Academic Road Map for Philosophy Majors
The Philosophy Major at Buffalo State College is built around four guiding principles designed to make you a more versatile professional, a more valuable employee, and a more successful person throughout your life. Each of them can be found in every course we offer, but some of them are especially prominent in particular courses. As a philosophy major, you’ll learn to:
Comprehend texts, particularly philosophical texts.
Understand and clearly articulate concepts, particularly “fundamental and powerful concepts” (e.g., truth, knowledge, justification, evidence, respect, justice, good, right, value, argument, reason, validity, soundness).
Form, evaluate, justify, defend, and apply positions on complicated, everyday issues in written and oral form.
Prioritize wisdom over trivialities
Appreciate the importance of truth to rational inquiry.
Recognize the conceptions and perspectives of others and their foundations.
Accept and apply critical feedback on philosophical work.
As a foundational discipline, studying philosophy also helps with the study of other disciplines, which means that, at only 30 credit hours, philosophy is an excellent choice for a second major.
A departmental Honors program is also available. Students should contact the department chair for additional information.
Admission Requirements:
The major is 30 credits in total. For each of the principles above, you must successfully complete a course that puts special emphasis on that principle. Since logical reasoning is at the core of everything we do, you are also required to successfully complete one of the logic courses. Finally, a seminar course will help to polish the skills you’ve learned throughout your study and bring it all together before you graduate.
Program Requirements:
Intellectual Foundations Requirements 33-39 cr
Total Required Credit Hours in Philosophy 30 cr
Logical Reasoning (Choose One)
PHI 103 Introduction to Logic
PHI 107 Introduction to Mathematical Logic
Careful and Thoughtful Reading (Choose One) (3 cr)
PHI 309 Knowledge and Justification
PHI 318 Descartes to Kant
Fundamental Concepts (Choose One) (3 cr)
PHI 304 Philosophy of Law
PHI 317 Plato and Aristotle
Evaluating, Defending, and Applying (Choose One) (3 cr)
PHI 335 God and Religion
PHI 351 Ethics Bowl
Wisdom and Diversity (Choose One) (3 cr)
PHI 324 Zen Buddhism
PHI 360 Africana Philosophy
Drawing It All Together (Choose One) (3 cr)
PHI 401 Seminar in Problems in Philosophy
PHI 402 Seminar in History of Philosophy
Customize your Major (Choose Four) (12 cr)
PHI 101 Introduction to Philosophy
PHI 102 Introduction to Ethics
PHI 110 Meaning of Life
PHI 111 Ethics for Scientists
PHI 112 Ethics for Business
PHI 113 Environmental Ethics
PHI 115 Minds and Machines
PHI 189 Topics
PHI 204 Philosophy of Religion
PHI 207 Philosophy in Literature
PHI 221 Philosophy and Yoga
PHI 300 Problems of Philosophy
PHI 301 Justice: Liberty v Equality
PHI 304 Philosophy of Law
PHI 305 Philosophy of Language
PHI 307 Symbolic Logic
PHI 308 Philosophy of Love And Sex
PHI 310 History of Ethics
PHI 312 Philosophy of Mind
PHI 314 Rights and Respect
PHI 333 Philosophy of Natural Sciences
PHI 334 Philosophy of Social Sciences
PHI 335 God and Religion
PHI 347 World of Socrates
PHI 361 Race and Progress
All College Electives 51-57 cr
Total Required Credit Hours 120 cr
1https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-salaries-college-degrees/
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