Program Information
Exploring our intellectual culture
The Graduate Liberal Studies (GLS) program explores significant tensions within our intellectual culture that have historical origins and practical consequences in our present world. To this end, each of our seminars is shaped around an issue of perennial human concern, an issue that both reflects some of the central dilemmas that have marked human civilization and provides an intellectual and cultural context for contemporary problems.
Master of arts in liberal studies
There are many reasons for pursuing a degree in liberal studies. For some, it may be to fulfill elements missing from their previous education. Often, this is expressed in terms of not having read certain classic texts or having read them too superficially or instrumentally, or having missed whole areas of knowledge that now seem central to understanding personal, political, cultural or public policy issues. For others, it may be to satisfy a yearning to be part of a 鈥渃ommunity of learning,鈥� to read books with others, to debate seriously with others, and to do so within an externally validated structure. Alternatively, it may be the freedom to pursue a masters of arts in a flexible part-time setting without being constrained to a specialised academic track. Or it may be to hone and sharpen certain skill sets that are needed more than ever in real world application.
Program information
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GLS aims to immerse students in an expansive, multidisciplinary, and multi-perspectival study of the human condition. Students engage with historical and contemporary texts and discuss ideas, positions, and arguments concerning persons, societies, and their inter-relations. They explore tensions inherent in human cultures through various lenses: for example, reason and passion, personal and social goods, human use and abuse of the environment.
Got a question?
Contact the GLS office at glsp@sfu.ca.