Last year, Marymount’s Humanities Division added a new major to its trio of English, Communications and Humanities. The Philosophy and Religious Studies Major, chaired by Assistant Professor of Philosophy Mark Conard, is an interdisciplinary major integrating Philosophy and Religious Studies.

Conard describes the program as an interdisciplinary program integrating Philosophy and Religious Studies. Students in the program take a core set of classes in both disciplines and then concentrate in one or the other.

When Conard started at Marymount in, Philosophy and Religious studies were separate programs and had minors, but no majors.

“Since I’ve been here there has been one in Philosophy and one in Religious Studies,” Conard said, “and so I thought since there is some overlap in the concern of philosophy and religious studies, we might propose this new major”

In order to start the major, Conard and other interested faculty members were asked by the division to conduct a survey to gauge student interest. Since then the major has twelve students officially enrolled in the program, but Conard said he expects growth.

Indeed, the feedback from current students seems positive. Patrick Molloy a senior Religious Studies Major, says he was the first student to request the switch to the new major. One highlight for Molloy was his class in 20th Century Philosophy. “We talked about hyper-reality and it’ll blow your mind” he said, “acid trips are less interesting than Twentieth Century Philosophy.”

Junior Sean Forlenza began his Marymount career as an English major, but after taking several Philosophy classes, decided that Philosophy was his true interest.

“I would recommend the major to anyone who values questioning and thinking beyond conventional thought and are not satisfied with generic answers” he said. “ You don’t go to be able to one day make a lot of money and be successful in that respect. Studying philosophy is for furthering one’s education and one’s thirst for knowledge.

Conard similarly said that the right student for this major is a student who is looking for a challenge. “Any student who is interested in burning the big questions,” he said. “This is what we deal with...about the meaning of life, the value of life.”

However, Conard pointed out that there are more directly practical skills developed in the major, such as critical thinking, reasoning, close reading skills, and the ability to form arguments.

“These skills are universally applicable,” he said. “Students interested in studying law would be well advised to take this major”

If you are thinking of taking a course to test out your interest, both Molloy and Conard suggest taking Intro to Ethics or one of the popular Philosophy and Pop Culture classes which discusses shows like Seinfeld and the Simpsons. “I would recommend Plato, because he is the foundation for most western philosophy and the beginnings of a lot of current questions originate with Plato,” Forlenza said, “Also I would recommend Modern philosophy. It covers a broad range of philosophers with very different ideas.

But if those courses are not enough to excite you, Molloy has one reason you might just have to join the major: “I think it just makes you a more interesting person,” he said.

To find out more information about the Philosophy and Religious Studies major, contact Dr. Conard at mconard@mmm.edu or visit Marymount’s website.