What exactly is Philosophy?

I was reading an online research profile yesterday, of Dale Dorsey from the Department of Philosophy. This reminded me of what I thought of philosophy before I took my first class in it. All that really came to mind was the "Thinker" statue.

In my second semester of freshman year I needed to take a Humanities credit, and heard that Philosophy could be interesting, and that's when I realized that there was a lot more to philosophy than I had thought. But to explain it to you, I decided to go straight to a Philosophy major to find out how she would sum it up. Sarah Colpitts, who now works in the Registrar's Office, graduated last year with a degree in Philosophy.

"I took a Philosophy course as an elective in my second year and fell in love with it, so I decided to major in it! The fascinating thing about Philosophy is that it spans across so many disciplines - from Science, to Ethics, to Game Theory. Some of my favorite classes were ones that looked at contemporary issues such as the global poor, environmental ethics, civic education, and how and why humans make the choices and decisions we do.

An Arts degree is all about the skills you take away and bring into every day life. Philosophy teaches you how to take apart ideas and analyze how they work; you learn how to think, how to critically engage with the world. I was taught how to develop and analyze my own arguments and express my own ideas, and because of that I am a better writer, reader, and learner - all skills that employers
value and desire."

And there you have it! For more information on Philosophy, check out the Philosophy major page, or the department website!