2024-2025 Academic Catalog
Philosophy Major
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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 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 Study
For independent research, the Department offers students the opportunity to do a Directed Study course (Phil 299). Recent directed study topics have been as diverse as: Mary Astell, Intermediate Logic, Schopenhauer, and Philosophy of Music. Students interested in a directed study should consult with 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 selected 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.
Major Requirements
The requirements for a major in philosophy are designed to ensure exposure to the major systematic fields in philosophy, to ensure familiarity with advanced analytic and logical methods, acquaint the student with the history of the discipline, and provide close faculty-student contacts through advanced seminars and individual research projects. The major program accommodates general liberal-arts students and those pursuing double majors and honors work, as well as those considering graduate study in philosophy.
1. Required courses in philosophy
A total of ten courses (described below) satisfy the requirements for the Philosophy Major. Students must receive at least a ‘C-’ grade in these courses.
Two courses in the history of philosophy
Both of the following courses must be completed.
One course in formal logic
(The department recommends that students do not take logic as their first and introductory course in the major without first consulting a member of the department faculty.)
One elective at any level
Any 100- or 200-level philosophy course up to PHIL 270 will satisfy this requirement. PHIL 299 may also be used with permission of your adviser if it was taken for one unit.
One advanced course in the area of metaphysics
One advanced course in the area of epistemology
One advanced course in the area of ethics and social philosophy
One advanced course on a single figure or movement
One advanced elective (200 or above)
Any 200-level philosophy course up to PHIL277 will satisfy this requirement.
One Philosophy Capstone course must be taken during the student’s senior year, and is usually offered in the Fall semester.
2. Required courses outside philosophy
Either: (i) a completed double major; or (ii) a completed concentration; or (iii) a completed minor in any other program or department.
Capstone Seminar
During the fall of senior year, majors must complete the designated capstone course. The senior capstone provides an opportunity for students to engage in individual research projects, integrating the knowledge and skills obtained from their previous coursework. Particular topics vary from year to year, but each offering of the senior capstone course focuses on some particular advanced area of philosophical literature. Capstone courses are organized to encourage collaborative interaction and the individual pursuit of scholarship, mirroring the skills used by professional scholars when engaging in research. The capstone emphasizes close reading of texts, the analysis of reasons and arguments, and the cultivation of writing skills. All are key components of sound philosophical methodology.
The capstone is typically open only to seniors in the Philosophy major.
Honors
Students majoring in philosophy may apply to complete an Honors Thesis under the direction of a department faculty member. Successful completion of the thesis is a requirement for the award of Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors on the student’s transcript.
In order to enroll in the honors program, a student must meet the following requirements. The student must contact a department faculty member who agrees to serve as the thesis advisor and supervise the student’s work. The student should then work on a thesis proposal in conjunction with the thesis advisor. Once the proposal has been completed to the satisfaction of the supervisor, the student will submit it to the Department Chair for review by the entire philosophy faculty. The completed proposal must meet with faculty approval by no later than second semester of a student’s junior year. In addition, the student must have, at the time of the proposal’s submission, maintained a minimum grade point average of 3.0 overall and 3.3 in his or her philosophy coursework.
Once enrolled in the honors program, the student must
- assemble an advisory committee; the advisory committee must include the thesis advisor and at least two other members of the philosophy faculty (exceptions to this–only in the case that the student wants the third member of the committee to be member of the faculty from another department–may be made with special permission by both the thesis advisor and the department chairperson),
- satisfy all major requirements,
- complete the honors thesis requirement. Completion includes both (a) enrollment in ‘Phil 297: Honors’ under the direction of the thesis advisor, during both semesters of his or her senior year, and (b) a successful oral defense of the thesis, and a final approval of the finished thesis, both which are to be overseen by a group of faculty that includes the student’s advisory committee.
At the completion of these conditions, the department will recommend to the University that the student be awarded Departmental Honors at one of the following three levels: honors, high honors or highest honors.
In the case that the student does not meet one or more of the requirements outlined above, the thesis advisor will request that the University Registrar change the designation ‘Phil 297: Honors’ on the student’s transcripts to either ‘Phil 295: Senior Thesis’ or ‘Phil 299: Directed Readings’ depending on the work submitted by the student.
Philosophy Faculty
Program Faculty
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
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