Philosophy and Public Policy Major

Students interested in any philosophy major must obtain approval from the Philosophy Department and register as a philosophy major with the Registrar's Office (Quinn, 1st Floor)

In order to major in philosophy and public policy students must take 12 courses, of which at least 3 are philosophy courses at the level of 300 or above, in accord with the following stipulations:

1. Three courses which must include

• One of the following:
  • Phil 100 (Introduction to Philosophy)
  • Phil C108 (Moral and Social Problems)
  • Phil C209 (Individual and Community)
• Phil 215 (Philosophical Foundations of Public Policy)
• Phil 450 (Rights)

2. At least one of the following applied philosophy courses:

• Phil C265 (Sanity and Madness)
• Phil 210 (Philosophy of Education)
• Phil 220 (Environmental Ethics)
• Phil 222 (Moral Issues in Medicine)
• Phil 223 (Psychiatry, Law, and Public Policy)
• Phil 230 (Philosophy and Feminism)
• Phil 232 (Philosophy and Multiculturalism)
• Phil 280 (Social and Political Philosophy)
• Phil 287 (Equality)
• Phil 307 (Technology and Values)

3. Two policy-related cognate courses offered by other departments and programs from a list including but not limited to:

• AfrSty 320 (Problems in Urban Education)
• PolSci 203 (Public Policy)
• PolSci 347 (Politics, Social Choice, and Public Policy)
• Sociol 250 (Social Policy)
• WoSt 330 (Women and Public Policy)

4. At least two courses from the following offerings in the history and theory of social philosophy:

• Phil C295 (Egoism and Altruism)
• Phil 218 (Major Social and Political Thinkers)
• Phil 280 (Social and Political Philosophy)
• Phil 290 (The Philosophy of Law)
• Phil 302 (Topics in Educational Theory and Philosophy)
• Phil 318 (Race & Racism)
• Phil 351 (Plato)
• Phil 410 (Feminist Legal Theory)
• Phil 452 (Aristotle)
• Phil 465 (Kant's Moral Philosophy and Its Critics)

5. Senior directed study (to be undertaken in the final year as a 3-credit independent research project supervised by a faculty member of the Philosophy Department).

Optional internships will be arranged for those majors wishing to experience public policy making at state, city, or local levels of governments.