About the DepartmentDepartment of Philosophy

Mission

The Philosophy Department at Gustavus is a vibrant community of philosophical practitioners and thinkers with various interests and life positions, encouraging infectious curiosity about why things are how they are in our universe and experimenting with what they could become. Faculty members and students alike are rooted in their own wide range of approaches to philosophical action and contemplation, and the Department aims to model this art of individual definition and exploration of the pressing questions of existence. We guide students into explorations of not only ancient and modern ideas commonly associated with philosophy in higher education but also to realize their own philosophical questions emerging from all of their specific contexts, ancestries, and visions of what is to come. We believe anyone can be a philosopher and philosophy happens everywhere. Philosophy is a way of life.

Our philosophy community hosts minors and majors from various parts of the world who find a home in our relatively freeform network of courses and experience. Many of our majors and minors have interdisciplinary interests that they; rigorously explore in particular ways within the Department, operating best when rigor doesn’t look like we’ve been taught to think it must. We are perpetually critical of the canons the history of philosophy in the “ivory tower” has privileged, opting to implement the suggestion of African and Native American philosopher Jennifer Lisa Vest and perpetually move toward the practice of philosophy without a center. This enables us to illuminate the overlooked arenas in which philosophy occurs and the philosophers who operate in said regions, such as rappers, social workers, nurses, urban entrepreneurialism, the border between the United States and Mexico, Rastafarian knowledge sessions in St. Croix, etc. We are interested in philosophy wherever it is occurring.

Taking a cue from the science fiction and futurism of Octavia Butler, the Department is attuned to a universe in constant and volatile change and to how philosophy can help us reimagine our place within it, opening ourselves to the constant and many times uncomfortable examination which makes life worth living. Gleaning from the insight of poetic queer theorist Gloria Anzaldúa, this community aims to enact philosophy as a practice of la frontera/the borderlands, encouraging a deep appreciation of and attention to the regional, global, and universal networks that make and remake our experience of existence.

Student Learning Outcomes

In a philosophy course, you will cultivate...

...the skills of philosophical encountering: reading, grappling, engaging, analyzing, and evaluating.
...the capacity to develop and convey their philosophical ideas to a variety of audiences.
...your capacity to practice philosophy in the world.