute emphasizes:
• Serious engagement in moral inquiry
• Presumption of unchanging moral duties and goods discernible in human nature
• Freedom from philosophical relativism
• Formation of persons, not just content delivery
• Intellectual courage and virtue cultivation
• Socratic friendships and civility

Contact

Email: summer@winst.org

Geographic Scope

• Programs held in Princeton, New Jersey
• Some programs offered in Washington, DC (as of 2020)
• Open to students from across the United States