Prospective Students

Cabrini's Philosophy Major:

OBJECTIVES

The Philosophy program helps students develop responses to every person’s primary task: becoming the person he or she would like to be. The program is designed to help students develop their own morally coherent identity by studying and questioning what great and wise people have said about the nature of the good life. 

This major also helps students develop the critical thinking skills useful in a wide variety of careers, including law, business, public affairs and communications. 

Students majoring in philosophy study historical and contemporary answers to philosophy’s fundamental questions. In addition, students are encouraged to formulate their own answers and to become life-long learners.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR IN PHILOSOPHY

Welcome to the philosophy department. We look forward to working with you and helping you achieve all you wish to achieve by choosing this major. There are some requirements for the major that you should be familiar with as you go forward.

Students majoring or double majoring in philosophy must fulfill the following requirements:

SENIORS: Must complete a capstone paper. The capstone paper is to be written for one of the 300 or 400 level courses taken by the student in the senior year. The relevant courses are H-PHI 302, H-PHI 306, H-PHI 310, PHI 304, PHI 305, PHI 315, PHI 320, PHI 326, and PHI 499. The student is responsible for obtaining the consent and support of the appropriate faculty member and for informing the chair of the department of his/her intentions. The capstone paper should demonstrate the student’s learning in the discipline. It should also show familiarity with philosophical journals and should include references to one or more contemporary journal article. The paper may be part of, or substituted for, work required for the respective course. The paper will be graded by the course professor. It will be read by the other members of the department to assess how well it demonstrates the learning objectives of the program. The latter will be used to judge the overall success of the philosophy program at Cabrini College.

HONORS IN THE MAJOR

Requirements:
1. A minimum cumulative GPA in philosophy of 3.5.
2. A minimum cumulative overall GPA of 3.0
3. (Membership in Phi Sigma Tau, the national philosophy honor society—as soon as our local chapter is up and running.)
4. Presentation of some philosophical work, either the student’s capstone paper or some other independent research project, in a public forum. The public presentation may include but is not limited to a presentation of the paper or project to the Philosophy Club, a poster presentation open to the college, or an Honors colloquium of the college or the SEPCHE colleges.

Students seeking to honor in philosophy must file a formal application with the department chair.

Cabrini's Philosophy Minor: 

Completing a minor degree in philosophy is easy! You can complete the requirements for a minor in philosophy while fulfilling the Core Distributions required of all Cabrini students.

It's Simple! Each philosophy course earns 3 credits and only 18 Philosophy credits (6 courses) are needed to complete a minor degree in philosophy. Below is a list of the Distribution credits you need to graduate from Cabrini College, followed by a list of philosophy courses you can use to fulfill those requirements. All you need to do is choose 6 classes from any category to earn a philosophy minor.  This will enhance both your life and your resume!

Natural Sciences (S) (7-8 credits needed to graduate)

PHI 304 History and Philosophy of Science

Heritage (H) (6 credits needed to graduate)

PHI 201-202 History of Philosophy

H-PHI/HIS 309 (Honors Philosophy/History): Baseball and the American Tradition

H-PHI 310 (Honors Philosophy): American Philosophy

Cultural Diversity (D) (3 credits needed to graduate)

PHI 230 Eastern Philosophy

PHI 231 Latin American Philosophy

H-PHI 306 (Honors Philosophy): Myths, Symbols, and Images

Values and Commitments (S) (3 credits needed to graduate)

PHI 100 Introduction to Philosophy

PHI 102 Critical Thinking

PHI 208 Biomedical Ethics

PHI 211 Business Ethics

PHI 224 Love

PHI 225 Philosophy of Sport

PHI 305 The Existential Challenge

PHI/COM 307 Ethics and Communication

PHI 315 Ethics

PHI 326 Environmental Ethics

The Individual and Society (I) (3 credits needed to graduate)

PHI 320 Political Philosophy

Imagination, Creativity, and Aesthetic Appreciation (A) (3 credits needed to graduate)

H-PHI 302 (Honors Philosophy): The Idea of Beauty

Contemporary Issues (C) (3 credits needed to graduate)

PHI 223 Contemporary Moral Problems

PHI 301 Philosophical Issues and the Law