A wide range of courses from the continental, analytic, and non-Western traditions in philosophy are available to our students. There are courses in theories of language, ethics, existentialism, gender and feminism, philosophy of law, aesthetics, film and philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and phenomenology, to name a few. Special topics courses on subjects not part of the regular curriculum are also offered from time to time. Students who wish to investigate a philosophical figure or topic of particular interest may do so by registering for an independent study with a faculty member specializing in that topic.

The faculty is an accomplished group of teachers with widely diverse scholarly interests. Several have been honored with the University's Distinguished Teaching Award and several have received research support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Two professors have won the coveted Michigan Association of Governing Board's Teaching Award. Four professors have authored books in philosophy.

The Goals of the Philosophy Program include:
  • To aid our students in acquiring an understanding of key philosophical texts in the western tradition
  • To aid students to gain an understanding of traditional philosophical problems and the most important approaches to their solution
  • To help students achieve a critical awareness and mastery of diverse philosophical traditions by the use of interdisciplinary sources or hermeneutical inquiry
  • To lead students to an appreciation of the significant works of great historical figures in philosophy
  • To train students in the critical, analytic, and writing skills required to master and to communicate complex ideas and closely reasoned arguments
  • To engender a "healthy skepticism" toward both the received wisdom and newly emerging attitudes that confront students in a free society, and to give them the confidence to play an active and constructive role in the marketplace of ideas
  • To stimulate the free expression and development of students' own philosophical perspectives
  • To motivate and prepare interested and qualified students for graduate and professional schools