What is Philosophy?

Philosophy is an ancient subject, whose origins can be traced back in excess of 2,000 years to the great civilizations of Greece, India and China. Most of the philosophy written and taught in the Western world, however, belongs to the tradition that begins with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who represent the pinnacle of classical Greek thought.

Traditionally known as the “Queen of the Sciences,” philosophy continues to occupy the center of humanities and liberal arts curricula and is an ongoing field of active research and scholarship. Some of our most prominent public intellectuals are philosophers, and philosophy plays a crucial role in informing public discourse, especially on questions of values, as they apply to business, medicine, the arts and other areas of public concern.

There is no distinctive philosophical subject-matter, for philosophy has always brought its unique brand of thought — one that involves formal and informal reasoning, linguistic analysis and related cognitive tools — to bear on the full spectrum of subjects, including religion, mathematics, natural science, ethics, politics, language, art and many others. In attempting to say what philosophy is about, then, it is best to identify some of the questions that have persisted in drawing philosophers’ attention over the millennia:

• What constitutes human fulfillment?
• What is the meaning of ‘justice’?
• What are the best forms of government?
• Can the existence of God be proven or is it solely a matter of faith?
• What determines an individual’s identity?
• What does it mean to know something as opposed to merely believing it?
• Does the external world exist independently of our experience of it?
• Do moral judgments admit of proof or are they purely subjective?
• What makes something a work of art?
• What does it mean to say that a sentence is true or false?
• What sort of knowledge about the world do the sciences provide?

Why Study Philosophy?

Essential Knowledge

A philosophy education provides knowledge of a wide range of historical and contemporary ideas, which are at the center of individual, social and civic life. By studying the great philosophers from antiquity to the present day, one ensures familiarity with some of the most important lines of thought in human history, thought which has profoundly affected the course of civilization and which continues to affect our lives today.

Skills

Philosophical training provides crucial intellectual skills and habits, which students will find invaluable, whatever profession they choose. These skills and habits include:

• the ability to read closely and understand difficult texts;
• the capacity to follow sustained, complex lines of argument;
• facility with formal and informal logic;
• critical thinking and analysis; and
• expository and argumentative writing.

The Best and the Brightest

Philosophy students are known as some of the best and brightest students on campus. Our majors have consistently ranked above the University average on their entering ACT scores and recent national surveys have shown that of all majors, philosophers consistently enjoy the highest mean verbal score on the GRE and the second highest mean analytic scores. Philosophers’ mean quantitative scores have been consistently higher than those of all other humanities and social science majors. National surveys also have shown that philosophy majors score better on the standardized law school entrance exam (the LSAT) than either political science or pre-law ma-
jors and rank third among 22 undergraduate social science/humanities majors. Amazingly, philosophers have even outperformed business majors on the graduate business school entry exam, the GMAT, on a consistent basis. In short, when you take a
philosophy class or major or minor in philosophy, you know that you will be in the company of some of the smartest, most capable students on campus, which means stimulating classroom discussion, great study partners and all the intangible benefits of being around the best and the brightest.