Undergraduate Academic Catalog 2019 - 2020 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Undergraduate Academic Catalog 2019 - 2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Philosophy B.A.


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Program Director: Nathan P. Carson, Ph.D.

Overview

Students may take either a major or a minor in philosophy. Both the major and the minor are understood to be essential elements of a liberal arts education through their articulation of a self-reflective and critical mode of thinking.

Many students take a major or minor in philosophy as a value-added course of study to supplement their professional, career major.

The philosophy major is intended to acquaint students with some of the classic texts of the discipline and with its different areas of inquiry.

The philosophical core requirements equip students in ethical reflection and logical argumentation, as well as in the history of philosophy. Students are also encouraged to strengthen their philosophical training through various constructive topical courses (such as philosophy of religion, epistemology, etc.), when they are offered as electives.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

  1. Recognize, categorize, and critically evaluate contemporary philosophers and philosophical schools of thought
  2. Understand significant portions of the history of philosophy, and of the way Christian intellectual traditions have both enriched and been enriched by that history.
  3. Engage and articulate live contemporary philosophical problems, and describe the ways philosophers have grappled with fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, ethics, aesthetics, and the human condition (among others).
  4. Communicate with precise philosophical argumentation, reason-informed critical reflection, and clear argumentative prose, and recognize as well as critically evaluate the validity and truth of philosophical arguments as they encounter them.
  5. Understand how philosophy is foundational to, relates to, or augments other fields of thoughts.
  6. Understand and clarify the relationship between faith and reason, including the various ways this relation can be construed.
  7. Perceive and articulate their analysis of philosophical arguments, thinkers and texts as central to their own (and others') intellectual, emotional, moral and Christian spiritual formation.

Locations Offered

Main Campus Fresno

General Education Prerequisites (3 Units)


Note:


*An upper-division course from another program may count toward the philosophy major if the course is pertinent to the philosophy major and approved by the philosophy program director. In addition to PHIL 100 , philosophy majors are strongly encouraged to take PHIL 103 , PHIL 331  and PHIL 335  before taking other upper-division courses.

** Multiple iterations of PHIL 286 or PHIL 486 can be taken, when the topic designation of each course is distinct from other iterations student has completed.

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