|
undergraduate
graduate
course
descriptions
fall
2012 courses
faculty
faculty
publications
graduate
students
library resources
departmental
events
philosophy program
religious studies program
department of philosophy
and religious studies home
|
Q
What do the following people have in common?
Steve
Allen (writer & comedian), Woody
Allen (director & comedian), William
Bennett (former Drug czar & NEH leader,
BOOK OF VIRTUES), Mary Higgins
Clark (mystery writer), William
Jefferson Clinton (President), Gene
Siskel (movie reviewer, SISKEL & EBERT AT
THE MOVIES), Philip K. Dick
(science fiction writer), David
Duchovny (actor on X-FILES), John
Elway (quarterback, Denver Broncos), Ivan
Frolov (editor of PRAVDA), Rebecca
Goldstein (novelist & MacArthur prize
recipient), Don Harron
(Canadian comedian, author of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
libretto), Harrison Ford
(actor), Christy Haubegger (editor
of LATINA), Vaclav Havel
(former President of Czeckoslovakia), Peter
Hoeg (author of SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW), Mark
Hulbert (financial columnist for FORBES
magazine), Carl Icahn
(business person & corporate raider, bought TWA), Martin
Luther King, Jr. (civil rights leader), Bruce
Lee (martial arts & actor), Michael
Lerner (editor of TIKKUN), Peter
Lynch (director), Steve
Martin (comedian & actor), Kate
Millett (author of SEXUAL POLITICS), Bob
Moses (civil rights activist), Robert
Motherwell (painter), Iris
Murdoch (novelist), Robert
Musil (Austrian novelist), Freeman
Patterson (photographer, author of THE ART OF
SEEING), Neil Peart
(drummer for rock group, RUSH), Chaim
Potok (novelist), Pope
John Paul II (vicar of Christ), Patricia
Rozema (film-maker, I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS
SINGING), Mick Schmidt
(former Philadelphia Philly), John
Silber (former president of Boston
University), Susan Sontag
(essayist), George Soros
(money manager, Soros Foundation), Dave
Thomas (SCTV), Alex
Trebeck (JEOPARDY), David
Foster Wallace (novelist & MacArthur
prize recipient), Robert Weaver
(doyen of Canadian literature, head of CBC's ANTHOLOGY), Moses
Znaimer, (Owner of CITY-TV and MUCH-MUSIC,
Toronto) [list courtesy of http://www.belmont.edu/Humanities/Philosophy/info/CanDo.html]
A
They all majored in philosophy.
Socrates
said that the unexamined life is
not worth living. As human beings we are all
forced to philosophize, and an undergraduate philosophy
degree helps one to do this well. Philosophers
lead a more perceptive, richer, and nuanced life.
Philosophers have honed the ability to analyze,
rationally evaluate, and synthesize
ideas and arguments. Philosophers know the foundational
ideas of Western Civilization. Study of
philosophy requires no other justification. This being said,
the study of philosophy has been an integral part of the
success of the business titans, politicians, entertainers,
and writers cited above.
Graduates from our program have found their philosophical
training to be absolutely invaluable in excelling in a whole
spectrum of jobs, from painting to computer science. Indeed,
a strong case can be made that
philosophy is the best major for preparing students for
job excellence in the information age.
Consider the following statistics (taken from USA Today and
the University of Texas at El Paso web site).
* Over the past ten years philosophy majors as a group have
had a higher mean score on the Graduate Record Examination
Verbal Section than students in any other major.
* Only philosophy majors were 5% or more above the mean on
all four of these tests:
LSAT (Law)
GMAT (Graduate Management)
GRE Verbal
GRE Quantitative
* Less than 15% of CEOs in the United States have
undergraduate degrees in business fields.
* Of people in business management making above the median
income, people with undergraduate degrees in the liberal
arts make more money than people with undergraduate degrees
in business.
Studying philosophy either as a primary focus or as a second
major provides training for a variety of career choices
including:
* Law: bar association staff, criminal justice coordination,
law practice, legal aid, legal research, paralegal
assistance.
* Computer Programming: ontological engineering, web design,
expert systems development, database storage and retrieval,
artificial intelligence.
* Medicine: administrative staff, consulting, hospital
administration, medical practice, nursing, bioethics.
* Government: federal, state, and local agency supervision,
diplomacy, human services, intelligence, policy analysis,
speech-writing.
* Environmental Ethics: environmental resource management,
recycling, animal rights, bioethics.
* Business: advertising, consulting, engineering, hotel
management, insurance, investment banking, marketing,
publishing, real estate, technical writing.
* Journalism: editing, free-lance writing, literary
criticism.
* Academia: teaching, writing, administration.
In addition, some of our students continue the study of
philosophy at the graduate level, gaining master's degrees
from LSU and other institutions. Our students that go on to
doctoral studies have gained admission into top ranked PhD
programs.
The American Philosophy Association's "Brief Guide for
Undergraduates" contains an explanation of why undergraduate
study of philosophy provides students with so many lasting
skills necessary to human flourishing. This subsection of
the Brief Guide, titled "The Uses of Philosophy" is worth
quoting at length.
[Note: the following is excerpted from the
http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/publications/texts/briefgd.html.]
Much of what is learned in philosophy can be applied in
virtually any endeavor. This is both because philosophy
touches on so many subjects and, especially, because many of
its methods are usable in any field.
General
Uses of Philosophy
* General Problem Solving.
The study of philosophy enhances, in a way no other activity
does, one's problem-solving capacities. It helps one to
analyze concepts, definitions, arguments and problems. It
contributes to one's capacity to organize ideas and issues,
to deal with questions of value, and to extract what is
essential from masses of information. It helps one both to
distinguish fine differences between views and to discover
common ground between opposing positions. And it helps one
to synthesize a variety of views or perspectives into a
unified whole.
* Communication Skills.
Philosophy also contributes uniquely to the development of
expressive and communicative powers. It provides some of the
basic tools of self-expression—for instance, skills in
presenting ideas through well-constructed, systematic
arguments—that other fields either do not use, or use less
extensively. It helps one to express what is distinctive of
one's view; enhances one's ability to explain difficult
material; and helps one to eliminate ambiguities and
vagueness from one's writing and speech.
* Persuasive Powers.
Philosophy provides training in the construction of clear
formulations, good arguments, and apt examples. It thereby
helps one develop the ability to be convincing. One learns
to build and defend one's own views, to appreciate competing
positions, and to indicate forcefully why one considers
one's own views preferable to alternatives. These capacities
can be developed not only through reading and writing in
philosophy, but also through the philosophical dialogue, in
and outside the classroom, that is so much a part of a
thoroughgoing philosophical education.
* Writing Skills.
Writing is taught intensively in many philosophy courses,
and many regularly assigned philosophical texts are
unexcelled as literary essays. Philosophy teaches
interpretive writing through its examination of challenging
texts, comparative writing through emphasis on fairness to
alternative positions, argumentative writing through
developing students' ability to establish their own views,
and descriptive writing through detailed portrayal of
concrete examples: the anchors to which generalizations must
be tied. Striker and technique, then, are emphasized in
philosophical writing. Originality is also encouraged, and
students are generally urged to use their imagination and
develop their own ideas.
The
Uses of Philosophy in Educational Pursuits
The general uses of philosophy just described are obviously
of great academic value. It should be clear that the study
of philosophy has intrinsic rewards as an unlimited quest
for understanding of important, challenging problems. But
philosophy has further uses in deepening an education, both
in college and in the many activities, professional and
personal, that follow graduation.
* Understanding Other Disciplines.
Philosophy is indispensable for this. Many important
questions about a discipline, such as the nature of its
concepts and its relation to other disciplines, do not
belong to that discipline, are not usually pursued in it,
and are philosophical in nature. Philosophy of science, for
instance, is needed to supplement the understanding of the
natural and social sciences which one derives from
scientific work itself. Philosophy of literature and
philosophy of history are of similar value in understanding
the humanities, and philosophy of art is important in
understanding the arts. Philosophy is, moreover, essential
in assessing the various standards of evidence used by other
disciplines. Since all fields of knowledge employ reasoning
and must set standards of evidence, logic and epistemology
have a general bearing on all these fields.
* Development of Sound Methods of
Research and Analysis. Still another value of
philosophy in education is its contribution to one's
capacity to frame hypotheses, do research, and put problems
into manageable form. Philosophical thinking strongly
emphasizes clear formulation of ideas and problems,
selection of relevant data, and objective methods for
assessing ideas and proposals. It also emphasizes
development of a sense of the new directions suggested by
the hypotheses and questions one encounters in doing
research. Philosophers regularly build on both the successes
and failures of their predecessors. A person with
philosophical training can readily learn to do the same in
any field.
AREAS
OF PHILOSOPHY
[http://www.apa.udel.edu/apa/publications/texts/briefgd.html]
Traditional
Subfields of Philosophy
The broadest subfields of philosophy are most commonly taken
to be logic, ethics, metaphysics, epistemology and the
history of philosophy. Here is a brief sketch of each.
* Logic is concerned to
provide sound methods for distinguishing good from bad
reasoning. It helps us assess how well our premises support
our conclusions, to see what we are committed to accepting
when we take a view, and to avoid adopting beliefs for which
we lack adequate reasons. Logic also helps us to find
arguments where we might otherwise simply see a set of
loosely related statements, to discover assumptions we did
not know we were making, and to formulate the minimum claims
we must establish if we are to prove (or inductively
support) our point.
* Ethics takes up the
meanings of our moral concepts—such as right action,
obligation and justice—and formulates principles to guide
moral decisions, whether in private or public life. What are
our moral obligations to others? How can moral disagreements
be rationally settled? What rights must a just society
accord its citizens? What constitutes a valid excuse for
wrong-doing?
* Metaphysics seeks
basic criteria for determining what sorts of things are
real. Are there mental, physical, and abstract things (such
as numbers), for instance, or is there just the physical and
the spiritual, or merely matter and energy? Are persons
highly complex physical systems, or do they have properties
not reducible to anything physical?
* Epistemology concerns the nature and scope of knowledge.
What does it mean to know (the truth), and what is the
nature of truth? What sorts of things can be known, and can
we be justified in our beliefs about what goes beyond the
evidence of our senses, such as the inner lives of others or
events of the distant past? Is there knowledge beyond the
reach of science? What are the limits of self-knowledge?
* The History of Philosophy
studies both major philosophers and entire periods in the
development of philosophy such as the Ancient, Medieval,
Modern, Nineteenth Century, and Twentieth Century periods.
It seeks to understand great figures, their influence on
others, and their importance for contemporary issues. The
history of philosophy in a single nation is often separately
studied, as in the case of American Philosophy. So are major
movements within a nation, such as British Empiricism and
German Idealism, as well as international movements with a
substantial history, such as existentialism and
phenomenology. The history of philosophy not only provides
insight into the other subfields of philosophy; it also
reveals many of the foundations of Western
Civilization.
Special Fields of Philosophy
Many branches of philosophy have grown from the traditional
core areas. What follows is a sketch of some of the major
ones.
* Philosophy of Mind.
This subfield has emerged from metaphysical concerns with
the mind and mental phenomena. The philosophy of mind
addresses not only the possible relations of the mental to
the physical (for instance, to brain processes), but the
many concepts having an essential mental element: belief,
desire, emotion, feeling, sensation, passion, will,
personality, and others. A number of major questions in the
philosophy of mind cluster in the area of action theory:
What differentiates actions, such as raising an arm, from
mere body movements, such as the rising of an arm? Must
mental elements, for example intentions and beliefs, enter
into adequate explanations of our actions, or can actions be
explained by appeal to ordinary physical events? And what is
required for our actions to be free?
* Philosophy of Religion.
Another traditional concern of metaphysics is to understand
the concept of God, including special attributes such as
being all-knowing, being all-powerful, and being wholly
good. Both metaphysics and epistemology have sought to
assess the various grounds people have offered to justify
believing in God. The philosophy of religion treats these
topics and many related subjects, such as the relation
between faith and reason, the nature of religious language,
the relation of religion and morality, and the question of
how a God who is wholly good could allow the existence of
evil.
* Philosophy of Science.
This is probably the largest subfield generated by
epistemology. Philosophy of science is usually divided into
philosophy of the natural sciences and philosophy of the
social sciences. It has recently been divided further, into
philosophy of physics, biology, psychology, economics, and
other sciences. Philosophy of science clarifies both the
quest for scientific knowledge and the results yielded by
that quest. It does this by exploring the logic of
scientific evidence; the nature of scientific laws,
explanations, and theories; and the possible connections
among the various branches of science. How, for instance, is
psychology related to brain biology, and biology to
chemistry? And how are the social sciences related to the
natural sciences.
* Subfields of Ethics.
From ethics, too, have come major subfields. Political
Philosophy concerns the justification—and
limits—of governmental control of individuals; the meaning
of equality before the law; the basis of economic freedom;
and many other problems concerning government. It also
examines the nature and possible arguments for various
competing forms of political organization, such as
laissez-faire capitalism, welfare democracy (capitalistic
and socialistic), anarchism, communism, and fascism. Social
Philosophy, often taught in combination with
political philosophy (which it overlaps), treats moral
problems with large-scale social dimensions. Among these are
the basis of compulsory education, the possible grounds for
preferential treatment of minorities, the justice of
taxation, and the appropriate limits, if any, on free
expression in the arts. The Philosophy
of Law explores such topics as what law is,
what kinds of laws there are, how law is or should be
related to morality, and what sorts of principles should
govern punishment and criminal justice in general. Medical
Ethics addresses many problems arising in medical practice
and medical science. Among these are standards applying to
physician-patient relationships; moral questions raised by
special procedures, such as abortion and ceasing of
life-support for terminal patients; and ethical standards
for medical research, for instance genetic engineering and
experimentation using human subjects. Business
Ethics addresses such questions as how moral
obligations may conflict with the profit motive and how
these conflicts may be resolved. Other topics often pursued
are the nature and scope of the social responsibilities of
corporations, their rights in a free society, and their
relations to other institutions.
* Philosophy of Art (Aesthetics).
This is one of the oldest subfields. It concerns the nature
of art, including both the performing arts and painting,
sculpture, and literature. Major questions in aesthetics
include how artistic creations are to be interpreted and
evaluated, and how the arts are related to one another, to
natural beauty, and to morality, religion, science, and
other important elements of human life.
* Philosophy of Language.
This field has close ties to both epistemology and
metaphysics. It treats a broad spectrum of questions about
language: the nature of meaning, the relations between words
and things, the various theories of language learning, and
the distinction between literal and figurative uses of
language. Since language is crucial in nearly all human
activity, the philosophy of language can enhance our
understanding both of other academic fields and of much of
what we ordinarily do.
Other Subfields. There
are many other subfields of philosophy, and it is in the
nature of philosophy as critical inquiry to develop new
subfields when new directions in the quest for knowledge, or
in any other area of human activity, raise new intellectual
problems. Among the subfields not yet mentioned, but often
taught at least as part of other courses, are Inductive
Logic, Philosophy of Logic, Philosophy of History,
Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Medicine,
Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Feminism,
Philosophy of Linguistics, Philosophy of Criticism,
Philosophy of Culture, and Philosophy
of Film.
|
