Introduction to Reason and Persuasion 50:730:101:91, Hybrid T 11:10 am – 12:20 pm (Gen Ed: LQR)
Professor Young
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.
Introduction to Philosophy, 50:730:111:01, In Person M/W 9:35 am – 10:55 am (Gen Ed: EAV)
Professor Agule
An exploration of central philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind, and person, with a view to surveying the field and locating particular philosophical specialities within it such as logic, ethics, and metaphysics
Introduction to Philosophy, 50:730:111:02, In Person M/W 12:35 pm – 1:50 pm (Gen Ed: EAV)
Professor Denehy
An exploration of central philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind, and person, with a view to surveying the field and locating particular philosophical specialities within it such as logic, ethics, and metaphysics
Reading Seminar, 1 credit, 50:730:190:01, In Person, M 2:00 pm – 4:20 pm (Gen Ed: EAV)
Professor Agule
Note: Meets alternate weeks
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).
Introduction to Logic, 50:730:201:01, In Person, M/W 9:35 am – 10:55 am (Gen Ed: LQR)
Professor Agule
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.
History of Philosophy I, 50:730:211:01, In Person, M/W 9:35 am – 10:55 am (Gen Ed: HAC)
Professor Betz
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.
Self and Identity, 50:730:222:01, In Person, T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm (Gen Ed: EAV)
Professor Rooney
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.
Debating Ethical Issues Across Disciplines, 50:730:240:01, In Person, T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm (Gen Ed: EAV and XPL)
Professor Betz/Professor Moran
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.
Biomedical Ethics (Gen Ed: EAV)
50:730:249:90 Online – Professor Young
50:730:249:92 Online – Professor Gentzel
50:730:249:94 Online – Professor Gentzel
50:730:249:96 Online – Professor Gentzel
50:730:249:98 Online – Professor Denehy
Exploration of moral issues in medicine and medical research. The 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.
Environmental Ethics, 50:730:250:01, In Person, T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Betz
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.
Philosophical Ideas in Film, 50:730:264:90, On line (Gen Ed: AAI)
Professor Young
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.