PHILOSOPHY
Social Sciences
PHIL A201 Practical Logic 3 crs.
This course will introduce the student to the application of practical logical techniques in the analysis and formulation of rational arguments. Topics will include how to find premises and conclusions in an argument, definitions, informal fallacies, syllogisms, Venn diagrams, induction, Mill’s methods, etc.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A206 Introduction to Symbolic Logic 3 crs.
This course is an introduction to the techniques of symbolic logic in argument analysis and to the science of logic as the analysis of formal deductive systems.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A210 Metaphysics 3 crs.
This course is a historical and theoretical examination of the question, "What does it mean to be?" or "What is reality, as distinct from mere appearance?" The course begins with a study of ancient philosophical explanations of reality and goes on to study the historical evolution of both the problem of metaphysics and its various resolutions.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A215 Ethics 3 crs.
This course is a historical and problematic investigation of traditional ethical positions and texts, especially focusing on teleological, deontological theories, and virtue ethics and on contemporary responses to them.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A220 Epistemology 3 crs.
This course takes a historical and problematic approach to the problems of knowledge, with emphasis on the main theories of knowledge in ancient and modern philosophy as well as contemporary discussions of the nature of knowledge.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A225 Philosophy of Law 3 crs.
This course is an inquiry into the nature of law, the relevance of law to morality, the concepts of responsibility in the law, punishment, and the relevance to law of the concepts of justice, equality, and liberty. The philosophical assumptions that underlie criminal law and private law will be explored. Readings will be taken from classical and recent philosophers of law.
PHIL A300 Philosophy of Science 3 crs.
This course is an introduction to basic themes of recent philosophy of science including scientific methodology, concepts and presuppositions. Through an examination of different models of scientific explanation, the course will expose the student to problems of justifying scientific theories, and the relationship between theories and reality.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A307 Philosophy of Mind 3 crs.
This course examines different theories of the nature of mind. It begins with an examination of the traditional mind-body problem in the works of Descartes. It will subsequently explore alternative positions which have been presented by Descartes’ contemporaries in the classical period, as well as contemporaries of our own. Emphasis will be placed on such areas as mind-body identity/interaction, brain process, language, perception, sensation, emotion, personal identity, and free will.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A320 Social and Political Philosophy 3 crs.
This course is an inquiry into the origin, nature, and necessity of political order. The relation of the individual to the social and political whole, the origin, nature, and just use of political authority, the nature of rights and duty, the problem of freedom, and the philosophical prerequisites of a just social order will be treated.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A400 History of Ancient Philosophy 3 crs.
The Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicurians, Sceptics, Stoics, Plotinus, and early Christian thought are discussed.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A405 History of Medieval Philosophy 3 crs.
Historical study of the main ideas of the medieval period from St. Augustine to the Renaissance.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A410 History of Modern European Philosophy 3 crs.
This course will discuss readings from works of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
PHIL A416 History of 19th-century Philosophy 3 crs.
A survey of the major traditions in post-Kantian philosophy ending with Nietzsche, the course will explore the interrelations between different themes in 19th-century thought and how they laid the foundation for 20th-century philosophy.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A430 American Philosophy 3 crs.
This course is a study of the philosophies of Pierce, James, Dewey, Royce, Santayana, Mead, Lewis, and Whitehead, with emphasis on the emergence of classical American philosophy as a response to philosophic, social, and scientific developments.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A435 Existentialism 3 crs.
This course examines the treatment of the characteristic existential themes as exemplified in the writings of Kierkegard, Nietzsche, Heideggar, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A440 Phenomenology 3 crs.
This course treats the problems which gave rise to contemporary phenomenology, existential phenomenology, and hermeneutic phenomenology, and various writers in that tradition, such as Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, and Ricoeur.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A455 Marx and Technology 3 crs.
This course is an examination of Marx’s theory in the light of contemporary technology and an evaluation of technology in terms of Marxian theory.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A465 Introduction to Analytic Philosophy 3 crs.
This course is a study of the movement of 20th-century Anglo-American analytic philosophy as practiced by Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, the logical positivists, ordinary language analysts, Quine, and contemporary language analysts.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL A493 Seminar: Major Author 3 crs.
This course is an in-depth analysis of the thought of a major philosopher. Content varies.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
PHIL A495 Special Project arr.
This project focuses on the creative or productive efforts of one or more students. A special project is distinguished from a research project in its lack of the historical or experimental method and perspective characteristics of research.
PHIL A496 Seminar/Workshop arr.
In a seminar, a supervised group of students share the results of their research on a common topic. In a workshop, a supervised group of students participate in a common effort.
PHIL A497 Senior Research Project arr.
This senior research seminar is a requirement for all philosophy majors and minors, to be taken during the senior year. Students pursue their own research interests, following self-assessments of their portfolios near the beginning of the course (to ascertain inquiries in need of development). Participants share and discuss the philosophical issues raised by their research in progress under the direction of the course instructor. All students are expected to produce final papers of high quality.
PHIL A498 Position Paper Seminar 3 crs.
Every week each seminar member writes a two-page paper expressing his/her tentative position on a major question from the philosophy of person, knowledge, conduct, and God. The papers are discussed with other seminar members and the director, then unified in a final synthesis paper on which the student is examined orally by three philosophy teachers.
PHIL A499 Independent Study arr.
PHIL H233 Honors Philosophy I: Ethics 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: University Honors Program
This course examines questions in ethics. The student will be introduced to philosophical inquiry through an investigation of basic ethical questions. The course will include some reading of primary texts and the examination of some contemporary ethical problems.
PHIL H234 Honors Philosophy II: Metaphysics 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: University Honors Program
This course examines questions in metaphysics. It will include a historical and theoretical examination of such questions as "What does it mean to be?" and "What is reality, as distinct from mere appearance?"
PHIL H235 Honors Philosophy III: Epistemology 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: University Honors Program
This course examines questions in the theory of knowledge. Involved is an intensive examination of basic issues concerning the foundations and justification of human knowledge, with a focus on such topics as perception, truth, and meaning.
PHIL H236 Honors Philosophy– Scientific Revolutions 3 crs.
The philosophical analysis of natural science has developed, in the past 40 years, from a field dominated by a single "received view" to an arena of volatile debate with no single dominant contender for an acceptable model of scientific knowledge. This course examines the somewhat chaotic present state of this pivotal debate in late 20th-century intellectual history and its implications for basic questions regarding knowledge, reality, and both cognitive and social values.
Students may not receive credit for both this course and PHIL V164, Scientific Revolutions.
PHIL T122 Introduction to Philosophy 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Introductory
This course will introduce the student to philosophy through a consideration of selected fundamental questions of ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics, as seen in the thoughts and writings of significant philosophers.
PHIL U130 Aesthetics 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
This course offers an introduction to the major issues of aesthetics. Topics for consideration include: a brief survey of the history of art, the nature of art, the nature of beauty, the criterion for aesthetic goodness, the interpretation of artwork, metaphor and representation in art, and the aesthetic experience.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL U137 Indian Philosophy 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
A survey of philosophical traditions of India. This course is designed to help the student to extend his/her knowledge to the wisdom of the East. The study includes the philosophies of the Vedas, Upanisads, Buddhism, Jainism, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankhya, Yoga, Vedanta, Bhagauadgita, and of some contemporary thinkers such as Aurobindo, Vivekanada, Tagore, Gandhi, and Radhakrishnan.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL U138 Philosophy and Literature 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
This course acquaints students with the multifarious relationship between philosophy and literature as staged in some seminal texts of philosophy. The course also demonstrates that (the definition of) literature has often been inscribed in philosophical frameworks by tracing some concepts (metaphor, work, text, author) central to both philosophy and literature/literary theory.
PHIL U139 Divine Madness 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
This course is an exploration of the relationship among philosophy, mysticism, and madness following the theme of theosis (divine madness) introduced by Plato through a selective reading of the history of philosophy, Christian mysticism, and modern psychology.
PHIL U154 Postmodernism and Feminism 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
Masculinity and femininity are no longer accepted as fixed positions within ontologies mapped out by man’s objectifying look. Postmodernist deconstruction of traditional engendered representations discloses the exchangeability of genders and thus works toward a liberation of the "engendered subject" in the multitudinous affinities between beings.
Prerequisites: PHIL T122, ENGL T122.
PHIL U158 Philosophical Anthropology 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
This course acquaints students with basic issues in the philosophy of human nature. It also teaches students to think critically and constructively about philosophies of human nature by drawing out the implications of basic statements about the nature of human beings.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL U160 Worldviews and Ethics 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
Our morality cannot be divorced from our understanding of reality. This course will explore how our view of reality affects our moral judgments by examining the worldviews and moralities of both the ancient Greeks and subsequent Christian philosophers. Readings will be taken from Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL U162 Classics in Moral Literature 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Pre-modern
This course is a study of classics that reflect the gradual transformation of moral consciousness in antiquity, including readings from Plato and Aristotle. The implications of ancient moral thought and its abandonment by modernity will be examined in two classics of modern moral literature, one from Kant and the other from Nietzsche.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V134 Medical Ethics 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
After a brief introduction to some basic principles useful in moral decision making, the course introduces the student to problems of general interest in bioethics such as: experimentation on humans, relations of patients and health care professionals, just allocation of health care, refusal of lifesaving treatment/euthanasia, abortion, and moral problems surrounding assisted reproduction, developments in genetics (e.g., cloning), etc.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V135 Philosophy of Right 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This course is a philosophical expose of the life, struggles, death, and ultimate transformation of the concept of "right." The central issue of the course: Is the violation of a human right a crime against nature?
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V140 European World Views 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This course attempts to clarify the philosophical framework underlying contemporary thought, expression, and science in contrast to the framework of the modern period of philosophy (17th — 18th centuries) by investigating four or five contemporary European philosophers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Marcel, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V141 Philosophical Perspective on Woman 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This course covers the philosophical development of three feminist theories–liberal, Marxist, and radical feminism. Various philosophical frameworks that have served as the basis of feminist critiques, such as positivism, liberalism, Marxism, functionalism, existentialism, and Freudism are discussed. Students will address critically a number of women’s issues, including women’s self-concept, their biology, their place in the public sphere, and their representation in language and culture.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V143 Environmental Philosophy 3 crs.
Common Curriculum; Humanities/Arts Modern
This course offers an overview of the environmental crisis and evaluates the leading contemporary philosophical accounts of both the origins of the crisis and the ethical orientations needed for its resolution.
PHIL V152 Making Moral Decisions 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This course treats the nature of personal and moral decision making leading to consideration of some ethical positions influential on the current philosophical scene (e.g., teleology, Kantian deontology, utilitarianism, natural law theory, etc.) and their application to contemporary moral problems.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V173 Auschwitz and After 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
The annihilation of six million European Jews by the Nazi totalitarian state constitutes the subject matter of the course. After exploring the history of anti-Semitism and the Nazi destruction process, the course turns to the ethical, religious, and philosophical dilemma posed by this mass murder.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V177 Minds and Machines 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This is a course in philosophy that focuses on the structures and nature of human consciousness. It will serve as an introduction to contemporary discussion and issues associated with the philosophy of mind. Criteria for determining the nature and structure of consciousness will be developed through models employed in computers by artificial intelligence programs. No computer experience is required for this course.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V178 Philosophy of God 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This course will treat the existence and the nature of God according to the philosophies of Kant, Anselm, Aquinas, and Whitehead. Among the topics of discussion will be: atheism, agnosticism, theism, and the process philosophy.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V180 Freedom and Oppression 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
This course covers the conceptual relationship of freedom and oppression, how the philosophical limits of the former determine our understanding of the latter and hence, our ability to resolve the problems of oppression. Readings in Marx, Skinner, and Camus will disclose the three major conceptions of freedom presupposed in actions and concerns of modern humans.
Prerequisite: PHIL T122.
PHIL V186 Religious Experience and Philosophy 3 crs.
Common Curriculum: Humanities/Arts Modern
Accounts of religious experience unfold their fundamental meaning and structures in relation to those of human experience in general. Students will come to understand explicitly the nature, limits and implications, and the foundations in existence of religious experience.
PHIL C122 Introduction to Philosophy 3 crs.
This course will introduce the student to philosophy through a consideration of selected fundamental questions and methodologies as seen in the thoughts and writings of significant philosophers.
PHIL C269 Bioethics 3 crs.
This course is a study of the ways in which the principles of moral decision-making can be applied to such moral issues as abortion, euthanasia, defective newborns, death, dying, experimentation on humans and animals, placebos, genetic engineering, behavior modification, cloning, interpretations of health and disease, and the allocation of social resources.
PHIL C364 Moral Decisions 3 crs.
This course is an examination of such questions as: What is good and what is evil? Which actions are right and which actions are wrong? Are people morally responsible? Contemporary moral issues such as abortion, capital punishment, sexual equality, discrimination, sexual integrity, pornography, economic injustice, and ecological responsibility are treated in the light of major ethical theories.
PHIL C366 Technology and Human Values 3 crs.
A study of the relationships among technology, social change, and human values, this course includes analyses of several visions of the promises and threats of technology and a survey of the history of technology. Other topics include human nature, freedom, the impact of technology upon nature, and alternative technologies.
PHIL C368 Environmental Ethics 3 crs.
This course is an exploration of the developing fields of environmental ethics. Topics include issues and concepts in environmental ethics (including the animal rights debate); individualistic and holistic theories; views of major ecophilosophies on environmental issues, ecological crisis, and human responsibilities toward nature.
PHIL C369 Environmental Philosophy 3 crs.
The goal of this course is to help the student reflect on the concepts of nature, ecology, and environment, and on the relationship between the person, humanity, and the natural world. We investigate concepts of nature and of humanity’s place in nature in Western thought, in Eastern traditions and in indigenous cultures. We also examine the role of images and conceptions of nature in the history of social, political, and economic institutions, and discuss the ways in which views of nature may perform both ideological and liberatory functions.
PHIL C463 Eastern Philosophy 3 crs.
This course is an introduction to major traditions in Asian philosophy. Philosophies studied include Vedanta, Confucianism, Daoism, Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Zen.