Why a Philosophy Minor complements any Major
Philosophy is well-known for the meaning and satisfaction students derive from the
study of big, historically influential ideas and thinkers. Less well-known are the
practical benefits deriving from adding philosophy courses to your schedule – whether
for mere GenEd electives, a Minor, or a second Major. Consider three such practical
benefits (for further benefits of adding philosophy courses to your schedule, see
our “Why Study Philosophy” page):
1. Philosophy is arguably the most interdisciplinary of academic fields. The history of every other academic discipline traces back to philosophy. Whether
you're majoring in psychology, biology, physics, or whatnot, your discipline was founded
by philosophers working on specialized topics unique to (what has become) your field.
Part of the legacy of these philosophical origins is that scholars across all fields
continue to earn PhD degrees – “PhD” abbreviates “Philosophy Doctorate”. The philosophical
foundations underlying other disciplines makes the study of Philosophy particular
well-suited as Minor or a second Major. Many of our course titles are a tribute to
the interdisciplinarity of philosophy – such courses as “Philosophy of Biology”, “Philosophy
of Physics”, “Philosophy of Science”, “Philosophy of Social Science”, “Philosophy
of Mind”, “Philosophy of Language”, “Philosophy of Law”, “Philosophy of Literature”,
“Philosophy of Education”, “Philosophy of Art” . . . you get the idea. Bottom-line:
The study of Philosophy combines fantastically well with a Major in any other field. Adding a Philosophy Minor or second Major typically rewards students
with a deeper understanding of issues relevant to their first Major.
2. The study of Philosophy provides skills that will help you get into a better graduate
program. Philosophy students consistently outperform other students on standardized grad
school prep exams – e.g., GRE, LSAT, MCAT, GMAT. Those exams do not emphasize discipline-specific
knowledge; rather, they emphasize skills with logical reasoning and comprehension
of logic-rich texts. Why? The thinking is that if you are good with logical reasoning,
then we can train you! Philosophy students do fantastically well on these exams for
the simple reason that Philosophy courses focus on logical reasoning. Adding a Philosophy Minor or second Major will help improve
your prep exam scores, and that will likely get you into a better-ranked graduate
program.
3. The study of philosophy improves students' reading and writing skills. If mastery with creative writing (among other forms) is your goal, then English
courses are terrific. If instead, the goal is mastery of reading and writing skills
associated with academic, journal-style texts – i.e., writings rich in logical reasoning
– you can do no better than to take Philosophy courses. Indeed, recent data for the
GRE exam show that for the two portions of the exam associated with verbal and writing
skills, Philosophy students earned the very highest scores of any Major. (English
Majors also did well, though, in both categories, they came in second to Philosophy
Majors.) Adding a Philosophy Minor or second Major will improve your reading and writing
in your first Major, helping you to earn better grades.
The Philosophy Department offers three distinct Minors (explained below).
