Philosophy Course Descriptions for
Spring 2010
MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
Thirty hours including: (a) 101 and 102, (b) a total of at least four 200-level courses in Philosophy. Students considering graduate work are urged to take Philosophy 13 and to study a foreign language.
MINOR REQUIREMENTS
One course from PHIL 101, 102, 140; one 200-level course in philosophy; and 12 additional hours in Philosophy at least three of which must be at the 100 level or above.
001. Introduction to
Philosophy: Selected Problems. An introduction to philosophy through
a study of such fundamental problems as knowledge and belief, mind and body,
freedom and determinism, the existence of God, moral and aesthetic values, and
liberty and the authority of government.
Credit not given for
more than one of 001, 003, and 004
Three hours
Professor deRosset: Section A – MW 4:05-5:20
Professor Moyer: Section C - TR 11:30-12:45
003. Introduction to Philosophy East and
West. Introduction to the historical dialectic of philosophy by
comparisons and contrasts between Chinese and Western traditions of philosophy.
Credit not given for more than one of 001,
003, and 004
Three hours
Professor Chan: Section A - MWF 1:55-2:45
004. Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics. A study of fundamental problems in moral philosophy: What is a morally decent life? How can we know? Why should we care?
Credit not given for more than one of 001, 003, and 004
Three hours
Professor Kuflik: Section A – TR 2:30-3:45
Professor Harp: Section B – MWF 10:40-11:30
Section C – MWF 11:45-12:35
013. Introduction to Logic. A study of the basic principles of deductive inference.
Three hours
Professor Weiner: Section A – TR 1:00-2:15
111. Philosophy of Mind. Inquiry into such topics as consciousness, the relation between the mental (beliefs, sensations, etc.) and the physical (chemicals, neurons, etc.) and how minds represent things.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course or instructor permission
Three hours
Professor Moyer: Section A – TR 8:30-9:45
142. Philosophy of Law I. Analysis of the nature of law, the relation between law and morality, the (possible) obligation to obey the law, and the judicial decision.
Prerequisite: 001, 003, 004, 095, 096 or Political Science 041
Three hours
Professor Loeb: Section A – 10:00-11:15
145. Killing Things. It is morally permissible to kill some things
sometimes. It's always permissible to kill mosquitoes, for example.
What else? When? We'll discuss abortion, self-defense, and war,
among other things.
Prerequisite: 001, 003, 004, 095 or 096
Three hours
Professor Doggett: Section A - TR 11:30-12:45
Section B – TR 2:30-3:45
170. Feminism: Theories & Issues. Theories of libertarianism, liberalism, and egalitarianism; application to the analysis and evaluation of social issues of contemporary interest, such as abortion and affirmative action.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course
Three hours
Professor Chan: Section A – MWF 12:50-1:40
HON 196. John Dewey Honors Program: Human Rights. This course will explore how leading contemporary philosophers have grappled with such questions as these: Is the attempt to secure "human rights" a kind of "moral imperialism" by societies committed to such "western" values as freedom and democracy? Or, are there certain rights that all human beings ought to be respected as having, simply in virtue of being human? Rights to what? On what moral basis? Are there just and feasible methods for protecting such rights or is commitment to a human-rights “agenda” unrealistic and "utopian"?
Prerequisite: 001, 003, 004, 095 or 096
Three hours
Professor Kuflik: Section
A – TR 11:30-12:45
198.
1-6 hours
219. Epistemology: Advanced Topics. In-depth study of select topics concerning theories of knowledge and related concepts such as belief, truth, rationality, evidence, perception, memory and induction.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at the 100-level
Three hours
Professor Weiner: Section
A – TR 11:30-12:45
240. Contemporary Ethical Theory. Abstract questions concerning the foundations of ethics including these: 1) Is morality a realm of fact? 2) What is the nature of moral judgments, and what do moral sentences mean? 3) How, if at all, can we know what morality requires or reason abut moral questions? 4) Why be moral, and what is the relationship between morality and reasons for action? In addressing these questions we will look at the development of Anglo-American metaethical thought from the beginning of the Twentieth Century to the present (including some of Professor Loeb's own work), with the greater emphasis on the last twenty years. The course will not cover concrete ethical issues such as abortion, euthanasia, etc.
Prerequisite: at least one philosophy course at the
100-level or above
Three hours
Professor Loeb: Section A – TR 1:00-2:15
295. Philosophy of
Social Science. The main task of the social sciences is to explain social
phenomena. What is the characteristic way that the social
sciences---economics, sociology, history, social psychology---explain
phenomena? And what sorts of events count as social phenomena in the
first place? In this course, we will investigate the nature of
explanation in the social sciences by way of contrasting the social sciences
with the natural sciences and by way of comparing the behavior of groups with
the behavior of sets of individual rational agents.
Prerequisites: at least one philosophy course at the 100-level or above, or
an appropriate background in
social science research.
Three Hours
Professor Harp: Section A – MW 4:05-5:20
298. Advanced
1-6 hours
PHILOSOPHY MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
Thirty hours including: (a) 101 and 102, (b) a total of at least four 200-level courses in Philosophy. Students considering graduate work are urged to take Philosophy 13 and to study a foreign language.
PHILOSOPHY MINOR REQUIREMENTS
One course from PHIL 101, 102, 140; one 200-level course in philosophy; and 12 additional hours in Philosophy at least three of which must be at the 100 level or above.
Last modified November 13 2009 12:00 PM