The Department of Philosophy was established in 2021/2022 academic session with accreditation exercise by National Universities Commission (NUC) on February 7, 2022 and its eventual approval by the same regulatory body on March 14, 2022. At inception, it had eight (08) faculty members and four administrative staff, with Dr. Felix Olusanjo Olatunji as the foundation Ag. Head of the Department from August 1, 2021 – July 31, 2022; and Professor Temisan’ Ebijuwa, a member of the department, as the Ag. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

The Bachelor of Arts (B. A. Hons.) degree programme in Philosophy is designed and construed for students to take theoretical and applied approaches towards the understanding and addressing of issues, questions and dichotomies of the human society, and the ability to evaluate reasoning of “non-initiates” in more sensible manners. The training is underpinned by the philosophy of enabling students to acquire both critical and analytic skills needed for their sustenance, survival and the society in general.

It offers abundant and significant courses, which will definitely mould the students in understanding tools and language of philosophy to solve problems and challenges of their world from a logical and vintage point of view, including considerations for the pliability of philosophy in science and technology. The programme is designed to help in developing the mental capacity of students for effective appreciation of values, world-views, thoughts, ideas and philosophies entrenched in African realities. This is with an interest to establish African identity and/or to indicate the sense in which Africa is unique in order to philosophise as other continents of the world, and also to present truths about Africa in order to avoid ambiguities and/or confusions.

The objectives of the programme are, namely:

i.    To help students in reaching out to the very foundations of human life as man now has immense power over nature including the outer space

ii.   To prepare students who would be efficient in philosophy-sharpened policy analysis and decision-making processes in all circumstances they find themselves

iii.    To stimulate students into serious thinking about the right direction for society and

iv.   To equip graduates with competence and aptitude to interrogate critical contemporary developmental trends

v.   To produce creative minds that will generate ideas, which will promote scientific and technological development from the realm of humanities for Nigeria and Africa at large.

The department offers courses leading to the award of Bachelor of Arts (B. A.) degree in Philosophy. The duration of the programme will be four (4) years for students to be admitted through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and three (3) years for candidates admitted through Direct Entry (DE) respectively organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

Candidates to the department must have credit passes in five related subjects in the SSCE/GCE examinations organised by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO), as well as NABTEB obtained at not more than two sittings. The five (5) subjects must include English Language and any other four subjects from the arts or the social sciences. The UTME subjects will include English Language and other three from arts and/or social sciences. Direct Entry students must possess acceptable IJMB and JUPEB (A/L), NCE and Diplomas in relevant courses from institutions recognised and approved by the Senate of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, in addition to five credit passes that must include English. They must also have graduated with the grades acceptable by LAUTECH for Direct Admission for JUPEB, IJMB, NCE and Diploma respectively.

All students at the beginning of each academic semester must register for all compulsory, required and elective courses as stipulated in the curriculum of the department. Students will not be allowed to write examinations in courses which they have not registered for. Students must satisfy 75% class attendance before they will be allowed and qualified to write examinations in all courses registered for, except in the case of a waiver.

The department targets specialisations in major areas, namely: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics and Logic, in addition to the following: Cultural Philosophy, Philosophy History of Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, among others.

It is a truism that philosophy is the bedrock and queen of all other sciences and disciplines. Thus, any understanding of natural, physical and applied sciences and technology without proper foundation in philosophy is a historical. This is because it (philosophy) interrogates and brings to fore hidden questions and issues about the sciences. The ‘why-study’ of philosophy ‘births’ and develops the existence and sustenance of other disciplines and forms of knowledge. The principal task of philosophy is to analyse the veracity of methods used in the sciences and allied disciplines as it allows man to probe deeper and uncover assumptions, which are not only implicit in scientific and technological practice, but which practitioners and students of sciences do not explicitly discuss, examine and analyse.

The usefulness and significance of philosophy to students, other cognate departments, faculties and programmes, in any university system are immense. Notably, graduates of philosophy can fit into a variety of situations they find themselves, given the reality philosophy training would equip them with. Essentially, this is plausible because their training will help to improve their flexibility and adaptability; hence, graduates of philosophy are more comparatively and more competitively fit as trainees in varied opportunities of employment. Graduates of philosophy, therefore, do well in civil service, public service, consultancy and research firms, among others, especially in areas where job demands involve understanding the problematic nature of humans based on normative assumptions. They also do well in the following areas: teaching and research institutes, security and intelligence agencies, human resources, and journalism, among others.

In a more obvious manner, the trainings, styles and methods being employed in the process of moulding students of philosophy is of immense contributions to themselves and the society at large. This is based on the systematic application of diverse theories, thoughts, and ideologies, among others, along the historical perspectives and under-linings of philosophical discourse, which definitely make and allow students and graduates to have adequate knowledge for the sustenance and survival of their worlds. It must be emphasised that graduates of philosophy are well sought-out for as their training imbue them with the following attitudinal qualities that make them do better in job situations: critical thinking, intellectual alertness, initiative, moral probity, sound, mental and theoretical analysis.