Philosophy & Ethics Seminar
June 29 – July 5, 2025
New York, NY
For rising high school seniors and college freshmen
An Introduction to University Life
What is a university education and what can you expect from it? Is college just a way to prepare for a profession? Can it be something more?
The Philosophy & Ethics Seminar offers rising high school seniors and college freshmen a unique opportunity to experience a college-level class in the humanities. For five days, the students read and discuss a classical philosophical text. The classes are held in seminar-style and are led by an experienced college professor.
The seminar centers on a classic philosophical text which is accessible to the student but also demands serious effort. The readings are meant to raise deeper life questions, the kinds of questions that any student—whether a humanities major or not—should reflect on during his college years.
Present Day Issues
In addition to the morning classes on the Nicomachean Ethics, Professor Gallagher will also lead a one-hour seminar each afternoon focusing on contemporary Critical (“Woke”) Ideology. Each day one basic theme of this ideology will be discussed, with a view to understanding the theme and then seeing which elements of it are true and which false. Among the themes to be discussed are Anti-essentialism, Group Identity and the Struggle for Power, Knowledge as Power, Social Justice, and Systemic Racism. The goal of these discussions is to help the students recognize and critique Critical claims which are found in the media, in public policy, and in the university. As a result, students will be much better intellectually prepared to begin their college career.
Some time each day will be dedicated to reviewing the assigned readings in preparation for class.
Additional Information
For more information, contact the program staff at pes@ysi.org.
The 2025 Seminar
The text for the seminar is Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. The topic of this book is the fulfilled human life and includes discussions of happiness, virtue, and friendship. For over two thousand years, and even to our times, it has remained the starting point for all discussions of ethics.
The seminar will be taught by Dr. David M. Gallagher, former professor of Ethics at The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) and a Consulting Scholar at the James Madison Program of Princeton University.
Application and Payment Information
- Applications received by May 1 will be given priority.
- Notification of acceptances will be sent out on a rolling basis beginning May 15.
- For those accepted, balance of payment should be paid by June 15.
- Cost: $725.
- To make a payment, click on the “Payment” tab above and follow the instructions.