PULSE Print 1998-99
An Introduction to The PULSE Program
What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.
-Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics
The PULSE Program provides students with the opportunity
to combine supervised social service or social advocacy field work with
the study of Philosophy, Theology, and other disciplines. In light of classical
philosophical and theological texts, PULSE students address the relationship
of self and society, the nature of community, the mystery of suffering,
and the practical difficulties of developing a just society.
In 1995, the PULSE Program celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Throughout
the years, we have found that the relationship between field work and classroom
study evokes a rich conversation. The Western philosophical tradition began
in wonder and inquiry about basic problems: what does it mean to be human?
to enjoy freedom? to fall in love or become a friend? to participate in
community? Those basic questions reassert themselves when a student acts
as a companion to a handicapped adult, tutors an adolescent in a lock-up
facility, extends a sympathetic ear to a suicidal person over a telephone
line, or feeds a homeless person on a cold winter night.
The majority of the students enrolled in the PULSE Program take a twelve-credit,
year-long core-level course in philosophy
and theology entitled Person and Social Responsibility. Several PULSE elective
courses are also offered. In addition to classroom reflection and discussion,
carefully selected field placements in youth work, the correctional system,
emergency shelters, literacy, special needs, domestic violence, and HIV/AIDS
services among other areas become the context in which students forge a
critical and compassionate perspective both on society and themselves.
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