Philosophers of St. John Paul II Institute of Philosophy Sits for Final Semester Exams for Academic Year 2021/2022
Philosophers of St. John Paul II Institute of Philosophy Sits for Final Semester Exams for Academic Year 2021/2022
St. John Paul II Institute of Philosophy which is a diocesan Major Seminary of Tombura-Yambio. At the end of each Academic year the students are required to sit for a Philosophy test. The Philosophy Test is a paper-based test, lasting 4hrs and sat under timed exam conditions. These exams are designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their comprehension of the subject.
The 84 philosophers at St. John Paul II Institute will undertake a comprehension exercise and write a short essay or answer structured questions. Tutors will be looking for the use of precise and careful reasoning to answer the question asked, and particularly answers which anticipate and are able to answer objections to the reasoning given while students are asked to avoid stating an opinion without evidence or argument to support it.
For four hours, students are to turn their critical minds to elaborate on deeply philosophical questions such as “Is desire a sign of our own imperfection?”, “Is all truth definitive?” or “Does culture make us more human?”.
They had to show their grasp of Plato, socrates, Kant, Schopenhauer and other great philosophers studied throughout the year, and display their knowledge of some of life’s great themes such as Duty, Desire, Existence and Time.
CDTY is setting up a culture where students are not just allowed to study the history of philosophy, but also to follow the program of ‘notions’, like justice, conscience, life and freedom. Students aren’t just asked to display their knowledge but to think about a problem by themselves using the notions they studied during the year. The philosophy exam must always carry strong symbolic weight in CDTY or in Catholic Church which is linked to the Enlightenment.
At the same time CDTY is gradually and seriously incorporating our African and South Sudanese philosophies, for example the Philosophy of Bazirogo from Nyegiri who proved the inadequacy of words in presenting things as they are - he said “tell it and do it as it is said”.
According to Bishop Hiiboro, St. John Paul II Institute of Philosophy is affiliated to Consolata Institute of Philosophy in Nairobi – Kenya, therefore after two years of philosophy in Yambio the seminarians will join Consolata Institute of Philosophy for one year in order to complete their three years of Philosophy and then sit for Baccalaureate exams from Ubarniana University in Rome.
There after the students will have three months holidays, we wish them all the Best.
