With a major in philosophy, you will gain a broad understanding of the history of philosophy and a deep appreciation for it as a practical discipline. By ?practical philosophy,? we mean philosophy especially dedicated to questions about how to live and act, and how to understand and evaluate our own lives.

Philosophy majors develop important skills through detailed textual analysis and lively intellectual debates that prepare them for careers in business, law, medicine, teaching, and the ministry. A low student-faculty ratio provides for a variety of carefully supervised individual research projects.

You?ll explore theories of idealism, materialism, utilitarianism, pragmatism, and existentialism, and you?ll study the world?s great philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Mill, Nietzsche, Arendt, and Beauvoir.

You will learn to analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments in defense of particular views. There also is considerable attention paid to writing, with the aim of producing better, more precise, and persuasive writers.