Asst. Prof. Dr. Warayuth Sriwarakuel
Dean, Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion
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What is philosophy? Philosophy can mean different things to different people. Etymologically speaking, philosophy means "love of wisdom". It includes both theory and practice, view and way, end and means, beginning (alpha) and end (omega), or science and art. Its meanings seem to depend on each school of thought. Philosophers, therefore, may be considered as sages, lovers of wisdom, lovers of argument, theorists, practitioners or even artists.
As we all know, both religion and science have been the most important forces in the history of mankind. Therefore, we at Assumption University have the aim to promote both science and religion. The matter of science and religion should not be an "ethe...or" but a "both...and" way of thinking. Lacking an appreciation of either of the two can cause the problems, or as Einstein says, "Science without religion is lame, but religion without science is blind". How can we bridge the gap between science and religion? We can do it through process philosophy which integrates both science and religion into our way of life. We also use process philosophy and multicultural approaches to show how both Eastern and Western philosophy can be integrated into our life-world. Therefore, we train our students to most (if not all) systems of thought.
The main purpose of our philosophical and religious programs is to train, form, and transform all graduates to be a "conscience of the society". While students in the religious programs are trained to achieve "religious freedom" through the spirit of religious pluralism and authentic dialogue, those in the philosophical programs are expected to attain "intellectual freedom" or "intellectual autonomy" or what Kant previously called "Enlightenment". It does not matter whether our students are Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs or other believers. Indeed, it does matter whether they are authentic in their beliefs. We evaluate their authenticity by the following criteria: (1) They should be able to defend and justify their own faiths. (2) They should be able to put their beliefs into practice. (3) They should be able to have true dialogue and peaceful co-existence with those who have different faiths. All students, who have different backgrounds, are expected to become gradu-ates with 3 C's: competency (cognitive skills), character (moral virtues) and care (performance).
The Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion proudly offers 4 programs: MA and Ph.D. in Philosophy, and MA and Ph.D. in Religious Studies. |
visit website www.philo-religion.au.edu
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