The Department of Philosophy and Ethics is committed to creating an environment of dialogical inquiry both in and outside the disciplinary context.
Philosophy & Ethics
Our Programs
Both philosophy and ethics are concerned with the fundamental human questions, as well as the traditions to which they are attached. Areas of investigation include but are not limited to questions regarding the meaning of life, the ability to live ethically, and the human quest for the sacred. These concerns form the core of liberal arts education.
Undergraduate Degree
Accelerated Undergraduate and Graduate Degree
Minors
Download our brochure of the major's, courses and electives
Download our brochure of the Pre-Law program's courses and electives
Featured Courses
Prof. Weinstein
#21459 (3 credits)
4 - 6:30 p.m.
You’ve been in school your entire life, but how much do you know about education? Do we get an education to get a job? To be better people? To get the most from our freedom? And, why do we need diverse classrooms, or tests, or grades, or any of it at all? Introduction to Philosophy of Education asks these and related questions, exploring a long and interesting history of controversies about the nature and goals of schooling. It examines the relationship between teacher and student, curriculum and politics, and how student abilities and disabilities affect the classroom. This discussion-based course will help you better understand why you’ve been in school and what you should hope to get out of it. It is ideal for anyone majoring in education, political science, sociology, or philosophy
Prof. Stone
#21458 (3 credits)
M/W 3 - 4:15 p.m.
Is beauty necessarily tied to perfection or an eternal ideal form? Or can we find beauty in humble, incomplete, irregular, and ephemeral objects? This course will focus on Buddhist and Taoist aesthetic theories and practices. Participants will cultivate their aesthetic sensibilities toward nature, landscape painting, tea ceremony, and gardens.
Prof. Rozelle Stone
#21456 (3 credits)
T/R 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Do we need an educated public in order to sustain a vibrant and flourishing democracy? Can individualism be compatible with a democratic spirit? How do differences of race and class inform our understanding and enactment of democratic ways of life? When, if ever, can violence against the state be justified? How do we face a growing sense of political impotence and nihilism? What other challenges do we face in being democratic in the 21st century? This discussion-based class will seek answers to these and other questions by exploring the writings of various American philosophers, as well as through watching documentary films.
Essential Studies: Humanities and Diversity of Human Experience
Prof. Butler
#30441 (3 credits)
Asynchronous Online
In his 2011 manifesto “What Happened to the Future,” tech financier Peter Thiel wrote, “We were promised flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” Thiel is expressing a familiar paradox in the philosophy of emerging technology. The promise of technology is that it invites us to imagine new and different futures. But the reality of technology is that it can constrain and limit our imagination and agency. In this course students will develop a toolkit of philosophical approaches to understand emerging technology and why it possesses this double character. In doing so, students will learn to identify and respond to new areas of ethical ambiguity created by Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies. By considering and working through core texts and case studies, students will develop advanced ethical reasoning skills in order to make more informed moral decisions in the development, implementation, and use of technological innovations. This is an advanced philosophy class that will require a significant amount of reading, writing, and thinking. Undergraduate students can enroll in this course with special permission from Prof. Butler
ENROLL Philosophical And Ethical Implications of A.I. and Emerging Technologies
What is Philosophy?
Department Mission
Both philosophy and ethics are concerned with fundamental human questions, as well as the traditions to which they are attached. The Department of Philosophy and Ethics is committed to creating an environment of dialogical inquiry both in and outside the disciplinary context. Areas of investigation include but are not limited to questions regarding the meaning of life, the ability to live ethically, and the human quest for the sacred. These concerns form the core of liberal arts education. The department maintains a major (with two concentrations in either Philosophy or Pre-Law) and two minors (Philosophy and Ethics), but also offers a wide range of courses in the disciplines of philosophy and ethics accessible to students of many interests.