What will I learn when I study Philosophy at Highline College?

We study Philosophy for personal interest and life enrichment, and to prepare ourselves for working life in a multicultural environment.

You will learn specific Disciplinary Content, and you will learn Transferable Career Skills.

Disciplinary content:

The History of Philosophy is the history of the efforts to answer the big questions, questions like: What is right and wrong? What is truth and how do we tell? What is reality, and how do we know? Does God exist? When we study Philosophy, we become aware of the many ways people have tried to answer these questions.
Logic is the discipline of analyzing and evaluating arguments.
Ethics is the branch of philosophy that addresses questions about right and wrong, good and evil, the nature of justice and other related ideas.
Metaphysics is the effort to answer questions about ultimate reality. Ideas about God, death and immortality are often considered to be part of metaphysics.
Epistemology studies the most basic questions about knowledge, for example: What is knowledge? How can I tell if I have it? Is knowledge universal or is it personal, or is it cultural?

Critical Thinking Skills: the ability to identify the key issues in decision making or problem solving; to identify a general principle that links together related problems, points, data; and to ask the sort of questions that will lead to a solution of a problem.
Argument Skills: the ability to construct persuasive lines of reasoning; to reason from premises to conclusions; and to assess the implications of a position which has been taken.
Communication Skills: the ability to summarize the content of a message clearly and objectively; to differentiate fact from value; to express one’s point of view clearly and succinctly; and to explain ideas and principles to others.
Information Management: the ability to collect and prioritize relevant information; to interpret and evaluate information; and to use this information to solve problems.
Design and Planning Skills: the ability to look at a problem from different angles and identify alternative courses of action.
Cultural Competency Skills: the ability to understand and value multiple perspectives, to be aware of one’s own cultural assumptions and expectations, and to communicate respectfully and effectively with others.
Management and Administration Skills: the ability to analyze tasks and set priorities; to identify resource materials useful in the solution of a problem.