Offered at: San Luis Obispo Campus
Students pursue a curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. In their major required courses, students explore the history of philosophy, logic, ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of science. In their electives, students can either explore a wide range of topics in philosophy, or complete a concentration in Philosophy and Religion, Ethics of Science and Technology, or Ethics and Society. The senior project in philosophy is a significant piece of philosophical writing, for which students prepare by completing a junior-level course on philosophical writing and research. The philosophy department also offers a minor in Philosophy and a minor in Religious Studies.
Concentrations
Ethics and Society
Offered at: San Luis Obispo Campus
Designed for students with an interest in pursuing professional careers in which they will need to address practical ethical issues, especially careers in business, medicine, politics and law.
Ethics of Science and Technology
Offered at: San Luis Obispo Campus
Designed for students with an interest in careers involving science and technology, whether as makers or other roles (such as in business, law, policy, advocacy, and government) to understand, evaluate, and influence the responsible development of new and emerging innovations.
Philosophy and Religion
Offered at: San Luis Obispo Campus
Designed for students with an interest in religion, including those interested in pursuing careers in religious ministry or graduate work in Religious Studies or Philosophy of Religion.
Program Learning Objectives
- Significant critical skill: Appraise, critique, or defend philosophical arguments, conceptual distinctions, and approaches.
- Sound command of logic: Reconstruct and classify types of arguments, apply formal logical techniques to assess the validity of deductive arguments, appraise the strength of inductive arguments and defend the appraisal.
- Competence at philosophical writing: Accurately report, in efficient, edited academic writing, arguments in philosophical texts and formulate original written arguments to defend philosophical positions.
- Good, general knowledge of the history of philosophy: Identify, distinguish, and relate the views and arguments of historical philosophers. Select, construct, and support interpretations of historical works in philosophy based on scholarly research.
- Grasp of main currents in contemporary philosophy: Examine, differentiate, organize, and evaluate critically contemporary scholarship in philosophy. Formulate original arguments to defend a specific philosophical thesis in an area of contemporary interest in philosophy, such as ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of science, or any other area of philosophy, including approaches that emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion in philosophy.
- Familiarity with methods of contemporary philosophical inquiry: Use standard interpretative scholarly principles, such as the principle of charity, to analyze philosophical works. Construct compelling written philosophical arguments. Use databases for research in philosophy and select influential or significant works.
Degree Requirements and Curriculum
In addition to the program requirements listed on this page, students must also satisfy requirements outlined in more detail in the Minimum Requirements for Graduation section of this catalog, including:
- 40 units of upper-division courses
- 2.0 GPA
- Graduation Writing Requirements (GWR)
- U.S. Cultural Pluralism (USCP)
Note: No Major, Support or Concentration courses may be selected as credit/no credit. In addition, no more than 12 units of cooperative or internship courses can count towards your degree requirements.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| MAJOR COURSES | ||
| PHIL 1101 | Introduction to Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 1126 | Logic and Argumentative Writing (1B) 1 | 3 |
| PHIL 2230 | Philosophical Classics: Knowledge and Reality (3B) 1 | 3 |
| PHIL 2231 | Philosophical Classics: Ethics and Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 2241 | Symbolic Logic | 3 |
| PHIL 3300 | Philosophical Writing and Research | 3 |
| PHIL 3321 | Philosophy of Science (Upper-Division 3) 1 | 3 |
| PHIL 3331 | Ethics | 3 |
| PHIL 4411 | Metaphysics | 3 |
| PHIL 4412 | Epistemology | 3 |
| PHIL 4459 | Senior Project Preparation | 1 |
| PHIL 4460 | Senior Project | 2 |
| History of Philosophy Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| Early Greek Philosophy through Plato | ||
| Aristotle and Hellenistic Philosophy | ||
| Medieval Philosophy | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| Early Modern Rationalism | ||
| Early Modern Empiricism | ||
| Kant and 19th Century European Philosophy | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| History of Analytic Philosophy | ||
| Phenomenology | ||
| Existentialism | ||
| Select any course not taken from History of Philosophy Electives or PHIL 4429 | 3 | |
| Approved Electives or Concentration | ||
| (Select any 3000-4000 level PHIL courses or see list of Concentrations below) 2 | 15 | |
| SUPPORT COURSES | ||
| Arts and Humanities Breadth | ||
| Select any GE Upper-Division 3 course not in PHIL 3 | 3 | |
| GENERAL EDUCATION (GE) | ||
| (See GE program requirements below) | 34 | |
| FREE ELECTIVES | ||
| Free Electives 4 | 23 | |
| Total Units | 120 | |
- 1
Required in Major or Support; also satisfies General Education (GE) requirement.
- 2
If a course is taken to meet a Major or Support requirement, it cannot be double-counted as an Elective for the concentration.
- 3
If a Religious Studies (RELS) course is taken to meet the Arts and Humanities Breadth requirement, it cannot be double-counted in the Philosophy and Religion concentration.
- 4
If a General Education (GE) course is used to satisfy a Major or Support requirement, additional units of Free Electives may be needed to complete the total units required for the degree.
Concentrations
Ethics and Society
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| REQUIRED COURSES | ||
| PHIL 4439 | Topics in Ethics and Political Philosophy | 3 |
| Ethics Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 9 | |
| History of Ethics | ||
| Political Philosophy | ||
| Philosophy of Law | ||
| Social Ethics | ||
| Feminist Ethics, Gender, Sexuality and Society | ||
| Business Ethics | ||
| Professional Ethics | ||
| Power, Alienation, and Political Life | ||
| Ethics Bowl | ||
| Topics in Ethics and Political Philosophy | ||
| Technology Ethics Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| Philosophy of Technology | ||
| Ethics, Science, and Technology | ||
| Robot Ethics | ||
| Technologies and Ethics of Warfare | ||
| Biomedical Ethics | ||
| Environmental Ethics | ||
Select any course that was not taken to satisfy a requirement listed above | ||
| Total Units | 15 | |
Ethics of Science and Technology
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| REQUIRED COURSES | ||
| PHIL 3323 | Ethics, Science, and Technology | 3 |
| Ethics and Philosophy of Science and Technology Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 6 | |
| Philosophy of Technology | ||
| Robot Ethics | ||
| Technologies and Ethics of Warfare | ||
| Biomedical Ethics | ||
| Environmental Ethics | ||
| Ethics Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| History of Ethics | ||
| Political Philosophy | ||
| Philosophy of Law | ||
| Social Ethics | ||
| Feminist Ethics, Gender, Sexuality and Society | ||
| Business Ethics | ||
| Professional Ethics | ||
| Power, Alienation, and Political Life | ||
| Ethics Bowl | ||
Select any course that was not taken to satisfy a requirement listed above | ||
| Senior Seminar Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| Philosophy of Space, Time, and Matter | ||
| Philosophy of Mind | ||
| Topics in Ethics and Political Philosophy | ||
| Total Units | 15 | |
Philosophy and Religion
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| REQUIRED COURSES | ||
| PHIL 3342 | Philosophy of Religion | 3 |
| Asian Philosophy and Religion Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| Indian Philosophy | ||
| Chinese and East Asian Philosophy | ||
| Religions of Asia | ||
| Hinduism | ||
| Buddhism | ||
| Religion Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 6 | |
| Abrahamic Religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam | ||
| Judaism | ||
| Christianity | ||
| Islam | ||
| Approaches to Religion and Spirituality | ||
Select any course that was not taken to satisfy a requirement listed above | ||
| Senior Level Philosophy Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| Philosophy of Space, Time, and Matter | ||
| Philosophy of Mind | ||
| Philosophy of Language | ||
| Topics in the History of Philosophy | ||
| Topics in Ethics and Political Philosophy | ||
| Topics in Recent Philosophy | ||
| Total Units | 15 | |
General Education (GE) Requirements
- 43 units required, 9 of which are specified in Major and/or Support.
- If any of the remaining 34 Units is used to satisfy a Major or Support requirement, additional units of Free Electives may be needed to complete the total units required for the degree.
- See the complete GE course listing.
- A grade of C- or better is required in one course in each of the following GE Areas: 1A (English Composition), 1B (Critical Thinking), 1C (Oral Communication), and 2 (Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning).
| Lower-Division General Education | ||
| Area 1 | English Communication and Critical Thinking | |
| 1A | Written Communication | 3 |
| 1B | Critical Thinking (3 units in Major) 1 | 0 |
| 1C | Oral Communication | 3 |
| Area 2 | Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning | |
| 2 | Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning | 3 |
| Area 3 | Arts and Humanities | |
| 3A | Arts | 3 |
| 3B | Humanities: Literature, Philosophy, Languages other than English (3 units in Major) 1 | 0 |
| Area 4 | Social and Behavioral Sciences (Area 4 courses must come from at least two different course prefixes.) | |
| 4A | American Institutions (Title 5, Section 40404 Requirement) | 3 |
| 4B | Social and Behavioral Sciences | 3 |
| Area 5 | Physical and Life Sciences | |
| 5A | Physical Sciences | 3 |
| 5B | Life Sciences | 3 |
| 5C | Laboratory (may be embedded in a 5A or 5B course) | 1 |
| Area 6 | Ethnic Studies | |
| 6 | Ethnic Studies | 3 |
| Upper-Division General Education | ||
| Upper-Division 2/5 | Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning or Physical and Life Sciences | 3 |
| Upper-Division 3 | Arts and Humanities (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| Upper-Division 4 | Social and Behavioral Sciences (Area 4 courses must come from at least two different course prefixes.) | 3 |
| Total Units | 34 | |
- 1
Required in Major or Support; also satisfies General Education (GE) requirement.