Students argued about sincerity, genetics, free-will, No Child Left Behind law, Christianity and common-sense morality. They cited history, posed questions and made constructive criticisms.

``I like to question things - why we do things, why people think a certain way,'' said Jeremy Redlien, 24, a junior majoring in math and philosophy at the State University College at Oneonta.

Redlien, of Otego, presented a paper at the recent 13th annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at SUCO. The conference attracted 325 to 350 people, including 200 to 250 SUCO students, organizers said.

More college students are studying philosophy, professors at State University College and Hartwick College in Oneonta said. The increase reflects a national trend reported a week ago in The New York Times, which said Rutgers University, recognized for a top-ranked philosophy department, has 100 philosophy majors graduating this year, up from 50 in 2002.

At the Oneonta conference, selected students presented 27 papers, organizers said, and participants came from schools across North America.

Douglas W. Shrader, distinguished teaching professor and chairman of the philosophy department at SUCO, said: "The term `philosophy,' which means `love of wisdom,' was coined by Pythagoras to describe his passionate quest to learn about himself as well as the world in which he lived. Philosophers are frequently concerned with basic issues of human existence, worth and happiness.''

Of about 5,500 students at SUCO, 40 are philosophy majors this year, an increase of 29 percent since 2002, Shrader said. The number of majors has doubled since 2000, quadrupled since 1990 and grown eight-fold since 1980, he said.

``Many people tend to think of philosophy classes as small seminars for an elite few, but statistics tell a rather different story,'' Shrader said.