Philosophy: BA

Program Overview

Engaging in a philosophical study is to engage in laying the foundations for a lifelong process of learning to understand one’s self and one’s place in the world. AUC’s major in philosophy engages students in asking questions about the possibility of knowledge, the nature of morality, beauty and aesthetic experience, the meaning of religious experience, the justification and limits of power, and the purpose and meaning of philosophical inquiry itself. 

The philosophy major stresses a firm grounding in both the history and the various fields of philosophy. Because of the ways in which the study of philosophy complements other disciplines, it is always good for a student to double-major in another discipline.

Students interested in language, logic, and communication, for example, might double-major in Philosophy and Journalism and Mass Communication or in Computer Science. Students who are interested in religion and politics might double-major in Philosophy and Comparative Religion or in Political Science. Students interested in questions about human behavior, consciousness, or perception might double-major in Philosophy and Psychology.

Students interested in development, business ethics or corporate responsibility might double-major in Philosophy and Business Administration. Whatever a student’s interest in philosophy, courses that deepen that interest from other disciplines will significantly enhance philosophical insight.

Students of the Program

This program is suitable for students who are interested in the following:

• Critical thinking
• The history of ideas
• Debate
• Dialogue 
• Discussion

Career Paths

Graduates of the program can pursue careers in the following fields:

• Education
• Law
• Business
• Finance
• Government service
• Public policy
• Diplomacy

Assistant professor, Ahmed Abdel Meguid '02, gives a short brief about AUC’s philosophy undergraduate program

Alumni of the Program

The program’s many alumni include Ahmed Abdel Meguid ’02, who attained a PhD in philosophy from Emory University and is an assistant professor in AUC’s Department of Philosophy, and Mohamed El Shafie ’17, who was a recipient of the HSBC Bank Egypt Public School Scholarship and went on to pursue a law degree at Harvard University.

Top Employers

Our alumni have been employed by celebrated institutions in Egypt and abroad, including:

• The American University in Cairo
• Boğaziçi University
• Freie Universität Berlin
• Edge Hill University
• The University of Liverpool
• Syracuse University
• The Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt