Schedule of classes

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Course Descriptions — Philosophy

PHIL 120, Introduction to Philosophy, is a prerequisite for PHIL 210, Ethics.

PHIL 210 is a prerequisite for all other philosophy courses.

PHIL 120 — Introduction to Philosophy (Staff) — 3 credits

The aim of this course is to awaken in the student an appreciation of the nature and method of philosophical inquiry through an examination of key texts that grapple with central questions in the history of philosophy.

PHIL 210 — Ethics (Staff) — 3 credits

(Prerequisite: PHIL 120) A critical examination of fundamental moral issues through close readings of seminal texts spanning the history of philosophy from ancient Greece to the present. The ethical theories of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant and Mill may be examined as major representatives of the Western philosophical tradition. Themes to be explored may include happiness, virtue, the nature of justice, free choice, conscience, natural law and obligation, God and morality.

PHIL 211 — (P) Business Ethics (Drs. Klonoski, Black, Tully) — 3 credits

This course is an application of standard philosophical principles and theories to the critical study of questions, issues, and problems that surround the moral conduct of business. Recommended for business majors.

PHIL 212 — (P) Medical Ethics (Fr. Mohr, Dr. Tully) — 3 credits

(Prerequisite: PHIL 210) Considering nine ethical methodologies, this course views health care holistically in terms of human biological and psychological needs to show that ethical action must intend to sati sfy them. Ethical principles are applied to such issues as professional communication, sexuality, procreation, experimentation, bodily modification, and death. Recommended for health care students.

PHIL 213 — (P) Environmental Ethics (Dr. Casey) — 3 credits

(Prerequisite: PHIL 210) An introduction to environmental philosophy and the various ethical responses to the ecological crisis of the late twentieth century. Examines such issues as biocentrism vs. anthropocentrism, the relation between culture and nature, the environmental ethical debate.

PHIL 214 — (P) Computers and Ethics (Dr. Nordberg) — 3 credits

(Prerequisite: PHIL 210) The computer revolution raises new ethical problems and presents novel aspects of traditional ethical issues. Ethical aspects of hacking, software piracy, comput er-aided decision- making, protection of software by copyright, patent, trade-secret laws, unauthorized use of computer resources, privacy and data-base security, program warranties and programmer responsibility, artificial intelligence, the interface between human and computer.

PHIL 215 — (P) Logic (Drs. Casey, Pang-White, Haggerty) — 3 credits

An introduction to logic as the science of argument including the nature of arguments in ordinary language, deduction and induction, truth and validity, definition, informal fallacies, categorical propositions and syllogisms, disjunctive and hypothetical syllogisms, enthymemes, and dilemmas.

PHIL 218 — (D) Feminism: Theory and Practice (Dr. Meagher) — 3 credits

In this course we will explore the relationship between feminist analyses of sexism and politica l practices aimed at eliminating it. To this end we will examine divergent political traditions and show ways in which feminists have criticized, appropriated, and made use of them in their own work. Special attention will be paid to the interrelationship of gender, class and race. This course may be counted toward the Women’s Studies Concentration.

PHIL 219 — Russian Philosophy (Staff) — 3 credits

This course will trace the evolution of Russian philosophical thought. The offering will concentrate on select nineteenth-and twentieth-century authors and will also highlight several grand themes dear to Russian philosophers, including integral knowledge, the philosophy of history, Godmanhood and Sophia. Consideration will be afforded both religious and non-religious thinkers.

PHIL 220 — (P) Ancient Philosophy (Drs. Baillie, Klonoski) — 3 credits

The Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle and their immediate successors. Special emphasis on the theory of knowledge, the metaphysics and philosophical anthropology of Plato and Aristotle.

PHIL 221 — (P) Medieval Philosophy (Drs. Pang-White, Rowe) — 3 credits

PHIL 221 is a survey of philosophy in the European Middle Ages. We will focus on the connections between medieval philosophy and its classical and Christian sources, on questions concerning nature/grace, reason/faith, theology/philosophy, and on the nature and ethos of scholasticism.

PHIL 222 — (P) Modern Philosophy I (Dr. Nordberg) — 3 credits

Renaissance background: Petrarch and the humanist movement; Galileo and the beginnings of modern science; Descartes: mathesis universalis; the difficulties of the Cartesian method; solution in the one substance of Spinoza; British Empiricism: Locke and the problem of substance, Berkeley’s ‘Esse est percipi,’ culmination in Hume and the doctrine of perceptual atomism.

PHIL 223 — (P) Modern Philosophy II (Fr. Mohr) — 3 credits

The development of idealism in the thought of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, with its influence on Feuerbach, Marx, Engels, and Kierkegaard. Special consideration of dialectical thinking in its resolution of the antitheses of reality and appearance, freedom and necessity, infinite and finite, and faith and knowledge.

PHIL 224 — (P) Foundations of Twentieth-Century Philosophy — 3 credits

A study of some of the key figures that have set tone for the twentieth-centur y philosophy. Buber, Marx, Kierkegaard, Hume and Russell are studied in detail.

PHIL 225 — (P) Contemporary Philosophy (Dr. Casey) — 3 credits

A survey of 20th Century schools of philosophy including pragmatism (William James), phenomenology (Heidegger), existentialism (Sartre), post-structuralism (Derrida), and analytic philosophy (Wittgenstein).

PHIL 226 — (D,P) Chinese Philosophy (Drs. Pang-White, Black) — 3 credits

An introduction to the classical and modern Chinese understanding. The course will focus on the Daoist’s teachings and vision, the modifications made to Daoism by Buddhism, and the thought of Confucius and the Neo-Confucians. Included in the course will be comparisons and contrasts with Western thought and some discussion of Japanese Buddhism. The topics of the course will include ethics, social life, mysticism, religion and reality.

PHIL 227 — (P) Political Philosophy (Drs. Klonoski, Baillie) — 3 credits

Philosophical and ethical analysis of the social nature of man with emphasis on modern social questions. Ethics of the family, of nation and of communities. International ethics.

PHIL 228 — (P) Philosophy of the Person — 3 credits

This course will deal with the basic questions that confront the human person. This will involve an analysis of the social situation, a discussion of the implications of this situation for the person as he/she relates to the world, and a search for the meaning of the 'whole person.'

PHIL 229 — (D,P) Philosophy of Religion (Fr. Mohr, Dr. Rowe) — 3 credits

An investigation of the main topics which have emerged in philosophers’ reflections on religion: arguments for the existence of God; the possibility of statements about God; assessment of religious experience; the notions of miracle, revelation, immortality and afterlife; the problem of evil; relations between religious faith and reason; religion and ethics. Selected reading from classical and contemporary authors.

PHIL 231 — Philosophy of Women (Staff) — 3 credits

This course reviews the philosophies of woman in western thought from Plato and Aristotle to Nietzche, Schopenhauer, and Beauvoir. It concludes with an interdisciplinary selection of readings on women to be addressed philosophically in art, anthropology, literature, pol itics, theology, psychology, etc.

PHIL 232 — Idea of a University (Staff) — 3 credits

An investigation of the philosophy of a liberal education, using John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University as a tool.

PHIL 234 — (P) Existentialism (Fr. Mohr)— 3 credits

A critical study of selected works of Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre, with special emphasis on the existentialist themes of selfhood, freedom, dread, responsibility, temporality, body, limited and unlimited knowledge and reality, and fidelity to community.

PHIL 235 — (P) New Directions in Philosophy — 3 credits

The purpose of this course is to focus on very recent works of philosphical value that open new avenues of intellectual reflection. Books and video tapes are updated regularly.

PHIL 236 — (P) Freud and Philosophy — 3 credits

Examination of overt and covert philosophical implications of Freud’s system of psychoanalysis. Emphasis on actual writings of Freud, particularly after 1920.

PHIL 237 — (P) The Philosophy of Multiculturalism — 3 credits

The purpose of this course is to focus on important philosophical ideas that are diverse, cross-cultural and global in their content and application. Specifically, the course summarizes and discusses basic philosophical articles and selected video tapes that complement traditional western concepts. Secondly, students are encouraged to develop their own critical reactions concerning these global philosophical is sues.

PHIL 238 — (P) Wealth and the Human Good (Dr. Klonoski) — 3 credits

What is wealth? Is wealth the key to happiness? Is it possible for individual human beings and human society to flourish without wealth? What are the true purposes of wealth? Is the acquisition of wealth natural to human beings and are there any boundaries for such acquisition? What does it mean to say that the measure of success in contemporary consumer society is wealth? These and other questions related to life in modern capitalist, commercial society will be addressed in the course. Selected readings from the history of philosophy, literature, anthropology and sociology will be studied. Authors range from Plato to Baudrillard.

PHIL 240 — (W, P) Logic and Written Discourse (Dr. Pang-White) — 3 credits

The goal of PHIL 240 is to equip students with an understanding of our reasoning process and the conditions that constitute good reasoning as employed in ordinary discourse, and also the skill to construct good arguments in writing. For this purpose, this course will cover the following four major topics: (1) The nature of logical arguments, (2) Deduction (e.g., syllogistical reasoning, propositional logic), (3) Induction (e.g., analogical reasoning, causal inference), and (4) Fallacies (formal vs. informal fallacies).

PHIL 310 — (P) Epistemology (Dr. Casey) — 3 credits

An introduction to the theory of knowledge and its related concerns. This will involve close readings of historical texts from ancient to contemporary philosophy that are considered representative of the dominant epistemological theories in the Western tradition. Topics include sensation, perception, memory, recollection, reason, language and the body. The unifying theme of the course will be the historical importance of imagination and the role it plays in knowing.

PHIL 311 — (P) Metaphysics (Drs. Baillie, Pang-White) — 3 credits

A textual inquiry into the adequacy of philosophers’ answer to the fundamental question, “What is?” Special attention will be given to Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant’s critical philosophy and the issues of n ature and history.

PHIL 312 — (P) Modern Philosophy III (Dr. Rowe) — 3 credits

This course is a study of four figures in nineteenth century philosophy: Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche. We will consider such issues as the relation between philosophy and non-philosophical experience, the place of philosophy in society, the theme of conflict in life and thought, and the simultaneous spread and decay of humanism in the nineteenth century.

PHIL 313 — (P) Philosophy and Friendship (Dr. Klonoski) — 3 credits

This course will be an historical survey of primary texts which discuss friendship. Readings in the course will be taken from authors of the ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary periods in the history of philosophy. Some of these authors whose works will be discussed are, Xenophon , Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, de Montaigne, Bacon, Kant, Emerson, Nietzsche, Gray, Arendt and Sartre.

PHIL 314 — Philosophy and the City (Dr. Meagher) — 3 credits

This course allows students to explore philosophical issues connected to urban and public policy as a way of developing a deeper understanding of their own relation to the city and their roles as citizens. The course will analyze the city as a site of tension between community and difference, as a space of public citizenship, and as built environment that reflects human connection to art and nature.

PHIL 315 — (P) Twentieth-Century Political Philosophy (Dr. Baillie) — 3 credits

This course is a survey of modern social contract theory and its relation to capitalism, and of modern Marxism. Issues raised will include obligat ion and consent, equality, freedom and self-determination, the role of markets, and the role of the state.

PHIL 316 — (D, W) American Perspectives on Health Care Ethics (Dr. Baillie, Fr. McKinney) — 3 credits

This course will introduce the student to basic ethical issues in the practice and distribution of health care in the United States. Topics covered will include the physician-patient relationship, clinical issues such as transplants or end-of-life concerns, the nature of professionalism, just distribution, ethics in health-care institutions, and biomedical research. The course will emphasize both current scholarship and the practical nature of the subject through the discussion of medical ethical cases, theories, and current writings. Recommended for those interested in the health-care professions.

PHIL 319 — Philosophy of Law (Fr. McKinney) — 3 credits

A study of the various justifications of law and their implications. Special consideration will be given to the problems of civil disobedience and the force of law in private institutions.

PHIL 320 — (P) Aesthetics (Dr. Black) — 3 credits

The main theories of the essential character of beauty or art, how they are judged, how they are related to the mind and the whole person, how they are created and how this creativity expresses a commitment to oneself and to the world.

PHIL 321 — Great Books (Dr. Nordberg) — 3 credits

Major thinkers in the Western philosophical, religious, political and literary traditions. This course emphasizes philosophical themes in literature.

PHIL 325 — (P) Literature and Ethics (Dr. Meagher) — 3 credits

This course examines that "old quarrel between philosophy and literature," the dispute between Plato and Ancient Athenian poets regarding the source of morality, and studies how this quarrel continues in contemporary moral discourse. The aims of this course are to: (1) gain a better understanding of issues in contemporary moral thinking, especially regarding so-called “narrative approaches to ethics”; and (2) rethink the “old quarrel,” as we examine contemporary philosophers’ turns to literature in an attempt to reconstruct the concept of moral agency.

PHIL 326 — (D,P) Advanced Topics in Feminist Philosophy (Dr. Meagher) — 3 credits

(Prerequisite: Phil 218, other women&# 146;s studies courses, or permission of the instructor.) This course will explore a special topic in feminist philosophy. The topic will vary according to student and faculty interest. Possible topics might include: feminism and aesthetics, issues of equality, philosophy of women. Course might be repeated as topics vary. This course may be counted toward the Women’s Studies Concentration.

PHIL 327 — Readings in the Later Plato — 3 credits

A survey and contextualization of the dialogues usually said to be “Later” in Plato’s intellectual development will precede a textually based examination of those dialogues in which Plato’s dialectic turns on the “concept” of difference. Thaetetus, Sophist, and Parmenides will be emphasized.

PHIL 328 — (P) Philosophy of Literature (Dr. Meagher) — 3 credits

This course examines the nature of literature, and its relation to philosophy and political life. Students will study both classical texts on literature and contemporary Anglo-American examinations and appropriations of them, as well as recent European literary theory.

PHIL 330 — (P) Fate, Destiny & Dignity — 3 credits

This course will use historical and contemporary philosophical texts to begin a discussion of human nature in terms of: 1) absolute origin--creature of God vs. evolutionary accident; 2) ultimate destiny--is death the end of human life? 3) may we still talk about the soul? 4) persons--public & private, accompanied and alone. Throughout the course, students will be seeking to position themselves to answer the question, “What must be true of human nature for friendship and love to be possible?

PHIL 331 — Feminist Philosophy of Science (Dr. Casey) — 3 credits

A feminist critique of both the alleged value-free character of modern science and the positivist philosophy of science supporting this view. The course thus focuses on feminist arguments for the contextual, i.e., social, political and economic, nature of science and the resulting need to rethink such key concepts as objectivity, evidence and truth in light of androcentrism and gender bias. Consideration is also given to critical responses from feminist and nonfeminist defenders of more traditional accounts of science.

PHIL 340 — (D, P) Philosophy and Judaism (Dr. Rowe) — 3 credits

In a setting that witnessed both the destruction of European Jewery and the end of Jewish Diaspora through the creation of the State of Israel, Jewi sh philosophers wrote and spoke with a distinct, yet universal voice. This course is a survey of Jewish philosophical writing in this context, with a focus upon the specific ways Judaism and philosophy may be related and were related in the 20th century. Under the heading of ‘philosophy and Judaism, our study will disclose a philosophizing ‘about’ Judaism, a philosophizing ‘from out of’ Judaism, and a philosophizing ‘for’ Judaism.

PHIL 410 — (P) Philosophy of Culture (Dr. Black) — 3 credits

Examines the meaning of the term “culture.” Explores the notions of civilization and barbarism, common principles in cultural development, and the interaction of such cultural forces as myth, magic, language, art, religion, science, and technology. Special attention will be given to the question of “progress” and “regress” in culture.

PHIL 411 — (P) Thomas Aquinas: Philosophy and Controversy (Dr. Pang-White) — 3 credits

This course is a contextual survey of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, arguably the greatest thinker of the thirteenth century, the golden age of Scholasticism. Selection of topics from his metaphysics, ethics, and anthopology will be examined. Topics may include but are not limited to: Aquinas’ distinction between existence and essence, his synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy, Avicennian metaphysics (an Arabian philosophy), and Christianity, his doctrine on faith and reason, his dispute with the Averroists on the status of the intellect, the condemnation of some of his propositions in 1277, and his later canonization in 1325.

PHIL 414 — (D, P) Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (Dr. Rowe) — 3 credits

This course is a study of the twentieth century Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas. We will focus on Levinas’ theory of ethical experience, an account that takes its categories from both Greek and Hebrew sources, thereby enriching the dialogue between Jewish and Christian traditions in philosophy.

PHIL 415 — (P) Philosophy of God — 3 credits

This course will use classic and contemporary texts to begin a discussion of evil as a challenge to traditional notions of the existence, power, wisdom, and goodness of God. We shall also consider whether hope is an intellectually honest response to the problem of evil.

PHIL 418 — (P) Phenomenology (Dr. Casey) — 3 credits

An introduction to phenomenology, which is a critical methodological approach to human experience . This twentieth century European movement will be examined through selected works of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. The intent of the course is to explore phenomenology both as a theoretical approach to the study of human consciousness and the lived-world and as a unique philosophical method.

PHIL 420 — (P) Philosophy of Rhetoric (Dr. Black) — 3 credits

A systematic investigation of the form, meaning and influence of rhetoric. Explores the relationships between topic and metaphor, logic and narration, ethos and logos, conscience and persuasion. Special attention is given to the various relationships between rhetoric and philosophy.

PHIL 425 — Postmodern Philosophy (Fr. McKinney) — 3 credits

An examination of the transition from modernist culture and thought to postmodernist culture and thought. Derrida’s method of deconstruction will serve as the paradigm example of postmodernism. Recommended for those interested especially in literature and fine arts.

PHIL 430 — (P) Philosophy of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Dr. Meagher) — 3 credits

The goal of the course is to encourage students to think philosophically about issues raised in social scientific studies, especially regarding the following: 1) The problem of cross-cultural understanding and interpretation, 2) The difficulties of research- design and methodology, and 3) The relationship between social science, ethics, and policy making. Readings will be drawn from social scientific texts, “classic” debates in the philosophy of social science, and recent work in feminist epistemology and philosophy of the social sciences. Students interested in philosophy and/or the social sciences are e ncouraged to participate.

PHIL 431 — (P) Philosophy of Science — 3 credits

An introduction to the history and philosophy of science. Selections from Darwin’s The Origins of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) and Popper, Feyerabend, Hanson, Stace, Quine, Frank, Rescher, Hempel, and Baier.

PHIL 434 — (P) Issues in Philosophy and Theology (Dr. Baillie) — 3 credits

This course will investigate certain modern and contemporary problems in the relationship between philosophy and theology. In particular, it will examine the ways in which philosophical discussions (both specific arguments and general positions) influence theological discussions, as evidence of the suggestion that philosophy “gives voice” to theology.

ED/P 306 — (P) Philosophy of Education (Dr. Klonoski) — 3 credits

(Formerly ED/P 106) An examination of representative modern systemic philosophies of education with a critical analysis of the answers that each system of philosophy provides to the important questions concerning the nature of knowledge, value, man and society.