About the Department
Philosophy is the attempt to answer certain persistent human questions, which fall into three traditional groups:
- Axiology (the theory of value)
- Metaphysics (the theory of being)
- Epistemology (the theory of knowledge)
Characteristic questions include the following:
- What is good?
- What is real?
- What is knowledge, and how can one achieve it?
By studying these questions of ethics, value, knowledge, and reality, you can develop analytical skills of critical thinking and problem solving; understanding connections across complex ideas; communicating and listening well; and weighing others' different values and points of view — skills which can be applied to any field and in any profession.
Our mission is to equip students with an understanding of both the history of philosophy and the problems of philosophy, and to do so in a way that underscores the relationships between philosophy and the Christian faith. We seek to graduate students who can speak and write with clarity about important philosophical, religious, moral, and social issues.