Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Undergraduate–New Brunswick
 
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Undergraduate Education in New Brunswick
Programs of Study and Courses for Liberal Arts Students
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Accounting 010
African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures 013
Africana Studies 014
African Area Studies 016
Aging 018
American History 512
American Literature
American Studies 050
Anthropology 070
Archaeology
Armenian 078
Art 081
Art History 082
Arts and Sciences 090
Asian Studies 098
Astrophysics 105
Biochemistry
Biological Sciences
Biomathematics
Biomedical Sciences
Botany
Business Law 140
Cell Biology
Chemistry 160
Chinese 165
Chinese Studies 170
Cinema Studies 175
Classics
Cognitive Science 185
Communication 192
Community Development
Comparative Literature 195
Computer Science 198
Criminal Justice 202
Criminology 204
Dance 203, 206
Dentistry
East Asian Languages and Area Studies 214
Economics 220
Education 300
Engineering
English
Entomology
Environmental Certificates
European Studies 360
Exercise Science and Sport Studies 377
Film Studies
Finance 390
Food Science 400
Foreign Language Proficiency Certificates
French 420
Genetics
Geography 450
Geological Sciences 460
German 470
Gerontology
Greek 490
Greek, Modern Greek Studies 489
Hindi
History
History/French Joint Major 513
History/Political Science Joint Major 514
Human Resource Management 533
Hungarian 535
Individualized Major 555
Information Technology and Informatics 547
Interdisciplinary Studies, SAS 556
Italian 560
Japanese 565
Jewish Studies 563
Journalism and Media Studies 567
Junior Year Abroad
Korean 574
Labor Studies and Employment Relations 575
Latin 580
Latin American Studies 590
Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies 595
Law
Life Sciences
Linguistics 615
Management 620
Marine Sciences 628
Marketing 630
Mathematics 640
Medical Technology 660
Medicine and Dentistry
Medieval Studies 667
Microbiology
Middle Eastern Studies 685
Military Education, Air Force 690
Military Education, Army 691
Military Education, Naval 692
Molecular Biology
Music
Nursing
Nutritional Sciences 709
Operations Research 711
Organizational Leadership 713
Pharmacy
Philosophy 730
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Major Requirements
Minor Requirements
Departmental Honors Program
Courses
Physics 750
Physiology and Neurobiology
Planning and Public Policy 762
Polish 787
Political Science 790
Supply Chain Management and Marketing Science 799
Portuguese 810
Psychology 830
Public Health 832
Religion 840
Russian 860
Russian, Central and East European Studies 861
Science, Technology, and Society 880
Critical Sexualities Studies 888
Social Justice 904
Social Work 910
Sociology 920
South Asian Studies 925
Spanish 940
Statistics and Biostatistics 960
Statistics-Mathematics
Study Abroad 959
Theater 965, 966
Ukrainian 967
Urban Studies
Visual Arts
Women's and Gender Studies 988
School of Arts and Sciences
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
Mason Gross School of the Arts
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Rutgers Business School: Undergraduate–New Brunswick
School of Communication and Information
School of Engineering
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
School of Management and Labor Relations
General Information
Divisions of the University
Camden Newark New Brunswick/Piscataway
Catalogs
New Brunswick Undergraduate Catalog 2011–2013 Programs of Study and Courses for Liberal Arts Students Programs, Faculty, and Courses Philosophy 730 Courses  

Courses


Courses at the 300 and 400 levels are not open to first-year students, and courses at the 400 level are not open to sophomores. Any course prerequisite can be waived with the permission of the instructor.

01:730:101 Logic, Reasoning, and Persuasion (3) 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 01:730:201.
01:730:103 Introduction to Philosophy (3) Examination of fundamental philosophical issues such as the meaning and basis of moral judgments, free will and determinism, theism and atheism, knowledge and skepticism, and consciousness and the brain.
01:730:104 Introduction to Philosophy (4) Same as 01:730:103 with smaller weekly discussion section meetings, enabling students to develop their oral argumentative skills and to pursue issues discussed in lectures. Credit not given for both this course and 01:730:103.
01:730:105 Current Moral and Social Issues (3) Application of moral theory 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.
01:730:106 Current Moral and Social Issues (4) Same as 01:730:105 with smaller weekly discussion section meetings, enabling students to develop their oral argumentative skills and to pursue issues discussed in lectures. Credit not given for both this course and 01:730:105.
01:730:107 Introduction to Ethics (3) Exploration of basic issues in ethical theory and metaethics. Topics may include consequentialism, deontology, virtue theory, constructivism, value relativism, the objectivity of values, value skepticism, free will, and the nature of the values and practical reasons.
01:730:108 Introduction to Ethics (4) Same as 01:730:107 with smaller weekly discussion section meetings, enabling students to develop their oral argumentative skills and to pursue issues discussed in lectures. Credit not given for both this course and 01:730:107.
01:730:109 Introduction to Formal Reasoning and Decision Making (3) Fundamentals of logical, probabilistic, and statistical thinking, as well as the basic principles of rational decision making. Reasoning through data (and rhetoric) encountered on a daily basis using elementary principles of deductive logic and inference.
01:730:164 Introduction to Philosophy through Film (2) Film as a stimulus for philosophical reflection. Issues include nature of morality, personal identity, knowledge, skepticism, free will, the problem of evil, and the good life. This course is only taught in Winter Session.
01:730:201 Introduction to Logic (3) Introduction to formal logic, covering truth functional propositional logic and quantification theory. Emphasis on developing symbolic techniques for representing and evaluating arguments.
01:730:205 Introduction to Modern Philosophy (3) Study of the formative period of modern philosophy. Readings selected from works of Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
01:730:208 Philosophy of the Greeks (3) Introduction to the major philosophical thinkers of the ancient Greek world with special emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Credit not given for both this course and 01:190:208.
01:730:210 Philosophy of Language (3) Examination of central issues in the philosophy of language concerning questions of meaning and reference. Prerequisite: 01:730:201.
01:730:215 Introduction to Metaphysics (3) Examination of central issues in metaphysics, such as free will, personal identity, the nature of time, causality, necessity, and possibility. Not open to students who have taken 01:730:415.
01:730:220 Theory of Knowledge (3) The nature of belief, perception, certainty, justification and knowledge. Not open to students who have taken 01:730:412.
01:730:225 Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (3) Study of scientific methodology using examples from a variety of scientific disciplines. Nature of scientific laws and theories, explanation, confirmation, objectivity, and changes in scientific knowledge. Not open to students who have taken 01:730:425.
01:730:249 Bioethics (3) 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. May require some thinking about issues in metaphysics, such as the nature of personal identity.
01:730:250 Environmental Ethics (3) Ethical matters concerning the environment; moral justification for coercing individuals and corporations, just distribution of resources,moral rights of animals; study of topical issues such as clean air standards, population control, land use.
01:730:251 Ethics and Business (3) 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.
01:730:252 Eating Right: The Ethics of Food Choices and Food Policy (4) Skill development for careful reasoning about difficult issues in life by analyzing food ethics. Includes in-depth arguments based on aesthetic, moral, cultural, or religious values and moral obligations and their consequences in everyday life.
01:730:253 Human Diversity (3) Critical analysis of facts, theories, and philosophical issues regarding human diversity in a variety of domains. May include: sex and gender; race; religion; diet; morality and norms; conceptions of the self; perceptions and cognition. Credit not given for both this course and 01:185:253.
01:730:255 Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy (3) Survey of philosophical writings on the origin and nature of the state. Topics include the individual and the state, the social order, nature and limitation of state authority, political obligation, and liberties of citizens.
01:730:258 Philosophy and the Black Experience (3) Analysis of what constitutes the black experience and analysis of issues in the black experience, such as racial integration, racial separatism, racism, and black values.
01:730:260 Philosophical Ideas in Literature (3) Philosophical issues in literary works. Topics such as freedom and determinism, conceptions and reality of the self, the quest for meaning, and the existence of evil.
01:730:261 Philosophical Ideas in Science Fiction (3) Philosophical issues in science fiction. Topics such as time travel, personal identity, the mind-body problem, nonhuman rationality, and parallel worlds.
01:730:263 Philosophy and the Arts (3) Introduction to the major issues in the philosophy of art, with emphasis on the implications of recent developments in film, music, and painting for art theory.
01:730:264 Philosophical Ideas in Film (3) Use of film as a stimulus for philosophical reflection; investigation of film by applying the analytical rigor of philosophy. Issues to be examined include nature of morality, personal identity, knowledge, skepticism, free will, the problem of evil, and the good life. This course is only taught in Winter/Summer Session.
01:730:265 Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (3) Basic issues in the philosophy of religion, East and West: existence and nature of God; problem of evil; faith versus knowledge; mysticism and its claims; the problem of religious language; and attacks on religion by Hume, Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud.
01:730:268 Introduction to Existentialism (3) Study of the works of some recent existentialist philosophers and the ways in which their analysis of human existence affects their views of freedom, choice, and action.
01:730:295 Areté - Part I (1) Supervised process of editing of the undergraduate philosophy journal, with review of weekly submissions. Prerequisites: At least two courses in philosophy or outstanding performance in a philosophy class.
01:730:296 Areté (Part II) (1) Supervised process of editing of the undergraduate philosophy journal, with review of weekly submissions. Prerequisites: At least two courses in philosophy or outstanding performance in a philosophy class. 
01:730:297 Sophomore Advanced Seminar (3) Intensive study of some classic philosophical text (e.g., Kant's Critique of Pure Reason) or central philosophical question (e.g., the mind-body problem). Extensive writing of papers and discussion of reading material. Prerequisites: Outstanding performance in at least one course in philosophy and permission of instructor.
01:730:301 Socrates and Plato (3) The thought of Socrates and Plato in the Platonic dialogues. The Socratic method; moral theory. Plato's early dialectic, theory of innate knowledge, theory of forms. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than 01:730:101 or 102.
01:730:302 Plato and Aristotle (3) Major work of Plato, such as the Republic; Aristotle's critical reaction and alternative theories in metaphysics, psychology, logic, ethics, and politics. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than 01:730:101 or 102.
01:730:303 The Practice of Philosophy: Modes of Philosophical Argument (3) Examination of various modes of argumentation in the Western philosophical tradition. Specific topics of focus will vary by instructor/semester. Prerequisites: 01:730:103 or 104, 201, and permission of department. Not open to first-year students. 
01:730:304 The Origins of Medieval Philosophy (3) Emergence of a distinct medieval philosophical style (Philo of Alexandria); the Platonic legacy in Augustine and Boethius; the development of philosophical theology in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than 01:730:101 or 102.
01:730:305 Philosophy in the High Middle Ages (3) Impact of Aristotle in the Muslim-Jewish world (Averroës and Maimonides); the development of medieval science; Christian Scholasticism (Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus). Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:306 Between Medieval and Modern Philosophy (3) Critique of Aristotelian philosophy; the emergence of a new or "secular" Aristotle; the revival of Plato in the Italian Renaissance; and the "new science" of Galileo. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than 01:730:101 or 102.
01:730:307 Descartes, Locke, and the 17th Century (3) Early development of modern views about the nature of the physical world; relation between the mental and the physical; the nature of one's self; skepticism and certainty. Readings from Descartes, Locke, and others, such as Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hobbes. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:308 Hume, Kant, and the 18th Century (3) Some major works of Hume and Kant with some attention to other 18th-century philosophers. Comparison of views on the structure of consciousness, space and time, the limits of knowledge, the foundations of natural sciences, mathematics, and metaphysics. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:309 Nietzsche (3) Nietzsche's critical philosophy and its excoriation of Platonism, metaphysics, Western morality, and religion, as well as his positive philosophy, primarily his epistemology. Topics may include the revaluation of values, perspectivism, naturalism, asceticism, time, and the self. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:310 Contemporary Movements in Philosophy (3) Major movements in 20th-century philosophy, such as American pragmatism, development of logic, logical positivism, existentialism, phenomenology. Philosophers such as Peirce, James, Frege, Russell, Carnap, Wittgenstein, Sartre, Heidegger, and Husserl.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:311 Classical Jewish Philosophy (3) Major trends and figures in medieval Jewish thought; Jewish Platonism (Solomon ibn Gabirol); Jewish Aristotelianism (Maimonides); the critique of philosophy (Hallevi); Jewish philosophy in the Renaissance.
Credit not given for both this course and 01:563:311.
01:730:312 Modern Jewish Philosophy (3) Thinkers and systems in modern Jewish philosophy, including interpretations of Jewish tradition, Jewish Kantianism (Cohen, Buber), Jewish existentialism and postmodernism (Rosenzweig, Levinas), the Holocaust, and Jewish feminism.
Credit not given for both this course and 01:563:312.
01:730:315 Applied Symbolic Logic (3) Use of deduction techniques (see 01:730:201) to formalize various subject matters such as modal logic, set theory, formal arithmetic, and relevance logic. Prerequisite: 01:730:201.
01:730:319 Philosophy of Mathematics (3) Introduction to some of the central topics in philosophy of mathematics. Connection between mathematical knowledge and logical knowledge; metaphysics of mathematical objects; connection between mathematics and natural science. Prerequisites: 01:730:103 or 104, and 201. Recommended prerequisite: 01:730:215 or 220.
01:730:320 Knowledge and Assertion (3) Introduction to the intersection of epistemology and philosophy of language, focusing on whether or not knowledge is the norm of assertion. Prerequisite: 01:730:103 or 104.  Open to majors only. Recommended prerequisite:  01:730:220 or 210.   
01:730:328 Philosophy of Psychology (3) Conceptual and methodological issues about information, mental illness, innate structure, developmental stages, rationality, and deviance. Behaviorism, reductionism, cognitivism, and structuralism. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:329 Minds, Machines, and Persons (3) Comparison of the nature of the human mind and that of complex machines. Consequences for questions about the personhood of robots. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:330 Ethics of War and Conflict (3) Exploration of moral issues raised by collective violence through critical examination of the traditional theory of just war. Topics may include foundations of the right of self-defense, notion 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, proportionality in the consequences of war, terrorism, interrogational torture, and relation between the morality of war and the law of war. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:341 Ethics through History (3) An examination of some of the most important moral theories in the history of philosophy. Possible authors include Plato, Aristotle, Butler, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche. Some contemporary philosophers may be discussed as well. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:342 Social and Political Philosophy through History (3) An examination of some of the most important social and political theories in the history of philosophy. Possible authors include Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Mill, and Marx. Some contemporary philosophers may be discussed as well, including Rawls and Nozick. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:343 Marx and Marxism (3) Central introduction to Marx's thought. Topics such as materialism; dialectics; analysis of capitalism; class and class struggle; and social revolution, a political program for socialism.
01:730:345 Philosophy and the Law (3) Examination of normative problems in law. Topics such as justification of punishment; limits of the law; nature of excuses; negligence; strict liability; and mens rea requirement.
01:730:347 Philosophical Issues in Feminism (3) Clarification and analysis of feminist thought. Critical study of scientific theories of sex differences. Issues such as the family, abortion, nature of persons, prostitution, discrimination, pornography. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than 01:730:101 or one course in women's studies.
01:730:352 Plato (3) Philosophy of Plato through close readings of selected dialogues supplemented by relevant readings in other ancient and contemporary philosophers. Credit not given for both this course and 01:190:352 or 01:490:352.
01:730:358 Philosophy of Law (3) Examination of the nature and purpose of law and legal systems; analysis of judicial decision making and the role of discretion.
01:730:360 Philosophical Aspects of Cognitive Science (3) Exploration of ways in which research and discoveries in cognitive science influence, and have been influenced by, philosophical theorizing. Topics include consciousness, innate knowledge, mental representation, and the nature of rationality. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:362 Philosophy of Literature (3) Consideration of such questions as the definition of literature, the ontology of literary works, the nature of fiction, the emotional reaction of the audience to fiction, the problem of interpretation, the problem of literary value, and the experience of silent reading as opposed to the experience of literature as performance. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
01:730:363 Philosophy of Criticism: Art and Literature (3) The nature of art criticism and its place in the art world. Emphasis on the approaches to interpretation of literary works, including discussion of relevant issues in philosophy of language, as well as discussion of criticism in the visual arts and music.
01:730:364 Aesthetics of Film (3) Problems in the philosophy of art raised in theory and practice of film. Variety of films screened in conjunction with the course.
01:730:365 Philosophy of Music (3) Concept of musical expression; music as language; music and drama; music and representation; the nature of the musical work.
01:730:367 American Philosophy (3) Study in its historical setting of inquiry into the nature of experience, truth, goodness, and society by American philosophers including James, Peirce, Dewey, Royce, Lewis, and Whitehead. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than 01:730:101.
01:730:368 Hindu Philosophy (3) Upanishads, Patanjali, Bhagavad Gita; theories of matter, energy, states of consciousness; meditation. Yogas of knowledge, action, devotion. Karma. Ethics. Comparison of Hindu and Western cosmology. Credit not given for both this course and 01:840:358.
01:730:369 Buddhist Philosophy (3) Interdependence, impermanence, relativity; suffering; path to liberation; meditation; karma as cosmic justice; death and rebirth. Compassion as central ethical value. Theravada, Mahayana, and Tibetan Buddhism. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy. Credit not given for both this course and 01:840:369.
01:730:370 Contemporary Philosophy of Religion (3) Modern philosophical discussions of religious language and experience; the possibility of religious knowledge; the nature of religious discourse; mysticism and truth; divine omniscience; religious morality. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than logic.
01:730:371 Philosophies of Death and Dying (3) Theories of death and dying in different metaphysical systems; Plato; Eastern philosophy; existentialism; thanatology. Extinction versus continuity of consciousness. Attitudes toward death and ethical values. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy other than logic. Sophomores by permission only.
01:730:374 Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism (3) Basic characteristics and tenets of Islam as a religion: the early theological controversies; the major thinkers and mystics and their interaction with the other aspects of Islamic civilization. Credit not given for both this course and 01:840:374 or 01:685:374.
01:730:375 Topics in Philosophy (3) An intensive writing course on a central topic in philosophy. Topics will vary with instructor. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:393,394 Independent Study (1-4,1-4) Individual study in some philosophical topic under the direction of a member of the department.
01:730:401 Plato (3) Intensive study of selected works of Plato, with emphasis upon the later dialogues such as Theaetetus, Sophist, and Philebus. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy other than 01:730:101.
01:730:402 Aristotle (3) Topics in Aristotle's logic, physics, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy other than 01:730:101.
01:730:403 Ancient Philosophy after Aristotle (3) Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman world. Stoics, Sceptics, and Epicureans; Hellenistic-Jewish philosophy; the revival of Aristotle; and Plotinus and the neo-Platonic tradition. Prerequisite: One course in Greek philosophy.
01:730:404 Spinoza (3) Spinoza's theological political treatise: prophecy, miracles, and faith and reason. Spinoza's ethics: God and his attributes, the human mind, and human bondage and freedom. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy. Recommended: 01:730:205 or 307.
01:730:405 Kant (3) Critical examination of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason; emphasis on metaphysical and epistemological views. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy, including one of the following: 01:730:205, 307, 308, 412, or 415.
01:730:406 Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (3) Critical reaction to Kant and the philosophy of the Enlightenment: Fichte, Hegel. Rise of the social sciences. Antecedents of 20th-century intellectual movements. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:407 Intermediate Logic I (3) Metatheory of propositional and first-order predicate logic. Completeness is proved and its consequences are explored. Prerequisite: 01:730:201.
01:730:408 Intermediate Logic II (3) Computability and recursiveness; metatheory of first-order theories; incompleteness theorems; special topics as time permits. Prerequisite: 01:730:407.
01:730:409 Wittgenstein (3) Detailed study of either Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and its relation to writings of Frege and Russell; or Philosophical Investigations and related writings. Prerequisites: One course in logic and two courses in philosophy.
01:730:410 History of Analytic Philosophy (3) Major figures or movements in the development of analytic philosophy. Topics may include: early analytic philosophy, with an emphasis on Frege, Russell, and Moore; development and assessment of logical positivism; and roots of contemporary metaphysics in Quine and Strawson. Prerequisites: 01:730:201 and two additional courses in philosophy.
01:730:411 History of Epistemology (3) Historical development of positions on one or more epistemological issues, such as knowledge of empirical and necessary truths, certainty and skepticism, or the scientific method. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy other than 01:730:101; may include one of the following: 01:730:205, 208, 301 to 308, 311, 312, and 401 to 406.
01:730:412 Epistemology (3) Topics such as belief, certainty, justification, knowledge, and skepticism are examined in detail. Prerequisites: Logic (01:730:201 or higher) and two courses in philosophy.
01:730:413 Social Epistemology (3) How groups, communities, and interpersonal practices promote or impede the quest for knowledge and rationality. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:414 History of Metaphysics (3) Historical development of positions on one or more metaphysical issues such as substance, change, causality, universals, matter, space, time, free will, necessity, possibility, and contingency. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy other than 01:730:101.
01:730:415 Metaphysics (3) Topics such as essence, particulars and universals, causation, space, time, and identity. The nature of metaphysical arguments and problems of ontology. Realism and its alternatives. Prerequisites: 01:730:201 and one course in philosophy.
01:730:416 Leibniz (3) Philosophical works of G.W. Leibniz. Particular attention will be paid to Leibniz's views on modality, substance, truth, free will, causation, the mind-body problem, innate ideas, and his claim that this is the best possible world.
Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy. Recommended: 01:730:205, 307, or 308.
01:730:418 Philosophy of Mind (3) Mind-body problem and the nature of consciousness; rationality; intentionality; human freedom. Theories of dualism, physicalism, functionalism, and behaviorism. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:419 Philosophy of Perception (3) Philosophical study of perception and of our access through it to knowledge and reality. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:420 Philosophy of Language (3) Philosophical study of language and linguistics. Pragmatics, theories of learnability, meaning and reference, formal semantics, truth, indexicality. Prerequisites: Logic and two courses in philosophy.
01:730:421 Semantics of Language (3) The philosophical study of natural language semantics. Covers traditional questions about the semantics of names, predicates, adverbs, psychological ascriptions, and demonstrative and indexical expressions. Verbs of change. Comparative adjectives. Prerequisite: 01:730:201.
01:730:422 Philosophy of Logic (3) Is logic a theory? The status and use of alternative logics. What logics and other mathematical systems can tell us about language and relations among language, belief, and the world. Prerequisite: 01:730:315.
01:730:424 The Logic of Decision (3) Analysis of rational preference and nondeductive inference with special emphasis on the examination of alternative concepts of utility and probability. Prerequisite: One course in logic.
01:730:425 Philosophy of Science (3) Detailed study of one or more of the following topics: explanation, confirmation, causation, the status of theoretical entities, objectivity, reductionism, unity of science. Prerequisites: Logic, one course in science, and one course in philosophy. Recommended: 01:730:225.
01:730:426 Philosophy of Physics (3) Methodology of the physical sciences. Philosophical problems of space and time, measurement, and causation in modern physics. Prerequisite: One course in physics or one course in philosophy. Recommended: 01:730:225.
01:730:427 Philosophy of Social Sciences (3) Explanation. Relation to natural sciences. Discussion of debates in areas such as structuralism, functionalism, classical modeling, path analysis, statistical testing, and construct validation. Prerequisites: One course in philosophy and one course in a social science.
01:730:428 Topics in the Philosophy of Psychology (3) Detailed philosophical study of topics such as psychological explanation; implications of psychotherapy; and theories of cognition, perception, learning, and personality. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy. Recommended: 01:730:225.
01:730:429 Philosophy of Biology (3) Methodology of the biological sciences. Detailed study of one or more of the following topics: the nature of explanation, laws, and reduction in biology; debates about fitness, units of selection, replicators, and evolutionary theory. Prerequisites: One course in biology and one course in philosophy. Recommended: 01:730:225.
01:730:435 Philosophy of History (3) Theories of history and historical explanation; comparison of the methodologies of history and science; problems of historical interpretation. Prerequisites: One course in history and one course in philosophy.
01:730:441 Ethical Theory (3) Examination of contemporary views in normative ethics and metaethics, or both. Possible topics include the nature of reasons and value, the justification of moral judgments, the meaning of moral terms, theories of right action, and competing approaches to moral theory, including skepticism. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:442 Moral Responsibility (3) Exploration of our responsibility for ourselves and our actions. Possible topics include justification versus excuses for actions; different types of excuses (e.g., ignorance of fact, morality, or law; insanity; alcohol-induced impairment; duress); negligence and risk; moral luck; collective responsibility; free will; and the justification for punishment.
01:730:445 Topics in Social and Political Philosophy (3) Exploration of important authors or topics in social and political philosophy. Material may range from classical masterpieces to unpublished manuscripts. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:450 Topics in Moral Philosophy (3) Explores at an advanced level some of the most important authors or topics in moral philosophy. Material may range from classical masterpieces to unpublished manuscripts. Topics will vary by instructor. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:459 Advanced Seminar in Ethics (3) Examines some of the deepest and most fundamental issues in moral theory and practical reasoning. Topics may include nature of morality, nature of reasons, impartiality, universal laws, Kantianism, consequentialism, contractualism, normativity, attitudes to time, obligations to future generations, the structure of moral ideals, competing conceptions of good, and transitivity. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor required.
01:730:461 Topics in Aesthetics (3) Generally will discuss three major works in the philosophy of art, each concerning one of the major arts: for example, literature, the visual arts, film, and music. Works by recent or contemporary authors, at the cutting edge of current research, studied in depth. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
01:730:465 Phenomenology and Existentialism (3) Issues in phenomenology and existentialism, selected from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. Consideration of contemporary philosophical literature. Prerequisite: 01:730:268 or one other course in philosophy.
01:730:470 Ethics and Practical Reason (3) Investigation of selected topics concerning reasoning about what to do. Possible topics include the nature of reasons, values, normativity, irrationality, agency, intention, free will, moral dilemmas, and problems raised by conflicts among values. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:475 Advanced Topics in Philosophy (3) An intensive writing course on a central topic in philosophy. Topics will vary with instructor. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy.
01:730:480 Issues in Contemporary Philosophy (3) Examination of some central issue(s) in contemporary philosophy. Topics vary from semester to semester. Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy at the 300 level.
01:730:492 Philosophy Writing Tutorial (3) Intensive writing tutorial, intended to prepare individual papers for submission to an undergraduate philosophy journal or conference. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. Open to philosophy majors only.
01:730:493,494 Independent Study (1-4,1-4) Individual study in some philosophical topic under the direction of a member of the department.
01:730:495,496 Senior Honors Thesis (BA,BA) Thesis research under the direction of a faculty adviser. Prerequisite: Eligibility for departmental honors and approval of thesis topic by faculty adviser and director of undergraduate studies.
 
For additional information, contact RU-info at 732-445-info (4636) or colonel.henry@rutgers.edu.
Comments and corrections to: Campus Information Services.

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