Every term ECLA students spend half their time on a core course, created and co-taught by several faculty members and guest teachers. Core courses are mandatory and, quite literally, form the core of an ECLA education. Premised on the thought that a well-rounded education involves learning to take interest in unfamiliar questions, the core courses ensure that none of the fundamental forms of value remain terra incognita to ECLA students. The courses are dedicated to questions concerning politics, morality, art and knowledge that have a claim on everyone's attention. The dialogues such questions inspire are, ultimately, ongoing explorations of the extent to which we can find common normative ground for shared lives. As Plato's Socrates observed, disagreement about values is a source of anger and enmity. By addressing value questions together, ECLA students educate themselves to inhabit a common world.  

ECLA's core courses are updated annually, and sometimes replaced with new courses. Here is the current core course overview:

BA in Value Studies – First Year / Academy Year Programme

Term 1: Education and Justice in Plato's Republic
Term 2: Forms of Love: Eros, Agape and Philia
Term 3: Values of the Florentine Renaissance + Italy Trip

BA in Value Studies – Second Year

Term 1: The Idea of Character
Term 2: Reason, Faith & Scepticism
Term 3: Property

BA in Value Studies – Fourth Year / Project Year Programme

Term 1: The Idea of Objectivity 1
Term 2: The Idea of Objectivity 2
Term 3: Research Seminars

ECLA BROCHURE 2009/10
BA CORE COURSE 2009/10
AY CORE COURSE 2009/10
PY CORE COURSE 2009/10