Philosophy
From a very young age, many of us have wondered about some of the big questions of life; why are we here? What is race? What is gender? What are the ethical issues raised by technology in society? Is there a mind best thought of as a computer? What are the ethical challenges of climate change? Is there a purpose to our existence? Does God exist, and does God care about us? Why is there so much suffering in the world and how can we stop it? Is anything real and how might we know what is real and what is an illusion? Is there any reason to care about morality, is death the end, or should we take the idea of an afterlife seriously, etc. These are all age-old philosophical questions, and whose solutions are hard to come by.
Philosophy, as a discipline, seeks to ask these hard questions about existence and reality, question our assumptions about these questions, and provide answers that will also be questioned and analysed by others. Philosophy students are also consistently among the top performers on standardised grad school prep exams – e.g., GRE, LSAT, MCAT, GMAT. These exams emphasize skills with logical reasoning and comprehension of logic-rich texts. If you seek to probe deep into some of the more fundamental questions about reality, our existence in this world and our relationships with others, then philosophy is for you.
At the Department of Philosophy, we will be offering you the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics in various traditions of philosophy, especially the African philosophical tradition and the analytic tradition. Our staff are important scholars in Africa and the world whose expertise range from African philosophy, metaphysics, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Plato, Kant, philosophy of science, ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of mind, social and political philosophy, and more.
We offer degrees at the Undergraduate, Honours, Masters and Doctoral level. Now, there might be some who do not have undergraduate and/or honours degrees in philosophy but are still interested in doing some philosophy. If you are one of those people, then the Applied Ethics for Professionals (AEP) Masters programme is for you.