Areas of Study
Program faculty regularly offer courses in the following historical areas: ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, medieval Latin and Arabic philosophy, early modern European philosophy, and 19th- and 20th-century European and American philosophy. Also offered regularly are courses that introduce students to major philosophical problems in the following subject areas: aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of mind and language, philosophy of science and medicine, social and political philosophy, and symbolic logic. The curriculum embraces a variety of philosophical traditions, including continental philosophy, analytic philosophy, and pragmatism.
The Philosophy Curriculum
The philosophy curriculum is designed to provide students in any field a general understanding of the nature and history of philosophical inquiry. Students who major in philosophy have access to more specialized courses, which can serve as the foundation for graduate study. A major in philosophy requires seven courses listed in philosophy, of which at least four are in the Upper College. Several courses of a philosophical nature are taught at the Hannah Arendt Center and in the Historical Studies, Human Rights, Literature, Physics, Political Studies, and Interdisciplinary Study of Religion programs.
Our Community
The Philosophy Program at Bard College values intellectual risk-taking, rigorous thinking, critical self-examination, and open-minded dialogue. We recognize that philosophy as a discipline has historically promoted and reinforced bias, injustice, and exclusion. We commit ourselves to resisting this history and to building a community that lives up to these values.
We believe that anyone can be a philosopher, and we aim to take down barriers that can stand in the way of participation in the discipline. Students are welcome to join our community without any previous training in philosophy; we are interested in educating both those that enjoy philosophy for philosophy’s sake and those that seek to use it as a means to further their own projects.
Our community extends beyond the classroom. We organize the Salon, a weekly forum for Philosophy-related events open to all students, faculty and staff. The heart of our program is the Daniel Berthold Uncommon Room (Aspinwall 101). The Uncommon Room houses our program library and functions as a flexible space for meetings, tutorials, and study groups. The Uncommon Room is also home to the Study Room, our student-run drop-in tutoring program.