Department Info

Philosophy, a department within the College of Arts and Humanities, offers a full range of courses designed to provide students with the intellectual tools and scholarly background necessary for deep, critical understanding of human experience. The major philosophers and intellectual traditions, Western and non-Western, are analyzed in order to show how philosophy relates directly to problems which thoughtful men and women face in the world today. The department offers an under-graduate major and minor in Philosophy, as well as an undergraduate major specialization and minor in Religious Studies. To encourage student-faculty interaction, we have a philosophy club as well as a local chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the international philosophy honor society.

The original meaning of the word philosophy is "the love of wisdom." As such, it represents not a body of doctrines to be learned but an ongoing process of critical and speculative inquiry into questions which represent people's deepest concerns, such as the meaning of human existence, the nature of reality, the justifications of human knowledge, and the search for the grounds of human conduct.

The department's objectives include:

1. Acquainting general education students with the basic questions of philosophy and giving them skills for developing their own answers to these questions.
2. Offering courses for students in other disciplines such as the social and natural sciences and the arts. The purpose is to interpret, illuminate, and integrate the concepts of these disciplines in a broad framework of philosophic understanding.
3. Preparing students for graduate study in philosophy.
4. Encouraging a humane, yet intellectually strict, approach to all fields and courses of study, not just those traditionally included in liberal arts and science departments. This is of crucial importance for persons entering professions such as medicine, law, education and engineering.

The department is also the home of Central's interdisciplinary Religious Studies program, which enables students to examine religion objectively as a pervasive phenomenon of human life. Courses and faculty are drawn from various CWU departments, in addition to Philosophy. This provides knowledge of the history, practices, and literature of religious traditions, the varieties of religious world views, and the modes of religious thought and language.

Career Opportunities

Many different careers utilize the skills which philosophy develops:

1. writing and speaking clearly and convincingly
2. organizing data logically
3. doing research effectively
4. generating ideas
5. finding hidden assumptions
6. distinguishing subtle differences without overlooking similarities
7. being sensitive to values
8. adapting readily to change

Philosophy can sometimes assist individuals in their personal lives. It encourages people to face, understand and evaluate the fundamental beliefs by which they try to make sense of things and gain insight into themselves, other persons and the universe. A research study of college alumni, supported by the U.S. Office of Education, concluded that philosophy is "the subject the greatest number of alumni wish they had taken more of."

Philosophy is excellent preparation for teaching at the college level, and good preparation for teaching in secondary schools. It is also good preparation for law, the ministry, journalism, computer science, government and politics, business, academic administration, librarianship and technical writing. Many of these fields require supplementary training, so philosophers who wish to enter them are advised to secure a minor, or a second major, directly related to the field. For students who want practical work experience, the department offers cooperative education courses.

Scholarships & Financial Aid

The Myron Davies Memorial Scholarship is available for students who have declared a major or minor in Philosophy. Please contact the CWU Scholarship Office at 509/963-3005. Federal and state work-study students are eligible for jobs in the departmental office.