Academic Road Map for Philosophy Majors
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. The B.A. degree in Philosophy provides students with skills that facilitate success in their professional, private, and communal lives by equipping them to act wisely in a wide variety of environments and circumstances. These skills include being more thoughtful and reflective, thinking more critically, analyzing and appraising their own and other people's beliefs and values, communicating more effectively, reasoning and arguing more authoritatively, being open to similarities, differences, and alternative perspectives, and creatively solving a wide variety of problems. These are skills for success, which is why, ten years after college, on average, philosophy majors earn higher salaries than those who graduate with other liberal arts degrees.1 Moreover, as majoring in philosophy provides skills that are valuable in all kinds of settings, philosophy majors are uniquely well prepared for all of life's challenges, including the 21st Century reality that most people have to follow multiple career paths to succeed.
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:
Students typically need two full academic years to complete the philosophy major. They are expected to complete the logic requirement and PHI 317 before they take PHI 318, and they are expected to complete all other required classes before they take PHI 401 or PHI 402. Students are also strongly encouraged to take no more than 9 credit hours of philosophy in any given semester.
Typically, the maximum number of philosophy transfer credits to count towards the philosophy major is 15. These transfer credits cannot include PHI 401 or PHI 402.
Program Requirements:
Intellectual Foundations Requirements 33-39 cr
Total Required Credit Hours in Philosophy 30 cr
A. Required Courses (12 cr)
PHI 103 Introduction to Logic
OR
PHI 107 Introduction to Mathematical Logic
OR
PHI 307 Symbolic Logic
PHI 317 Ancient Philosophy
PHI 318 Modern Philosophy
PHI 401 Seminar in Problems in Philosophy
OR
PHI 402 Seminar in History of Philosophy
B. Electives (18 cr)
Select six courses from the following:
PHI 101 Introduction to Philosophy
PHI 102 Introduction to Ethics
PHI 110 Meaning of Life
PHI 111 Ethics for Scientists
PHI 204 Philosophy of Religion
PHI 207 Philosophy in Literature
PHI 210 Existentialism
PHI 221 Philosophy and Yoga
PHI 300 Problems of Philosophy
PHI 301 History of Political Philosophy
PHI 302 Philosophy of Art and Beauty
PHI 304 Philosophy of Law
PHI 305 Philosophy of Language
PHI 308 Philosophy of Love and Sex
PHI 309 Knowledge and Justification
PHI 310 History of Ethics
PHI 312 Philosophy of Mind
PHI 314 Contemporary Ethics
PHI 324 Zen Buddhism
PHI 333 Philosophy of Natural Sciences
PHI 334 Philosophy of Social Sciences
PHI 347 Western Thought: Homer to Alexander
PHI 351 Ethics Bowl
PHI 495 Project
PHI 499 Independent Study
All College Electives 51-57 cr
Total Required Credit Hours 120 cr
1https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-salaries-college-degrees/
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