Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness (PCC) graduate programs are dedicated to re-imagining the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community. At the heart of the PCC programs is a focus on knowledge that is transformative—of ourselves and of our civilization. The programs attract intellectually engaged people who are in varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening
in industrial societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world. Inspired by Alfred North Whitehead's view that the function of the university is to enable the future to appear, first in conceptual thought, PCC faculty and graduate students hold in mind three fundamental goals:
To open our consciousness, through learning and imagination, to those creative and evolutionary energies suffusing the Earth, the universe, and the deep psyche that will enable us to participate fully in the regeneration of human communities and their enveloping life systems. To analyze the current devastation of planetary life and to strive to liberate ourselves and our communities from the underlying causes of alienation, consumerism, militarism, androcentrism, and unsustainable modes of life. To draw from the deep wells of philosophical and religious wisdom together with other scholarly and scientific insights in order to bring forth a profound vision of a vibrant planetary era. Scientists, scholars, and visionaries recognize that the Earth community is facing an unprecedented evolutionary challenge, the most severe degradation of life in the last 65 million years. This multifaceted crisis requires a fundamental reorientation of our civilization, one in which a compassionate humanity becomes a mutually enhancing presence within Earth’s complex systems of life. Cultural historian Thomas Berry has called this task "the Great Work." The PCC master's and doctoral programs are committed to shaping the leadership necessary for profound, progressive transformation of social institutions and individual consciousness. Drawing upon some of the most powerful ideas of Western intellectual and spiritual traditions, together with insights from Asian spiritual philosophies and indigenous world views, the faculty has constructed a multidisciplinary course of study to help accelerate each student’s journey into his or her particular leadership role within this work:
PHILOSOPHY:
To free philosophy from its contemporary commitments—narrowly analytic, reductionist, and cosmologically alienated—and revive the original essence of Western philosophy as the love of wisdom. Philosophy in PCC explores new ways of thinking and being that are both visionary and pragmatic, and resist the paradigm of fragmentation that continues to dominate Western thought and culture. COSMOLOGY:
To pursue a multidisciplinary study of cosmology with a focus on the evolutionary unfolding of the universe and the Earth community. Cosmology in PCC includes reflection on the discoveries of the natural sciences as well as cosmological and ecological perspectives emerging in contemporary culture, including especially the arts and religion. CONSCIOUSNESS:
To explore the inner worlds of consciousness and the deep psyche, particularly by research concerning archetypal structures and their formative expression in individual lives and culture.
