The word "philosophy" comes from two Greek words,
phileo (love) and sophia (wisdom), and literally
means a love of wisdom. For the ancient Greeks, the
philosopher was regarded as one who loved wisdom
for its own sake. Throughout the history of philosophy
(which is dated back to the sixth century B.C.)
philosophers have been concerned with such questions
as the nature of virtue, the meaning of existence, the
nature of human knowledge, the nature of reality,
cosmology (or what we might now call astronomy or
astrophysics), the essence of nature (or what we now
call physics), the nature of God, etc.
Philosophy was traditionally called the Queen of the Sciences. One reason for this title was that philosophy sought the underlying reasons and assumptions of many other disciplines and in many cases actually gave rise to new branches of study. For example, up until the late nineteenth century what is now called physical science was a branch of philosophy called natural philosophy. What we now call political science was traditionally called political philosophy. And, perhaps surprisingly, even what is now called psychology was a branch of philosophy. In fact, it wasn’t until fairly late in the twentieth century that psychology departments in some major Universities became separate from philosophy departments.
More generally, philosophy is the attempt to critically evaluate our most basic assumptions and the reasons or justifications for these assumptions. If this sounds terribly complex and sophisticated, it is and it isn’t. I't’s complex and sophisticated only in terms of the responses that philosophers have given to various questions. But the actual practice of philosophy begins, as the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said, with a sense of wonder. The simplicity of this wonder is the simplicity of the question we all asked as children: "Why?", "What is God like?", "Does the universe come to an end?", "Is it okay for three people to be selfish, but not one?", etc. At this very elementary level, we all philosophize, insofar as we wonder and ask questions.
201 Introduction to Philosophy
Satisfies General Studies Area I B
211 Elementary Logic and Critical Thinking
Satisfies General Studies Area II B
315 Ethics
320 Oriental Thought
330 Philosophy of Religion
340 Symbolic Logic
350 Philosophy & the African-American Experience
360 Philosophy and Film
369 Social Philosophy
401 History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
402 History of Modern Philosophy
405 Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
410 Aesthetics
415 Formal Logic
420 Existentialism
424 Recent Continental Philosophy
430 American Philosophy
440 Analytic Philosophy
445 Marx and Marxism
450 Philosophy of Science
460 Philosophy of History
480 (A - Z) Readings in Philosophy
301 The Bible: Its Origin and Content 302 Comparative Religion 402 Jesus of Nazareth 405 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 406 Early Christian Literature 480 (A - Z) Readings in Religious Studies
Ron Bombardi, Ph.D. Marquette University, 1984 Michael Hinz, Ph.D. University of Kansas, 1992 Robert Hood, Ph.D. Bowling Green State University, 1998 Clarence Johnson, Ph.D. McGill University, Canada, 1986 Mary Magada-Ward, Ph.D. Southern Illinois University, 1993 Harold Parker, Emeritus, Ph.D. Emory University, 1968 Michael Principe, Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, 1985 Jack Purcell, Ph.D. Purdue University, 1989Click here to view the Faculty & Staff Address Book.
* Only philosophy majors were 5% or more above the mean on all four of these tests: LSAT (Law) GMAT (Graduate Management) GRE VERBAL GRE QUANTITATIVE* Over 10% of Philosophy Ph.D.s are employed in business and industry.
* Another 6% of Philosophy Ph.D.s work for hospitals, the government, or non-profit institutions, other than schools and colleges.
* LAW - bar association staff, criminal justice coordination, law practice, legal aid, legal research, paralegal assistance
* MEDICINE - administrative staff, consulting, hospital administration, medical practice, nursing
* GOVERNMENT - federal, state, and local agency supervision, diplomacy, human services, intelligence, policy analysis
* BUSINESS - advertising, computer systems programming, consulting, engineering, hotel management, insurance, investment banking, marketing, publishing, real estate, technical writing
* JOURNALISM - editing, free-lance writing, literary criticism
* EDUCATION - elementary, secondary, and higher education, scholarly research, administration