Philosophy


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Philosophy

The goal of Hamilton's Philosophy Department is to encourage students to trace great thinkers and timeless ideas through the ages, while at the same time exploring current issues and the means we use to understand them in our own lives.

Overview

Have you ever considered telling a lie in order to serve a greater good? Debated the morality of war or evidence of God's existence? Accused a friend of faulty logic? Have you ever wondered why seemingly sturdy concepts like truth, nature, self, race and gender can get so slippery when you examine them closely? You've been doing philosophy. More ...

Academic Program

Research Opportunities

Forget the stereotype of the idle intellectual ruminating on great thoughts. At Hamilton, philosophy is about engagement — integrating what you learn in the classroom with the realities of a complex, changing world. Scholarship is a key to that process.

Some philosophy students pursue independent study with their faculty advisors. Recent independent studies have explored philosophy and film, theories of moral action and the aesthetics of nationalism. Other students work even more closely with professors. Their collaborative projects use philosophical theories and models to illuminate a fascinating variety of human endeavors. Hamilton students have been awarded Emerson Grants to collaborate with faculty members during the summer on topics ranging from forgery in the arts to Nietzsche's influence on the Harlem Renaissance.


The Senior Program

The Senior Program in philosophy has two parts: In the fall semester, majors take a Senior Seminar that frames and completes the undergraduate study of philosophy. Here students develop their research interests through intensive reading and discussion. They then compose a major research paper, first submitting drafts for peer review, then completing the paper and defending it orally to a panel of fellow students and faculty members. Some students also choose to develop a thesis proposal, which may expand on their work or take a new direction. A student may enroll in the spring semester Senior Thesis project only if the formal thesis proposal submitted in the fall is approved by the department. More ...


Resources

The Truax Lecture Series in Philosophy brings to campus nationally distinguished philosophers to lecture and visit classes. Recently, Richard Rorty, perhaps the most important and iconoclastic American philosopher of the era, met with senior seminar students and faculty members. His public lecture was on "Moral Absolutism and the Torture of Terrorist Suspects." Other noted Truax visitors have included Simon Blackburn and Ronald Dworkin.

Through the Truax Chair in Philosophy, the department brings other accomplished philosophers to campus to teach a full course and give a series of public lectures. Truax Professors have included Hubert Dreyfus, who taught the interdisciplinary course From gods to God and Back, and Lucius Outlaw, who taught a course on African-American philosophy.

The Alan McCullough Jr. Distinguished Visiting Professorship also brings renowned philosophers to campus. This year's visiting professor, David McCabe, taught  courses on moral and ethical dimensions of the political. In 2009-10, we will welcome Robert Holmes, who will teach The Philosophy and Morality of War. Among his many credentials, Dr. Holmes is a former fellow at the Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois and the National Humanities Institute, Yale University; senior Fulbright lecturer at Moscow State University; and the Rajiv Gandhi Professor of Peace and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.

One of the department's richest resources is the community of philosophy scholars, both students and professors, nurtured by Hamilton. The Department of Philosophy, affectionately known as "Philoworld," is housed in its own building at 210 College Hill Road. Intellectual life there revolves around the department's seminar room, where students gather for courses — limited to enrollments of 12 — as well as informal study and discussion.