Real-World Experience
The Department of Philosophy and the university community offer undergraduate students a wide variety of opportunities to work with professors outside the classroom, obtain real-world experience, and become more engaged, well-rounded members of the community. Below are just a few of the ways that students can become involved with work to enhance their understanding of topics learned in classroom study at the University:
Philosophy Camp - [Philosophy Camp is on hiatus until further notice].
Philosophy Camp is the affectionate nickname given by students to the courses PHIL 4326/5326—Lives Worth Living: Questions of Self, Vocation, and Community and PHIL 4350/5350—Catching Lives Worth Living: Participation in the Growth of a Living-Learning Community.
Students and instructors meet daily and create a residential living-learning community experience.
University of Minnesota Philosophy Club
Our undergraduate University of Minnesota Philosophy Club gives students a chance to interact with their peers outside the classroom in a way that benefits the University community.
Philosophy Undergraduate Journal
We are a student-run philosophy journal at the University of Minnesota. Epistemai, an undergraduate journal with a focus on short, original, philosophical work done by undergraduates from universities across the country.
In spring of 2025, we published our eighth edition.
The Department of Philosophy's optional concentration in ethics and civic life is an opportunity for students who are interested in ethics and community service to relate their experiences in the classroom to their work in the community and vice versa.
Registration for courses such as PHIL 3993 or PHIL 4993 are ways that you can pursue individual research projects for course credit.
Students can gain valuable research experience as undergraduates by participating in hands-on philosophical research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).
Students may arrange to study at another university in the US through national student exchange. Additional options include study in Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and Canada.