Philosophy is at the center of any university that upholds the tradition of seeking the truth in all matters. In the words of John Newman:
It is the education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and discard what is irrelevant. It prepares him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. It shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them.
At the University of Nebraska at Kearney, we in the Philosophy Program seek to establish, nurture and preserve in our students a love of learning for its own sake, clear and independent thought that will be beneficial in any future vocation, and a thorough understanding of the ideas that shape human culture. So we engage students in disciplined and imaginative thinking about the philosophical questions that arise naturally in the course of a liberal education. We do this through examining closely the original and primary works of philosophers and other writers (the “Great Books”). Reading the primary sources in philosophy, religion, and literature are the beginning of becoming an educated human being, and coming to understand where and who you really are.
The Philosophy Program awards nearly $50,000 in scholarships to students every year. These scholarships are awarded based on philosophical essays that students submit to the Philosophy faculty. About $30,000 is given to students who are (or intend to) major or minor in Philosophy, while about $20,000 is awarded in the form of one-course scholarships to students who have shown an aptitude and interest in Philosophy and would like to take another course in Philosophy. About half of this latter amount will be reserved for freshmen students.
Below are testimonials from former Philosophy students and notable Philosophers:
The best “ideal” university, the best university in speech, is probably still, after Plato’s, that found in John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University. But unlike Newman’s university, I believe that it is practically impossible to obtain an education in the highest things in most existing universities. I do not say that especially loudly, and it is not necessarily a cry of despair. But the first thing one must notice about today’s schools, if he is to begin at all, is that students have little real confrontation with the highest things, including the truths of revelation….
I think in general that you can get a terrible education in the best and most expensive universities and that in fact most students do…. I likewise think that today some of the finest educations can be had at very small out-of-the-way places like Thomas Aquinas College in California, or the University of Dallas, or Wheaton College in Illinois, or the philosophy department at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Fr. James Schall (Georgetown University, emeritus), quoted from “The Intercollegiate Review,” July 25, 2018.
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All during my 4 years at bet36365体育 as a premed student (KSC at that time), the courses that stood out above all others were found in the nascent Philosophy Department. Like mint Oreo cookies, but far healthier, I couldn’t stop at just taking one. The Philosophy Professor, like Prometheus of old, not only helped me to understand the powers and limitations of language but also my mind’s ability to grasp itself. I discovered that just as there was only language in which I could make sense, there was only language in which I could, and many times would, make nonsense. It was a challenge to walk into the classroom and meet Socrates or Descartes, and face ideas heretofore unconsidered in my life. Is it better to be good, or seem good? Do I value something because it is valuable, or is it valuable because I value it? Am I awake, or merely dreaming that I’m awake? Is it better to suffer an injustice than commit one? Is there really a philosophy of love?
To converse with the ancient philosophers’ minds in the classroom under the tutelage of bet36365体育’s Philosophy Professors was no less equal than the gift of fire given by the mythic Prometheus. It had a profound, life-long impact on me as a person trying to be wise and virtuous, and as a physician striving to heal patients. It has encouraged me to look into the eyes of my patients and speak to them soul to soul. It has compelled me to examine whether it is my mind that is doing the steering of my life, or my appetites, emotions, and fears. It has helped me to eschew the obfuscation of the nonsensical and politically correct. And like the Old Doctor in Solzhenitsyn’s Cancer Ward, it has clarified for me that
“the meaning of existence was to preserve unspoiled, undisturbed and undistorted the image of eternity with which each person is born.
Like a silver moon in a calm, still pond.”
If you seek the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, go now and sign up for bet36365体育’s philosophy courses. You will be the better for it.
Craig Treptow, MD
Class of 1988
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I took Intro to Philosophy with Dr. Fendt after discussing with a good friend how I felt lost in my college journey and had no idea what my major should be. At the end of the semester I had picked my major, found a great community of friends and teachers, and met my future husband. Now, ten years later I use so much of what I learned in my undergraduate classes everyday raising our beautiful children.
Katillia Watson, Homemaker
Class of 2005
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Coming into college I had always been interested in thinking about the "big" questions of life but never found an avenue to pursue this. Taking philosophy classes at bet36365体育 gave me a chance to learn from some of the best thinkers in history concerning these questions, and this learning was largely facilitated by the department's excellent professors. They were always willing to help during office hours, and the amount of feedback they provided for written work in their classes has only been matched by my dissertation supervisor.
Damon Watson, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy, lecturer, Marquette University
Class of 2005
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I entered the bet36365体育 philosophy department in 1986 as a near-professional speed-reader , memorizer, and, according to my high school grades, excellent student. I quickly discovered that I was great at spewing back information but not so good at thinking. I learned to read, really read...slowing and carefully...in my first philosophy class. And, as a consequence, also discovered that I could learn a lot from novels. By examining the lives of characters in great literature, I learned to examine my own. And I was able to transfer that into my elementary classroom as “character education”. While teaching kids to read, I also taught them how to think and examine their own actions in relation to the virtues present (or absent) in the main characters of our stories. I am an elementary school teacher who is so grateful, both personally and professionally, for the bet36365体育 philosophy department.
Kael (Welch) Sagheer, Educator
Class of 1990
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I entered my first philosophy class expecting it to be like a standard lecture, or introduction of the syllabus. Instead, Professor Fendt took the class through an engaging discussion. An argument was postulated and he challenged us to reach the outcome while playing devil's advocate and mentor concurrently. At the end of class, I was hooked.
I have worked a number of different jobs--teacher, corporate trainer, coach, supervisor, laborer--and the critical thinking and mental discipline I developed completing my Philosophy course work has aided me in each job that I have held. My time studying philosophy at bet36365体育 opened up a whole new world of ideas and outlooks, enriching my personal life in unquantifiable terms.
Jeff Volcheck,
Class of 1991
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As an incoming honors student at bet36365体育 in 2001, I didn’t know what philosophy was or what to expect in a philosophy class. Introduction to Philosophy with Dr. Martin fulfilled an honors requirement and a general studies requirement, though, so on a friend’s recommendation I decided to try it. In that and the many classes that followed, I had the opportunity to read the great books of the western philosophical tradition under the tutelage of professors who knew how to tease out the toughest questions and help us seek answers to them—the ones every human being should face: who am I? Where am I going? How should I live? How am I to make sense of all this?
In the course of my philosophy studies, I learned practical skills like critical thinking, argumentation, how to write clearly about difficult texts, and a history of ideas. But these are mere byproducts of what our studies were really about: helping us become good, thoughtful human beings. The great books we studied are the foundation of a liberal arts education. A liberal arts education leads an individual to the freedom that is properly human: to develop the intellect over and against the world, seeking to understand the world and our place in it, to live in accordance with what we understand, and to engage in contemplation of what is True, Good, and Beautiful.
Kimberly D. Heil, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy, University of Dallas
Class of 2006
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It would be hard to overstate the importance of the bet36365体育 philosophy program. It has shaped me so profoundly, I cannot imagine my life otherwise. An ancient philosopher once counseled: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” The professors at bet36365体育 gave me the liberty and guidance needed to do just that, day after day, during the most formative years of my life. They modeled the habits of careful reading and reflection, of writing and expression that have served me well, not only in my vocation [as a pastor], but in all aspects of life. I am constantly telling students, parents, friends, and colleagues that they must take advantage of this rare gift we’ve been given right here in central Nebraska.
David Salyer, Pastor
Class of 2007
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The quality of education in the field of humanities has little to do with the amount of money that we spend on it. Plato’s Republic, for instance, says the same thing no matter where one reads it: Harvard, Oxford, Sorbonne, or Leuven. What makes one’s literary journey significantly different from others’ is whether or not one can read a text with philosophers who have the capacity to unveil its ideas and demonstrate its depth. If the money is spent wisely, a philosophy department should consist of thinkers who have cultivated their ability to distinguish knowledge from sophistry, and who committed themselves to the idea of education as the revolution of soul. Without their intellectual companionship, the priceless core of Socratic teaching in the dialogue remains forever inaccessible to readers both in academia and beyond.
After studying and teaching philosophy in the U.S., Europe, and Japan for over 14 years, I am convinced that the bet36365体育 philosophy department consists of true philosophers who represent the gold standard of public education in America. I would encourage future students to invest their time and energy in pursuing self-knowledge under the guidance of these professors and to witness fellow students follow in their footsteps both on campus and across the world.
Takeshi Morisato, Ph.D. in Philosophy, Université catholique de Louvain, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Class of 2007
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In my mid-twenties, I left my career to become a student again and study philosophy. Although my co-workers, family, and friends snickered, I yearned to pursue truth, wisdom, and purpose. Questions such as who am I, how do I contribute to society, and how do I respond to an ethical dilemma flooded my mind. I moved to Kearney and tried a winter semester of philosophy. In that first semester I was captivated by the rich reading of Aristotle, Plato, Wendell Berry, and Joseph Conrad to name a few. I couldn’t just stop at one semester. I continued my adventure in studying philosophy and did indeed obtain my philosophy degree. Everyday my philosophy degree is at work within me and the world around me. I returned to my previous career with the ability to recognize truth in a world clouded with deceptions. When others then ask what in the world I can do with my philosophy degree, I tell them the degree does something with me every single day.
Breanna (Plouzek) Hyatt, Dental Hygienist and Homemaker
Class of 2010
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Philosophy explores empathy and community for the sake of happiness and well being. I learned everything I could ever need for anything I might want to pursue in life right there at bet36365体育 with the impassioned professors and driven peers of the department, including the fact that I will never stop learning, and that all that I, or anyone else, can hope for is to do it well. Philosophy makes me a better wife, a better homemaker, a better mother, and a better human. I went to school to achieve exactly this and found a program that claimed to do it in four years: family studies. The philosophy department at bet36365体育 claimed none of this, knowing that it wasn't an achievement at all but a forever continuing way of life. I graduated with a degree in both, and I can say that any information gained from another program was empty without the context of philosophical thought. Not only did philosophy enrich my other studies while in college, it enriched all of the learning I had done in high school that had seemed so useless, and it continues to enrich any learning I am doing now or will do in the future. That's the nature of what it is. Philosophy, more specifically the professors taking on the position of midwife today that Socrates held in his time, teaches (or teach) me a reverence for language and learning, and even with this reverence, I find words inadequate for expressing the gratitude I feel toward them for giving me the capacity to set my life in order. For anyone who has seen the secret life of Walter Mitty, the professors in the philosophy department are the snow cats of education, beautiful because they don't ask to be appreciated. I sincerely believe these professors were the way Happiness reached me, and there is nothing more important in an education than that. I implore you to give yourself the same opportunity even when it feels unfashionable, painful, or even insurmountable. It is the noblest pursuit, the foundation of all education. I am forever grateful that these fantastic professors reached out to me in such an impressionable and vulnerable time of life.
Carly (Havener) Williams, Homemaker
Class of 2012
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I can legitimately and with a clear conscience say my time with the philosophy department at bet36365体育 was the most personally formative part of my education. Lessons on morality and rational thinking undoubtedly made me a better student, and I strive daily to apply them to both my personal and professional life. If there is a rating better than 5/5 stars, this department deserves it.
Ryan Dethlefsen, Agricultural Financial Consultant
Class of 2012
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What you will find if you study philosophy, is something that you can’t find in a textbook; it won’t just teach you some new information that you’ll probably forget in a couple of years, it’ll change your life! It’s ironically the most practical degree out there! Let me explain. When I first started studying philosophy, I was not motivated to study, as I either wanted to get deployed, or go immediately to work in general labor. I lacked a healthy amount of “ambition”, as well as curiosity. I was pretty apathetic towards higher education, assuming that like high school, college was just a more expensive flaming hoop to jump through before I could become a productive member of society. After being exposed to Aristotle, however I developed a deep desire to learn more about happiness and virtue. After being exposed to Plato, I was inspired by dreams of being my own “philosopher king” in a business of my own. Most importantly, I learned a love of reading, which would have never happened without philosophy. To this day, I strive towards developing myself intellectually and to grow in virtue. I currently enjoy working in a local family business, (Wendell Berry persuaded me on the merits of hard work, thrift, and supporting the local economy), and I currently serve in the army national guard, (every philosopher that I’ve read has helped me be the best version of myself that I can be, as well as offer various ideas to overcome trials and sufferings of various kinds). Finally, all degrees run into the question, “what are you going to do with that?” In which I’d confidently reply, “it’s not about what I’m going to do with it, it’s about what kind of person that it’s going to influence me to become. No matter what degree you choose, you’re going to need to learn a skill afterwards for employment purposes, as you most likely aren’t going to learn that specific skill with a bachelors degree (politician, lawyer, doctor, businessman, skilled tradesman, etc). At least with a philosophy degree, no matter what kind of employment you enter into, you’ll be equipped to be the best possible person in that occupation that you can be.” Be all you can be. Study philosophy!
Dustin Jacobs, Automotive Sales
Class of 2014