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Santa Barbara City College Associate of Arts in Philosophy
Santa Barbara City College

Associate of Arts in Philosophy

Santa Barbara, USA

2 Years

English

Full time

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USD 419 / per credit

On-Campus

Key Summary

    About: The Associate of Arts in Philosophy provides students with a foundational understanding of philosophical principles, critical thinking, and ethical reasoning. This program covers various philosophical traditions and their application to contemporary issues, preparing students for deeper inquiry into life's fundamental questions over the course of 2 years.
    Career Outcomes: Graduates may pursue careers in fields such as education, writing, law, or public policy. They can also continue their studies toward higher degrees in philosophy or related disciplines.

Introduction

The study of philosophy develops and refines a rigorous, analytic understanding of certain of our fundamental concepts, e.g., knowledge, reason, truth and value. Since all other disciplines in academia rely on the use of such concepts, the study of philosophy is essential for an education directed toward completeness.

The study of philosophy also yields other tangible academic benefits. It has been shown that philosophy students scored at least five percentage points above average in admission tests for professional and graduate schools in America. No other subject matches philosophy in this respect. Philosophy students do better in examinations for business and management school than anyone except mathematicians.

With employment opportunities beyond academia apparently growing, e.g., consultants to hospitals, state legislatures, Congress, genetic engineering firms and artificial intelligence companies, there has also been a proliferation of philosophical journals focused on such topics as the allocation of scarce medical resources, abortion, euthanasia, disposal of nuclear waste, corporate responsibility and fair profit, etc.

The Philosophy Department additionally provides an Introduction to Philosophy course which surveys most of the standard fields of philosophy — logic, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of religion and political philosophy.

The other courses offered (Ethics, Logic, Comparative World Religions, History of Philosophy: Ancient, Modern and Contemporary, Issues in Philosophy) are more specific and detailed accounts of these standard fields.

These philosophy courses may be transferred to four-year institutions. (Check for specifics with your counselor)

Philosophy majors at Santa Barbara City College are required to take a minimum of eighteen (18) Philosophy units. Those students considering a major in Philosophy should consult with a Philosophy Department faculty member to plan a departmental course of study that will most benefit them.

Doing philosophy means reasoning about questions that are of fundamental importance to the human experience, such as: What is a good life? What is reality? How can we know anything? What should we believe? How should our societies be organized? How should humans interact with non-humans and the environment? Philosophers critically analyze ideas and practices that often are assumed without reflection. At SBCC, the Philosophy Department approaches subjects with techniques from a range of traditions of inquiry and offers a wide variety of perspectives on the deep and perplexing questions that are central to the study of philosophy.

The Philosophy Department offers a wide variety of courses: Introduction to Philosophy, Ethics, Critical Thinking, Logic, Comparative World Religions, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Art, Great Ideas of Physics, and History of Philosophy: Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary. The Department also has Honors courses in Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics.

The Department also offers Philosophy Club, Internships, Independent Study, and Debate Team, and selects one student as Outstanding Student who is presented the Philosophy Award at the annual year-end SBCC Awards Banquet.

SBCC offers a Transfer Agreement Guarantee (TAG). A TAG is a contractual agreement between the student, SBCC, and specific four-year colleges or universities. This includes six University of California ( *UC) institutions, six California State Institutions (CSU), seven California private institutions, nine out-of-state institutions, as well as Honors Transfer Agreements with ten institutions and 8 CSUs without campus impaction. Students must enroll in the TAG program and work with a TAG advisor. Please click here to learn more on the TAG program website.

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