Philosphy and Religious Studies Course Descriptions

Perennial problems of philosophy, including problems in ethics, in epistemology and metaphysics, and in philosophy of religion. (Fall, Spring, Summer I and II)

Explores the central arguments, concepts, and responses surrounding atheism and agnosticism.  Topics include an examination of the arguments supporting theism, deductive and inductive atheology, and the existence of evil, faith, miracles, and morality. (Annually)

Existentialism as a philosophical movement founded on phenomenology. Philosophical themes and their development, applications, or exemplifications in existentialist literature. Course presupposes no particular knowledge of philosophy. Readings from some or all of the following: Buber, Camus, Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Marcel, Nietzsche, Sartre. (Occasionally)

Some ancient, medieval, or modern philosophers' answers to ethical problems (e.g., nature of good and evil, relation of duty to self-interest, objectivity of moral judgments). (Fall, Spring, Summer I and II)

Development of critical tools for the evaluation of arguments. Not a prerequisite for PHIL P250. (Fall, Spring, Summer I and II)

A study of special, experimental, or timely topics drawn from the full range of philosophical discussion and designed to engage interests unmet in the regular curriculum. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6credit hours. (Occasionally)

Selective survey of ancient Greek philosophy (Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle). (Annually)

A survey of the main topics in the philosophy of religion, such as arguments for or against the existence of God, divine attributes, the problem of evil, miracles, immortality, and the connection between religion and morality. (Occasionally)

Selective survey of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy, including some or all of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant. (Occasionally)

Introduction to the philosophical study of art and the relationship between art and philosophy.  Topics include the nature of a work of art, the role of emotions in art, the interpretation and appreciation of art, and the way philosophy is expressed in art. (Annually)

Propositional logic and first-order quantificational logic. (Occasionally)

A survey, including Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Abelard, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Ockham, and Nicholas of Cusa. (Occasionally)

Selective survey of postKantian philosophy including Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Mill. (Occasionally)

A philosophical examination of ethical issues that arise in the context of business. Moral theory will be applied to such problems as the ethical evaluation of corporations, what constitutes fair profit, and truth in advertising. (Fall, Spring, Summer I and II)

Topics such as existence, individuation, contingency, universals and particulars, monism-pluralism, Platonism-nominalism, idealism-realism. (Occasionally)

A survey of representative philosophical approaches to problems of the present age, such as pragmatism, process and analytic philosophy, phenomenology, existentialism, neo-Marxism, and non-Western philosophy. (Occasionally)

Selected readings from Buber, Camus, Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Marcel, Nietzsche, Sartre, and others. (Occasionally)

This course examines human rights. Using the International Bill of Human Rights, concepts such as "dignity" and "respect" are applied directly to the local level. One objective is to link disagreement over rights and corresponding duties with differences in perception. Furthermore, accountability-securing measures are assessed in connection with failed state theory. (Occasionally)

May concentrate on a single large problem, such as whether utilitarianism is an adequate ethical theory or several more or less independent problems, such as the nature of goodness and the objectivity of moral judgments. (Occasionally)

Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, and Marx. Topics include the ideal state, the nature and proper ends of the state, natural law and natural rights, the social contract theory, and the notion of community. (Occasionally)

Selected philosophical problems concerning art and art criticism. Topics such as the definition of art, expression, representation, style, form and content, and the aesthetic and the cognitive. (Occasionally)

Selected topics from among the following: the nature of mental phenomena (e.g., thinking, volition, perception, emotion); and the mind-body problem (e.g., dualism, behaviorism, materialism). (Occasionally)

An advanced study of special, experimental, or timely topics drawn from the full range of philosophical discussion and designed to engage interests unmet in the regular curriculum. (Occasionally)

A philosophical consideration of ethical problems that arise in current biomedical practice; for instance, abortion, euthanasia, determination of death, consent to treatment, and professional responsibilities in connection with research, experimentation, and health care delivery. (Fall, Spring, Summer I and II)

Intensive study of selected authors, topics, and problems. (Occasionally)

Traditional patterns of encounter with the sacred. Secularization of Western culture. Religious elements in contemporary American culture. (Fall, Spring)

Western religious convictions and their consequences for judgments about personal and social morality, including such issues as sexual morality, medical ethics, questions of socioeconomic organization, and moral judgments about warfare. (Fall and Spring)

Selected topics and movements in religion seen from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. May be repeated twice under different titles. (Occasionally)

Interpretation of human destiny in contemporary religious and antireligious thought. (Occasionally)