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The six learning domains are concerned mainly with the
subjects that make up the conventional liberal arts and
sciences curriculum. Students take 52 hours (13 courses)
in the various learning domains. The learning domain requirements
listed below total 60 hours (15 courses). There is a two-course
reduction in the area of your major. For specific information
about this course reduction, please consult your advisor
or the University Bulletin for the distribution of your
liberal studies requirements.
Arts and Literature
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Courses in the Arts and Literature domain ask students
to extend their knowledge and experience of the arts while
developing their critical and reflective abilities. In these
courses, students will interpret and analyze particular
creative works, investigate the relations of form and meaning,
and through critical and/or creative activity come to experience
art with greater openness, insight and enjoyment. These
courses focus on works of art or literature as such, though
the process of analysis may also include social and cultural
issues. Work in this domain includes literature, the visual
arts, media arts, the performing arts, music and theater.
Students will complete three courses in this learning domain,
with not more than two courses coming from the same department
or program.
Philosophical Inquiry
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Courses in this learning domain address conceptual issues
fundamental to reflection on such philosophical topics as
metaphysics (e.g., being and nonbeing, the one and the many,
the nature of reality, same and other, self and other);
epistemology (e.g., the nature and possibility of knowledge,
different ways of knowing, knowledge vs. opinion, truth
and falsity); ethics (e.g., right and wrong action, good
and evil, objectivism and relativism in ethics, social and
political philosophies, the idea of value, and aesthetics
(e.g., the nature of beauty, aesthetic value, the possibility
of aesthetic valuation). Courses address how philosophical
topics such as those indicated above enrich, shape, and
challenge students' lives.
Students will take two courses in this domain.
Religious Dimensions
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Courses in the Religious Dimensions domain
offer students the opportunity to explore the explicitly
religious dimensions of life and culture. These dimensions
are found in the culturally embedded narratives, beliefs
and practices of particular religions, as well as in encounters
with realities perceived to be ultimate or sacred. Through
myth, symbol, ritual and doctrine, these religions not only
provide order and meaning, they also carry capacities to
challenge and transform individuals and societies. Intellectual
and social maturity requires understanding the unique contributions,
both positive and negative, of the religious traditions
of the world to culture and consciousness. It also requires
coming to terms with questions of ultimacy. This learning
domain offers courses with a comparative, thematic or ethical
focus, as well as courses in specific traditions.
Students will take two courses, in any order,
in this learning domain. One course will be selected from
the category of Patterns and Problems. Another course will
be selected from the category of Traditions in Context.
Courses identified as Patterns and Problems
consider various definitions of religion; identify religion's
important elements and issues; compare these elements and
issues across different religions; and investigate the truth
claims made by religions. Courses identified as Traditions
in Context examine the origins and historical development
of particular religious traditions, and explore the impact
that religions, cultures and societies have had upon each
other.
Scientific Inquiry
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Courses in the Scientific Inquiry domain are designed to
provide students with an opportunity to learn the methods
of modern science and its impact on the world around us.
Courses are designed to help students develop a more complete
perspective about science and the scientific process, including:
an understanding of the major principles guiding modern
scientific thought; a comprehension of the varying approaches
and aspects of science; an appreciation of the connection
among the sciences; the fundamental role of mathematics
in practicing science; an awareness of the roles and limitations
of theories and models in interpreting, understanding, and
predicting natural phenomena; and a realization of how these
theories and models change or are supplanted as our knowledge
increases.
Students will take three courses in this
learning domain. The Quantitative Reasoning course (or placement
out of the course through the placement tests) is a prerequisite
for all courses in this domain. Students must complete one
course with a laboratory component and one course with a
strong quantitative component. The third course can be any
course offered for Scientific Inquiry credit.
Courses listed as quantitative should
include student participation in an independent or group
project involving data collection and mathematical analysis.
Courses listed as lab/quantitative can
fulfill either the lab or
quantitative requirement.
Self, Society and
the Modern World
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courses
Courses in the Self, Society and the Modern
World domain focus on the mutual impact of society and culture
on individuals and of individuals on society and culture.
Particular attention is given to human relationships and
behavior as they are influenced by social, economic and
political institutions, spatial and geographical factors,
and the events and social and cultural forces of modernity.
This learning domain is concerned with such issues as the
role of power and the bases of inequality in society and
in international relations. It examines individual cognition,
feelings and behavior as they affect the well being of members
of society, relationships and collective life. The domain
examines the processes of human development and learning
and the importance of culture in everyday life. It emphasizes
the pursuit of knowledge on such matters through the development
of theory and the application of methods of inquiry that
draw on the empirical investigation of the modern world.
Courses in the domain explore such particular issues as
poverty and economic opportunity, the environment, nationalism,
racism, individual alienation, gender differences, and the
bases of conflict and consensus in complex, urban societies
and in global relations.
Students will complete three courses in
this learning domain, with not more than two courses coming
from the same department or program.
Understanding the
Past
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Courses in the Understanding the Past
domain study human life in past societies as a process of
continuity and change over time. Many of the documents that
mediate the past to us have considerable aesthetic or intellectual
value in and of themselves. However, courses in this learning
domain will examine texts, art works, and other forms of
evidence less for their aesthetic or intellectual value
than for their usefulness as tools for reconstructing aspects
of the past and building sensible, defensible, and well-informed
historical interpretations about the past and about causation
in the past.
Unless otherwise instructed by their home
College or Schools, DePaul University students are required
to take two courses in the
Understanding the Past learning domain. All classes in this
learning domain are classified into one of the following
six geographic categories:
Africa
Asia
Europe
Intercontinental / Comparative
Latin America
North America
Students may choose to take their courses in any of these
categories, but they may not take more than one course in
any given category. Taking more than one course in a single
category will result in one of those courses counting as
elective credit, rather than fulfilling the Understanding
the Past requirement.
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the Common Core
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