Philosophy deals with fundamental questions such as “Can we truly know anything about the world?”, “Do objective moral properties exist?”, or “What is the essence of a work of art?”. These kinds of questions cannot be answered solely through empirical methods. Philosophers rely primarily on problem-oriented reflection and reasoning to address them. However, philosophical questions don’t arise out of nowhere. They have both a history, which helps explain why people have raised such questions in the first place, and a place within an ongoing argumentative context, which shows why it is reasonable to ask them. Both dimensions of a philosophical question—its history and its dialectical site—can only be explored through the texts that philosophers have written over the centuries. For this reason, the study of philosophy focuses on the close reading and discussion of classic philosophical texts. This meticulous textual work is not an end in itself. Rather, it equips students with the skills they need to engage in philosophical inquiry themselves. The aim of studying philosophy is to enable students to contribute to current philosophical debates with their own innovative ideas, meeting the highest standards of quality in the humanities.
The Institute of Philosophy at Goethe University is one of the largest philosophy institutes in Germany, with eight professorships. Its strong appeal to students, both nationally and internationally, is also due to its close association with renowned philosophers such as Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. Currently, the institute covers nearly the entire spectrum of philosophical research. The Frankfurt BA program is designed to ensure that all students acquire foundational philosophical knowledge through introductory modules in their first semesters, which they can build upon in later stages of their studies. The program concludes with the bachelor’s thesis, where students demonstrate the competencies they have developed throughout their studies.