Philosophy
Division V Chair: S. Gowler
Department Chair: E. Pearson
Philosophy Faculty: J. Butler, R. Hoag, E. Pearson, and J. Brown
Website: http://www.berea.edu/phi/
Courses: PHI Courses
Course Sequencing Table: Philosophy
Major/Minor Requirements: Philosophy B.A.; Philosophy Minor
The Philosophy Department offers courses in the discipline of Philosophy. In this discipline, the Department provides opportunities to explore diverse philosophic points of view, to develop abilities to reflect critically and constructively on a wide variety of important questions, and to cultivate abilities to communicate well through constructive engagement with others’ ideas and ways of thinking. Students are encouraged to develop their own intelligence and capacities for careful thought in addressing texts and topics both historical and contemporary.
Study in philosophy engages questions about how one should live, our place in the universe, the nature of thought, and ways of knowing. Philosophic inquiry involves carefully structured, thoughtful engagement with others and with texts. Courses are designed to enhance students’ abilities to pursue informed, adequate responses to philosophic questions about various topics of both historical and contemporary concern.
The Philosophy curriculum provides a major and minor for students who are interested in a variety of careers to seek the breadth, depth, and reasoned rigor of philosophic thinking. The Department offers for all students introductory courses to explore the character of Philosophy, and complements studies in other fields such as law, medicine, politics, science, religion, art, and education. Students in Philosophy have successfully pursued further graduate study in various fields, have entered the world of work in many kinds of organizations, and have addressed social issues through law and other means.
Philosophy Student Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcome 1: Students are able to identify, evaluate and construct sound arguments about texts, issues, and practices in the areas of the discipline, both in writing and orally;
Learning Outcome 2: Students are able to support, with relevant sophistication and subtlety, their own views about philosophic texts and issues, both in writing and orally;
Learning Outcome 3: Students understand significant texts, ideas, theories, and thinkers within the history of Western philosophy;
Learning Outcome 4: Students understand philosophy’s potential to inform thought about contemporary issues of public policy, law, science, morality, etc.;
Learning Outcome 5: Students understand distinctive aspects of, and diversity within, the discipline of philosophy.