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WAYS Requirements

Beginning Autumn Quarter 2013, entering first-year students must satisfy the WAYS requirement, an initiative of Stanford University to develop undergraduate capacities through the general education requirements.

You will find that a variety of philosophy courses satisfy WAYS requirements. Find all the WAYS categories below and examples of Philosophy courses that fulfill each category. 

The WAYS requirement includes the completion of 11 WAYS courses in eight diverse areas — two courses each in WAY-AII (Aesthetic and Interpretive Inquiry), WAY-SI (Social Inquiry), and WAY-SMA (Scientific Method and Analysis), and one course in each of the remaining five WAYS.  Although courses may be certified to fulfill two WAYS, you may only count a single course toward any one WAY requirement in your program of study

  • Thinking Matters courses typically satisfy a WAY.
  • Courses may also count both for major and General Education requirements.

Please check the Stanford Bulletin (ExploreDegrees) for the most up to date requirements.

You can jump down the page to each of the following sections:

WAY-A-II: Aesthetic and Interpretive Inquiry

PHIL 1
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Wong-Taylor, G. (PI)
Amaral, J. (TA)
Koeksal, S. (TA)
Pereira, A. (TA)
PHIL 2
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
Gottlieb, D. (TA)
Luo, A. (TA)
Madigan, T. (PI)
Spencer, L. (TA)
Bible, M. (TA)
Kang, S. (TA)
Tricks, T. (TA)
PHIL 2
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Madigan, T. (PI)
PHIL 80
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Tan, J. (PI)
Teitel, T. (PI)
Wang, Z. (PI)
Huang, S. (TA)
PHIL 80
Spring
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
Crimmins, M. (PI)
PHIL 81
Spring
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Nowak, E. (PI)
Ilchuk, Y. (PI)
Virker, A. (TA)
PHIL 100
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
12:00 PM
1:20 PM
Sparling, R. (TA)
Apsel, L. (PI)
Bobonich, C. (PI)
PHIL 102
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
Wong-Taylor, G. (PI)
Hall, Z. (TA)
PHIL 137
Winter
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Hills, D. (PI)
PHIL 165
Winter
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Ryckman, T. (PI)
PHIL 167D
Winter
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
9:00 AM
10:20 AM
Cao, R. (PI)
PHIL 170
Winter
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Lichter, A. (PI)
PHIL 180
Winter
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Teitel, T. (PI)
PHIL 181B
Winter
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Crimmins, M. (PI)

WAY-AQR: Applied Quantitative Reasoning

No courses offered in the current year.

WAY-CE: Creative Expression

No courses offered in the current year.

WAY-EDP: Exploring Difference and Power

No courses offered in the current year.

WAY-ER: Ethical Reasoning

PHIL 2
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
Gottlieb, D. (TA)
Luo, A. (TA)
Madigan, T. (PI)
Spencer, L. (TA)
Bible, M. (TA)
Kang, S. (TA)
Tricks, T. (TA)
PHIL 2
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Madigan, T. (PI)
PHIL 72
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
PHIL 74A
Spring
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
11:30 AM
12:50 PM
Madigan, T. (PI)
PHIL 82
Winter
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday Friday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Sahami, M. (PI)
Reich, R. (PI)
PHIL 170
Winter
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Lichter, A. (PI)
PHIL 171
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Coyne, B. (PI)
Sugarman, E. (TA)
DeJarnett, C. (TA)
Salamanca, E. (TA)
Scott, E. (TA)
Steffann, O. (TA)
Townsend, K. (TA)
PHIL 171P
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
Coyne, B. (PI)
Kay, J. (TA)
PHIL 176P
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Coyne, B. (PI)

WAY-FR: Formal Reasoning

PHIL 49
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Hussain, N. (PI)
PHIL 99
Winter
2025 - 2026
Wednesday Friday
10:30 AM
11:20 AM
Frank, M. (PI)
Krejci, B. (PI)
Goodman, N. (PI)
PHIL 99
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
Wu, J. (PI)
PHIL 150
Autumn
2025 - 2026
Monday Wednesday
3:00 PM
4:20 PM
Icard, T. (PI)
Goddu, M. (TA)
Bassett, R. (TA)
Konstantinou, K. (TA)
Van Steertegem, C. (TA)
Skott, A. (PI)
PHIL 151
Winter
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Icard, T. (PI)
PHIL 154
Spring
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
1:30 PM
2:50 PM
van Benthem, J. (PI)

WAY-SMA: Scientific Method and Analysis

PHIL 165
Winter
2025 - 2026
Tuesday Thursday
10:30 AM
11:50 AM
Ryckman, T. (PI)

WAY-SI: Social Inquiry

No courses offered in the current year.