Philosophy may sound dauntingly remote from daily concerns, but its basic questions – What can I know? What may I hope? What must I do? – actually pose themselves throughout any thinking person’s journey. And the skills it teaches – close reading, careful thinking, and the critique of ideas – apply to most areas of human endeavor. A background in philosophy is thus excellent training for many careers, and matchless preparation for life itself.
Larry Udell’s videoconference with Professors Elizabeth Anderson (philosophy) and Frank Thompson (economics) of the University of Michigan, and Professor Geoffrey Harcourt (economics) of Cambridge University
Samantha Noll December ‘08 Grad
Larry Tamaccio December ‘08 Grad
“It took me a long time to find my way to the philosophy department at WCU. As a wide eyed first year student, I could not decide upon a path of study so I set out upon an exploratory expedition of sorts—taking classes from many different disciplines. Gradually, I found myself drawn to the philosophy department and it was there that I finally found what I was looking for: a discipline that actually encourages you to question and explore." Click here to see the whole essay.
“. . . I already can't believe how much my training in philosophy is helping ease the transition and is giving me a leg up on other students. I won't pretend that I didn't read my first few assigned chapters and cases twice just to be sure that I understood them, but already I'm hearing horror stories from other students about spending three hours reading a 10 page assignment and still not understanding it. Spending a few years reading through the likes of Heidegger, Gadamer and my arch-nemesis, Sartre and learning how to critically engage the text so as to not only pull out the relevant facts but to begin to define the underlying concepts at work is a fundamental skill that it seems other undergraduate disciplines simply did not instill in my fellow students. It also doesn't hurt that the Dean of the law school, who is also my torts professor, did his undergraduate work in philosophy as well.”
