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PHILOSOPHY

Major: Philosophy

Philosophy in the West traces its origins to ancient Greece and what one scholar has called "the discovery of the mind." Thinkers like Plato and Aristotle raised a host of challenging questions-What does it mean to be a human being? What makes for excellence in human living? What is the relationship between the virtues of courage, fidelity and wisdom and the possibilities of political life? How are human beings related to the divine?-and other similar questions that have continued to inform philosophical thought to this day. Contemporary philosophy returns to these concerns but also reaches into discussions of ethics, both pure and applied, law, aesthetics and the social and natural sciences.

Philosophy helps to develop logic and judgment skills, making it a fine major or minor for students who intend to pursue careers in law, business, government, or education or prepare for graduate study.
The department emphasizes the history and development of philosophy with particular attention to the ancients, medieval thought, modern philosophy and contemporary European thinkers.
Topical and thematic courses including Love and Friendship, Philosophy of Law, Individual and Community, Women in Philosophy, Philosophy and Literature and many others allow students to investigate areas of special interest.
A special interdisciplinary program called Foundations encourages students to study the West and its heritage in a comprehensive and integrated way.
The Philosophy Club offers opportunities for relaxed philosophical discussion outside the classroom on a weekly basis.
Some majors have received the Fulbright Scholarship, a post-graduate fellowship allowing for study in a foreign country.
The Philosophy Club meets weekly to provide a philosophical forum for members of the Assumption community.

The department sponsors a chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, an International Honor Society in Philosophy. Declared majors and minors are eligible to be considered for membership.

Faculty Areas of Interest:

Professor Fred Bauer: epistemology and philosophy of mind.
Professor Gavin Colvert: current project aims at a synthetic account of the contemporary significance of Thomas Aquinas's ethical and political theory.
Professor Patrick Corrigan: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, the Italian Renaissance and Philosophy of Biology
Professor Paul Gallagher: Martha Nussbaum's thinking on compassion and mercy; Nietzsche; aesthetics and philosophy of communication.
Professor Louise Carroll Keeley - philosophy of religion with particular attention to Soren Kierkegaard, Simone Weil and Edith Stein.
Professor Nalin Ranasinghe-author of The Soul of Socrates (Cornell University Press) and a forthcoming volume on The Spirit of Socrates.

Recent Graduate Schools

Boston College
Catholic University
Marquette University
Yale University
University of Memphis
Fordham University

Recent Employers

Brigham Young University
Lahey Clinic
Lemuel Shattuck Hospital
Putnam Investments
State Street Corporation
University of Massachusetts Medical School
U.S. Navy

Did you Know?

More than 40% of Assumption undergraduates eventually go on to graduate school.