50:730:101 Introduction to Reasoning and Persuasion (Gen Ed: LQR)
Development of skills in reasoning. Consideration of what an argument is, how arguments go wrong, and what makes an argument valid. Application of techniques for clarifying meaning, evaluating, and constructing arguments. Enrollment not open to students who have taken 50:730:201.
50:730:105 Introduction to Current Moral and Social Issues (Gen Ed: EAV)
Introduction to moral theory and application to selected contemporary issues. Possible topics include abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, punishment, equality, sexism, racism, affirmative action, privacy, obligations to the world’s needy, treatment of animals, drug use, and the meaning of life.
50:730:111 Introduction to Philosophy (Gen Ed: EAV)
An exploration of central philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind, and person, with a view to surveying the field and locating particular philosophical specialties within it such as logic, ethics, and metaphysics.
50:730:190 Reading Seminar (1 credit)
In this small, seminar-style course, students will work through either one significant book or a similarly substantive collection of essays, with the topic varying by semester. Students will engage in intensive close reading of the philosophical texts, identifying particular arguments, premises, and claims for assessment during student discussion in the seminar meetings. The course meets for 1/3 the time of a regular course, that is, on average one hour a week (or two hours every other week). This course can be repeated up to three times for credit. (Note that there is also a similar course in Religion, 50:840:190, which can be taken up to an additional three times).
50:730:195 Diversity (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education diversity requirement.
50:730:196 Engaged Civic Learning (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education engaged civic learning requirement.
50:730:197 Experiential Learning (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education experiential learning requirement.
50:730:198 Writing (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education writing requirement.
50:730:201 Introduction to Logic (Gen Ed: LQR)
An introduction to modern symbolic logic, with an emphasis on methods for the evaluation and construction of deductive arguments, and on the concepts of validity, consistency, and implication. Additional topics may be selected from among the following: informal fallacies, logic and ordinary language, induction, the scientific method, syllogistic logic, and the relation between logic and other areas in philosophy.
50:730:211 History of Philosophy I (Gen Ed: HAC)
The beginnings and early developments of Western philosophy. Readings selected from among the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Sextus-Empiricus, Plotinus, Augustine, Maimonides, Aquinas, and Occam. Topics may include the nature of argument, knowledge, political loyalty and political dissent, justice, normative ethics, causality, the nature of the self, and the existence of God.
50:730:212 History of Philosophy II (Gen Ed: HAC) (Sample Syllabus)
The development of philosophy from its modern beginnings in Descartes. Readings selected from the classical modern period, from Descartes through Kant. Topics include the relationship between mind and body, the origins and extent of human knowledge, skepticism and belief, and the nature of personal identity.
50:730:215 Eastern Philosophies (Gen Ed: GCM)
An introduction to the philosophical traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, focusing on the issues of metaphysics, mysticism, epistemology, ethics, and the nature of consciousness.
50:730:216 Africana Philosophy (Gen Ed: GCM)
Africana (or African-American) philosophy, the modern intellectual tradition of the African diaspora in North America and the Caribbean, deals with philosophical issues related to identity, race, and culture; the phenomenon and experience of oppression and liberation; and contemporary philosophical concerns about the black past, present, and future.
50:730:218 American Philosophy (Gen Ed: USW) (Sample Syllabus)
Introduction to the contributions of American philosophers in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries to inquiries into the nature of experience, truth, goodness, and society, with particular attention paid to the tradition of American pragmatism. Readings selected from among Emerson, Peirce, James, Dewey, Mead, Royce, Lewis, Rorty, and Putnam.
50:730:220 Mind, Knowledge, and Reality
An investigation of fundamental problems in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Topics addressed include the nature of the mind, its relation to the world, and the possibilities for knowledge.
50:730:221 Nature of Mind (Gen Ed: EAV)
What is the mind? Is it part of physical reality, or something separate? Can science explain the nature of the mind? Is it possible for a properly programmed computer to have a mind? If the mind is completely physical, is it located entirely in the brain? We will investigate these questions, and contrast philosophical approaches to them with the methods employed in neuroscience and empirical psychology.
50:730:222 Self and Identity (Gen Ed: EAV)
An exploration of the nature of the self, with emphasis on the conditions for remaining the same person over time and the relation between selfhood and moral responsibility.
50:730:226 Ethics (Gen Ed: EAV) (Sample Syllabus)
An examination of fundamental issues in ethical theory through the works of contemporary philosophers and key figures in the History of ethics such as Aristotle, Kant, and Mill. Topics may include human goodness, moral obligation, rights and duties, the relation of happiness to duties, the idea of role obligations specific to professional contexts, and the possibility of objective justifications of value judgments as contrasted with views from moral nihilists, skeptics, and relativists.
50:730:227 Philosophy of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (Gen Ed: EAV and DIV) (Sample Syllabus)
Critical examination within social philosophy of sex, gender, and sexuality. Topics include ways we understand sexual attraction and desire, the relationship between biological sex and gender roles, ideas of femininity and masculinity as they are reinforced through cultural and social norms, the regulation of sexuality and marriage, the publicity of sex and sexuality, and the relationship and tension between multiculturalism and feminism. Class includes applications of concepts to contemporary debates concerning parenting, pornography, sex education, same sex marriage, harassment law, and sexual reassignment.
50:730:230 Philosophy of Love (Gen Ed: EAV)
This course examines the concept of love and its various expressions in philosophical and religious traditions. Topics include the different types of love according to classical sources; friendship; romantic love through monogamy and polyamory; parental and familial love; and love according to Christian, Confucian, Islamic, Hindu, and Jewish traditions. Fulfills general education requirement in Ethics and Values (EAV).
50:730:240 Debating Ethical Issues Across Disciplines (Gen Ed: EAV and XPL) (Sample Syllabus)
This course trains students in ethical reasoning and argumentation through both the study of ethics as a discipline and the practice of ethical debate in an ethics bowl competition. Students gain not only an understanding of ethical ideas and argumentation, but also skills in constructing arguments, oral communication, close reading, community outreach, and event organization.
50:730:249 Biomedical Ethics (Gen Ed: EAV) (Sample Syllabus)
Exploration of moral issues in medicine and medical research. Course will typically focus on issues raised by the creation and termination of life and include topics such as abortion, stem cell research, cloning, prenatal screening for disability, right to medical care, human experimentation, genetic enhancement and eugenics, animal experimentation, the diagnosis of death, and euthanasia.
50:730:250 Environmental Ethics
Exploration of ethical issues concerning the environment. Course will typically focus on issues raised by the moral justification for coercing individuals and corporations, just distribution of resources, moral rights of animals, and the study of topical issues such as clean air standards, population control, land use.
50:730:251 or 351 Ethics and Business (Gen Ed: EAV)
Social and moral problems that arise in the context of business: profit motive, corporate social responsibility, use and abuse of corporate power, truth in advertising, consumer rights, strikes, stockholders’ rights, preferential hiring. Contemporary case studies augmented with basic texts in ethics.
50:730:252 Eating Right: the Ethics of Food Choices and Food Policy (Gen Ed: EAV)
Exploration of ethical issues concerning individual food choices, food policies, and the cultural importance of culinary traditions. Course will analyze arguments concerning vegetarian and vegan diets, for organic and/or local food choices, and about policies we should collectively adopt to shape the processing, marketing, and sale of food within communities.
50:730:256 Philosophy of Literature
An exploration of philosophical questions about literature, including interpretation in criticism, the nature of critical evaluation, truth in fiction, and metaphor. Specific literary work selected to serve as a base for the discussion of these philosophical issues.
50:730:258 Philosophy of Law (Gen Ed: EAV)
Introduction to philosophical issues concerning the nature of law and its relation to morality and to power. Focuses on the concept of justice and punishment, the function of law, and types of legal argument. Legal materials include cases drawn from constitutional law, contracts, torts, and criminal law.
50:730:263 Philosophy and the Arts (Gen Ed: AAI)
Introduction to the major issues in the philosophy of art, with an emphasis on the implications of recent developments in film, music, painting, and digital media for art theory.
50:730:264 Philosophical Ideas in Film (Gen Ed: AAI)
An exploration of classic philosophical questions as represented in film. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) truth, skepticism, relativism, personal identity, determinism, artificial intelligence, and the problem of evil. Film representations of these classic questions will be identified and evaluated from the perspective of various philosophers, possibly including Plato, Russell, James, Descartes, Berkeley, Kant, Locke, Hume, and others.
50:730:265 Philosophy of Religion (Gen Ed: EAV)
Introduction to philosophical issues concerning religion including the existence and nature of God, the problem of evil, faith versus knowledge, mysticism, the problem of religious language, and attacks on religion by authors such as Hume, Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud.
50:730:268 Existentialisim
Critical examination of the works of existential philosophers and the ways in which their analysis of human existence affects their views of freedom, choice, and action. Authors may include Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jaspers, Buber, Marcel, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty.
50:730:290 Special Topics in Philosophy
50:730:295 Diversity (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education diversity requirement.
50:730:296 Engaged Civic Learning (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education engaged civic learning requirement.
50:730:297 Experiential Learning (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education experiential learning requirement.
50:730:298 Writing (0 credits)
Cross-listing number for occasional courses meeting the general education writing requirement.
50:730:301 Intermediate Logic
A continuation of 50:730:201, with an emphasis on application. Predicate logic with identity, soundness, and completeness. Topics selected from among axiomatic theories, nontruth-functional logics (such as modal, deontic, and epistemic), set theory, and issues in the philosophy of logic and language. Prerequisite: 50:730:201 or permission of Instructor
50:730:305 Topics in Ancient Philosophy (Gen Ed: HAC)
Critical examination of major issues in ancient philosophy as discussed in the works selected from, for example, pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, Plotinus, and the neo-Platonic tradition. Course content varies from year to year, either by dealing primarily with particular issues (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, social and political philosophy, or aesthetics, for example) or by dealing primarily with the works of a sub-set of philosophers.
50:730:306 Topics in Modern Philosophy
Critical examination of major issues in 17th and 18th century philosophy as discussed in works selected from, for example, Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Kant or others. Course content varies from year to year, either by dealing primarily with particular issues (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, social and political philosophy, or aesthetics, for example) or by dealing primarily with the works of a sub-set of philosophers.
50:730:307 Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
Critical responses to Kant and the philosophy of the Enlightenment, the rise of the social sciences, and antecedents of 20th-century intellectual movements. Readings from among philosophers such as Fichte, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard.
50:730:310 Twentieth-Century Philosophy (Gen Ed: EAV)
Major movements in 20th-century philosophy, such as American Pragmatism, development of logic, logical positivism, existentialism, phenomenology, structuralism and post-structuralism, and deconstruction. Philosophers such as Peirce, James, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Sartre, Arendt, Heidegger, Husserl, Gadamer, Foucault, and Derrida.
50:730:320 Contemporary Legal Issues
This course provides an in-depth examination of a selected theoretical or applied problem in the law. Specific topics covered are rotated from term to term depending on the interests of participating faculty and students. Some examples of special topics are: theories of judicial interpretation, theoretical problems in criminal justice, and the contours of the moral obligation to obey the law.
50:730:329 Ethics and the Future of Humanity (Gen Ed: EAV)
Exploration of moral and social issues pertaining to emerging technologies. Topics covered include human enhancement, artificial intelligence, robotics, reproductive technology and cloning, and artificial life.
50:730:330 Ethics of War and Conflict (Gen Ed: EAV)
Exploration of moral issues raised by collective violence through critical examination of the traditional theories of just war. Topics may include foundations of the right of self-defense, notions of a just cause for war, preventive war, humanitarian intervention, distinction between legitimate and illegitimate targets of attack, basis of moral liability to attack in war, terrorism, interrogational torture, and the relation between the morality of war and the law of war.
50:730:333 Evil (Gen Ed: EAV) (Sample Syllabus)
Examines the phenomenon and meaning of evil, especially “moral” evil. Key questions pursued are how evil may be explained, why humanity is capable of It in the first place, whether it belongs to some or all people, how to differentiate its perpetrators and its victims, whether evil is compatible with the existence of a good God, and how one may judge the difference between evil and good. These and other fundamental questions are pursued through a wide range of classic, historical, and contemporary texts and in relation to examples of evil in today’s world. Enrollment not open to students who have taken 50:840:333.
50:730:334 Philosophy of Science (Gen Ed: PLS)
Examination of major philosophical issues concerning science. Topics selected from among science and pseudoscience; scientific explanation, method, theories, laws, and falsification; scope and limits of science; revolutions in science; science and ethics.
50:730:335 Philosophy of Mind
An examination of the nature and characteristics of the mind. Possible topics include the mind-body problem, artificial intelligence, thought, consciousness, perception, emotion, and the self.
50:730:336 Theory of Knowledge
An examination of the nature of knowledge, as well as the possibilities and limitations on obtaining it. Topics of study include truth, justification, rationality, and skepticism.
50:730:337 Metaphysics
An investigation into what exists and the different modes of existence. Topics to be explored may include appearance and reality, objects and universals, time, free-will and determinism, and personal identity.
50:730:342 Political Philosophy (Gen Ed: EAV) (Sample Syllabus)
Critical examination of the philosophical problems involved in theories of the state and its relationship to citizens. Topics include the nature and justification of political obligations, natural rights, justice, anarchism, and the development of political ideals of communism, socialism, liberalism, and democracy.
50:730:343 Social Philosophy (Gen Ed: EAV and DIV) (Sample Syllabus)
Critical examination of the philosophical problems involved in theories of the society and relationships between individuals. Topics include ways gender and/or racial consideration enter into the social standing of the individual, political and economic consequences of one’s social class, and the use of liberalism, critical social theory, and post-modernism to challenge existing social institutions.
50:730:350 Religion and Democracy (Sample Syllabus)
Critical examination of contemporary theories of liberalism and democracy as they relate to the inclusion of religious citizens in political contexts. Topics include the defense of religious freedom and tolerance, the use of religious reasons to justify laws regulating abortion and marriage, and the ideals of mutual respect and understanding in pluralistic political societies.
50:730:380, 381, or 382 Learning Abroad Program (0 credits) (Gen ED: XPL)
Cross-listing for designating a course a Learning Abroad course
50:730:389, 390, 495, or 496 Independent Study in Philosophy
An individual reading and research project under the guidance of a member of the philosophy department in an area of interest to the department. Prerequisite: Permission of department.
50:730:391 Advanced Special Topics in Philosophy
Course content varies according to special topic.