History of philosophy courses examine how people have answered philosophical questions in the past. Aesthetics looks at the nature of art. Philosophy of science explores the practice and justification of science. And philosophy of religion addresses the nature and justification of religion. Philosophy courses characteristically have active student involvement.
Students begin working on philosophical problems in their first courses.
All our courses emphasize writing and having students develop their own views. We have both content and skills goals. We want students to be acquainted with the major issues in a broad range of philosophical areas, to be capable of logical analysis, to be capable of critically explaining complicated philosophical texts, to write clear, coherent, plausible, argumentative essays, and to reason philosophically. About 50 students currently major in philosophy, and many take it as a minor, including pre-professional minors for law, medicine, and theology. Resources The Department of Philosophy has 11 faculty members, all of whom have doctoral degrees from leading American universities.