PHI 111 - Introduction to Philosophy: A Search for Meaning 4cr

This course offers an investigation into the meaning and structure of human existence by critically analyzing some of the perennial questions of human experience. In this course, students analyze important concepts and issues in metaphysics (the study of being), epistemology (the theory of knowledge), and ethics by considering the views of some of the great philosophers of the Western Tradition (as well as some critics of that tradition).

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 112 - First Philosophy 4cr

Introduction to the work of great philosophers can be a good way for students to begin a study of philosophy. There is another equally viable approach, however, in which philosophy is not as much a subject for study as it is a process of thinking through the most basic of issues very carefully. What is the nature of truth? What can you know and how do you know it? What sorts of things are there: physical, mental, spiritual? What gives something value? In attempting to deal with these questions directly, students in this course can gain the skills needed to evaluate competing answers and so participate in the philosophical quest to provide a foundation for all of life's endeavors.

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 113 - Introductory Logic 4cr

The formal techniques of traditional symbolic logic are sometimes taught with little thought to application. "Critical thinking" is frequently an attempt to teach clear thinking without investigating its logical structures. What is missing at these extremes is application of formal techniques to the solution of real-life problems. That requires learning to turn valid forms of reasoning into productive investigative strategies and critical tools for identifying fallacious reasoning with its many forms. That is "critical reasoning" and one learns it in conjunction with symbolic logic and some philosophy of logic.

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 116 - Great Trials: Truth and Censorship 4cr

This course takes up questions of truth, censorship, and judgment as challenges that need to be considered for the present time. Although such diverse thinkers as Socrates, Galileo, Thoreau, and Camus challenged their respective societies and accepted notions of truth in important ways, in this course their quests for truth are used to question our own truths and values; in order to ask what censorship and judgment mean today; and to ask: "What does it mean now to be ahead of our time?"

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 251 - Philosophy of Art 4cr

This course offers an analysis and philosophical evaluation of problems in art appreciation, art criticism and theories of art. Special emphasis is placed on understanding art in the context of concurrent artistic endeavor or experience.

Philosophy/Religion

Corequisite: Concurrent registration in an approved art studio, theater practicum, music performance course, or consent of instructor.

PHI 252 - Environmental Ethics 4cr

The central focus of this course is to develop an understanding of the proper relationship between humans and the non-human entities of the natural world. In so doing, the course explores the major Western approaches to environmental ethics and the central issues of the ethical status of plants and animals, the holism/individualism debate and the meaning of sustainability. A significant portion of this course is devoted to the Land Ethic, Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism and some Eastern approaches as well.

Language/Global Issues or Philosophy/Religion

PHI 254 - Philosophy of Technology 4cr

In this course, students discuss philosophical and historical interpretations of technology. Students read works by Plato, Aristotle, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Jacques Ellul, Ellen Ullman, N. Katherine Hayles, and others, with the goal of deepening understanding of the relationship between technology, history, society and character of contemporary life. In attempting to tackle the interesting and challenging questions regarding technology, emphasis will be placed on the importance of adopting a multicultural perspective.

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 255 - Philosophy of Science and Logic 4cr

This course provides the opportunity to obtain a working knowledge of elementary deductive logic and scientific method, to understand the historically important criticism of each, and to seek alternative methods where needed. The course may be especially helpful as preparation for law school and graduate work in the social or natural sciences.

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 256 - Political Philosophy 4cr

This course offers an investigation into political philosophy from the beginning of the Modern period to the present. Students gain an understanding of important political philosophers such as Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Kant, Mill, and Marx. In addition, students read contemporary essays, which focus on issues in contemporary society regarding race, gender, sex, and class theory, written by some of the top theorists in their respective fields.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

PHI 257 - Ethical Theory and Practical Issues 4cr

This course investigates the fundamental philosophical issues and arguments involved in contemporary ethical problems such as capital punishment, euthanasia, animal rights, parenting issues, gay marriage, cloning, and free speech. The first month of the course focuses primarily on theory, the remainder on the practical issues.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

PHI/GDS 258 - Feminist Philosophy 4cr

This course investigates several historical and contemporary feminist philosophical perspectives with the aim of enabling students not only to work critically through some important feminist critiques, but also to appreciate the diversity of feminist thought. The majority of the readings in this course focus on contemporary feminist perspectives.

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 259 - Ancient Philosophy: Problems of Truth and Goodness 4cr

This course investigates how some of the basic questions of human life concerning truth, justice, revenge, relation to the divine, law, and love were lived and understood by the Greeks during the Classical Period of ancient Greek history. Students discover the beginnings of systematic Western philosophy in Plato and Aristotle, touching on some of their influences, such as Socrates, Heraclitus, and Parmenides. One theme of this course, justice, is considered not only through the philosophical writings, but also in the context of Greek tragedy. Students read some of the most incredible works of tragedy of the Western tradition: the Antigone by Sophocles and the Bacchae by Euripides.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

PHI 261 - Eastern Thought 4cr

Eastern and Western views differ in many of the important assumptions that ground them, but the most basic issues are the same. What is the nature of truth? What are good grounds for knowledge and for belief? What sorts of things are there: physical, mental, spiritual? How can we find value in life and preserve it in the lives of others? Students explore the answers to these questions provided by the classical philosophical systems of India: Vedanta, Mimamsa, Sankha, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Carvaka, Jaina, and Buddha systems; the major schools of classical Chinese philosophy--especially Confucianism and Taoism; and Japanese philosophy--especially Zen. Students also explore the influence of Eastern thought on Western thinkers.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 272 - Introduction to Nietzsche 4cr

This course offers an introduction into Nietzsche's thought. Students read and discuss several of Nietzsche's works and investigate important Nietzschean concepts such as the Transvaluation of Values, the Will to Power, and the Eternal Return, and furthermore understand these concepts as a fruitful way of approaching and critiquing philosophy and culture. In the last few weeks of the course, students explore contemporary interpretations of Nietzsche's texts by thinkers such as Derrida. These critiques allow students to see Nietzsche as a pivotal figure, a Modern thinker whose ideas open up philosophical possibilities by questioning the very foundations of the subject, truth, and philosophy.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

PHI 290-298 - Special Topics in Philosophy 2-4cr

This course is an in-depth consideration of a topic of particular concern within the discipline of Philosophy or those it serves. The course may be repeated for credit under different topics.

Philosophy/Religion

PHI 299 - Independent Study 1-4cr

PHI 311 - Epistemology 4cr

There is a set of epistemological issues that constantly reappear in the history of Western philosophy. These include what sort of knowledge is given by the senses, whether one can ever have knowledge of a world beyond direct apprehension, the role of reason in providing knowledge, the very nature of knowledge and of belief, the connection of these to truth, and the nature of truth. In the first two-thirds of this course, students explore these classical issues, mostly in the order in which they arose. In the balance of the course, students explore responses to these issues from outside the classical Western Canon, especially from Pragmatists and feminist thinkers.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 312 - Philosophy of Mind 4cr

This seminar investigates the nature of "mind" from several historical as well as contemporary philosophical perspectives. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between "mind" and "body" from both ontological and epistemological points of view, and analyzes different conceptions of "mind" and of "consciousness" in the intellectualist/rationalist tradition, the empiricist/behaviorist tradition, and various attempts to eliminate the mind-body dichotomy.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 313 - Philosophy of Language 4cr

This seminar investigates the role that language plays in thinking. Its main task is finding out how language can serve as a medium for thinking and communication of thoughts. Philosophers of language have divided such questions into issues about syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. This course is primarily concerned with the semantical explorations of the concepts of meaning, sense, reference, naming, and truth and the relationships among them. Pragmatic concerns with the kinds of things we can do with words, the social context of language, and the nature of communication are also considered.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 353 - Modern Philosophy: Science, Perception, and Reality 4cr

This course offers a study of some of the key thinkers during this broad period in the history of philosophy (16th-19th Centuries). We are today the inheritors of the Modern tradition in philosophy and in science. Students analyze the rich diversity in the Modern philosophers' respective methods and theories regarding knowledge, truth, and reality. Students read original texts by Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Berkeley, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, and Hegel, and pay particular attention to the connection between philosophical and scientific method and theory.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 354 - Existentialism and Phenomenology 4cr

This course offers an investigation into existential and phenomenological philosophy. Existentialist philosophy calls on us to reflect meaningfully on our lives and reach conclusions that can have validity for other persons as well. Phenomenology, as a method of investigation that includes the role of the inquirer in the sphere of investigation, represents a crucial development in philosophy and science in the 20th Century. Students read original texts by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Marcel, and Heidegger, and examine both the historical and the contemporary significance of certain tensions that seem to characterize human existence in the 20th Century: the individuality of experience/the universality of reason; human finitude/the desire for transcendence or the "infinite"; human freedom/the weight of responsibility; and the individual/society.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 355 - Analytic Philosophy in the Twentieth Century 4cr

This course investigates the rise and flowering of analytical philosophy from Logical Atomism through Logical Positivism to Ordinary Language Philosophy. The course begins with, and periodically returns to, a central analytic concern with the nature of philosophy itself. Special emphasis is placed on the work of Bertrand Russell, early and later Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rudolph Carnap, Karl Popper, W.V.O. Quine, R.M. Hare, C.L. Stevenson, G.E. Moore, Gilbert Ryle, A.J. Ayer, and John Austin.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 363 - Nature Way 4cr

This environmental philosophy course explores the effects upon our treatment of the natural world that would result from substituting for our traditional Western assumptions the assumptions of Taoism and other Eastern views, pre-domination American Indians, some holistic Western views, and Eco-Feminism. This course also explores the value and epistemological status of direct experience of nature as a source of an environmental ethic.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 390-398 - Special Topics in Philosophy 2-4cr

This course is an in-depth consideration of a topic of particular concern within the discipline of Philosophy or those it serves. The course may be repeated for credit under different topics.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 399 - Independent Study 1-4cr

Prerequisites: Two previous courses in Philosophy and sophomore standing.

PHI 456 - Contemporary Philosophy 4cr

This course offers an investigation into four leading contemporary thinkers in Continental philosophy. After an introduction by way of the pivotal Modern philosopher, Nietzsche, students read and discuss the thought of Foucault, Derrida, Irigaray, Baudrillard, and Deleuze. The general theme of the course centers around these four philosophers' respective "postmodern" attempts to open up new ways of thinking about subjectivity that take into consideration the role of the body and of institutions such as language and social structures. This course offers students interested in philosophy the opportunity to analyze and think about questions that Continental philosophers are dealing with right now.

Philosophy/Religion or College Composition II

Prerequisites: PHI 353 Modern Philosophy and junior standing.

PHI 457 - American Philosophy 4cr

This course concentrates on the major North American philosophers of the "classical" period from 1870 to the end of World War II including Pierce, James, Dewey, Royce, Mead, Santayana, DuBois, Locke, Gilman, and Wright.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisite: PHI 353 Modern Philosophy and junior standing.

PHI 471 - Capstone Seminar in Philosophy 4cr

This course is a capstone designed for junior or senior students majoring in Philosophy. The first half of the course focuses on advanced level primary texts and secondary sources in a given topic or historical movement, with the goal of refining the students' researching, writing, and oral argumentation skills at the highest undergraduate level. In the second half of the course, students research, craft, and polish their own capstone thesis on philosophical material related to the theme of the course, and present their research and arguments at the Capstone Carnival in the spring.

Prerequisite: Students must have completed section I) A and B of the philosophy major requirements (section 3.2.18.2), PHI 259 Ancient Philosophy, PHI 353 Modern Philosophy, and have at least junior standing to enroll in a capstone seminar in Philosophy.

PHI 490-498 - Special Topics in Philosophy 2-4cr

This course is an in-depth consideration of a topic of particular concern within the discipline of Philosophy or those it serves. The course may be repeated for credit under different topics.

Philosophy/Religion

Prerequisite: PHI 353 Modern Philosophy and junior standing.

PHI 499 - Independent Study 1-4cr

Prerequisite: one previous 300 level course in Philosophy and junior standing