Advice for Majors

1. Choosing courses

Here, in no particular order, are some very general pieces of advice on the selection of courses for a major or minor sequence in philosophy.

First: follow your interests. If you have a philosophical itch - and you must, if you are reading this - look for courses that promise to scratch it for you.

Second: you may find it beneficial, especially in the area of value theory, to look for a blend of theoretically and practically oriented courses. For example, it would be a good idea to combine 249 (Medical Ethics) - very much a practically oriented course - with 214 (Metaethics) or 340 (Seminar in Contemporary Ethical Theory). They complement one another: you can think more effectively about the practical issues if you have a good grasp of normative ethical theory, and your judgments on the practical issues will give you a rich fund of data against which to test abstract ethical theories.

Third: two periods in the history of philosophy have been particularly influential in the development of the subject: Greek philosophy in the 4th and 5th centuries BC (the era of Plato and Aristotle), and early modern philosophy (the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the period of Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant). That is why we require all majors to take courses in those areas: Phil 201 (Ancient Greek Philosophy) and Phil 221 (Modern Philosophy). It is a good idea to take them early in the major sequence, because they provide an excellent grounding in the issues that you will encounter in such courses as Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Science, and Metaethics. In particular, 221 (Modern Philosophy) provides an excellent grounding for work in metaphysics and epistemology - despite the fact that we list it as a course in the history of philosophy.

Fourth, it is a good idea to take Phil 216 (Logic). You will use the skills you develop there in every other philosophy course you take. It will help you to become much more aware of what you are doing, and why you are doing it, when you discuss philosophical arguments. Without it, you will find much of the philosophy of the 20th century difficult to read, let alone understand. (Don't be put off by the mathematical appearance of the typical logic textbook, incidentally. The subject is formal, but not particularly mathematical. You certainly don't have to be "good at math" to thrive in a logic course.)

2. Reading philosophy articles and writing philosophy papers

Philosophical writing is different from just about every other kind of writing. As a result, one has to learn both how to read other people's philosophical work effectively and how to write philosophical papers oneself. These are skills that improve with practice, but there are some general bits of advice that can help when starting out.

Reading philosophy papers:

A piece of philosophical writing will typically attempt to convince you of some claim - that a certain view of a subject is correct, that another view of that subject is wrong or even incoherent, that the subject in question can't possibly be explained without attending to a certain important feature of that subject. So you need to identify two things: (1) what the author is trying to convince you of; and (2) how the author is trying to convince you - what reasons or arguments are they giving to support their position?
You should be prepared to read a piece of philosophical writing more than once - papers are typically very abstract and often very densely reasoned. As you read, and as you identify the author's claims and arguments, ask yourself what you think of these claims and arguments. Are you convinced? If you don't agree with the author's conclusion, can you identify a problem with the argument for it?

Writing philosophy papers:

Just as other people's philosophical writing will attempt to convince you of something, your papers should aim to do the same thing. A philosophy paper should be a reasoned defense of some claim. What that claim is will depend on the subject matter, the assignment, and your view of how the balance of reasons lies. It is your job to defend your view while being as charitable as you can towards opposing positions. Don't forget to look for potential objections to your own view and to address those objections as thoroughly as possible.

It is always a good idea to start working on a paper early, to draw up an outline before starting to write, to give a draft of your paper to someone else for feedback, and to revise your paper more than once before turning it in.

For more advice about reading and writing philosophy papers, you might consult the following excellent sources:

3. Advising

All members of the department are happy to serve as advisors to majors and minors, and to discuss courses and requirements with prospective majors, minors, and other interested students. Please contact us to arrange an appointment.

If you are a Philosophy major or minor, we encourage you to get in touch with your departmental advisor at the beginning of each term to discuss your course selections for the term and your overall progress through the major/minor.

Students who think they might be interested in going to graduate school in philosophy should contact their advisor to discuss the process and requirements. Note that a course in logic (such as Phil 216) is more or less mandatory for students applying for graduate study in philosophy in the United States.

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