Philosophy
Undergraduate Programs
Description
Philosophy examines questions of fundamental importance across every domain of human experience. What is knowledge and how can we acquire it? What is consciousness? How should one live? What makes a society just? Studying these questions nurtures creativity and curiosity, independence of thought, and robust reasoning skills.
Philosophy majors are equipped for success in nearly any career field, and develop mental virtues that enable lifelong learning and a deeper engagement with the world. Our graduates have gone on to succeed in a wide range of careers, including law, medicine, information technology, business leadership, and higher education.
Majors |
Program | Locations | Major / Total Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philosophy BA | BA - Bachelor of Arts |
|
42 / 120 |
| Philosophy BA Honors in Philosophy | BA - Bachelor of Arts |
|
59 / 120 |
Minors |
Program | Locations | Total Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philosophy Minor |
|
18 |
Policies & Faculty
Policies
Admission to Major is granted by the department. Minimum university admission requirements are:
- a minimum of 32 earned semester credit hours.
- a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 (“C”).
Contact the department for application procedures.
GPA Policy: None.
P/N Grading Policy: the P/N grading system applies to all courses, but majors and minors may take 300- or 400-level PHIL courses for P/N credit only with the consent of the department.
HONORS IN PHILOSOPHY
The Honors in Philosophy option provides an enriched experience to the most capable Philosophy majors. Students pursuing Honors in Philosophy work closely with a Philosophy faculty member to write a thesis in the final year of study. This option is aimed especially at students who plan on graduate or professional study.
Admission to Honors in Philosophy is granted by the department, and ordinarily happens in the junior year, but no later than the beginning of the final year of study. Participation in the University Honors Program is not required. Admission requirements include a 3.0 cumulative GPA and 3.5 in all PHIL courses taken, with a minimum of 4 PHIL courses completed. In order to graduate with Honors in Philosophy, a student must meet the minimum requirements for graduation with University Honors (3.3 cumulative GPA or better), have a 3.5 or better in all PHIL courses, and complete all program requirements, including the Philosophy Honors Thesis.
Further details and policies on Honors in Philosophy and the Honors Thesis are available from the Department of Philosophy.
Contact Information
227 Armstrong Hall
(507) 389-2012https://carts.mnsu.edu/academics/philosophy
Faculty
Chair
- Brandon Cooke, PhD
Faculty
100 Level
Credits: 3
Introduction to the nature of philosophy and specific, basic problems.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06
Credits: 3
This course considers historical and contemporary analyses of the mind in relation to the body and the connection of the mind-body problem to other issues concerning both religion and science.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06
Credits: 3
Traditional syllogistic logic and an introduction to the elements of modern symbolic logic.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-02, GE-04
Credits: 3
This course explores what makes reasoning scientific as distinguished from non-scientific. Issues are inductive reasoning, causal reasoning, fallacies, hypothetico-deductive reasoning, falsifiability, and scientific knowledge.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-02, GE-04
Credits: 3
To what extent do the differences among races and between genders represent biological differences, and to what extent are they constructed by society? Is racism best conceptualized as an additional burden to sexism or as one different in kind?Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07
Credits: 3
Discussion of theories of value and obligation.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-09
Credits: 3
Survey of Asian philosophical traditions of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-08
Diverse Cultures: Purple
200 Level
Credits: 3
Discussion of the ways that a culture both creates human community and shapes self-identity. Exploration of similarities and differences between and interdependence among cultural traditions, and of vocabularies for assessing traditions.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-08
Credits: 3
Ethical perspectives relevant to issues such as euthanasia, genetic engineering, organ transplant, patients' rights, abortion, etc.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-09
Credits: 3
Introduction to ethical theories and concepts and their application to specific cases in the world of business.VPrerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-09
Credits: 3
Introduction to ethical theories and concepts and their application to specific cases in the world of business.VPrerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-09
Credits: 3
Questions about human responsibilities to other animals and the environment gain urgency as environmental crises become more prevalent, and animal species continue to be eliminated. Learn about, critique, and apply the principles underlying evaluations of human environmental conduct.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-09, GE-10
Credits: 3
Consideration of the basic philosophical approaches to the idea of justice and how this idea relates to other fundamental ideas in political philosophy, ethics, and law.Prerequisites: none
Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-09
300 Level
Credits: 3
Study of the elements of first order symbolic logic, i.e., the propositional calculus and the predicate calculus, and its applications to ordinary language and mathematics.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Human rights and responsibilities in relation to the organization of society and government.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Topics in normative, meta-ethical and applied ethical theory.Prerequisites: Select one course: PHIL 120W, PHIL 222W, PHIL 224W, or PHIL 226W
Credits: 3
This course will introduce students to important texts in moral and social philosophy that provide the foundation for modern economics. In addition, we will discuss philosophical accounts of rationality, well being, and freedom and their relevance to economic analysis.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Philosophers of Ancient Greece, Rome and the early middle ages: The presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic and Roman philosophers, St. Augustine.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Late Medieval Philosophy and its influence on the Renaissance, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz and Continental Rationalism, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and British Empiricism, and Kant.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Philosophers and philosophies of the 19th century.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Critical discussion of the topics chosen from the Asian philosophical traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism.Prerequisites: none
Diverse Cultures: Purple
Credits: 3
Structure and logic of religious belief. Problems such as the existence of God, evil, immortality, miracles, and religious language.Prerequisites: none
400 Level
Credits: 3
This course will undertake a close reading and study of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and other texts.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
A study of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Theories of meaning, speech acts and semantics, relation of language to the world.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Theories of knowledge and justification, skeptical attacks on the possibility of knowledge, and anti-skeptical defenses.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
An investigation of the most fundamental concepts of reality, including the nature of things, identity over time, modality, causation, free will, space and time, and universals and particulars.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Major philosophers and philosophies of the late 20th Century.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Discussion of philosophical issues in law by way of connecting legal problems to well-developed and traditional problems in philosophy, e.g., in ethics, political philosophy, and epistemology, and investigates the philosophical underpinnings of the development of law. The course takes an analytical approach to law (as opposed to historical sociological, political, or legalistic approaches) and devotes a substantial part of the semester to a major work on law written by a philosopher.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-3
Intensive study of a single philosopher or topic.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
In-depth analysis of major European existentialists such as Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Aesthetic principles, theories, and the creative process. Theories of visual arts, music, literature, dance, etc.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course investigates some of the central philosophical issues in our thinking about film, including questions about narrative, ontology, ethical criticism of film, the role of artistic intentions in interpretation, artistic medium, and the art/entertainment distinction.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
The nature of consciousness, mind and body relations, freedom of action.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course examines the conceptual and philosophical complexities of efforts to understand the mind in science. Topics include the difference and similarities between humans and other animals, the nature of psychological explanation, and reductive strategies for explaining consciousness, intentionality and language. FallPrerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Cognitive and epistemic issues surrounding sensory perception, including the nature of perception, its immediate objects, and its ability to deliver knowledge of the world.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Philosophical issues concerning the mental lives of non-human animals, with emphasis on consciousness, rationality, language, and implications for non-human animal ethics.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Nature of explanations, causality, theoretical entities, and selected problems.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
This course examines conceptual and philosophical issues in biology, the nature and scope of biological explanation and conflicts between evolutionary and religious explanations for the origin of life.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Examines the nature and methods of alternative strategies of theory construction in the social sciences and the metaphysical and epistemological assumptions and implications of such strategies. For example can people, their behavior and norms of rationality be understood in naturalistic terms or must they be understood only in culturally local terms.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-6
Special event of less than semester duration.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-6
.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 3
Restricted to Philosophy Honors students. Permission of department and instructor required.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1
Restricted to Philosophy Honors students. Permission of department and instructor required.Prerequisites: PHIL 495
Credits: 3
Restricted to Cognitive Science Majors in their final year.Prerequisites: none
Credits: 1-6
Individual study of a philosopher or problem.Prerequisites: none
