I. Mission Statement

The Philosophy Department has as its fundamental mission the cultivation of skills, dispositions, and knowledge in its students that contribute to their development as autonomous persons and as responsible and engaged members of society. These skills and dispositions are acquired and honed through studying and doing philosophy. They facilitate a student's development by enabling the critical, systematic, and philosophically informed examination of beliefs, values, and conceptions of the world. Such an individual has an independent mind: one that is open, flexible, creative, critical, and capable of making well-reasoned decisions.

II. Learning Goals

1. Understanding: Interpretation and Analysis

Students will be able to analyze, interpret, and understand philosophical texts and discourse.

2. Argumentation: Evaluation and Construction

Students will be able to effectively identify, evaluate, and formulate arguments.

3. Philosophical Expertise: Knowledge and Methodology

Students will be able to demonstrate a high degree of fluency with the major traditions, figures, concepts, and methods of philosophy.

4. Communication: Organization and Expression

Students will be able to develop, organize, and express ideas in a precise, clear, effective and systematic manner in writing and discussion.

5. Praxis: Synthesis and Application

Students will be able to critically and creatively apply concepts, theories, and arguments to the variety of problems encountered in academic, personal, and professional contexts.

III. Primary Traits Associated With Each Learning Goal

1. Understanding: Interpretation and Analysis

Students will be able to analyze, interpret, and understand philosophical texts and discourse.

Success in achieving this goal will be assessed by a student's ability to:

identify and describe the main aim(s) of a text or thinker

identify and describe the strategy of a text or thinker

identify and describe the main assumption(s) of text or thinker

recognize what is important about or "at stake in" a philosophical debate

separate understanding a text from evaluating a text)

summarize and explicate the main support for the main conclusion(s)

pick-out key terms for analysis

identify incomplete, ambiguous, vague, or nonsensical concepts and statements

ask incisive questions of a thinker/text

apply the principle of charity in interpretation

 

2. Argumentation: Evaluation and Construction

Students will be able to effectively identify, evaluate, and formulate arguments.

Success in achieving this goal will be assessed by a student's ability to:

identify the difference between a position and an argument for a position

extract an argument from a piece of text

define and identify formal and informal fallacies

employ elementary logic to evaluate an argument

formulate a strong objection to a given argument

formulate an effective and well-reasoned argument for and against a position

3. Philosophical Expertise: Knowledge and Methodology

Students will be able to demonstrate a high degree of fluency with the concepts, methods, major traditions, and figures in philosophy.

Success in achieving this goal will be assessed by a student's ability to:

recognize the difference between philosophical and non-philosophical questions

explain the relationship between the methodology of philosophy and other disciplines

distinguish between empirical claims and a priori claims

explain and employ the distinctions between metaphysics, epistemology, value theory, logic

explain and use the fundamental concepts and theories in metaphysics

explain and use the fundamental concepts and theories in epistemology

explain and use the fundamental concepts and theories in ethics and political philosophy

exhibit fluency with major traditions and figures in the history of philosophy

4. Communication: Construction and Expression

Students will be able to develop, organize, and express ideas in a precise, clear, effective and systematic manner in writing and discussion.

Success in achieving this goal will be assessed by a student's ability to:

discuss philosophy in a thoughtful and engaging manner

show respect for others and their ideas (express disagreement in a respectful and rational manner)

deliver oral presentations to a class or group

research a paper

plan a paper strategically

structure a paper given the strategy

choose the most appropriate and precise wording

stick to the point

5. Praxis: Synthesis and Application

Students will be able to critically and creatively apply concepts, theories, and arguments to the variety of problems encountered in academic disciplines, personal, and professional contexts.

Success in achieving this goal will be assessed by a student's ability to:

connect and integrate the discussion in one area of philosophy to another

use knowledge of the history of philosophy to enrich one's understanding of philosophical problems and proposed solutions

reach well-reasoned conclusions regarding ethical, political, social, and other philosophical issues in everyday contexts

apply philosophical concepts and skills to problems as they arise in various academic disciplines

apply philosophical concepts and skills to problems as they arise in various careers and professions (teaching, business, law, medicine, and science)

Revised: 9/20/2006