Mar 28, 2024  
2015-2016 Undergraduate catalog 
    
2015-2016 Undergraduate catalog [Archived Catalog]

Philosophy Program


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Leroy Meyer, Program Director
Department of History
East Hall, Room 207
(605) 677-5218

philosophy@usd.edu
www.usd.edu/philosophy

FACULTY

Professor:

Leroy N. Meyer, Logic, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Culture, Ethics of War & Peace

Assistant Professor:

Joseph Tinguely, Kant and the 19th Century Philosophy, Modern Philosophy, Ethics, Aesthetics

Lecturer:

Justin Moss, Ethical Theory, Introduction to Ethics, Bioethics, Environmental Ethics

MAJOR:

Philosophy, B.A., B.S.

MINOR:

Philosophy

The study of philosophy represents the finest tradition in university education and will be of lasting value in any vocation prizing that tradition, e.g. law, government, health services, psychology, physics, mathematics, and fine arts. A philosopher is committed to a way of life which promotes wholeness, excellence, and well-being. A philosophical way of life is achieved only through intense, critical investigation of the fundamental principles of human thought, human endeavor, and of all reality. Thus, philosophy is referred to as the love of wisdom. The philosophy program does not hold a narrow, professionalist view of its discipline, and therefore denies that philosophical activity is limited to scheduled hours of the day. Both inside and outside the classroom, the faculty teaches by engaging in philosophical reflection with those who desire to learn. In light of the work of great philosophical thinkers, the curriculum challenges the student to seek consistent, reasonable, and well defined positions regarding such issues as the nature and possibility of knowledge; the grounds for moral judgment; the methods, aims, and presuppositions of the sciences and arts; the objects and limits of religious tradition; and the fundamental nature of reality. Philosophical study not only encourages, but requires, responsible, independent thought and action; it often widens the scope of experience by disclosing surprising alternatives to settled opinions and habitual beliefs. Philosophy instills the conviction that free, critical inquiry is a necessary condition of a genuinely worthwhile life. The Philosophy program is administratively located in the Department of History.

SCHOLARSHIP

  • Akeley Philosophy Fund

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