Major in Philosophy

The major in philosophy requires the completion of 40 units in philosophy, five required 4-unit courses and five 4-unit electives. Two of the required courses cover the history of philosophy. "Origins and Development" examines the origin of Western philosophy with the Greeks and Medieval developments of it by Islamic, Jewish, and Christian thinkers. "Revolutions of Modernity" focuses on knowledge and political community as philosophy changed in tandem with the revolutionary changes that occurred in science and politics. The third core course, "Human Person," focuses on issues such as the nature of consciousness, personal identity, agency, and freedom. The fourth core course, "The Uncommon Good," is an ethics course that treats both ethical theory and social issues. The fifth required course is a logic course that includes study of traditional syllogisms, informal fallacies, and introduces students to modern symbolic logic.

Philosophy electives may be chosen from a wide array of courses that are open to all students at the university, as well as seminars that have prerequisites and are therefore open only to philosophy majors and minors. Philosophy majors must take at least two 400 level philosophy courses, as well as at least one course that fulfills the philosophy department's cultural diversity requirement (typically a course numbered in the 340s).

Summary of Requirements for the Major

The major requires completion of forty (40) units in philosophy, as follows:

Five Required Courses

• PHIL - 210 Origins: Ancient Philosophy and Development
• PHIL - 212 Modern Philosophy
• PHIL - 213 Human Person (for Majors and Minors)
• PHIL - 215 Ethics for Majors
• PHIL - 219 Logic

Five Electives

• No more than two may be 200 level.
• At least two must be 400 level.
• At least one must satisfy the philosophy department's cultural diversity requirement.

Learning Goals/Outcomes for the B.A. in Philosophy

• Students will define and classify the philosophical questions animating specific historical periods.
• Students will demonstrate sophistication in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments.
• Students will articulate in speech and writing the relations between philosophical enquiries in various areas, identifying and differentiating the broad categories of the philosophical enterprise.
• Students will demonstrate an ability to philosophize, engaging the most profound questions of the discipline and employing the answers they find most cogent.
• Students will cultivate greater awareness of the relation between practical philosophy (e.g., ethics and politics) and the need for social responsibility and justice in their community and around the globe.