About the Programs

The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies houses the Liberal Studies major and the Liberal Studies minor, and it also offers minors in both Philosophy and in World Religions.

Liberal Studies is a multidisciplinary program that incorporates the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences in a structured way that helps students develop their whole person. All courses taught in philosophy and religious studies provide students with a heightened capacity for critical thinking and a deeper understanding of human nature.

Philosophy courses critically explore issues and problems arising across the vast spectrum of life, such as the meaning of life, the nature of a good life, and the values of social life. They examine questions concerning the nature of good reasoning, knowledge, reality, truth, goodness and beauty.

The Philosophy Minor at UW-Whitewater will acquaint students with basic issues, problems and methods of philosophy, as well as with the history of philosophy. The program prepares students to think critically and creatively concerning philosophical issues and problems, to interpret facts, to present balanced expositions of issues and to understand the ways in which philosophical questions and issues arise from human experience.

Religious Studies courses prepare students to think objectively and creatively concerning religious issues and ideas, to understand cultural traditions, to make a comparisons among religions and to assess the role of religion in human experience.

The World Religions minor gives students a basic understanding of the world's major religions: their historical origins, organization, and contemporary beliefs and practices. The goal of this minor is to deepen students' awareness of the sacred, heighten students' self-awareness their own religious tradition, and enable them to deal more effectively with religious divesity in the workplace and in their own lives.

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Career Opportunities

The skills gained through philosophy and religious studies courses are valuable for a person�s private and professional life. The knowledge gained in philosophy complements such fields of study as history, English, psychology, liberal studies, sociology and political science. The ability to communicate effectively, to solve problems, to evaluate competing points of view and to develop new approaches to life�s unpredictable problems are skills important to any endeavor. Religious studies courses focus on those beliefs, values and issues that have been of ultimate concern to humans and thereby they prepare students for life in general. The ability to think objectively, to appreciate cultural diversity, to assess influential human ideas, to understand different points of view, to process new information and to love knowledge are all abilities important to any endeavor. The philosophy and world religions minors provide good preparation for careers in:

• Law
• Education
• Administration
• Public service

The path along the Old Main drumlin provides a welcome place to reflect upon life’s great questions.

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Faculty

The philosophy faculty includes David Cartwright, ethics and history of philosophy; Crista Lebens, feminist philosophy and social philosophy; Ann Luther, aesthetics and ethics. The religious studies faculty includes Richard Brooks, Western religious thought, and women in religion; Wade Dazey, Eastern religious thought, and religion in America; David Simmons, Biblical hermeneutics, and religion in the humanites; and David Reinhart, Christian theology, continental philosophy, and contemporary issues.

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Features

The philosophy minor program offers logic and a series of courses in the history of philosophy, ethics, and contemporary issues. The world religions minor offers courses in Eastern and Western religions, the Bible, women in religion, sociology of religion, and in contemporary religious issues.

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Suggested Course of Study

LIBERAL STUDIES MAJOR AND MINOR
http://www.uww.edu/academics/majors/factsheets/liberal.php

PHILOSOPHY MINOR (18 credits)

Required Courses

• Logic
• Contemporary Moral Issues or Introduction to Ethics
• Classical Philosophy or Modern Philosophy or American Philosophy or Contemporary Philosophy

Elective Courses

• Introduction to Philosophy
• Introduction to Aesthetics
• Social Philosophy
• Philosophy of Natural & Social Sciences
• Feminist Philosophy
• Critical Issues in Modern Religion
• Eastern Religious Thought
• Women and Religion
• Business Ethics
• Environmental Ethics
• Philosophical and Religious Perspectives on Death and Dying

WORLD RELIGIONS MINOR (21 credits)

Required Courses

• Critical Issues in Modern Religion
• Introduction to Eastern Religions
• Introduction to Western Religions

Elective Courses

• Introduction to Islamic Civilizations
• The Bible as Literature
• Eastern Religious Thought
• Women and Religion
• Religion in American Culture
• Sociology of Religions
• The Holocaust: Nazi Germany and the Genocide of the Jews

Additional Elective Courses

For a list of approved elective courses in other disciplines contact the department office at the address above.

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