Alumni on ECLA
Maria Mocanu, Moldova
Attended: Academy Year 2004/05 & Project Year 2005/06
Currently: Student, Philosophy, Catholic University of Leuven
Among the ECLA alumni there is a category of people who got 'converted' to philosophy. In other words, some of us, myself included, were inspired to reconsider our priorities and academic plans in the light of what we gained after spending some time studying at ECLA. In my case, ECLA was the final impetus for deciding that instead of returning to my home university to finish a BA in an 'empirical facts'-intensive subject, I would start over and turn to philosophy.
Perhaps the impact would have been less powerful it if wasn't for the way in which philosophy is done at ECLA. The problem centered approach begins by formulating a question and then exploring various ways of addressing it. This method allowed me to preserve a sense of relevance while struggling with complicated and multi-layered texts. I think this practice emulates the birth of philosophy: the discipline developed because there were questions which demanded an answer. Similarly, I tried to decipher texts with a real issue in mind, which enabled me to see that philosophical enquiry is anything but bookish. The good thing about the ECLA curriculum is that it places the texts in a perspective, provides students with a conceptual framework, and suggests what to look for in a reading. This often invites a dialog between various disciplines. The philosophical perspective turned out to be the most interesting for me.
Along with the interest in the discipline itself, many of the problems that the ECLA curriculum introduced me to still dwell with me and shape my academic interests.