The discipline of philosophy is really a process, an ongoing pursuit of intellectual refinement, challenge and discovery, based on our natural human desire to learn and to exercise good judgment in all that we believe and do.

The philosophy program familiarizes students with the basic concepts at work in every area of intellectual inquiry and provides skills in constructing and evaluating arguments-whatever their subject matter may be. As a critical approach to all academic disciplines, philosophy helps us avoid overspecialization while enabling us to see the discoveries of every other field in a coherent perspective.

Philosophy is an especially good major for those interested in pursuing careers and graduate work in areas that demand wide-ranging knowledge and critical reflection, such as law, diplomacy, teaching, public administration and the health professions.

Particular strengths of the department include applied ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Continental Philosophy,Philosophy of Feminism, Law, Religion, Art, Language, Science, and The Historyof Ideas.