The Philosophy Major
As teachers of philosophy, we empower our students to express and defend their own philosophical ideas. At the same time, we bring these ideas into collision with those of past masters and contemporary thinkers. As a result, we recruit more and better philosophers for our society. These philosophers, having been confronted with a diversity of compelling viewpoints, will know how to understand opinions different from their own. They will know how to think critically about these various views. They will know how to address the difficult problems that this process of critique often raises. And these philosophers will also be acutely aware of how far every aspect of humanity, including the rational faculty, has fallen from the human ideal implicit in the image of God. A few of these philosophers will take philosophy as their life’s work. The rest will take philosophy to their life’s work. But wherever they may be, all of them will bring the critical tools of philosophy to bear on the most fundamental moral and intellectual questions that confront us.
Program Requirements
Requirements total 39 hours. This includes 30 hours of philosophy courses and 9 hours of supporting courses. Three of the required core hours (PH 180) meet general education requirements.
Required Courses (30 hrs)
| PH 170 | Logic | 3 hrs |
| PH 180 | Introduction to Philosophy | 3 hrs |
| PH 182 | Ethics | 3 hrs |
| PH 381X | History of Western Thought I | 3 hrs |
| PH 382X | History of Western Thought II | 3 hrs |
| PH 431 | Contemporary Philosophy | 3 hrs |
| PH 432 | Problems in Philosophy | 3 hrs |
| Various | Philosophy Electives | 9 hrs |
Supporting Courses (9 hrs)
Supporting hours may be spread among various departments or concentrated in a single department. A student may, by written petition, request that other courses be accepted as fulfilling this requirement. No course may be used to satisfy both a general education requirement and the supporting courses requirement.
Choose three: |
|
| ART 331 History of Art I | 3 hrs |
| BRS 336 Topics in Contemporary Theology | 3 hrs |
| ENG 302 Classical Literature | 3 hrs |
| ENG 306 Renaissance Literature | 3 hrs |
| ENG 310 Romantic Literature | 3 hrs |
| ENG 314 British Novel | 3 hrs |
| ENG 316 Modern European Literature | 3 hrs |
| ENG 318 American Literature I | 3 hrs |
| ENG 320 American Literature II | 3 hrs |
| HI 322X Topics in Church History | 3 hrs |
| HI 325 Topics in European History | 3 hrs |
| HI 372 History of Ideas in America | 3 hrs |
| HI 385 Philosophy of History | 3 hrs |
| HI 410 Seminar in Ancient Greece and Rome | 3 hrs |
| HI 420 Seminar in Medieval/Renaissance History | 3 hrs |
| HI 430 Seminar in Early Modern Europe | 3 hrs |
| HI 440 Seminar in Modern Europe | 3 hrs |
| MUH 233X Comparative Arts | 3 hrs |
| MUH 341 Music History I | 3 hrs |
| MUH 342 Music History II | 3 hrs |
| PSY 300 Personality | 3 hrs |
| PSY 335 Human Development: Childhood | 3 hrs |
| PSY 339 Human Development: Adult | 3 hrs |
| PSY 346X Research Methods and Design | 3 hrs |
| PSY 350X Social Psychology | 3 hrs |
| SOC 204X Mass Communication | 3 hrs |
| SOC 231 Cultural Anthropology | 3 hrs |
Course work taken in a foreign language may also be counted toward the "Supporting Courses” requirement.
