Mercer University Philosophy

May I love and revere myself above all the gods that men have ever invented. May I never let the vestal fire go out in my recesses."
—Thoreau, Journal,
August 15, 1851

Check out our Philosophy and Art in Greece offering for 2021.

Spring break 2021 study abroad program listings are up and open for applications on www.mercerabroad.com!

Be sure to check out the Health and Human Rights in Israel option! This program goes to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa to study how human rights protection or violation features as a social determinant of health in the area.



[Photo description: The Dome of the Rock sits in the center of the photo, with the wailing wall coming off to the right and the city of Jerusalem to the left. The sky is pink in sunset.]

AND now, gentlemen,
A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
As base, and finale too, for all metaphysics.
(So, to the students, the old professor
At the close of his crowded course.)

Having studied the new and antique, the Greek and Germanic systems,
Kant having studied and stated—Fichte and Schelling and Hegel,
Stated the lore of Plato—and Socrates, greater than Plato,
And greater than Socrates sought and stated—Christ divine having studied long,
I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
See the philosophies all—Christian churches and tenets see,
Yet underneath Socrates clearly see—and underneath Christ the divine I see,
The dear love of man for his comrade—the attraction of friend to friend,
Of the well-married husband and wife—of children and parents,
Of city for city, and land for land.
—Walt Whitman, The Base of all Metaphysics