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PHIL 1. The Examined Life: An Introduction to Philosophy (4)
What makes a life meaningful, what makes it worth living? In pursuit of an answer to this question this course examines many of the basic questions of philosophy: ethical questions about justice and virtue, epistemological questions about the limits of human knowledge, metaphysical questions about what there is. (HU)
PHIL 3. (REL 3) Global Religion, Global Ethics (4)
Introduction to philosophical and religious modes of moral thinking, with attention given to ethical issues as they arise cross-culturally in and through religious traditions. The course will reference the United Nations Millennium Goals to consider family life and the role of women, social justice, the environment, and ethical ideals. Particular focus varies but may include one or more of the following: abortion and reproductive health, the death penalty, religiously motivated violence, and problems of personal disorder (heavy drinking, anorexia, vengeance). A Global Citizenship course. Steffen (HU)
PHIL 5. Contemporary Moral Problems (4)
An examination of contemporary issues that raise questions about right and wrong, good and bad, both for individuals and for social policy, using the methods, theories, and concepts of moral philosophy. Issues addressed might include abortion, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide for dying patients, punishment and the death penalty, sexual orientation, world hunger and poverty, welfare, the treatment of animals, terrorism and war, racial and sexual discrimination, affirmative action, pornography and hate speech, and the relation of humans to the natural environment. Dillon (HU)
PHIL 8. (GCP 8) Ethics in Global Perspectives (4)
Economic, political, cultural, and ideological globalization presents two ethical challenges: (1) Are there universally acceptable answers to the question of how humans should live their lives? That is, can there be a global ethics? (2) What are justifiable responses to the variety of moral issues facing the peoples of the world as a result of current globalizaton? This course addresses the first question by examining the moral perspectives of a variety of different ethical outlooks, including Euro-American, Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, African, and Islamic traditions. The second question is addressed by examining a number of serious moral problems arising from globalization, including the increasing gap between the rich so-called First World nations and the poor so-called Third World nations, global environment degradation, and war and terrorism. Dillon (HU)
PHIL 100. (POLS 100) Introduction to Political Thought (4)
Some of the most significant ancient and modern political theorists: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, and others. Matthews (ND)
PHIL 101. (POLS 101) Ancient Political Heritage (4)
Important Political thinkers from the pre-Socratics to early, modern political theorists like Machiavelli. Matthews (SS)
PHIL 102. (POLS 102) Modern Political Heritage (4)
Begins where POLS 101 ends; from early modern theorists (e.g. Hobbes) up to contemporary thinkers (e.g. Marcuse). (SS)
PHIL 105. Ethics (4)
Examination of right and wrong, good and bad, from classic sources such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill and Nietzsche. (HU)
PHIL 114. Fundamentals of Logic (4)
Introduction to formal deductive logic, involving the construction of logical proofs in a system of natural deduction with some attention to the philosophy of logic. (MA)
PHIL 116. (REL 116) Bioethics (4)
Moral issues that arise in the context of health care and related biomedical fields in the United States today, examined in the light of the nature and foundation of moral rights and obligations. Topics include: confidentiality, informed consent, euthanasia, medical research and experimentation, genetics, the distribution of health care, etc. (HU)
PHIL 117. (AMST 117) Race and Philosophy (4)
An introduction to the philosophy born of struggle against racism and white supremacy. We will read the work of philosophers, mostly European, who quietly made modern racism possible by inventing the category of race, but we will concentrate on the work of philosophers, mostly of African descent, who for 200 years have struggled to force a philosophical critique of the category of race and the practice of white supremacy. (HU)
PHIL 121. Philosophy in Literature (4)
Exploration of philosophical themes through the study of literature and film. Authors may include: Homer, Euripides, Dante, Rimbaud, Sterne, George Eliot, Valery, Joyce, Melville, T.S. Eliot, Rilke, Proust, Musil, Stevens, Cummings, Camus, Sartre, Beckett, Morrison, Barthelme. (HU)
PHIL 122. Philosophy of Law (4)
Analysis of the conceptual foundations of our legal system. Special attention devoted to the nature of law and legal obligation, liberty and privacy in constitutional litigation, justice and contractual obligation, theories of punishment in criminal law, and the nature and scope of responsibility in criminal law. (HU)
PHIL 123. Aesthetics (4)
Theories, classical and modern, of the nature of beauty and the aesthetic experience. Practical criticism of some works of art, and examination of analogies between arts, and between art and nature. (HU)
PHIL 124. (REL 124) Reason and Religious Experience (4)
Critical examination, from a philosophical perspective, of some fundamental problems of religion, the nature of religious experience and belief, reason and revelation, the existence and nature of God, the problem of evil, and religious truth. (HU)
PHIL 126. (Hum 126, REL 126) Professional Ethics (4)
An examination of the moral rules and action guides that govern various professions. Professions to be examined will include health (physician and nursing); legal; counseling and psychiatry; engineering; military; clergy; teaching. Attention will be given to modes of ethical reasoning and how those modes are practically applied in professional life and activity. Among issues to be discussed, will be the limits of confidentiality; employer authority; power relationships; obligations to the public; professional rights; sexual boundaries; whistle-blowing; safety and risk; computer ethics; weapons development; discrimination; professional review of ethical infractions. Course will include guest lectures and case studies. Steffen (HU)
PHIL 127. Existentialism (4)
Investigation of the historical development of existentialism from its origins in the 19th century (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche) through its marriage to phenomenology in the early 20th (Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty), and out the other side as a vigorous dimension of much literary, psychological, and artistic work produced in the last 50 years. (HU)
PHIL 128. Philosophy of Science (4)
Introduction to the structure and methods of scientific investigation. The nature of explanation, confirmation, and falsification. Scientific progress: What is it? Would it be suffocated by obedience to completely rational methods? (HU)
PHIL 129. (REL 129) Jewish Philosophy (4)
Consideration of how major Jewish thinkers from the first to 20th centuries confronted questions at the intersection of religion and philosophy: the existence and nature of God, free will, evil, divine providence, miracles, creation, revelation, and religious obligation. (HU)
PHIL 131. (CLSS 131) Ancient Philosophy (4)
Historical survey of selected texts and issues in the classical world, from the pre-Socratics through Aristotle, with emphasis on the origins of the western philosophical traditions in ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. (HU)
PHIL 132. (CLSS 132) Hellenistic Philosophy (4)
Historical survey of selected texts and issues in Post-Aristotelian Greek and Roman philosophy from the fourth century B.C. to the third century A.D. Areas of focus may include epicureanism, stoicism, academic and pyrrohnian scepticism, and neoplatonism. (HU)
PHIL 133. Medieval Philosophy (4)
Historical survey of selected texts and issues in western philosophy from the fourth to 14th centuries. Attention will be given to the relation between developments in medieval philosophy and major currents in ancient and modern thought. Figures may include Augustine, Eriugena, Anselm, Aquinas, Ockham, and Nicholas of Autrecourt. (HU)
PHIL 135. Modern Philosophy (4)
Historical survey of selected texts and issues in 17th and 18th century European philosophy with particular emphasis on developments in epistemology and metaphysics. Attention will be given to the relation of the "modern period" to developments in late medieval philosophy and the rise of the experimental sciences. Figures may include Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, and Kant. (HU)
PHIL 137. (Hum 137, REL 137) Ethics in Practice (1-4)
A variable content course focusing on ethical issues arising in a particular profession, such as law health, business, engineering, military. Variable credit. May be taken more than once. Steffen (HU)
PHIL 139. Contemporary Philosophy (4)
Philosophical thought from the late-19th century to the present; pragmatism, linguistic analysis, existentialism, and Marxism. Truth and knowledge, values and moral judgement, meaning, the place of the individual in the physical world and society, and the impact of the scientific method upon all of these. (HU)
PHIL 140. (ASIA 140) Eastern Philosophy (4)
Survey of selected texts and issues in the eastern philosophical traditions. Attention will be given to the development and interrelations of these traditions as well as a comparison of western and eastern treatments of selected issues. Areas of focus may include Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. (HU)
PHIL 205. Contemporary Ethics (4)
Examination of significant questions addressed by contemporary moral philosophers. Topics vary, but might include: What is a good person? Can a woman be good in the same way as a man? Is morality relative or absolute? Is morality all that important? Prerequisite: PHIL 105 or consent of the instructor. (HU)
PHIL 217. (AMST 217) Figures/Themes in Race and Philosophy (4)
An investigation of a significant figure in the philosophy of race (e.g. David Walker, W.E.B. DuBois, Alain Locke, Marcus Garvey, Jean-Paul Sartre, Franz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Cornel West) and/or an investigation of a significant theme in the philosophy of race (Racial Exploitation, Colonialism, Negritude, Afrocentrism, Black Nationalism, African Philosophy, Black Athena). Content Varies. May be taken more than once for credit.(HU)
PHIL 220. Knowledge and Justification (4)
Recent work in epistemology. Questions addressed include: If you can't know whether you are dreaming, how can you know you have two hands? Does knowledge require answers to all possible doubts or only all reasonable doubts? How should we determine the horizon of the reasonable-psychologically or philosophically? (HU)
PHIL 223. Figures/Themes in Aesthetics (4)
An investigation of a significant figure in aesthetics (e.g., Burke, Kant, Hegel, Benjamin, Adorno, Goodman, Kivy, Derrida, Deleuze) and/or an investigation of a significant theme in aesthetics (e.g., sensuality, representation, politics, expressionism, cinematic gore, minimalism, architecture, post-modernism). Content varies. May be taken more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 224. (REL 224) Topics in the Philosophy of Religion (4)
Selected problems and issues in the philosophy of religion. Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 226. (WS 226) Feminism and Philosophy (4)
Analysis of the nature, sources, and consequences of the oppression and exploitation of women and justification of strategies for liberation. Topics include women's nature and human nature, sexism, femininity, sexuality, reproduction, mothering. Prerequisite: At least one previous course in philosophy or women's studies. (HU)
PHIL 228. Topics in the Philosophy of Science (4)
Themes in the natural, life and social sciences. May be repeated for credit as topic varies. Prerequisite: PHIL 128 or consent of the department chair. (HU)
PHIL 231. (CLSS 231) Figures/Themes in Ancient Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve in-depth focus upon a major ancient thinker (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Sextus Empiricus, Plotinus, etc.) or the classical treatment of a particular theme (e.g. "human nature," "the good life," ethical or political theory, etc.). Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 232. (CLSS 232) Figures/Themes in Hellenistic Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve an in-depth focus upon a major movement in Hellenistic Philosophy (roughly 4th century B.C.E. to the 2nd Century C.E.) such as Epicureanism, Stoicism, Ancient Scepticism, or Neoplatonism, or the Hellenistic treatment of a particular theme (e.g. freedom from anxiety, the nature of the Cosmos and our place within it, or human nature). Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. Mendelson (HU)
PHIL 233. Figures/Themes in Medieval Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve in-depth focus upon a major medieval thinker (e.g. Augustine, Boethius, Maimonides, Bonaventure, Dante, etc.) or the medieval treatment of a particular theme (e.g. the relation of "will" and "intellect," the "problem of universals," ethical or political theory, etc.). Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 235. Figures/Themes in Modern Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve in-depth focus upon a major 17th or 18th century thinker (e.g. Descartes, Leibniz, Berkeley, Kant, etc.) or the modern treatment of a particular theme (e.g. the nature of "ideas," the roles of experience, reason, and revelation, ethical or political theory, etc.). Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 237. Figures/Themes in Nineteenth Century Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve in-depth focus upon a major 19th century thinker (e.g. Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Mill, Peirce, Frege, Nietzsche, James, etc.) or the 19th century treatment of a particular theme (e.g. the end of history, revolution, nihilism, authenticity, origins of mathematical logic, infinity, etc.). Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 239. Figures/Themes in Contemporary Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve in-depth focus upon a major contemporary thinker (e.g. Russell, Whitehead, Husserl, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Quine, Habermas, Rawls, Rorty, Derrida, Davidson, Foucault, Deleuze, Irigaray, etc.) or the contemporary treatment of a particular theme (e.g. logical positivism, naturalism, non-foundationalism, existential phenomenology, return to virtue, neo-pragmatism, hermeneutics, post-structuralism, post-modernism, neo-kantian political theory, the politics of identity, etc.). Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 240. (ASIA 240) Figures/Themes in Eastern Philosophy (4)
This seminar course will involve in-depth focus upon a major figure in Eastern thought or upon the Eastern treatment of a particular theme or set of themes. Content varies. May be repeated more than once for credit. (HU)
PHIL 250. The Minds of Robots and Other People (4)
Is the nature of thinking illuminated by what computers can do? Is the brain just a complex computer? Could a robot feel pain? Be angry? Recent work in artificial intelligence, psychology, and philosophy. (HU)
PHIL 260. Philosophy of Language (4)
Analysis of the nature of the correspondence between the words we use and the world in which we live. Our unifying theme is the quest for an understanding of truth, conceived as a peculiar relation between language and reality. We examine such central notions as meaning and reference, as understood in historically influential philosophical theories of language. (HU)
PHIL 265. Philosophy of Mathematics (4)
Survey of metaphysical and epistemological issues from the philosophy of mathematics, with emphasis on the arguments on behalf of mathematical platonism, conventionalism, and psychologism. It is highly recommended that students take PHIL 114 and a year of calculus, or otherwise acquire comparable formal background, prior to this course. (HU)
PHIL 273. Ariadne: Internship (2)
An internship devoted to the construction and maintenance of Ariadne, an on-line, web-based, undergraduate journal of philosophy. Responsibilities will include research; publicizing the project nationally and locally; reviewing, selecting, and formatting manuscripts for publication; and various other administrative and editorial activities. Some students may also be involved in the initial states of constructing Dionysos, an externally refereed, on-line, web-based professional journal of the history of philosophy. Prerequisite: Department permission required: previous coursework in philosophy expected. May be repeated more than once for credit. (ND)
PHIL 290. Independent Study (1-4)
Individual philosophical investigation of an author, book, or topic designed in collaboration with a faculty sponsor. Tutorial meetings; substantial written work. May be repeated more than once for credit. Consent of faculty sponsor required. (ND)
PHIL 303. (MATH 303) Mathematical Logic (3-4)
A course, on a mathematically mature level, designed not only to acquaint the student with logical techniques used in mathematics but also to present symbolic logic as an important adjunct to the study of the foundations of mathematics. Prerequisite for non-math majors: PHIL 114 (MA)
PHIL 347. (REL 347 and AMST 347) American Religions Thinkers (4)
An examination of the writings of key figures in the history of American religious thought (such as Edwards, Emerson, Bushnell, Peirce, James, Royce, Dewey and the Niebuhrs). Attention will be directed both to the historical reception of these writings and to their contemporary significance. Raposa (HU)
PHIL 364. (POLS 364) Issues in Contemporary Political Philosophy (4)
Selected topics in contemporary political philosophy, such as the Frankfurt school, existentialism, legitimation, authenticity, participatory democracy, and the alleged decline of political philosophy. May be repeated for credit with consent of the political science chair. (SS)
PHIL 367. (POLS 367) American Political Thought (4)
Critical examination of American political thought from the founding of the Republic to the present. Writings from Madison, Hamilton, and Jefferson to Emma Goldman, Mary Daly, Malcolm X, Henry Kariel, and others will be discussed. (SS)
PHIL 371. Advanced Independent Study (1-4)
Individual philosophical investigation of an author, book, or topic designed in collaboration with a faculty sponsor. Tutorial meetings; substantial written work. May be repeated more than once for credit. Consent of faculty sponsor required. (ND)
PHIL 373. (Hum 373, REL 373) Independent Ethics Project (4)
Supervised ethics research into a topic approved by the advisor for the Humanities Minor in Ethics. An option for completing the ethics minor. For ethics minors only. (HU)
PHIL 390. Senior Thesis (2)
The first part of two semesters of intensive research and writing guided by a faculty sponsor in anticipation of completing a senior thesis in philosophy. Individual tutorials; substantial written work. Senior standing as philosophy major and consent of faculty sponsor required. (ND)
PHIL 391. Senior Thesis (4)
Continuation and completion of PHIL 390 under the guidance of a faculty sponsor. Prerequisites: PHIL 390; consent of faculty sponsor required. (ND)