Is it possible to get a BA in Philosophy from one of the Big Three Fast?

[dfrecore]

Hey NoahJ, I'm also trying to earn a BA Philosophy from TESU.  There aren't many of us on this forum so searching around didn't yield much results (or they're out of date and the online sources are gone).  I cannot tell you that my plan has worked since I'm trying to do it now but here's what I was thinking of doing (I'll defer to the senior members of this forum who have more experience):

AOS 33 Credits:

9 Required:
Intro to Philosophy  - Intro to Phil (StraighterLine)
Logic - Intro to Logic - (??????? local community college?)
103 Ethics - (Saylor Phil 103 or Sophia Intro to Ethics)

6 Lower Level:
Philosophy of Religion (local community college)
History of Ancient Philosophy (local community college)

18 Upper:
310 BioEthics - UExcel
304 Existentialism - Saylor
405 Intro to World Religions - DSST
3301 Philosophy of Plato - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
3333 Philosophy of Kant - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
495 Capstone - TESU

This isn't cheap but that's because online Philosophy RA accredited courses are hard to find. I know I included local community college in there, and that's to keep the costs low. And you can always take the other online courses concurrently since you're already well read in philosophy.

As for U Texas Austin, they have 2 self-paced classes for $850 each:

PHIL 301 Intro to Philosophy
PHIL 312 Intro to Logic

The thing is those courses are listed as 300-level which is strange since I've never seen an UL class that's "Intro" to anything.  If they really are UL classes then that knocks out BOTH the core course requirement AND the UL requirement at the same time? I don't know, so I didn't include as satisfying the requirement in the plan above.

As for UNO, they have a LOT of online Upper Level classes delivered via iTunes if you don't mind paying the $881 per class.  You may be thinking that if you pay that much then why not just take the TESU courses. Yes, that's true, it just depends on the subject matter you prefer is all.  For example, I chose the Philosophy of Plato class from UNO because it already overlaps with the History of Ancient Philosophy from the lower level class.

Hope this helps and if there's anybody on the forum who can help us, please let us know. If you've already accomplished your goal, let me know how you did it. Thanks.

This one that won't work for you:
DSST World Religions is LL, has been for a while

Here are the logic courses I can find on my list
Saylor: PHIL103: Moral & Political Philosophy (LL)
Saylor: Environmental Ethics, Justice & Worldviews (LL)
UExcel/SL/Study.com - Intro to Philosophy (LL)
Lumerit ($297) - Intro to Worldviews, Philosophy & Religion (LL)
AlignDegree ($399) - Intro to Logic (LL)
U of Idaho IS ($510) - ANTH327: Belief Systems (UL), Ethics in Science, Ethics: Women in the 20th Century, History of Ancient & Medieval Philosophy, History of Modern Philosophy

EDIT: Looks like they got rid of a LOT of courses that you couldn't find other places for decent prices at U of Idaho IS, especially UL courses, so you're going to have to check on any that might interest you before getting excited. 

[PhiloScientia]

Not only do you need 33 credits in philosophy, you need them not to duplicate - and you need 18 of them to be upper level.  Those are likely only going to be found within programs that offer a major in philosophy or an extension school like Berkley or Harvard.  

As a mom, when I read your post, I cried just a little.  

Still, I looked at Harvard for you.  They offer 9 graduate level philosophy courses that are open enrollment.  TESU will count graduate credit as upper level undergrad.  5 of them are on campus only- so that leaves a grand total of 4 (4 cr each).  At a cost of around 10 grand you won't even fill your major.  

My advice- liberal arts undergrad and then study what you want in grad school.  


https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academ...us-courses

PS I forgot to add, it won't be fast or cheap.  But it will be in philosophy.

Thanks Cookderosa, that's kind of you to look into the extension courses for us ($10,000?!!).  It's a good thing I have a 1st bachelors in business so I can work and pay for the philosophy I suppose.  I guess philosophy will have to be a labor of love then.

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How would Ethics in America DSST fit in to the plan? It was a fairly easy test.

Hi jjsafari, maybe it could fulfill the LL units to get to 33 credits? But then Cookderosa said the courses have to be non-overlapping so I don't know if that already duplicates the Ethics core requirement or not.

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Hey NoahJ, I'm also trying to earn a BA Philosophy from TESU.  There aren't many of us on this forum so searching around didn't yield much results (or they're out of date and the online sources are gone).  I cannot tell you that my plan has worked since I'm trying to do it now but here's what I was thinking of doing (I'll defer to the senior members of this forum who have more experience):

AOS 33 Credits:

9 Required:
Intro to Philosophy  - Intro to Phil (StraighterLine)
Logic - Intro to Logic - (??????? local community college?)
103 Ethics - (Saylor Phil 103 or Sophia Intro to Ethics)

6 Lower Level:
Philosophy of Religion (local community college)
History of Ancient Philosophy (local community college)

18 Upper:
310 BioEthics - UExcel
304 Existentialism - Saylor
405 Intro to World Religions - DSST
3301 Philosophy of Plato - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
3333 Philosophy of Kant - Univ New Orleans (UNO) delivered via iTunes ($881)
495 Capstone - TESU

This isn't cheap but that's because online Philosophy RA accredited courses are hard to find. I know I included local community college in there, and that's to keep the costs low. And you can always take the other online courses concurrently since you're already well read in philosophy.

As for U Texas Austin, they have 2 self-paced classes for $850 each:

PHIL 301 Intro to Philosophy
PHIL 312 Intro to Logic

The thing is those courses are listed as 300-level which is strange since I've never seen an UL class that's "Intro" to anything.  If they really are UL classes then that knocks out BOTH the core course requirement AND the UL requirement at the same time? I don't know, so I didn't include as satisfying the requirement in the plan above.

As for UNO, they have a LOT of online Upper Level classes delivered via iTunes if you don't mind paying the $881 per class.  You may be thinking that if you pay that much then why not just take the TESU courses. Yes, that's true, it just depends on the subject matter you prefer is all.  For example, I chose the Philosophy of Plato class from UNO because it already overlaps with the History of Ancient Philosophy from the lower level class.

Hope this helps and if there's anybody on the forum who can help us, please let us know. If you've already accomplished your goal, let me know how you did it. Thanks.

UT uses a different numbering system for courses: the 3 at the beginning indicates it is 3 credits. To determine upper or lower level, they use the last 2 digits. 00-19 are lower level, 20-79 upper, and 80-99 are grad courses. So both those are lower level.

If you really want a BA in philosophy, you could take as many philosophy courses as you can cheaply find to fit into the BALS and then go for the postbac program at UNO. They have quite a few scholarships specifically for that program. There aren't a lot of grad programs in philosophy you can get into without a good chunk of upper level philosophy courses. If you don't want to do the postbac, you could try for a MA in liberal studies somewhere that offers philosophy courses. I've looked at open admissions programs in Europe, but even those require completion of roughly 6 upper level courses as prerequisites before actually getting into the required coursework.

Thanks DavidHume for explaining the UT course numbering system--and squashing my last ounce of hope at the same time. No, just kidding! I assume by your name you know a lot about philosophy yourself. Yes, UNO is a good postbac program, but I had already planned to use the money saved up for a different masters.

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This one that won't work for you:
DSST World Religions is LL, has been for a while

Here are the logic courses I can find on my list
Saylor: PHIL103: Moral & Political Philosophy (LL)
Saylor: Environmental Ethics, Justice & Worldviews (LL)
UExcel/SL/Study.com - Intro to Philosophy (LL)
Lumerit ($297) - Intro to Worldviews, Philosophy & Religion (LL)
AlignDegree ($399) - Intro to Logic (LL)
U of Idaho IS ($510) - ANTH327: Belief Systems (UL), Ethics in Science, Ethics: Women in the 20th Century, History of Ancient & Medieval Philosophy, History of Modern Philosophy

EDIT: Looks like they got rid of a LOT of courses that you couldn't find other places for decent prices at U of Idaho IS, especially UL courses, so you're going to have to check on any that might interest you before getting excited. 

Thanks dfrecore, that AlignDegree Intro to Logic looks good! But yes, there's definitely something wrong with their website:  http://aligndegree.weebly.com/introducti...logic.html

Lots of deadlinks on there that doesn't inspire confidence.  So I guess they're not a functioning course provider anymore?

Aww man, UIdaho IS only offers an Intro to Ethics class which can already be had through Saylor or Sophia
https://www.uidaho.edu/academics/dee/ind...philosophy

The search continues...

[DavidHume]

The few places I know with regularly offered UL online philosophy courses: University Illinois Springfield, Franciscan University of Steubenville, UNO, Arizona State

Sometimes an odd course here or there shows up. Often I find out about those on the DailyNous website

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Oh, and Oregon State often has UL courses online that are crosslisted as philosophy classes. May not be the most satisfying if you want straight philosophy, but could fill out a degree plan if you found enough other classes elsewhere

[High_Order1]

The PLA database is on TESU's site.

Thank you! Like I said I'm very new to this and am just learning all the acronyms you guys use on this forum. OK, for other newbs, here's the link to TESU's PLA assessment:  https://www2.tesu.edu/plasearch.php

Unfortunately, there is NO philosophy.

Respectfully disagree. Here's what three minutes dredged up:

Political Philosophy(POS-377)3.00 s.h.
*
*
*
Analysis of the relationship between ethics and politics in contemporary democracy and current challenges to traditional democratic theory. Political obligation; the justification of authority; disobedience and the right of resistance; freedom; social justice; and equality.



18th Century History and Philosophy(HUM-310)3.00 s.h.
*
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Course Description
This course explores the culture of the Age of Reason at its height through the in-depth study of a number of major texts and of certain leading figures. There is an interdisciplinary approach embodying, for instance, historical, literary and philosophical approaches. The works of fiction and poetry, philosophy, history, science, music and art are studied in their own right, bur are also interconnected as mutually illuminating phenomena.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

Identify the roots of Enlightenment thought in 17th century achievements in science, politics and the arts.
Demonstrate familiarity with the great system builders in epistemology, metaphysics and ethics and the basic principles that characterize their thinking including such thinkers as Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Rousseau, Berkeley, Hume, Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant, Vico, Voltaire.
Identify and discuss the development of rationalism and empiricism during this period considered the Age of Reason.
Articulate reasoned views on Nietzsche's philosophy, supported by close textual reading and argument.
Demonstrate familiarity with some of the critical literature on existentialism.
Demonstrate familiarity with some of the critical literature on the period.

Ancient Philosophy(PHI-324)3.00 s.h.
*
*

Course Description
The major philosophical systems and movements from the pre-Socratics to Plotinus with special emphasis on Plato and Aristotle.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

Identify and discuss the major Pre-Socratic philosophers.
Identify and discuss contributions of major figures from the different schools of Hellenistic thought, basic contributions made to philosophy and the differences and conflicts among them.
Identify and discuss the transformation from cosmology to ethics achieved by Socrates and Plato.
Discuss the Plato's ideas of education, politics and the soul in Republic.
Discuss the methods and teaching developed by Plato in his early, middle and later dialogues.
Discuss Aristotle's criticism of Platonic forms.
Discuss Aristotle's physics and ideas of the Soul.
Discuss Aristotle's notion of virtue.
Discuss key points of Aristotle's aesthetics as found in the Poetics.
Demonstrate familiarity with primary sources as well as critical literature on the periods.
Address the influence of Greek philosophy on subsequent western thought.

[PhiloScientia]

Hey that’s good news, thanks High_Order1!

[PhiloScientia]

dfrecore, I know you said World Religions DSST is a LL course, but TESU's PLA database says that their World Religions REL-405 is available via DSST. I've attached a screenshot. Please let me know what you think.

  Image 1.jpg (Size: 203.5 KB / Downloads: 3)

[dfrecore]

dfrecore, I know you said World Religions DSST is a LL course, but TESU's PLA database says that their World Religions REL-405 is available via DSST. I've attached a screenshot. Please let me know what you think.

It used to be UL, but was downgraded a few years ago.  I'm guessing that the info hasn't been updated in a while.

https://www.tesu.edu/academics/catalog/DSST.cfm

If you take the DSST exam, then you won't get credits through the PLA system. So whatever PLA says about it is irrelevant.

If you take the DSST and then get further info on the subject and decide to submit a PLA for UL credit, then obviously you can try for UL credit.

[hsfamfun]

My 21 year old son is finishing his BA in Philosophy and Communications this semester at a nearby state university and has applied to several PhD. programs in Philosophy nationwide.  There is definitely something elegant about Philosophy.  I do not have a lot to add, other than to check the online schedules of any state universities in your area.  My son's school, Eastern Kentucky University, is offering Biomedical Ethics online this summer, and it is an upper level class.  However, the cost would be high. 

BYU Independent Study also has a couple of classes in Philosophy.  Chinese Philosophy CHIN 346, PHIL 205 Intro to Formal Logic and  PHIL 305 Intermediate Formal Logic.  There are also 2 upper level Ethics classes, 1 in Com and 1 in BUS.  Their classes are $188 per credit hour.  

The Kentucky Community College System, KCTCS has an on demand program that is $162 per credit hour, plus fees and can be done at your own pace.  They currently only have Business Ethics, but it looks like they are adding Introductory Logic and Medical Ethics classes soon!  The website is https://kctcs.edu/degrees_training/kctcs...urse_list/

 Good Luck!

[DavidHume]

Some solid advice if you are hoping for a life in Academic Philosophy:

https://www.historyofphilosophy.net/hist...phy-advice