Many of our Philosophy courses focus on challenges and opportunities facing a multicultural society, including issues relating to self-development, cultural diversity, and the impetus to agree on shared principles as a basis for preserving or enhancing a sense of community. Philosophy also discusses the contingencies underwriting judgments that give privilege to some values over others, or serve to legitimize some voices at the expense of others.Philosophy courses promote careful discussion of the relevance of intellectual ideas and positions. Philosophical study emphasizes the practice of sound reasoning techniques as a basis for discerning and defending philosophical positions. Philosophy also emphasizes reflective analysis of implications that follow from principled commitments.