Academic Credit Program | Academic Credit Program Index | Philosophy

This academic discipline maintains a detailed website with extensive information on The Philosophy Department at BCC.

Philosophy Faculty Homepages:
Francis (Rusty) Conroy
Anne Miller

Option to Liberal Arts, (AA.PHI)

Philosophy training teaches students how to think, especially about the most fundamental questions. Growing out of this, the Philosophy program has two general aims.

The first is to provide students who may enter a variety of majors at the upper division level with a liberal arts foundation centered in disciplined thought and moral awareness. Such a foundation is important for many professions today, including law and other graduate schools.

The second is to provide students whose eventual goal is teaching and/or research in philosophy, religion or ethics with a strong two-year foundation for entering a philosophy major at a transfer college. Such students should note that the minimum degree usually required for teaching philosophy is the M.A. at a two-year college and Ph.D. at a four-year college. Philosophers are also beginning to work, in a limited way, in elementary and secondary schools, with Montclair State University (NJ) serving as a national training center and as counselors and test developers. Former philosophy majors now in public life include former Secretary of Education William Bennett and African American intellectual leader Cornel West.

A student who completes successfully the AA degree in philosophy should be able to:

• Transfer to a philosophy or related liberal arts program at a four-year college
• Read and write at a more sophisticated conceptual level
• Think critically about a variety of philosophical and other issues
• Form arguments that show sound reasoning
• Explain the viewpoints of major Western philosophers
• Demonstrate diversity through comparing Eastern and Western thought
• Interpret competently standard philosophical and religious texts
• Evaluate the influence of various philosophies on society and culture
• Demonstrate sound judgement in approaching contemporary moral problems

General Education Courses	Credits
Written Communications	6
Arts and Humanities
Group A (ART 101 recommended)	6
Group B	3
Group C	3
Social Science (PSY 101 recommended)	6
Mathematics	3
Natural Science	7-8
Computer Science	3
Additional General Education Requirements	9
Total	46-47
Program Courses	Credits
PHI 105 Introduction to Logic	3
or
PHI 112 Eastern Philosophy	3
PHI 205 Ethics	3
PHI 210 History of Philosophy	3
REL 205 Comparative Religion	3
Total	12
Electives	6
Total Required for Degree	64

For additional information contact Dr. Francis Conroy ext. 7620

Last Updated: 05/15/04