50:730:111Introduction to Philosophy (R) (3) An exploration of philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind, and person, with a view to surveying the field and locating such particular philosophical specialties within it as logic, ethics, and metaphysics. |
50:730:201Introduction to Logic (R) (3) 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. Topics selected from among the following: informal fallacies, logic and ordinary language, induction, the scientific method, the logic of Aristotle, and the relation between logic and other areas in philosophy. |
50:730:211History of Philosophy I (R) (3) The beginnings and early developments of Western philosophy. Readings selected from among the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Maimonides, Aquinas, and Occam. Topics may include the nature of argument, political loyalty and political dissent, justice, normative ethics, causality, and the existence of God. (Formerly 50:730:301) |
50:730:212History of Philosophy II (R) (3) The career of philosophy from its modern beginnings in Descartes. Readings selected from the classical modern period, from Descartes through Kant, and also from such contemporary approaches as existentialism and analytic philosophy. Topics include the relationship between mind and body, the origins and extent of human knowledge, skepticism and belief, and the meaning of personal identity. (Formerly 50:730:302) |
50:730:215Eastern Philosophies (G) (3) 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. |
50:730:216Africana Philosophy (D) (3) 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. |
50:730:226Ethics (R) (3) An examination of the quest for certainty with respect to the nature of human goodness, including the relation of duty to pleasure and happiness, the nature of moral obligation and responsibility, the resolution of conflicts between individual and social values, and the possibility of objective justification of value judgments. |
50:730:256Philosophy of Literature (3) 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. |
50:730:260Ethics and Business (3) An examination of basic questions and perplexities of commercial and corporate life. Are the economic imperatives of free enterprise compatible with ethical imperatives of brotherliness? Are there some ethical principles so general that they are applicable in every case? Can one be good at business and also be a good person? Can conflicts among duties to family, company, and self be resolved? Contemporary case studies augmented with basic texts in ethics. |
50:730:303Topics in Medieval Philosophy (3) A study of the major philosophers in the medieval world. |
50:730:307Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (3) Movements in 19th-century philosophical thought.Readings from such philosophers as Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche,and Kierkegaard. |
50:730:308Contemporary Philosophy (3) Concentration on the existentialist and analytic traditions, with attention also given to such philosophers as Bergson and Whitehead. |
50:730:313,314Seventeenth- and 18th-Century Philosophy (3,3) Critical examination of the conflict between rationalism and empiricism as discussed in major works selected from the following: Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Course content varies from year to year, either by dealing primarily with particular issues (metaphysics, ethics, or aesthetics) or by dealing primarily with the works of one philosopher. |
50:730:315,316Contemporary Moral Issues (3,3) A consideration of such issues as prejudice and discrimination, abortion and fetal research, poverty and hunger, crime and punishment, war and death, suicide and euthanasia. |
50:730:319Modern Social and Political Philosophy (3) Critical examination of the philosophical problems involved in theories of the state and society. Topics include the nature and justification of political obligation, civil disobedience, violence, natural rights, and justice. |
50:730:320Philosophy of Law (3) Introduction to philosophical issues concerning the nature of law and its relations to morality and to power. Focuses on the concepts 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. |
50:730:326Philosophy of Religion (3) An exploration of religious issues which are live options. Examples: Do science and reason leave any room for faith? Without a belief in a supreme being who is supremely good, is life pointless? Can an atheist be moral? Can God`s existence, or human immortality, be proven? Do religious experiences occur, and do they prove anything? Credit not given for this course and 50:840:326. |
50:730:327Women and Philosophy (D) (3) A critical examination of traditionalist and feminist views concerning sex differentiation and its philosophical implications for ethical, political, and psychological theories, and for such particular issues as oppression, woman`s nature, the meaning of equality, and the role of the family. |
50:730:332Intermediate Logic (R) (3) 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. |
50:730:334Philosophy of Science (3) Examination of major philosophical issues concerning science. Topics selected from among science and pseudoscience; scientific explanation, method, theories, laws, falsification; scope and limits of science; revolutions in science; science and ethics. |
50:730:344Existentialism and Phenomenology (3) An examination in the historical setting of Husserl`s phenomenology and such philosophers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jaspers, Buber, Marcel, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. |
50:730:349Biomedical Ethics (3) An examination of ethical theories and their application to such issues in the health professions as abortion, lying, animal experimentation, insanity, moral evil, and justice. Emphasis varies from year to year. (Cross-listed with 50:840:349). Credit not given for this course and 50:840:349. |
50:730:361Philosophy of Art (3) A study of selected texts on the philosophy of art from the Greeks to contemporary writers, with the purpose of investigating the relationships among the arts, and the status of art and the aesthetic judgments as modes of discovery and communication. |
50:730:367American Philosophers (3) Examination of the principal philosophers in 19th- and 20th- century America. Critical discussion of the transcendentalists, the idealists, Pierce, James, Dewey, and Whitehead. |
50:730:390,391Special Topics in Philosophy (3,3) |
50:730:412Theory of Knowledge (3) An investigation of what it means to know. Topics include theories of meaning, evaluation of evidence, the meaning of and criteria for truth, and the nature of belief. |
50:730:415Metaphysics (3) A study of the major problems of metaphysical theory, focusing on modes of existence and the presuppositions, methodologies, and consequences of different metaphysical systems. |
50:730:417Analytic Philosophy (3) Examination of methods of analysis as they appear in such writers as Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, and Carnap, and in contemporary linguistic philosophy. |
50:730:418Philosophy of Mind (3) Critical examination of the mind-body problem and various proposed solutions. Topics selected from among immortality, freedom, artificial intelligence, parapsychology, psychological theories, the unconscious, reasoning, emotions, and intentions. |
50:730:430Advanced Logic (3) Topics from among such "deviant" logics as many-valued and intuitionistic logics, foundations of mathematics, paradoxes, nontruth-functional logics, and issues in the philosophy of language and logic. Prerequisite: 50:730:332 or (with permission of instructor) 50:730:201. |
50:730:451,452Advanced Seminar in Philosophy (3,3) The focus could be either a concentrated study of a particular text, philosopher, or school of thought, or an examination of a particular philosophical concept, methodology, or problem. |
50:730:495,496Independent Study in Philosophy (BA,BA) An individual reading and research project under the guidance of a member of the philosophy department in an area of interest to the student. Prerequisite: Permission of department. |
