PhilosophyMajor Requirements

To satisfy the comprehensive requirement for the major, students must pass nine courses, exclusive of PHIL 498 and 499. Among these nine courses, majors are required to take:

1. two courses in the History of Philosophy: Philosophy 217 Ancient Greek Philosophy, 218 Early Modern Philosophy, or 359 Kant and the 19th Century;
2. one course on a Major Figure or Movement (for example, 359 Kant and the 19th Century, Philosophy 360 Language, or Method & Nonsense: Origins of Analytic Philosophy);
3. one course in Logic (for example, Philosophy 213 Logic);
4. one course in Moral Philosophy (for example, Philosophy 310 Ethics);
5. one course in Theoretical Philosophy (for example, Philosophy 332 Metaphysics, 335 Theory of Knowledge, 341 Freedom & Responsibility, or 360 Language, Method & Nonsense: Origins of Analytic Philosophy);
6. one Seminar (for example, Philosophy 410 Seminar: Epistemic Agency, or 450-479);
7. two electives (for example, Philosophy 111 Philosophical Questions).

No course can count toward more than one requirement.  If a student wishes to replace one of these seven required courses with another taken in a different Five-College department, he or she should petition the Amherst Department by sending a letter to its Chair. (Any course taken in a Five-College philosophy department can count as one of the two electives of the Amherst philosophy major; there is no need to petition the Department.) A maximum of three courses counting toward the satisfaction of the major requirements can be taken outside of the Amherst Department (unless an exception is granted by petition to the Department).