Carrie Chapman Catt Hall
Home of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

Have you ever wondered whether we have free will, whether a particular action is ethical, or what genuine justice in a technological society would look like? Have you ever wondered how we can ever find out anything, or whether we really can ever find anything for sure?

Philosophy tries to make sense of human experience and reality through critical reflection and argument. The questions it treats engage and provoke all of us, and they occupy an important place in our intellectual tradition: Are there objective standards for deciding what is right and wrong, or is morality merely a subjective matter? Is capitalism morally acceptable? Do I have a will, and is it free? How do my words and thoughts come to be about the world? Does God exist? Can machines think? How are mind and body related? Students in philosophy classes will be exposed to arguments on both sides of such questions, and they will be encouraged to develop and rationally defend their own positions.

Have you wondered what the Bible really says, or how religions like Voodoo or Catholicism got started, or how religions change as society changes? Have you ever wondered how we can study something so personal as religion?

Religious Studies gives students the opportunity to investigate and reflect on the world's religions in an objective, critical, and appreciative manner. Though there is emphasis in religious studies on the wide variety of religious phenomena as well as on the various methods in the study of religion, the aim is to help students develop their own integrated understanding of the nature of religion and its role in individual and social life.

News & Events

Religious games

Nikki Bado-Fralick, assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies, is studying religious board games and toys. More

Religious games

Mary Sawyer, professor of religious studies, has been awarded a fellowship for scholarship and creative activity from the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities for her project "The Black Church since 1968: Forty Years of Wilderness."

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