Philosophy

The study of philosophy develops skills in critical and abstract thinking, writing, argumentation and evaluation of different points of view.  Your studies of this discipline will feature a variety of challenging courses covering material from ancient to contemporary philosophy. Our curriculum reflects the College’s emphasis on interdisciplinary study, with courses that integrate art, business, classics, film, literature, mathematics, religion, science, technology, and women’s and gender studies.

Special learning opportunities

The department's Speaker Series hosts one of the most prominent speaker series in the country; we regularly have noted and influential philosophers visiting us throughout the academic year. Philosophy majors are in a particularly good position to take advantage of these visits. 

In addition, the department of philosophy publishes Ephemeris, which is considered the premier undergraduate journal of philosophy in the country.

Union has an active, accomplished Ethics Bowl Team, which regularly takes part in competitions focused on moral issues, including the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Program and the Bioethics Bowl. Many team members are philosophy majors, and the team has traditionally had close ties with the philosophy department.

Careers

Philosophy majors are well prepared to pursue advanced studies in philosophy as well as a wide range of careers, including business, education, government, journalism, law, public policy, social service and more. All of this is of course intrinsically valuable, but it is also worth mentioning that philosophy majors tend to have the highest scores among all majors nationally in standardized tests such as the GRE and the LSAT.