The Department of Philosophy and Religion offers a major program in philosophy and minor programs in philosophy and religion. Advanced electives, graduate courses in philosophy, and courses in General Studies are also offered.

Under the humanities rubric, the disciplines we strive to teach our students represent the humanizing influence of higher education. Inevitably in our technological society we must develop specialized disciplines. Our task is not to teach students to be specialists but to be complete and well-rounded human beings. The skills and disciplines philosophy emphasizes enhance the intellect, creativity, empathy, breadth of view, and imagination. Philosophy inculcates qualities which run across the gamut of specialties. Philosophical education serves students for all professions as well as for the art of living. The goal of the Philosophy and Religion Department is to educate the whole person for the whole of life.

Our more definite goals address specific areas of competence. In the first place, we aim to impart skills in logical, rational, and critical thinking. We also strive to develop the moral and aesthetic sensibility of our students. We orient our courses around metaphors as “journey” and “exploration.” We strive to acquaint our students with the ideas of the great thinkers and the classical problems of philosophy: the mind-body problem, theories of truth, the debate on free will, the nature of scientific method, problems of aesthetics, and social and political philosophy.

The question of cultural diversity is central to current discourse. Our courses in philosophy of religion aim to heighten the students’ awareness of diversity in religious and spiritual traditions. We seek to engage students on issues of fundamental importance in theory of religion such as conflicting truth claims and the debate between science and theology.

To summarize, two aspects of our general objective as a department may be distinguished: the skills and the knowledge content of specific courses such as “Issues in Religion,” “Philosophy: Persons and Problems,” “Critical Thinking,” “Great Philosophers,” “Symbolic Logic,” “Contemporary Moral Issues,” and “Comparative Religion” and the broader ideals and values we hope to impart to students.

We aim to inspire our students to value the greatness of the Western, Eastern and indigenous contributions to world culture. We seek to develop in the students an historical sense and a comparative eye for diversity. Our courses aim to equip students with knowledge and values essential to civic and individual life. We believe that the skills, ideals and values we stress are essential to democratic traditions and pluralistic society.