Goals, Objectives, and Mission of the Department
The Philosophy Department understands its primary functions to be preserving, transmitting, and augmenting the literature, methods, ideas, and issues that constitute the traditions of philosophy. To this end, the Department of Philosophy seeks to sustain an academic environment which promotes the intellectual and professional development of its students and faculty.
Teaching: The Department is committed to developing and maintaining rich and pluralistic programs of graduate and undergraduate education which advance the goals and mission of Â鶹´«Ã½. In addition to Kent CORE courses that serve the University at large, the Department offers a Major and Minor in Philosophy leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree. The Department also offers a graduate program leading to the Master of Arts degree. The philosophy curriculum provides opportunities to pursue intensive, in-depth study within the discipline of philosophy, with particular attention given to cultivating diverse philosophical methods, perspectives, and modes of analysis, and to exploring their relation to the concerns and interests of other disciplines.
Research: A commitment to research demands creating and maintaining an intellectual culture in which faculty and students are free to explore traditional and innovative philosophical issues, to generate philosophical results of the highest caliber, and to disseminate the results of this research within and beyond the community of professional philosophers. The Department values original research in philosophy as well as research that promotes best practices in its classrooms. Through its curriculum and its public events the Department strives to bring the fruits of this research to the University community.
Service: The Department recognizes that communities form around shared values and common projects, and that communities flourish only through the best efforts of their constituents. Departmental faculty and students strive to advance the goals of the College of Arts and Sciences, Â鶹´«Ã½, and the various scholarly organizations to which they bring their talents. Beyond academe, members of the department share their knowledge, skills, and interests in the ongoing enterprises of civil society and government.