Philosophy Major
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About the Major
Building upon the principles of critical thinking and ethical practice, philosophy students survey both ancient and modern philosophy. Each student then pursues a curriculum tailored to his or her interests, such as feminist philosophy, environmental ethics or philosophy of education.
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Turning philosophy on its head: Elon’s unique program opens up a new world for graduate
By the time Emily Lange graduated from Elon University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and English literature, her research had already been published in three well-regarded professional academic journals and she had experience as a Teaching and Learning Apprentice for two Elon philosophy classes, including Rap, Race, Gender and Philosophy, which she helped re-envision.
That kind of rare undergraduate experience made Lange a standout when she applied to graduate school and, later, a Ph.D. program in philosophy. And she credits her “toolbox of mentors” at Elon for those opportunities.
I’ve come to learn just how unique Elon’s philosophy program is and how well-known within the philosophy community it is for being an innovative place to learn.
“I gathered official and unofficial mentors alike at Elon — in my departments and beyond — and they formed the backbone of my college experience,” Lange said. “My Elon experience still carries me forward today because my mentors are now colleagues in my field.”
That she is now studying for her doctorate in philosophy at Marquette University is remarkable given what her academic vision was when she applied to Elon in 2016. As a fan of science fiction and fantasy, she originally thought she would pursue a double concentration in English literature and creative writing. But during an event for admitted students before she began her freshman year, Lange watched in awe as Professor Stephen Bloch-Schulman facilitated a mini philosophy class. She had always thought of philosophy as stuffy, seen through very narrow European experiences, but here was Bloch-Schulman leading a discussion about rap music, race and gender.
“I remember thinking, ‘Huh, this is really interesting. I haven’t heard of philosophy being used this way, but we’re talking about cool things like identity and feminism and things that I’m interested in,’” Lange said. So when it came to choosing her initial schedule for fall semester, she put philosophy at the top of the list.
During her first philosophy class — also led by Bloch-Schulman — Lange said there were a few moments she got chills sitting in the class. By Thanksgiving break, she had decided to make philosophy her second major along with English literature.
As she has engaged with philosophers elsewhere after graduation, she has come to fully appreciate Elon’s department: “I’ve come to learn just how unique Elon’s philosophy program is and how well-known within the philosophy community it is for being an innovative place to learn,” she said.
The leap from English also wasn’t really a leap. Lange remembers something she said during her interview for the Elon Honors Program. “I remember talking about how I liked creative writing because it gave me an avenue to explore what it is like to be other people. Working in philosophy, that idea refined into wanting to learn from and learn about and learn with other people, whatever context that may be in,” she said.
Research started early for Lange, as it does for many at Elon who seek the opportunity. During her sophomore year, she had two research experiences, one in philosophy on standpoint theory — the theory of knowledge grounded in one’s personal experiences with marginalization — and one in English on intersectionality. Both helped inform her honors thesis, which she began the summer before her junior year after being awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience and the Lumen Prize.
That two-year research project, which focused on how different identities interact — particularly gender, age, disability and race — and how those interactions are shown, also took her to Bath, England, in the spring of her junior year, where in addition to three seminar classes, she did independent research with a scholar at Oxford University. For that research, she focused on critical theory and science fiction, which helped support her thesis chapter on the relationship between gender and race, specifically focusing on Black identities and Afrofuturism.
Many of the chapters in her thesis would go on to be published in academic journals, including The Journal of Popular Culture, which published her research on age and gender in contemporary speculative short fiction.
Undergraduates publishing in peer-reviewed, professional journals is uncommon. But one of Lange’s mentors encouraged her to submit, telling her the worst they could say is no and to not sell herself short.
“I don’t think I would have just submitted to a fully academic journal like that as an undergrad otherwise,” Lange said.
During Lange’s master’s program at Miami University in Ohio, from which she graduated in 2023, she saw just how special Elon’s philosophy program was. Not only did it give her a solid background in research and the ability to form a philosophical question and formulate a plan on how to think it through — a skill, she said, that’s easy to underestimate and one that many of her fellow master’s students didn’t yet have — but Elon gave her a more involved teaching experience than her peers had as undergraduates.
At Miami, “I found people who were [teaching assistants] for classes, who were tutors, but nothing quite like the Teaching and Learning Apprenticeship (TLA) at Elon where you could get credit for helping to really design a class,” she said. “That’s the unique part.”
Her first TLA experience was during the fall of her junior year when she co-taught the Methods of Philosophical Inquiry class; she didn’t do much active teaching but did have a dedicated day where she led the class discussion, showcasing her growing expertise in standpoint theory.
The second class she co-taught as a TLA brought her full circle to the very first engagement with philosophy — the Rap, Race, Gender and Philosophy that Bloch-Schulman facilitated. When her mentor approached her about the opportunity, she was initially skeptical. “My first response to him was, ‘I know nothing about rap.’ My mom listens to more rap than I do,” Lange said. “And he’s like, ‘Perfect.’” Bloch-Schulman was more interested in Lange’s research on Afrofuturism, which combined with his expertise on the foundations of rap and the students’ knowledge of contemporary rap would round out the class nicely.
Lange still talks with Bloch-Schulman regularly and even came back to Elon in 2023 to teach a winter term philosophy course on ethical issues around memory-keeping and justice. The experience was tough — it was the first course she had ever taught independently, and it was condensed over one month — but Lange took advantage of her familiarity with Elon’s campus by, for example, taking her class to the Elon University archives, where she had worked as an undergraduate.
And while she called teaching the winter class the hardest experience of her career thus far, Lange said it was invaluable, as she hopes to continue working in academia in a research and teaching capacity.
“I feel confident that some of my ideas work,” she said, “and I feel confident that I’m able to shift gears if it turns out they don’t work.”
Did You Know?
- Even though the Philosophy Department has only six permanent faculty, it has won multiple national and university awards for teaching, research in teaching philosophy, and research in philosophy. Faculty regularly publish books with prestigious presses and lead national and international organizations for the study of philosophy and philosophy teaching.
- Philosophy students have unique opportunities for collaboration with faculty, including as Teaching and Learning Apprentices (helping to shape and lead classes). Many also publish and present their own work at professional conferences.
- The philosophy program focuses on giving students the tools to critically analyze and engage with the issues that matter to them: climate change, racial and gender injustice, activism, democratic norms, economic inequality. At the same time, they come to understand themselves and their own values better.