Philosophy Department | Philosophy | University of Nebraska at Kearney

Discover the UNK difference
Experiential learning. Value. Caring community. At UNK we want to help you make a difference, in a learning environment that's different.
Discover the UNK difference
Experiential learning. Value. Caring community. At UNK we want to help you make a difference, in a learning environment that's different.
Discover the UNK difference
Experiential learning. Value. Caring community. At UNK we want to help you make a difference, in a learning environment that's different.

About Us

The aim of the Philosophy department is to 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 confrontation with the primary works of philosophers and authors who have stood the test of time. Reading the primary sources in philosophy, religion, and literature are at the heart of learning the foundations of our intellectual tradition.

The members of the philosophy department are unanimous in our agreement that we are not exceptional and that in order to become better we need the influence of souls that are superior to our own. Therefore we make it our policy always to have someone better than us in the classroom: Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas, Kant, Dostoyevsky, et al. By rereading the classical texts in philosophy on a regular basis we find that we continually come to deeper understandings of them and ourselves. Since we are discussing the texts rather than lecturing on them it is not possible to merely review lecture notes, and the questions and answers of each class of students requires and builds up a more complete and supple understanding of the texts for both professors and students.

If you are interested in developing your mind by reading the best of minds, then you will find yourself at home in the philosophy department