Philosophy

Reflections on GER

What is it that all students should know and be able to do that philosophy is especially
equipped to teach?

Philosophy cultivates the dispositions and habits of mind that are essential to judicious deliberation and wise choice. Philosophical teaching provides the abilities whereby students can have justified beliefs about essential human problems and concerns: about how to live and what kind of person to be, about whether science gives us truth, about what forms of government are best; about what role art, religion, technology, and the environment should play in our lives, about what gives meaning and value to life. Since these are questions about which people disagree, philosophical teaching provides students with the indispensable means for identifying, understanding, and evaluating the basis of such disagreements, and for appraising the comparative merits of alternative positions on these questions as they arise in both theoretical and applied contexts. As such, students should know what an argument is, how to distinguish argument from non- argument, and how to distinguish sound arguments from arguments that are unsound

To this end, philosophical learning involves multiple skills and competencies: identifying and criticizing assumptions, biases, and distortions; evaluating relevance and degree of strength; avoiding vagueness, ambiguity, and other forms of imprecision and confusion deriving logical implications from beliefs and principles; constructing solutions and anticipating objections and alternatives; and formulating constructive responses to criticisms. And since philosophical discussion is carried out with a high degree of clarity and precision, philosophical teaching emphasizes the importance of language as a vehicle for the exchange of ideas.

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