Philosophy
Associate in Arts for Transfer
Program Details
What is philosophy? Philosophy is an activity rather than a set of beliefs. It is thinking critically, systematically, and creatively about fundamental and important questions about knowledge, values, and reality that include the following and more: What do I know, and how do I know it? What is justice? Does God exist? Do I have free will? What is the nature of the mind and self? In addition to preparing one for advanced study in the discipline, the Chabot Philosophy Program enriches its students with the ultimate transferable and portable job skills needed in the fields of law, medicine, business, education, public service, film-making, writing, and tech. Students who successfully complete the AA-T in Philosophy earn specific guarantees for transfer to the CSU system: admission to a CSU with junior status and priority admission to a local CSU campus and to a program or major in philosophy or a similar major. Students transferring to a CSU campus will be required to complete no more than 60 units after transfer to earn a bachelor’s degree. Students are required to complete 60 semester units that are eligible for transfer to a California State University, including: (1) The California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC) Breadth Requirements and (2) 18-19 semester units with a grade of C or P or better in the major and an overall minimum grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0 in all CSU transferable coursework.
Philosophy Pathways
Pathways listed below are for the catalog year 2025-2026. Maps for previous years are available on each pathway page. What is a catalog year?
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes help you work towards your educational goals.
- Convey understanding of major philosophical questions, theories, and concepts in the areas of metaphysics (nature of reality), epistemology (knowledge), and axiology (value theory).
- Explicate and analyze globally significant texts from the history of philosophy. 4. Employ the methods of philosophical inquiry, especially the principles of logic (formal & informal) and critical thinking. 5. Demonstrate proficiency in portable language skills, including listening and reading carefully and critically, speaking articulately, and -- most importantly -- proficiency in philosophical writing, which includes presenting & supporting a philosophical thesis, articulating & responding to objections, and in general, writing in a way that is clear, precise, coherent, concise, well-organized, effective, and valuable. 6. Demonstrate philosophical virtues, including being open-minded, imaginative, appropriately skeptical, intellectually humble, charitable, incisive, and truth & justice-seeking.
- Reconstruct, analyze, and evaluate arguments for and against major philosophical positions.