Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy
Overview
The Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy program offers undergraduates a course of study in contemporary and historical philosophical works, with the aim of producing critical and analytic thinkers. These skills fostered in the program are geared towards personal and professional application, and as such, the program provides an excellent starting point for a career path in philosophy, or in disciplines such as education, journalism, publishing, public policy, public relations, and law.
Program Objectives
Graduates of the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy should be able to:
- critically engage with historical and contemporary philosophical works, with an emphasis on reconstructing and assessing the arguments in them.
- adopt professional, ethical, and open-minded outlooks as team members in a workforce, and as citizens in their community.
- apply analytic and critical reasoning skills, as well as philosophical background knowledge, in professional and everyday contexts, and
- pursue a graduate career in academic philosophy, or become employees in fields such as education, journalism, publishing, law, economics, international relations, politics, and/or public policy.
Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation, students should be able to:
- critically engage with ancient and contemporary philosophical works.
- extract arguments, definitions, and ideas from both philosophical and non-philosophical texts.
- distinguish different philosophical periods, and philosophical movements within them.
- present arguments in a clear, analytic, and persuasive manner in everyday and professional contexts, and
- engage in an ethical and team-oriented manner.
Curriculum
A total of 92 credits are required to graduate, distributed as follows:
- Program Core courses (36 credits)
- LAS Requirements (34 credits)
- Free Electives (22 credits)
Program Core Courses (36 credits)
1. Logic Requirement (6 credits)
2. Ethics Requirement (6 credits)
3. History of Philosophy Requirement (6 credits)
- PHL201 Ancient Philosophy (3 cr.)
- PHL202 Medieval Philosophy (3 cr.)
- PHL203 Early Modern Philosophy (3 cr.)
- PHL304 19th Century Philosophy (3 cr.)
- PHL328 Arab & Islamic Philosophy (3 cr.)
4. Theoretical Philosophy Requirements (9 credits)
- PHL302 Theory of Knowledge (3 cr.)
- PHL303 Metaphysics (3 cr.)
- PHL306 Phenomenology (3 cr.)
- PHL307 Philosophy of Language (3 cr.)
- PHL311 Philosophy of Religion (3 cr.)
- PHL321 Philosophy of Art (3 cr.)
- PHL322 Philosophy in Literature and Film (3 cr.)
- PHL323 Philosophy of History (3 cr.)
- PHL324 Philosophy of Science (3 cr.)
- PHL325 Philosophy of Mind (3 cr.)
- PHL401 Topics in Philosophy(3 cr)
5. Individual Philosopher Requirements (3 credits)
- PHL350 Individual Philosopher (3 cr.)
6. Philosophy Elective Requirements (3 credits)
Any Philosophy course except PHL499 Senior Study (3 cr.)
7. Senior Study Requirements (3 credits)
- PHL499 Senior Study (3 cr.)
LAS Requirements (34 credits)
Free Electives (22 credits)
Recommended Study Plan
Year One
Fall (16 credits)
- PHL211 Symbolic Logic (3 cr)
- PHL302 Theory of Knowledge (3 cr)
- PHL301 Ethics (3 cr)
- LAS English requirement (3 cr)
- LAS Computer Applications Requirement (3 cr)
- Free Elective (3 cr)
Spring (16 credits)
- PHL311 Philosophy of Religion (3 cr)
- PHL303 Metaphysics (3 cr)
- LAS English requirement (3 cr)
- LAS Arabic requirement (3 cr)
- LAS Ethics requirement (3 cr)
- Free Elective (3 cr)
Year Two
Fall (15 credits)
- PHL203 Early Modern Philosophy (3 cr)
- PHL201 Ancient Philosophy (3 cr)
- Free Elective (3 cr)
- Free Elective (3 cr)
- Humanities LAS Elective (3 cr)
Spring (15 credits)
- PHL325 Philosophy of Mind (3 cr)
- English LAS elective (3 cr)
- Sciences LAS elective (3 cr)
- Arts LAS elective (3 cr)
- Humanities LAS elective (3 cr)
Year Three
Fall (16 credits)
- PHL322 Philosophy in Literature and Film (3 cr)
- PHL307 Philosophy of Language (3 cr)
- Free elective (3 cr)
- Social Sciences LAS elective (3 cr)
- Free elective (3 cr)
- Free elective (3 cr)
Spring (14 credits)