Major & Minor in Philosophy

The Philosophy major at Boston College is designed to ground students in the core classical issues of philosophy and to give them the ability to engage with significant areas of contemporary concern in a way that moves forward our communal conversation and the path toward answers and solutions.

Why Our Major?

We focus and sharpen students’ abilities to critically evaluate arguments and issues, to understand the assumptions and backgrounds of contemporary views, practices, and controversies, with a view to enable them to use their insights and skills to contribute to dialogue, understanding, and positive action in their professions and communities, large and small. Philosophy offers a great deal of flexibility and speaks to many issues that are foundational to other disciplines and many career paths.

Major Requirements

All Philosophy Majors must take a total of 30 credits in Philosophy.

  • Two Core courses in Philosophy (6 credits)

  • Eight Philosophy electives (24 credits)
    • One course in History of Philosophy
    • One course in Knowledge & Reality
    • One course in Ethics & Values
    • Five free electives

Minor Requirements

The requirement for the minor in philosophy consists of a total of 18 credits: six credits of philosophy core courses, typically two, three-credit courses, followed by 12 credits of philosophy electives, typically four, three-credit philosophy elective courses.

The range of courses available within the department allows the student considerable flexibility in planning an individualized and personal program of study. In consultation with a faculty advisor, each student will design his or her own minor, typically consisting of four additional three-credit elective courses, for a total of 12 elective credits.

Students are encouraged to look at different areas for interdisciplinary connection described on the concentrations/tracks in the undergraduate program.  

Elective Course Offerings

History of Philosophy

  • Horizons of the New Social Sciences II/Perspectives III (Braman)
  • The Great Conversation II: Modern and Contemporary Philosophers (Kreeft)
  • Dante’s Saints and Boethius (Kim)
  • Freud and Philosophy (Rumble)
  • Figures in Analytical History (Larrey)
  • Kant’s Moral Philosophy (Tacelli)
  • Augustine (Byers)
  • Medieval Women Philosophers (Boor-Mulcahey)
  • Ancient Moral Philosophy (Culbreth)
  • Africana Philosophy (Carter)
  • Philosophy and Poetry in the 20th Century: Rilke, Auden, Celan (Hanley)
  • Jaspers' History of Metaphysics:Descartes, Spinoza, Pascal and Leibniz (Basile)
  • The Socratic Aporia Dialogues (Hyland)
  • Aquinas on Science and Nature (Sweeney)

Knowledge & Reality

  • New Scientific Visions II/Perspectives IV (VandeWall, McKaughan)
  • Philosophical Perspectives on Science II (Stan)
  • Logic (Han, Santer, McQueen)
  • Feminisms and Philosophies of Difference (McGill)
  • Does God Exist (Tacelli)
  • The Nature of Science (Stan)
  • Figures in Analytical History (Larrey)
  • Knowledge and Reality (McKaughan)
  • Faith and Reason (Larrey)
  • Jaspers' History of Metaphysics: Descartes, Spinoza, Pascal and Leibniz (Basile)
  • Aquinas on Science and Nature (Sweeney)

Ethics & Values

  • Modernism and the Arts II/Perspectives II (Hanly) 
  • Boston: An Urban Analysis (Manzo)
  • Feminisms and Philosophies of Difference (McGill)
  • Telling Truths II: Depth Writing as Service (Maryanovich)
  • Mass Incarceration: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives (McCoy)
  • Unheard Voices (McGill)
  • Self Knowledge and Discernment (Donnelly)
  • Environmental Ethics (McCoy)
  • Kant’s Moral Philosophy (Tacelli)
  • Freedom (Constas)
  • The Great Conversation II: Modern and Contemporary Philosophers (Kreeft)
  • Hermeneutics of Justice (Anozie)
  • Introduction to Latin American Philosophy (Topete)
  • Ancient Moral Philosophy (Culbreth)
  • Africana Philosophy (Carter)
  • Women Virtue Ethicists (Culbreth)
  • The Irish Mind (Kearney)
  • Morals and Politics (Hösle)
  • Back to Earth:Towards a Symbiotic Ecology (Kearney)
  • Philosophy in Great Plays (Kreeft)
  • Telling Truths II: Depth Writing in Service (Maryanovich)
  • Cultural and Social Structures II (Snyder)

Major Tracks

Students wanting focus and direction for their elective choices may select a track within the major. Tracks are satisfied in consultation with the major advisor by completing two electives in one of the following areas:

  • Science, Ethics & Humanities
  • Law, Public Policy, & Economics
  • Philosophy, Religion & the Arts
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Philosophy and Theology Minor

The Philosophy and Theology Minor calls students to an interdisciplinary reflection on God, self, and world through both philosophy and theology. The Minor seeks to encourage students to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between philosophy and theology by deepening the student’s knowledge of each discipline by discovering connections and overlaps. The Philosophy and Theology Minor builds on the foundation of the core curriculum, in particular the interdisciplinary programs of Perspectives and PULSE which are structured upon the intersecting nature of theology and philosophy.

More Information

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Philosophy currently supports over 200 majors, almost half of which are 2nd or 3rd majors. 

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