Philosophy occupies a special place in the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Chicago. There are a variety of reasons for this, beginning with the sorts of undergraduates which Uchicago tends to select for in the first place, compounded by the sorts of interests which those students tend to develop in their freshman core courses which explore fundamental and timeless questions, and further reinforced by the emphasis throughout the University on interdisciplinary dialogue and innovation. The undergraduate philosophy major has a reputation among students for being especially challenging and difficult. The net effect is that the major tends to attract some of the most intellectually serious and academically motivated students in the University. This reputation, in turn, for having a remarkable cohort of undergraduate philosophy majors has helped the Department recruit and retain faculty who flourish in such a teaching environment.