Welcome
At Sonoma State University, the Department of Philosophy specializes in the study of ethics, justice, and values. Students critically examine life's deepest questions, and learn how to evaluate solutions to vital problems and debates in contemporary society. If you are curious about the origins of value, or what makes life worth living, or how to promote the public good, then majoring in philosophy is a smart choice.
We divide our curriculum into a set of common requirements, and a set of concentration requirements. Students choose among four different concentrations: 1) Pre-Law and Applied Ethics; 2) The Good Life; 3) Science, Technology and Ethics; and 4) Social Justice. These concentrations offer in-depth exploration of specific themes and topics. Pre-Law and Applied Ethics focuses on the intersection of law, politics and ethics. The Good Life focuses on the nature of human flourishing and the origins of value. Science, Technology and Ethics focuses on artificial intelligence and the ethics of technology and science. Social Justice focuses on gender, race and power. Students learn leading theories and ideas, and apply them to their experiences and decision-making.
A degree in philosophy provides excellent training for critical thinking, writing and speaking. Philosophy majors regularly place in the top five in the LSAT (the law school entrance exam), the GMAT (the business school entrance exam), and the GRE (the graduate school entrance exam). Employers prize philosophy majors for their ability to think on their own, solve problems, and adapt to novel circumstances. Philosophy majors have a return on their investment that is comparable to engineering majors and their mid-career salaries are the highest outside of the stem fields.
Because we focus on ethics and values, our major is especially well suited for students who aspire for careers in the fields of law, criminal justice, data ethics, government and public administration, ethical oversight (medical, legal, professional) and philanthropy.
Announcements
The SocioTechnical Operational Risk Management project investigates the need for a comprehensive and contextual understanding of AI risks.
The SSU Philosophy Department is proud to announce two recent accomplishments by our Philosophy majors. Aisha Mendonca is presenting "How to Govern a Good City" at the 2024 Midwest/West COPLAC Conference. And Alexsandra Zyrianov has been awarded one of the prestigious student Fellowships with the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights. Congratulations, Aisha and Alexsandra!
Professor Josh Glasgow has published a new book with Oxford University Press, The Significance Impulse: On the Unimportance of Our Cosmic Unimportance. The book defends the idea that we are not important on the scale of the cosmos, even if we are the most important thing in the cosmos. At the same time, it also argues that this is a good thing for us, as it liberates us in certain ways, and being more important would not contribute to our well-being.
John Sullins, Philosophy Professor, has received a new 2 year award, for The S.T.O.R.M. (SocioTechnical Operational Risk Management) Prototype Project, for a total of $499,527 from the Department of Defense.
The S.T.O.R.M. (SocioTechnical Operational Risk Management) project was awarded to PI- Dr. John P. Sullins (SSU), Co-PI Dr. Ryan Jenkins (Cal Poly), and Dr. Patrick Lin (Cal Poly). A prototype resource is being developed to prudence a tool that can be used by the DOD in analyzing the ethical impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) assets that are used in the US military or that the US military is considering deploying.
The resources will detail what successfully mitigating ethical risk to an acceptable level would look like across use cases such as defense, predictive health, recruitment, and retention algorithms. All dimensions of ethical risk will be assessed including sociotechnical risks. The solutions will build upon Executive Orders, federal guidance, societal norms and expectations, the DoD AI Ethical Principles, Responsible AI practices, policies, and norms from the US DoD, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s recently released AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) and Playbook, and norms and expectations of allies and partners. The solutions will build upon standard risk management framework (RMF) dimensions (such as probability vs. consequences) and standard categories of assessment.
We have another great spotlight for you to check out . This spotlight features Philosophy professor Josh Glasgow and his new book Disputed Moral Issues.
Philosophy and Psychology graduate Amish Patel has been selected into the 2023-2024 CSU Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program (CDIP). Link to Alumni Spotlight
Check out this fantastic spotlight about two upcoming presentations being given by Dr. John Sullins.
Check out the Faculty Spotlight on Dr. John Sullins presenting at the Riyadh Philosophy Conference.
Congratulations to philosophy major Amish Patel for receiving the 2022-2023 Foundation Scholarship. Read the Arts and Humanities Spotlight here.
Philosophy Major
At Sonoma State University, philosophy majors and minors engage with cutting-edge theories about ethics, justice, and values. Students learn how to analyze and solve vital problems about morality, law, political and social conflicts, science and technology, the environment, and social justice. Majoring in philosophy will help students develop high-level skills in: critical thinking, writing and speaking; moral reasoning and awareness; values clarification; self-reflection and personal growth; and civic engagement. Philosophy majors are in high demand in the public and private sectors. Philosophy provides superior training for a wide range of careers. Philosophy majors have the highest level of midcareer earnings outside the STEM fields.
Check our Philosophy Brochure for more information about our program.
Careers
With extensive, dedicated, and repeated focus on critical thinking, problem solving, argumentation, and written and oral communication skills, Philosophy majors are well-equipped for a wide range of jobs.
According to the Guardian, "Employers regularly report that they want to hire college graduates with advanced general critical thinking and communication skills, and they single out Philosophy majors as exactly what they are looking for." Perhaps for these reasons, Philosophy majors are considered to be highly employable and have skyrocketing mid-career earnings.
Philosophy majors also do very well in admissions for graduate school. They regularly receive among the top scores on the LSAT, the law school entrance exam; the GRE, the general entrance exam for graduate schools; and the GMAT, the exam required for going to business school.
In the spirit of critical thinking, it is worth noting that it is unclear why philosophy majors do so well on all of these fronts. (Is it the subject matter? Perhaps it's the skills we focus on? Do already skilled students select themselves into majors?) But if you love tackling philosophical problems--after all, it is important to study what you love--and want to work on general skills that can quickly adapt in a rapidly changing economy, maybe even if you want to run the world, we believe that there is no better major than Philosophy.