Foundations courses help students build a combined intellectual and practical base for subsequent learning both within the Core and throughout their undergraduate studies at Marquette. Foundations courses invite students to consider, from multiple angles, the wholeness and diversity of knowledge and its relevance to making change in the world. More specifically, they aim to engage students in contemplating, analyzing, and communicating with others about concrete situations in multidisciplinary ways, drawing in particular on theology, philosophy and rhetoric. It is essential to help students to engage globally with people who are fundamentally different from themselves. As such, the Foundations tier includes an Engaging Social Systems and Values requirement. The goal of this Core requirement is to prepare students to encounter different social systems and engage with other systems of value. This requirement allows students to experience difference and lead them to work for greater equality and inclusivity. An important element of this part of the Core involves students reflecting upon and developing their capacity for engagement with others. The list of required courses is as follows:
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THEO 1001: Foundations in Theology
Investigates the principle that God can be found in all things. How are we to envision God and the virtuous life in light of the theological and scriptural understandings of the prophets, Jesus and human existence from which that Catholic, Jesuit conviction springs? What differentiates a faith understanding from other academic, scientific and secular ways of thinking and drawing conclusions? How are we to assess the merits of theological truth claims? How can the Ignatian imperative to see God in all things translate into an obligation to promote justice in the world? What distinctive set of tools for advancing justice emerge from such an understanding?
PHIL 1001: Foundations in Philosophy
To help students critically engage their own experience as it relates to fundamental philosophical questions about the human condition, focusing on moral value and the meaning and purpose of human life. Aims to help students articulate their own deepest questions about these issues, and to increase their understanding of, organize and befriend these questions in light of a variety of classical and contemporary philosophical approaches.
ENGL 1001: Foundations in Rhetoric
Process-based introduction to applying rhetorical principles to source-based writing and speaking with multimedia for diverse audiences.
Engaging Social Systems and Values (ESSV1) course
The ESSV Foundations course fosters proficiencies, through a range of disciplinary bases, that help students recognize the powerful social structures that shape the world around them and facilitate privilege for some and limit opportunities for others. The ESSV Foundations course helps students recognize their own positions in social systems and invites them to consider how they can contribute to the creation of social systems that promote the full flourishing of all people and of each person in pursuit of the common good.
For a list of ESSV1 courses, please visit Marquette University Undergraduate Bulletin.
CORE 1929: Foundations in Methods of Inquiry (MOI)
The Methods of Inquiry (MOI) course, CORE 1929, is the bridge that connects the Foundation Tier courses in Philosophy, Theology, and Rhetoric with the multi-disciplinary examination of a theme within the Discovery Tier. Each MOI examines a single topic or question from the vantage point of three distinct disciplines. This approach prepares students for the Discovery Tier, which provides a deeper dive into multi-disciplinary examinations of themes related to our basic needs and assumptions. CORE 1929 must be completed at Marquette University.
The following topics will be offered in Spring 2021:
- Water Quality
- Citizenship
- Data Science
- Truth
