Program Goals

Abilities and Knowledge Peculiar to Philosophy

The Philosophy major prepares students to show that they possess, not only the abilities and commitments set forth in the "Aims of a BYU Education," but also the abilities and knowledge peculiar to philosophy. Philosophy majors, therefore, will show an adequate grasp of the fundamentals of the discipline. More precisely, they will:

1. Provide evidence satisfactory to the philosophy faculty, either in writing or orally, that they can:
1. Write philosophical papers or participate in philosophical discussions with discernment. (Discerning philosophical papers are thesis-based, insightful, clear, concise, coherent, persuasive, and correct in grammar, spelling, punctuation and word-usage. Discerning philosophical discussion embodies the same six characteristics, while allowing for the differences between written and spoken discourse.)
2. Construct proofs in first-order logic.
2. Provide evidence satisfactory to the philosophy faculty, either in writing or orally, that they can:
1. Understand, interpret, explain, analyze, or assess representative philosophical texts, teachings, and problems.
2. Display substantive knowledge of the fundamental teachings of selected major philosophers-ancient, medieval, modern or contemporary.
3. Display substantive knowledge of the classical problems and proposed solutions in selected areas of philosophical inquiry, such as metaphysics, epistemology, science, ethics, religion, aesthetics, language, etc