哲学专业课程的设计目的是使人们广泛接触哲学的主要领域，并为西方哲学传统的历史奠定坚实的基础。该课程强调从古至今对经典文本的仔细阅读和批判性评估，并且学生可以期望发展复杂的分析和说明能力，使他们能够自己进行原创的批判性反思。该主要课程为研究生的哲学学习提供了出色的准备，同时也为任何职业提供了坚实的基础，这些职业都需要清晰，认真的思考，严格的概念和分析能力以及有效的书面和口头沟通能力。哲学最初涵盖了所有研究领域，仍然是大学所有学科的基础学科，也是通识教育的核心。哲学思维既具有高度理论性又具有深远的实践性，它既
The major program in philosophy is designed to provide a broad exposure to the major areas of philosophy as well as a strong grounding in the history of the western philosophical tradition. The program emphasizes the close reading and critical evaluation of classic texts from ancient times to the present, and students can expect to develop sophisticated analytic and expository skills that will enable them to engage in original, critical reflection on their own. The major program provides excellent preparation for graduate study in philosophy as well as a solid foundation for any career that places a premium upon clear, careful thinking, rigorous conceptual and analytical skills, and effective written and oral communication. Originally encompassing all fields of study, philosophy remains the foundational discipline of all the disciplines at the university and the core of a liberal arts education. At once both highly theoretical and profoundly practical, philosophical thinking is reflective and critical conceptual activity concerned with some of the most enduring and challenging of fundamental questions about the nature, meaning, and possibilities of human existence, the world, and the ways we think about them. What makes humans human What is the best way to live What can we know What really exists How can we think well What are goodness, truth, beauty, space, time, causation, language, consciousness, happiness, freedom, rationality, justice Questions like these occur to most people, especially when we are young, cherished beliefs and assumptions about them structure our lives, often without our being aware of them. Philosophers are gripped by such questions and seek to address them through creative critical thinking, reasoned analysis and argumentation, and thoughtful discussion, instead of making assumptions or accepting answers to them based on opinion or prejudice. The study of philosophy develops skills in careful and flexible thinking, critical analysis, sound reasoning and argumentation, objective evaluation, clear and persuasive writing, and the toleration of uncertainty.