Marquette University - Hilltop Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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Post-graduate work in surgery at Mil- waukee County General Hospital is a representative example of off-campus re- search. Similar library and laboratory pro- jects in almost all iields of graduate study are pursued on campus. Although the graduate student does extensive research in his attempt to find new knowledge in his chosen iield of study, he should not lose interest in other fields. Over-specialization is a danger in graduate study, cautioned the Dean. Presently, Marquettels graduate school program attempts to avoid this danger by encouraging students to take one or more minors in fields closely related to their major area of study. There are future plans to add to this program lectures designed to give students insight into fields other than their own. The School is also planning a social program exclusively for graduate students which will permit a broadening exchange of ideas in different disciplines. The University Board of Graduate Studies is drawing up a priority system for expanding the graduate program so that it will meet the current needs of the student and society. The theology doctoral program was introduced this year with such needs in mind and will help supply universities with additional competent lay theology teachers. Fr. Friedrich said he feels that further expansion permitting Marquette to grant advanced degrees in more Fields will be necessary to place the Marquette Gradu- ate School among the best in the country.

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raduate School A 1 Jaya wit '53- wa M555 X ' ' L f ' will - - My 4 ,,. ll i in 2551? X Wim Fr. Lawrence W. Friedrich, SJ. A primary function of a gradu- ate school is to develop the inde- pendent scholarf' asserted Fr. Lawrence W. Friedrich, SJ., Grad- uate School dean. To serve this function, research assumes pre-eminent importance at Marquette and is pursued both on and off campus. Fr. Friedrich said it is a method of learning which gives the student confidence in his ability to continue learning on his own after graduation.

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Paul Ricoeur Paul Ricoeur, a Sorbonne phi- losopher, came in early October to slhare his reflections on the philoso- phy of the will with Marquette students. He described his method of philosophizing as proceeding from the abstract to the concrete ilhrough a three-level approach: escription, reflection and interpre- ration. On the descriptive level, one iiries to describe his own relation- ship to the object of his will, ex- glained Ricoeur. The existential uestion is set aside in this first level. However, existence must be ionsidered in the second, or reflec- tive, level in which the person turns hack into his own existence to find the source of his acts, to try to de- ermine who he really is, said icoeur. This is accomplished through linking desire and effort, ' hich Ricoeur considers expres- sions of our being. Desire and effort seek expression ,nd this expression, whatever form it takes, is called language. This is the level in which signs are im- portant and is called the level of interpretation. It is a task not only to discover one's self, but to know one,s selff, said the Frenchman. To reach this self-understanding, a person must go from description to reflection and from reflection to interpreta- tion of the signs of his existence. We have an intuition of what we aref said Ricoeur. Thus I link the concept of self-understanding to that of signsf, Many students were puzzled after Ricoeur's lecture and wel- comed the opportunity to meet with him for discussion.