Medical Humanities Minor - Department of Philosophy

About the Medical Humanities Minor

The Medical Humanities Minor could be of particular interest to students planning careers in health care, public administration, and medicine. This minor provides the critical thinking and decision-making skills and knowledge of ethical theory and reasoning that are vital to physicians and medical personnel.

Note - The Medical Humanities Minor has been restructured to align with the major categories of the newly launched Medical Humanities Major as exemplified on the minor checklist. Both headings are listed because the degree audit still displays the old subheadings.

If you notice any issues regarding courses not displaying properly on your degree audit please contact the advisors Connie Corbett or Lex Putnam, and your audit can be corrected.

Medical Humanities Minor Checklist Declare Medical Humanities Minor

Requirements

Minimum of 18 credits of philosophy coursework that meets the following six requirements

The Medical Humanities minor incorporates and builds upon the core course PHIL 2250: Introduction to Medical Humanities. This course allows students to explore traditional dichotomies and discuss specific cases and embed them in a larger question about normalcy. Students will additionally take courses from Culture and Communication, Gender, Ethnicity, and Diversity, Arts and Letters, and Ethics and Epistemology to further explore the topics of health care and the history of medicine.

Spring 2026 Course List

Areas

Minimum

Eligible Courses

Introductory Course (required course)

Complete one of the following courses:

PHIL 2250 - Introduction to Medical Humanities (3)

Culture & Communication
(formerly Communication and Writing)

(choose one course)

Complete one of the following courses:

COMM 3115 - Communicating Science, Health, Environment (3)
COMM 5115 - Health Communication (3)
COMM 5118 - Health Literacy (3)
COMM 5119 - Grief Communication (3)
CLCS 3720 - Empathy, Medicine & the Human Condition (3)
LING 1069 - Bad Words & Taboo Terms (3)
LING 2600 - Cross Cultural Communication (3)
HIST 4080 - History of Medicine & the Human Condition (3)

Gender, Ethnicity & Diversity
(formerly History & Literature)

(choose one course)

Complete at least one course:

ETHNC 5420 - Environmental Racism & Resistance (3)
DISAB 3000 - Introduction to Disability Studies (3)
DISAB 5420 - Race Disability Illness (3)
DISAB 5880 - Bad Bodies: Gender & Disability Studies (3)
GNDR 5770 - Sexual & Gender Diversity (3)
H EDU 5060 - Global Health Promotion (3)
H EDU 5300 - Diversity & Health (3)

Arts & Letters
(formerly Elective course #1)

(choose one course)

Complete at least one course:

GAMES 1010 - Survey of Games (3)
PHIL 3011 - Ethics in Videogames (3)
THEA 1033 - Acting for Non-majors (3)
ENGL 2250 - Creative Writing (3)
ENGL 5820 - Disability in Literature & Film (3)
WRTG 3011 - Writing in the Arts & Humanities (3)
WRTG 3014 - Writing in the Sciences (3)
WRTG 4010 - Writing Across Borders (3)
WRTG 3019 - Writing About War (3)
HONOR 3200 - Writing in a Research University (3)

Ethics & Epistemology
(formerly Philosophy & Ethics)

(choose one course)

PHIL 3520 - Bioethics (3)
PHIL 3310 - Science & Society (3)
PHIL 3440 - Cognitive Science (3)
PHIL 3740 - Drugs & Justice (3)
PHIL 3350 - History & Philosophy of Science (3)
PHIL 3380 - Feminist Philosophy of Science (3)
PHIL 3870 - Philosophy of Race (3)
PHIL 5520 - Advanced Bioethics (3)

Elective
(formerly Elective course #2)

(choose one course)

Take one additional course of your choice from any area:

Course list is not exhaustive. Please meet with an advisor to discuss options.

What to do if a course does not display correctly on your degree audit.

Contact a Philosophy Academic Advisor:

Please work with your advisor, Connie Corbett or Lex Putnam to ensure the courses are reflected on your degree audit.