The Committee on Social Thought is an interdisciplinary, PhD granting graduate program. Its guiding principle is that the serious study of many academic topics, and of many philosophical, historical, theological, and literary works, is best prepared for by a wide and deep acquaintance with the fundamental issues presupposed in all such studies, that students should learn about these issues by acquainting themselves with a select number of major ancient and modern texts in an interdisciplinary atmosphere, and that students should only then begin intense work on a specific dissertation topic. In their first few years of study, students (1) select 12 to 15 foundational or fundamental books that best inform the context and background of the issues they want to write about; (2) read and study these books in discussion groups, tutorials, seminars, and independently; and (3) sit a weeklong qualifying exam on some selection of their books.

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