..
Aims
.
Philosophy
is the study of the most basic questions of human existence, such as what a
person is, how far our freedom extends, how matter and spirit come together in
human nature, where the moral law comes from, how the mind knows reality, and
how God can be known through reason and experience.
In philosophy we examine these questions by probing human experience, by
rational analysis, and also by studying closely the tradition of Western
philosophy. Although philosophy is
in many ways close to Christian theology, giving much to it and receiving much
from it, philosophy is an entirely distinct and in some ways more fundamental
discipline. In studying philosophy
one also develops habits of critical thought; one develops powers of
articulating, distinguishing, and arguing.
The philosophy courses are, therefore, not just for future teachers of
the subject, but for everyone who agrees with Socrates that “the unexamined
life is not worth living.”