University of St. Thomas

When asked what one word best describes the philosophy major at St. Thomas, a faculty member responded: "My first inclination is to say that there is no one word that describes the major... Come study philosophy and find out why it’s so hard to put the discipline into a single category. 

But on second thought, I’m going to pick a word, plus a quotation. The word is “rational”; the quotation comes from philosopher Immanuel Kant:

Friends of the human race and of what is holiest to it! Accept what appears to you most worthy of belief after careful and sincere examination, whether of facts or rational grounds; only do not dispute that prerogative of reason which makes it the highest good on earth, the prerogative of being the final touchstone of truth. "

A real student asks:

 

I want to know the meaning of life; would I learn this as a philosophy major?

A philosophy faculty member responds: You wouldn’t be TOLD what the answer is, but you might LEARN it nevertheless! You’d acquire some important tools for exploring questions about the meaning of life, and you’d have the opportunity to ponder the arguments that many excellent thinkers have developed concerning what makes life meaningful.

What jobs are possible with a Philosophy major?

What opportunities are there to bolster my resume while I'm in the program?

Internships. Internships for philosophy majors can be designed for virtually any field. Internships at law firms have been particularly attractive to our majors.

Study abroad. We have one study-abroad course that is regularly offered - Ethics: East and West - which is offered during J-Term in Hawaii.

Our faculty members offer other courses abroad from time to time ... in Ukraine and Rome, Italy, for example.

Many students who study abroad in other programs take philosophy courses at other universities; we strongly encourage this. Studying philosophy, much like studying abroad, expands our horizons:

The mind which has become accustomed to the freedom and impartiality of philosophic contemplation will preserve something of the same freedom and impartiality in the world of action and emotion. It will view its purposes and desires as parts of the whole.... The impartiality which, in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very same quality of mind which, in action, is justice, and in emotion is that universal love which can be given to all, and not only to those who are judged useful or admirable. Thus contemplation enlarges not only the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our actions and our affections: it makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled city at war with all the rest.

---Bertrand Russell, Problems of Philosophy

Faculty at work

All our faculty members have active research agendas. Take a look at the individual Web pages of faculty members for a picture of the sort of research they do.

Faculty members work with advanced students on research projects in which the students are interested. All our majors do a substantial supervised research project as part of a senior seminar. Sometimes these projects lead to student presentations at philosophy conferences.