Philosophy

Department Chair—Burgdoff
Professors—Christenson, Horn
Assistant Professor—Mueller
Lecturers—Abbott, Barresi, Hiltbrunner, Onyia

Philosophy is the pursuit of difficult foundational questions, such as:“What do we really know?” “What is relevant to judgments in ethics?” and “Are there any bases for belief in God?” These are difficult questions and they lie at the roots of our thinking about other things.

The six learning goals for Philosophy state that students who major in Philosophy should:

Grapple with a broad range of questions and issues about themselves and their Worlds, including, but limited to: human connectedness to nature; rationality and justice; evil and the grounds for human hope; people as symbol users.
Be able to articulate their own views, express themselves well in speech and writing, and participate productively in a critical community of discourse.
Connect and apply their learning to other disciplines, to contemporary issues, and to areas of life and work.
Engage in critical and self-critical thinking. Students should practice the criticism not only of the works and views other but also their own thinking. Students should be able to think critically about cultures, ideas, values, ways of knowing and subjects studied. And they also should be able to think critically about claims encountered in the media and in the daily life.
Be practiced in the careful reading of texts in a variety of media. Students should demonstrate the skills and attitudes necessary for engaging, appreciating, interpreting, comparing, and evaluating texts.
Demonstrate a knowledge of important views, authors, and approaches essential to their discipline and area of focus.