Learning Goals in the Philosophy Major

We live in a world of daunting and profound questions: What can we truly know? What is our true nature? What is the best way to live? Philosophy means love of wisdom, and there may be no better way to search for answers to those questions than to study philosophy at Connecticut College. Along the way you’ll develop the most general and useful intellectual skills; and of course, the study of philosophy will enrich and deepen you as a human being and as a member of society, and so prepare you to think about, and ultimately to lead, the richest and most meaningful sort of human life.

If you major in philosophy, you will learn about

• the history of philosophy, from ancient through early modern through the most recent contemporary philosophy
• many of the most important texts in that history, such as Plato’s Republic, Descartes’s Meditations, De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, and Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations
• the major sub-fields or disciplines within philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, feminist philosophy, etc.
• the major approaches to philosophizing, such as rationalism, empiricism, feminism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, etc.
• the basic distinction between continental and analytic philosophy
• many of the voices that have not traditionally been heard in philosophy, such as those of women and of minorities with respect to race, culture, sexual preference, and so on
• the many ways that philosophy intersects with and enhances the study of other fields, such as the sciences, religion, literature and the arts, etc.

You will acquire increased competence in skills such as critical reading and thinking, as well as in analysis, interpretation, and imagination. To support this goal,

• most of our courses focus on close readings, analysis, and interpretation of texts, and the construction, deconstruction, reconstruction, and critical evaluation of arguments and of other modes of presenting and developing ideas
• our formal logic course (PHI 103) provides a very general framework for critical analysis
• we periodically offer an informal logic course whose primary function is to sharpen students’ critical reading and thinking abilities

You will learn how to write well in general, and to write good philosophy papers in particular, for learning to write well is a necessary condition for learning to think well. To this end,

• almost all of our courses are designated as Writing courses (W)
• we not only require substantial quantities of writing, but we generally stress the importance of revising papers in response to constructive and critical comments
• most of our courses provide explicit “guidelines” to writing which provide detailed suggestions about how to write a good philosophy paper

You will acquire various skills which have applications far beyond college. In addition to the skills of critical reading, interpreting, thinking, and writing, for example, you’ll acquire

• the ability to think carefully, rigorously, methodically, imaginatively, and logically
• the ability to think abstractly and to solve problems
• the ability to construct an argument, contemplate problems or objections, devise responses to them, etc.

And finally, you will become deeper, richer, more fulfilled, and an otherwise more interesting human being.

We haven’t yet figured out how to assess this precisely, but we’re confident it’s true!