http://www.rit.edu/philosophy

Program overview

Most of the skills required for student and career success—how to learn, how to apply that learning in professional and personal environments, and how to communicate that knowledge—are central to philosophical training. Philosophy students are taught to evaluate complex problems, identify and examine underlying principles, investigate issues from diverse perspectives, and communicate clearly in both written and oral forms.

The philosophy program provides a thorough grounding in the three main areas of philosophy (history, value theory, and reasoning/epistemology), as well as a four-course specialization within philosophy. Students combine philosophy with a core competence (or even a double major) in another discipline, encouraging them to creatively pursue cross-disciplinary relationships. The program concludes with a senior thesis integrating philosophy with a field of application.

Curriculum

Students develop skills through a core of philosphy courses, which cover the history of philosophy, value theory, and reasoning/epistemology. Students choose four courses in one of seven areas specialization: philosophy of mind and cognitive science, philosophy of science and technology, applied ethics, philosophy of the social sciences and political philosophy, philosophy of art and aesthetics, history of philosophy, or philosophy of law. Students also complete a professional core of courses designed to provide foundational knowledge in a professional/technical discipline outside of philosophy, which complements their studies in the program. Philosophy electives, a professional core, general electives, and liberal arts courses complete the program's curriculum.

Seminar in philosophy

This course is an examination of a selected area or topic of philosophy at an advanced undergraduate level.

Senior thesis

Building on their philosophy specialization and their professional core, students will investigate a particular question in depth through research. Students choose a faculty member to serve as a primary adviser and to help identify a subject topic. The finished thesis is discussed and examined by a committee including two other faculty members.

Additional information

Advising

Each student is assigned a faculty adviser who will assist in planning course schedules, professional/technical core requirements, and a philosophy specialization area.

Faculty

The philosophy department’s faculty are outstanding teachers. They are active scholars, publishing regularly in journals, editing and authoring books, and organizing and delivering papers at conferences at RIT and elsewhere in the United States and abroad.