Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• critically analyze, using logic and other tools, the consistency and verifiability of their own beliefs and the beliefs of others, as well as engage in reasoned public deliberation challenging those beliefs;

• understand the main doctrines and evaluate the arguments that underpin the ancient, modern, and contemporary periods of thought;

• offer interpretations of the ideas of major philosophers by showing how they relate to perennial philosophical themes such as: visions of the good life, reality versus appearance, the roles of reason and experience, freedom and morality, etc;

• apply methods for philosophical problem solving by (a) relating theory to practice, (b) evaluating ideas in terms of both generic or universal humanity and perspectival pluralism, and (c) applying normative standards of truth, value and beauty;

• apply philosophical writing styles in writing assignments and research projects that are aimed at extending philosophical inquiry through argumentation and/or comparative studies.