本专业提供了与基本哲学问题的广泛，深刻，历史渊源和道德意识的参与。这意味着从多种角度出发，解决所有人所面临的紧迫而棘手的问题，以及为使他们理解甚至发现某些解决方案而有用的方法。核心问题和主题包括善良和道德生活的本质（例如，道德，政治，美学），现实和人类存在的本质（例如，形而上学，宗教，存在主义）以及理解和推理的本质（例如，逻辑，认识论，科学哲学）。中心方法涉及批判性思维，女权主义理论，非西方知识传统，古代和现代的分析模式以及对社会背景的严格审查，包括种族，性别和阶级。该专业提供的课程特别关注应用于职业生活
This major provides a broad, deep, historically informed, and ethically aware engagement with fundamental philosophical issues. This means engaging, from a range of perspectives, the urgent and vexing problems that confront all persons and the methods found productive for making sense of themand perhaps even for providing some solutions. Central problems and topics include the nature of the good and moral life (e.g., ethics, politics, aesthetics), the nature of reality and human existence (e.g., metaphysics, religion, existentialism), and the nature of understanding and reasoning (e.g., logic, epistemology, philosophy of science). Central approaches involve critical thinking, feminist theory, non-Western intellectual traditions, ancient and modern modes of analysis, and the close scrutiny of social context, including that of race, sexuality, and class. The courses offered within the major include a particular focus on ethics courses applied to life in the professions, including, for example, that of law, business, media, and leadership.