Doctor of Liberal Studies
On-Campus Course Schedule for Summer 2024

DLS Directed Reading

DLS Directed Reading

DLS Directed Reading

DLS Directed Reading

DLS Directed Reading

DLS Directed Reading

DLS Thesis Writing

The Doctor of Liberal Studies thesis is expected to demonstrate a level of competence and academic rigor in the field of interdisciplinary studies comparable to, though distinct from, the equivalent level of competence and rigor expected in a Ph.D. thesis in a disciplinary field. Topics are limited to the liberal arts and social sciences and must be approved by the DLS Director. The Doctoral Thesis represents the creative synthesis of primary sources and secondary materials. Students must follow the Graduate Liberal Studies Guidelines for Thesis Writers provided each student upon successful completion of the Qualifying Examination for steps and procedures in the preparation and defense of the Thesis Proposal as well as the submission, defense, and approval of the DLS thesis. The Guidelines are also online, liberalstudies.georgetown.edu/DLS students/resources/thesis. Additionally, the student must follow the “rules” of manuscript preparation according to the methods provided in A Manual for Writers, 8th edition, Kate Turabian, in particular, the choice of one of the two suggested styles for citations.

MALS Continuous Reg. (HT)

Note: This course is for MALS students who need an additional semester to complete their thesis and should only be taken after MALS Thesis Writing.

MALS Thesis Writing (HT)

Note: This section is for students who are completing the old MALS curriculum thesis (0 credit thesis proposal, 3 credit thesis). Students can only register for this section after completing LSHV 981.

Neuroethics and Society

The brain sciences are changing our minds, materially as well as intellectually. Vast social impacts are already arriving. Brain scanning is mapping the mind’s cognitive areas, and starting to read our thoughts. Brain stimulation is changing how consciousness and thinking perform their mental tasks. Neurointerfacing is connecting computing with thinking to control prosthetics and engage the internet. Neuroenhancements offer brain boosts and faster learning, and maybe better decisions. Are we ready for re-thinking what we think the mind is? Are we prepared to alter or abandon traditional views about free will, agency, character, and moral responsibility? This course addresses issues, questions, and problems of neuroscience and technology addressed by the growing field of neuroethics. Key ethical concerns arriving with such neuroscientific and neurotechnological progress will be examined as the 21st century continues to astonish us with innovations in brain science. Along the way, a new paradigm for neuroethical principles to guide research and implementation will be presented.

Note: This Grad Liberal Studies course can apply as a general elective (MALS and DLS) or as a MALS Science and Society OR Norms and Ethics Foundation (MALS only).

SCOTUS/Constitution/ShapingUSA

Alexander Hamilton, in making his pitch for ratification of the Constitution, wrote in The Federalist No.78: "Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.... It proves incontestably, that the judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power." Hamilton's soothing minimalist assurances notwithstanding, Chief Justice John Marshall proved not only to be a major annoyance to President Jefferson (and Congress, as well as State governors, legislatures and judges); he established the until-then quiescent Supreme Court as a power center. On and on it went. This course takes a contra-Rushmorean approach to the exercise of power in the United States. Tracing the development of the nation through key Supreme Court decisions from Marbury v. Madison to the Fall 2023 Term of the Court that concludes in June 2024, it focuses on the unelected power center at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Consider: Marshall, not Jefferson, laid the groundwork for the modern American nation by articulating decidedly non-Jeffersonian concepts in Marbury and McCulloch. Earl Warren, not Congress or the President, reinvigorated the Fourteenth Amendment and implemented the Second Reconstruction through Brown v. Board of Education. And Warren Burger toppled a vast criminal enterprise operated out of the Oval Office, saying in essence, the emperor is not clothed in executive privilege Teflon (United States v. Nixon). So much for "the weakest branch." On and on it goes.