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Philosophy



 

Introduction

“Philosophy” means “love of wisdom” and philosophers demonstrate that love by asking questions about fundamental issues: What does it mean to be human?  How should we interpret our history?  Is there a right way for human beings to live together in a society?  What is our relationship to each other and to the earth?  What is reality? Is truth attainable? Is science the path to truth? Is beauty universal? Does human life have a purpose? 

These questions are characteristic of philosophy and reveal its interdisciplinarity.  Philosophical questions cut across the boundaries of science, art, politics, and religion – crucial to all these areas yet belonging to none of them.  They demand that we subject both our experiences and our beliefs to critical scrutiny.  This can be uncomfortable, since people in all cultures and human enterprises accept core beliefs, which seem to answer or put to rest these fundamental questions.  The task of philosophy is to remind us that these historical “answers” are always partial and tentative, never the final word, and that the questions that gave rise to them are not fully settled by these answers. 

 

Introductory courses appropriate for prospective majors and first-year students

PHIL 111, Introduction to Philosophy 

PHIL 112, Ethics 

PHIL 113, Introductory Topics in Philosophy (topics vary; offered occasionally) 

PHIL 120, Critical Reasoning (offered every spring) 

PHIL 121, Introductory Symbolic Logic (offered every fall) 

PHIL 241, Ancient Philosophy (offered every fall; prerequisite: one prior course in philosophy, or students with some of the background in philosophy may enroll with permission of instructor) 

Most first-year students should take their first course in philosophy at the 100 level.  They may also take courses at the 200-level (except for PHIL 290) if they satisfy the prerequisites or have the permission of the instructor.  

Introductory courses that fulfill distribution requirements 

Division Ia:   

 Any course taught in the department.  

Quantitative Reasoning:   

PHIL 120, Critical Reasoning 

PHIL 121, Introductory Symbolic Logic 

Course descriptions, requirements for the major refer to the College Bulletin: Philosophy. 

Off-campus study  

Many philosophy majors study abroad and do so with the encouragement and support of the department.  The most popular destination is the Norwich program, but philosophy students study all over the world, in Dickinson and non-Dickinson programs: Italy, France, China, Cameroon, India, and Australia. 

Internships:  Many of our students take on internships with a philosophical connection and supervised by Philosophy faculty.  Students interested in the law have interned in law firms, the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office, or with judges.  Other students with interests in biomedical ethics have interned with hospital ethics committees or their staff. 

 

Additional Remarks

Careers:  Many Philosophy department graduates pursue careers in law.  Others move into careers in private business and management, medicine, social work, education, computer science, and government.  Our graduates include a professional photographer, a poet, several corporate managers, a designer of petroleum delivery systems, and a career counselor who maintains that philosophy prepares one “for anything”. 

Some of our philosophy department graduates have become professional philosophers, with positions as professors of philosophy at University of Wisconsin, Bates College, Illinois State University, St. Norbert College and Moravian College.  Our graduates have studied philosophy at graduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, Vanderbilt University, University of Georgia, Georgetown University, Purdue University, SUNY Stony Brook, and Villanova University.