The Philosophy Major

• The Philosophy Major
• Honors Major in Philosophy
• Minor in Philosophy
• Joint Major in Philosophy and Theology

The Philosophy Major

A student majoring in philosophy must complete the following requirements in addition to the University requirement in Philosophy:

• The sequence in the history of philosophy 30301 Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and 30302 Modern Philosophy
• A course in formal logic (PHIL 30313 Formal Logic or, for qualified students, PHIL 83901 Intermediate Logic. The logic requirement can also be fulfilled by MATH 10130 Beginning Logic though this course does not count toward the eight courses required by the major)
• Two 40000-level seminars
• Three electives at either the 30000-level or 40000-level.  In special cases, one of the electives may be taken at the 20000-level.

Honors Major in Philosophy

Students may take a special Honors Major in Philosophy by completing all the requirements for the standard major and in addition writing a senior thesis. Students writing the senior thesis enroll in PHIL 48499 Senior Thesis in both semesters of the senior year (the equivalent of two regular three-hour seminars).

To be eligible for the honors major, and thus for the senior thesis, students must
normally maintain a GPA of 3.5 or above in majors courses. Students considering the senior thesis are strongly encouraged to have completed two of the three core courses (the two history surveys and logic) AND three 40000-level seminars by the end of the junior year.

Minor in Philosophy

Students majoring in other departments may take a minor in philosophy by completing the following in addition to the two-course University requirement in Philosophy:  

• The sequence in the history of philosophy
  30301 Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and 30302 Modern Philosophy
• One course at the 30000-level or 40000-level
• One course at the 40000-level

Joint Major in Philosophy and Theology

The joint major in philosophy and theology is an intensive 60-hour program, intended for students with a special interest in advanced work in both fields. The joint major also calls for language instruction beyond that required of all Arts and Letters undergraduates.

The following Philosophy courses are required to complete the Joint Major:

• University Requirement
  Philosophy 10101 or 20201 and additional 20000-level course
• The sequence in the History of Philosophy
  30301 Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and 30302 Modern Philosophy
• Formal Logic: 30313

The following Theology courses are required to complete the Joint Major:

• University Requirement
  Theology 100001 or 200001 and an additional 20000-level course
• The sequence in Christian Traditions
  40201 and 40202 Christian Traditions I and II
• Upper-division scripture course
  40101 or 43101

Additional courses:

• Two courses in a Classical language (usually Greek)
• Joint seminar
• Senior thesis
• 18 credit hours of electives
  Up to six of these may be additional hours in language study