Philosophy and Ethics

Faculty

Chair: Associate Professor Crystal L’Hote
Associate Professors: Katherine E. Kirby, R. Michael Olson
Visiting Assistant: Keir Willette

Instructor: Michaela Tiller

Philosophy, as the love of wisdom, is the intellectual discipline that reflects on the whole range of human theoretical and practical endeavors in light of the most fundamental questions raised by human reason, those questions having to do with the highest, the most important, and most universal things. In a word, to think philosophically about any subject matter is to bring the whole of being into play in thinking about it. It is to step back from the commonly accepted meanings of one’s everyday world in order to appreciate that world in a deeper and more comprehensive way. The Philosophy Department at Saint Michael’s College aims to involve students in such philosophical reflection by having them engage the writings of significant philosophers and thinkers throughout the history of the Western philosophical traditions, from antiquity, through the medieval and the modern periods up to the contemporary world.

All students at Saint Michael’s College are required to take one basic course in philosophy, which introduces them to the nature of philosophical thinking. In this course, students will have the opportunity to read at least one Platonic dialogue as well as other philosophical texts. After completing Introduction to Philosophy, students are encouraged to take an additional 200-level philosophy course, any of which will satisfy at least one of the Core Requirements, the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Requirement, and-or the Engaging Diverse Identities Requirement.

For those students who wish to deepen their knowledge of philosophy, we encourage them either to major or to minor in the discipline or to take as an elective any philosophy course that complements their field of study or their personal interest. While the study of philosophy is valuable for its own sake, it also serves as an excellent discipline for developing one’s critical thinking skills and as an excellent complement to any other course of study a student may pursue.

Philosophy and Ethics Learning Outcomes:

Students will demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental questions about human existence and ultimate reality. Students will demonstrate familiarity with the major currents in the history of Western Philosophy.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of diverse methodologies, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as possess a critical understanding of the very concept of “method”.

Students will analyze philosophical truth claims.

Students will articulate and evaluate the values, principles and assumptions on which individual and social decisions rest.

Students will construct sustained logical arguments and anticipate counterarguments.

Students will demonstrate intellectual and inter-personal habits that enable one to participate in a (philosophical) dialogue in which different perspectives can engage one another in a way that fosters the maturation of the perspective of the participants.