Philosophy

About the Philosophy Department

Philosophy in its original sense is the love of wisdom. Wisdom is the possession of truth about fundamental things and love is a state of spirit and mind that deeply animates and transforms human life for the sake of the good. The goal of our undergraduate courses, accordingly, is twofold: to introduce basic questions and claims about what is, what is conceivable and what is true and to engender in students the habit of seeking the good. An important corollary effect is that students thus learn how to extend and to integrate their own education.

As part of a Catholic University, the Department of Philosophy is particularly interested in the ways Revelation has led to developments within a properly philosophic wisdom available to believers and nonbelievers alike.

The core courses in Philosophy acquaint students with works, arguments and ideas that are landmarks in Western and Christian thought and experience. The three courses, in an ascending series, examine: (1) the good life and the role of philosophy in living it (Philosophy and the Ethical Life); (2) the nature of being human and being a person, in particular by considering the basic powers and capacities that make us human (The Human Person); and (3) the fundamental conceptions of being that ground every more particular attempt to understand the universe and what it contains (Philosophy of Being).

For its majors and for others interested in deepening their philosophical education beyond the core, the Department has two types of offerings. Courses in the history of philosophy span the Western tradition from the Presocratics to the contemporary world. They aim to engage students in a continuing dialogue with the greatest philosophers, a dialogue that is both ennobling and humbling. These courses also serve to illuminate historical epochs through the works of the best philosophical minds and so enhance students’ grasp of human culture. Finally, by encouraging critical appreciation of the philosophical accomplishments of the past, they provide students with the means to articulate and understand the conceptual background to contemporary issues and problems.

Those issues and problems are treated in upper-level topical and thematic courses, such as epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics and bioethics, philosophy of God, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of language and other areas of special inquiry. They present students with the state of current thought about these things and thus make it possible to gain clarity about how to think and act intelligently in the contemporary world. And thus they reinforce the purpose of all the Department’s offerings, which is to extend students’ understanding of the Western and Christian philosophical heritage in a way that will spur their own desire and power to live philosophically.

Degrees in Philosophy

Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy

Ethics Concentration

The History and Philosophy of Science Concentration

4 + 1 in Philosophy

Course Information

Courses in Philosophy