Philosophy (PHIL)

Our Philosophy Department
The philosophy department at Mount Holyoke combines the focus on teaching typical of a small college with a faculty actively engaged in philosophical research. Our faculty have published on such diverse topics as the concept of privacy, modal logics, film romance and social criticism, scientific confirmation theory, and emotions in fictional appreciation. Read our philosophy faculty profiles and their research. We also benefit from the wider resources available through the other members of the Five College Consortium: Amherst, University of Massachusetts, Hampshire, and Smith.

Our faculty represents both the analytic (Anglo-American) and Continental (French and German) philosophical traditions, and many of us have interdisciplinary interests in areas such as film, psychology, literature, ancient studies, the Culture, Health, and Science Program, and women's studies.

But What is Philosophy?
The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek, and it means "love of knowledge." Socrates (who lived from 470-399 BCE) coined the word in order to distinguish himself from the "Sophists" or wise men, who offered to teach rhetoric for money. Socrates claimed to be a "philo-sophist" - not one who had wisdom, but one who loved it.

Although contemporary philosophers have begun take notice of philosophical traditions that developed in other parts of the world, the discipline of philosophy as it now exists in North America and Europe owes a great deal to Socrates and the other early philosophers in fifth and fourth century Greece. Socrates' ideas about philosophy are still influential, and many of the questions he asked are still relevant.

Here are some central philosophical topics:

Personal identity. Am I the same person that I was when I was a newborn? Would I be the same person if I lost all my memories? What if I changed bodies?

Ethics. What kind of life should I live? What are my responsibilities to others? Is there a universal moral standard, and if there is, how can we know it?

Mind and body. Do I have a mind that is distinct from my body, and which might outlive it? How are mind and body related? Could machines or animals have minds?

Knowledge. Is knowledge possible? How do we distinguish between appearances and reality? What is truth, and can we grasp it?

Sex and race. Are the categories of race and sex "real"? What is the relationship between culture and biology in producing these categories? What is the moral significance of sex and race?

Logic. What is the foundation of logical rules? Why should we reject contradictions? What is the relationship between logic and language?

Justice. What kinds of political institutions are just? What do we mean by justice? What should we say about inequality and oppression?

Religion. Can God's existence be proven? What is the relationship between religious faith and reason?

Science. Is science objective? What does it mean to say that the world works according to laws?

Art. How do we decide whether or not something is a work of art? Is taste subjective? Is art valuable?

Language. How do words refer to their objects? What is the relationship between language and the world - that is, how is that some sentences are true and others false?

Free will. Are my actions determined by physical laws (or God's will)? If so, in what sense am I free? If I'm not, can I be held morally responsible for my actions?

In general, philosophy is a discipline that addresses the most general questions that can be posed about any given subject matter. There is nothing that is too abstract for philosophical consideration, just as there is nothing so specific that philosophers don't address it. If you like thinking about anything and everything, then philosophy is for you.

Where to Begin
There are a variety of different ways to begin your study of philosophy. Philosophy 101 is a general introduction to philosophy that covers a range of different issues. For a student interested in a more intense experience, there is a first-year seminar, Philosophy 102. In addition, the 200-level courses listed below can be taken by students interested in approaching philosophy through a more specific interest. Whatever way you begin, you will discover the interesting intellectual worlds that philosophy investigates.

First-year students may consider enrolling in:

PHIL-101f-01	Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL-101f-02	Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL-101f-03	Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL-103s	Comparative Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL-201f	Philosophical Foundantions of Western Thought:  The Greek Period
PHIL-202s	Philosophical Foundations of Western Thought:  The Modern Period
PHIL-205f	Ethics
PHIL-208s	Knowledge and Reality
PHIL-210f	Logical Thought
PHIL-225s	Symbolic Logic