Philosophy

Philosophy is quite unlike any other discipline in the liberal arts. It is unique in its methods, the nature and breadth of its subject matter, and in the role that it has played in the development of Western Civilization.

Philosophy pursues questions in every dimension of human life, and its techniques apply to problems in any field of study or endeavor. Philosophy is, quintessentially, the reasoned pursuit of fundamental truths, a quest for understanding, and the study of principles of conduct. It seeks to establish standards of evidence, to determine the limits of rationality, to provide rational methods of resolving disputes, and to create techniques for evaluating ideas and arguments.

The questions that philosophy seeks to answer encompass virtually all the fundamental and inevitable questions that human beings encounter in life. What is the world and what is our place in it? What is knowledge? What are good and bad, right and wrong? How is one to live one's life? Philosophy's radical nature, its attempt to get at root issues and problems, has led it to play a unique role in the history of Western Civilization. Philosophers have made lasting contributions to mathematics, the foundations of science, religious, political and social thought, and to many other disciplines and areas of thought. The unique nature of the discipline of philosophy and its singular contribution to the foundation and development of Western Civilization, gives it a privileged and critical role in a liberal arts curriculum.

The curriculum of the Philosophy Department at Kenyon is structured to achieve specific yet complimentary goals in the areas outlined below.

Learning Goals

1. History of the Discipline
   The curriculum provided students with a broad acquaintance with the major periods in the history of philosophy, the major figures, canonical works, and the central problems of the discipline. Courses are offered in Ancient, Modern, Nineteenth Century, and several schools of Twentieth Century philosophy; all the subfields of philosophy, such as Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics and Epistemology; and specialized courses that treat both specific figures and topics.
2. Critical Thinking
   The study of philosophy enhances student problem-solving capacities by helping them to formulate essential questions, analyze concepts, definitions, arguments, and problems. All philosophy courses develop these skills of critical thinking. Introduction to Logic and Symbolic Logic, however, help students develop critical thinking intensively and explicitly by offering an opportunity to study the nature of reasoning and argumentation in general.
3. Critical Reading and Argumentative Writing Skills  
   Philosophy teaches critical reading through its close and detailed examination of challenging texts. Students learn to analyze the structure, presuppositions, concepts and claims made by texts. Argumentative writing is taught intensively in many philosophy courses. Students learn to write clear and persuasive essays that develop and support specific views.
4. Communicative Skills
   Philosophy also contributes uniquely to the development of oral communication. Indeed, philosophical dialogue is the heart of philosophy. Students learn to describe complicated theoretical views; present ideas through well-constructed, systematic arguments; explain possible objections to theoretical positions; and through training in the construction of good arguments and apt examples, argue persuasively.
5. Philosophy's Role Within The Liberal Arts
   Because of its unique nature and singular role in the development of Western Civilization, Philosophy provides an indispensable perspective from which to raise important questions about other liberal arts disciplines. Courses in the curriculum such as Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Art, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Philosophy of Law and others, provide students with opportunities to ask fundamental questions about the nature, concepts and the methods of analysis of many of the disciplines in the liberal arts.

The Department strives to achieve these goals and objectives by means of our Majors, Minors and Honors Programs. The Major in Philosophy at Kenyon provides a broad acquaintance with the history, problems, and methods of the field, and ample opportunity to develop a critical mind, a balance of analytic and synthetic abilities, and a proficiency in argumentative writing. The Minor provides a foundation for understanding the nature of sound reasoning, an introduction to the most fundamental philosophical questions, and a study of the major figures in Ancient and Modern Philosophy. The Honors Program provides all that the Major does but is more rigorous and demanding. It also offers the student an opportunity for intensive guided study of one particular philosophical topic. The program consists of a series of three related courses culminating in a thesis at the end of the senior year

Measures

Assessment of student performance relative to the Department’s mission goals and standards takes place continuously throughout the academic year in a variety of settings and in certain cases in a highly concentrated way. The senior capstone schedule and Honors schedule, for example, have built into them multiple stages of advising, evaluation and assessment. The following is a breakdown of the different means we employ to sasses specific mission goals.

1. Knowledge of the Discipline of Philosophy

a. Quizzes and exams in courses
b. History of philosophy examination component of the Senior Capstone
for majors and honors majors.

2. Critical Thinking

a. Quizzes and exams in courses
b. Paper component of senior capstone for majors and honors majors
c. GRE results of graduate school bound majors

 3. Critical Reading and Argumentative Writing Skills

a. Papers, exams and written assignments in courses.
b. Paper component of senior capstone for majors and honors majors

 4. Communicative Skills

a. Student presentations in seminars
b. Oral examination in some courses
c. Oral thesis defense for honors majors

5. Philosophy’s Role Within the Liberal Arts

a. The number of courses the department offers in “applied” philosophy courses
b. Enrollments in applied philosophy courses

6. Department’s Role Within the Intellectual Community of the College

a. The number of participants in the Kenyon Symposium
b. The number of majors
c. Attendance at Larwill Lectures
d. Faculty representation or participation in interdisciplinary committees.

Feedback

Supervision of the philosophy program is a continuous multi-stage process that is carried out by individual department members with specific assignments (e.g. the Senior Capstone Coordinator, the Kenyon Symposium advisor, etc.) and by the department as a whole. The department has various information gathering instruments in place and holds frequent meetings throughout the year to discuss and evaluate the information gathered in order to determine how well the students and the program are operating. These meetings are occasions to implement changes when necessary.

The following is a sampling of the kind of supervision that takes place:

Evaluation of Senior Majors for the Aldrich Philosophy Prize
The department meets once a year to award the Aldrich Philosophy Prize to the best philosophy major among graduating seniors. This meeting is an occasion for the department to evaluate the curriculum by comparing the quality of our current seniors to those of past years.

Senior Capstone
The comprehensive exams that all seniors must pass as part of our senior capstone provides a clear marker of how well our majors are doing as a group. In particular, the number of students that earn distinction on these tests when compared with statistics from previous years provides a clear marker of student learning outcomes.

Tracking Alumni
The department keeps in contact with majors who have gone on to do graduate study in philosophy and in other fields. Anecdotal testimony helps the department determine the effectiveness of our program. This anecdotal testimony is strengthened by the research done as part of the department’s external review. Reviewing the success of majors that enter graduate programs as well as the success of our majors that enter the workforce, provides good evidence for the department’s strengths.

Senior Exit Interviews
At the end of each school year, the graduating seniors are asked to meet with faculty members to share their experiences within the department. Critical Feedback is strongly encouraged. The feedback from these exit interviews is then discussed during the department’s yearly assessment meetings. These discussions have often led to substantive changes being made within the department.

Updated spring 2020