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Department of Philosophy

Think For Yourself!

To confront the questions and challenges in life that have no easy answers requires, in Kant’s words, the courage to use one’s own understanding. Our mission in the Philosophy Department at Miami University is to empower our students to live courageous and thoughtful lives by passing on to them the rich inheritance of the philosophical tradition: its great texts, its central problems and questions, and its distinctive methods of critical thought, reflection, questioning and self-questioning, lucid argumentation, and cogent writing.

Philosophy courses address some of the biggest and most difficult questions about the human condition in a systematic and logical manner.

What makes life meaningful and worth living?  What obligations do we have to other people? Are there objective moral truths or is morality subjective? What is the difference between opinion and knowledge?  

The Philosophy Department offers a wide array of courses, from the broad (Society and the Individual, Introduction to Ethics, Theories of Human Nature) to the specialized (Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Existentialism, Logic).

Philosophy courses are interesting in their own right, but they also teach skills that are attractive to employers. Some of the skills philosophy can teach you are:

  • Making compelling arguments
  • Writing logically and clearly
  • Creatively solving problems
  • Precise thinking that considers potential objections and counter positions
  • Communicating well and giving reasons

Philosophy students score particularly well on standardized tests, such as the GRE, MCAT, and LSAT.  Medical schools often ask for preparation in bioethics, which is taught in Medical Ethics.

Give to the Philosophy Department

Help us prepare the next generation of students empowered to live courageous and thoughtful lives by teaching them distinctive methods of critical thought, reflection, questioning and self-questioning, lucid argumentation, and cogent writing. We have numerous scholarships, grants, and programs accepting contributions from donors like you.

 

Department of Philosophy

212 Hall Auditorium
Oxford, OH 45056