Department of Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of the most basic questions of human existence, such as what a person is, how far our freedom extends, how matter and spirit come together in human nature, where the moral law comes from, how the mind knows reality, and how God can be known through reason and experience. In philosophy we examine these questions by probing human experience, by rational analysis, and also by studying closely the tradition of Western philosophy. Although philosophy is in many ways close to Christian theology, giving much to it and receiving much from it, philosophy is an entirely distinct and in some ways more fundamental discipline. In studying philosophy one also develops habits of critical thought; one develops powers of articulating, distinguishing, and arguing. The philosophy courses are, therefore, not just for future teachers of the subject, but for everyone who agrees with Socrates that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”