Its subject matter is not clearly marked out, as it is for physics or mathematics or the study of languages or history.
Philosophy is the serious and systematic attempt to investigate such questions.
Philosophy is therefore of central intellectual importance, both as a subject in its own right and as an indispensable foundation to studies in other areas. Philosophy is concerned with the appraisal of argument, the nature of thinking, the nature of the mind that thinks and what it thinks about. To ask about the rational foundations of morality, the nature of explanation in the physical and social sciences or history, about the existence of God or the nature of time is to raise philosophical questions. Many of the courses offered by the Department relate to and interpenetrate with programs in other disciplines in the humanities and the sciences. These include Classics, History, English, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Studies in Religion, Art History, Mathematics, and Cognitive Science.