2023-2024 Academic Catalog

Nov 23, 2024

2023-2024 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Philosophy Minor

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Philosophy Overview

Undergraduate Program

The Philosophy Department offers an undergraduate major in philosophy, a concentration in ethics and public policy, two minors in philosophy and a variety of elective courses, which nonmajors may take to broaden their education and fulfill Program of Liberal Studies requirements. The department also offers core or elective courses for concentrations in Ethics and Public Policy, Law & Society, Environmental Science & Policy, and Health, Science & Society. For more information, please visit the Philosophy Department’s website.

Directed Readings, Individual Research, Tutorials

For significant independent research, the department offers individual Directed Research, Directed Readings, and Advanced Independent Study in Philosophical Topics, all falling under the course heading PHIL 299. Some recent topics have been: environmental ethics; privacy in law and ethics; and statistical stylometry and ancient philosophy. Students interested in these possibilities should consult with individual members of the philosophy faculty.

Departmental Publications

All of the department’s full-time faculty are active scholars who publish original research in books and professional journals.

Department Prizes and Awards, and Student and Honor Societies

Each year the department inducts its best junior and senior philosophy majors into Phi Sigma Tau, the national philosophy honor society. The department has the Massachusetts Alpha Chapter of Phi Sigma Tau. At the spring honors convocation, the department awards one or more prizes to exemplary graduating seniors including the David Saltman Prize for excellence in philosophy. In the Spring, the department confers a prize for the best work in logic.

The Philosophy Club, a student organization, sponsors lectures, colloquia and informal educational and social activities for all interested Clark students.

Minor Requirements

Students pursuing a minor in philosophy at Clark can choose one of two tracks. Each track requires six courses in philosophy and is designed to develop students’ intellectual skills and to familiarize them with the fundamental methods of philosophical inquiry.

The Figures and Traditions Track emphasizes a grounding in the History of Philosophy and engages perennial questions like: ‘How ought I to live?’, ‘What is knowledge?’ and ‘Do human beings have free will?’.

The Problems and Theories Track stresses the importance of logic to philosophical inquiry and allows students to pursue a range of advanced electives in areas of interest.

Requirements for the Minor - Problems and Theories Track

One course in formal logic

PHIL 110 - Introduction to Symbolic Logic

Two electives at any level

Any two 100- or 200-level philosophy courses up to PHIL 270 will satisfy this requirement.

Three advanced (200 level) electives

Any three 200-level philosophy courses up to PHIL 277 will satisfy this requirement.

Requirement for the Minor - Figures and Traditions Track

Two courses in history of philosophy

PHIL 141 - History of Ancient Philosophy

PHIL 143 - History of Early Modern Philosophy

Two electives at any level

Any two 100- or 200-level philosophy courses up to PHIL 270 will satisfy this requirement.

Two advanced (200 level) electives

Any two 200-level philosophy courses up to PHIL 277 will satisfy this requirement.

Philosophy Faculty

Program Faculty

Arden Ali, Ph.D.
Paul Bohan-Broderick, Ph.D.
Patrick Derr, Ph.D.
Wiebke Deimling, Ph.D.
C. Wesley DeMarco, Ph.D.
Jennifer Greene, Ph.D.
Scott Hendricks, Ph.D.
Ravi Sharma, Ph.D. - Department Chair

Emeriti Faculty

Davis Baird, Ph.D.
Judith DeCew, Ph.D.
Walter Wright, Ph.D.

Philosophy Courses

Courses offered within the last 2 Academic Years