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A critical exploration of such topics as knowledge and belief, God and the problem of evil, freedom and determinism, the right and the good, language and meaning, mind and body, appearance and reality, and man and the world.
A critical examination of such topics as knowledge and belief, God and the problem of evil, freedom and determinism, the right and the good, language and meaning, mind and body, appearance and reality, and man and the world.
The principles and standards for thinking and communicating clearly and effectively. Topics include theories of meaning, uses of language, common causes of confusion and error in thought and argument, and evaluation of arguments.
The major philosophical positions concerning right and wrong, ethical values, and moral responsibility. The relevance of moral philosophy to current issues of personal and social ethics.
Philosophical issues concerning science, including theories of knowledge underlying science, metaphysical and ethical implications of current scientific theories, and the historical evolution of some major scientific theories.
The philosophy of science and the philosophy of nature, including such issues as standards governing scientific reasoning and the philosophical implications of contemporary and past scientific theories.
The methods and principles used to distinguish correct from incorrect deductive arguments, with emphasis on contemporary techniques of analysis.
Ancient Greek philosophy focusing particularly on works of Plato and Aristotle.
Examination of central themes in the modern period of philosophy, focusing on those writing in the 17th and 18th centuries such as Descartes, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Margaret Cavendish, Locke, Leibniz, Spinoza, Sor Juana, Hume, Kant, etc.
Works of major nineteenth-century philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Schopenhauer, Mill, Frege, and Nietzsche.
European existentialism, as initiated by Kierkegaard and developed in this century by such figures as Sartre, Camus, Marcel, Jaspers, and Buber.
An introduction to Asian philosophy, with a focus on traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Dadaism, and Islam, among others. Students will undertake a critical overview of key philosophical problems in the areas of epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language,…
The nature and justification of fundamental ethical concepts and moral principles.
Philosophical investigation and evaluation of feminist philosophy, examining such approaches as liberal feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, ecofeminism, and other feminist approaches.
Ethical and philosophical issues that arise in the context of medicine and bioresearch. Many ethical issues arise in health care contexts. This course will introduce students to some important problems in this area, and will help them to develop a decision framework for their resolution.
Introduces students to an array of ethical issues regarding contemporary food production, marketing, distribution, access, regulation, and consumption. Students will consider the ethical significance of individual food choices, as well as food policy decisions.
Introduces students to philosophical discourse on sport and games, including conceptual analysis of the nature of sports and games, as well as particular ethical and aesthetic questions that arise from these practices.
What is the human mind? What is emotion? What is consciousness? What is the relation between thought and emotion? How is perception connected with thought? This course will raise these, or similar, questions and explore some answers that philosophers propose together with the arguments that they…
What is the purpose of the commandments? Why do innocents suffer? Does the practice of Judaism add anything to ethics or is it even contrary? Is the Torah compatible with science? This course explores the variety of distinctive ways the rich tradition of Jewish philosophical thought has…
Principles and methods for distinguishing correct from incorrect deductive arguments in the context of modal logic, temporal logic, conditional logic, epistemic logic, and deontic logic.
Interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligent activity that forms cognitive sciences. Contributions of psychology, philosophy, linguistics, biology, anthropology, computer science, and education toward uncovering important aspects of the mind and intelligent activity are discussed.
Philosophical works that address problems such as: What is substance? What is causality? Is mind distinct from matter? Does God exist?
Basic problems and issues in the theory of knowledge, such as: What is truth? Can we acquire knowledge independently of experience? How can we justify our beliefs? Are inductive generalizations justified?
Exploration of ways in which films can do philosophy and illustrate or more generally give expression to philosophical theories. Although some discussion of the nature of cinema as a form of art and of what makes an individual work of art important may take place, this is not a course on…
This course focuses on doing philosophy with students ages K-12. Students in this course will engage with literature on doing philosophy with children and learn how to engage with children philosophically. Students will then research philosophical topics to…
The major writings of Plato.
The major writings of Aristotle.
The major figures of the medieval period in western philosophy, including Augustine and Aquinas.
An in-depth study of the seminal texts of Chinese philosophy, presenting a selection from the classical traditions of Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, Legalism, and other medieval and contemporary sources.
The major writings of Immanuel Kant.
The major writings of G.W.F. Hegel.
Works of some major nineteenth-century philosophers, typically organized around a theme. Philosophers to be studied may include Mill, Bentham, Frege, Brentano, Schopenhauer, Fichte, Schelling, and Nietzsche.
The major writings of C.S. Pierce, William James, and John Dewey and their influence on the development of contemporary philosophy.
Writings from the early phenomenologists, existentialists, contemporary Marxists and their successors, such as Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Camus, Sartre, Marcuse, and Habermas.
The development of contemporary analytical philosophy from the turn of the century to the present. Readings will be from philosophers such as Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Ryle, Austin, Quine, and Strawson.
The nature and function of society and the state, human freedom and rights, and the bases of social and political obligations.
Major professional and nonprofessional writings in the field of environmental ethics.
Philosophical theories about the arts; for example, painting, literature, and music. Questions to be addressed include: what makes art art? and what are appropriate criteria of good art? Attention may also be given to such topics as the function of art in society.
The nature and function of law, with emphasis on the interpretation and application of the law in the judicial process. Readings in classical and contemporary schools of the philosophy of law.
Technology in its broadest human context, with emphasis on the mutual influence between means and ends and the impact of technology on shaping the beliefs and attitudes of a civilization. Includes alternative assessments of technology and illustrates with specific crucial issues of our time.
Topics such as formal and ordinary languages, meaning, reference, truth, definition, analyticity, ambiguity, metaphor, symbolism, and the uses of language.
The philosophical implications of alternative approaches to psychology such as the behavioral, the psychoanalytic, the phenomenological, with particular attention to such problematic areas as the nature and validation of psychological concepts, law, and theories, and the knowledge of other minds…
Major physical, biological, and cosmological theories and their philosophic import, sixth century B.C. to the present.
The logical structure of scientific hypotheses and/or laws, and the problems of their meaning and confirmation; the general patterns of scientific explanation; and the ideals of prediction and control.
The methods and problems of inductive reasoning, including the nature of probable inference, techniques of verification, and the structure of scientific explanation, with special reference to the social sciences.
The meaning, nature, and validity of religious discourse, beliefs, and practices, involving theories concerning the existence and nature of God and humanity's relation to God.
Formal semantics for sentential and first-order predicate logic, including both soundness and completeness results for first-order logic. Additional topics may include Goedel's incompleteness results, the Skolem-Lowenheim theorem, or possible world semantics for modal logics.
The philosophical issues associated with mathematical inquiry, including, perhaps, the existence and nature of mathematical objects, the epistemology of mathematical truths, the character of mathematical proof, and the foundations of mathematics.
The artificial intelligence approach to modeling cognitive processes. Topics include an introduction to heuristic methods, problem representation and search methods, classic AI techniques, and a review of the controversial issues of the AI paradigm of cognition as computation.
An exploration of several topics related to philosophy and race: race and racism in the history of Western philosophy; contemporary and historical meanings and understandings of racial categorizations; challenges to white supremacist philosophical paradigms; and the significance of matters of…
Investigation of a philosophical problem or group of related problems with emphasis upon extensive reading in primary sources. Selection of topics will vary with instructor and interests of students.
Reading and independent research on a specified topic beyond normal course offerings and closely supervised by the tutor. Application should be made in advance of registration to the department head. Open only to students prepared to pursue advanced material.
Faculty-supervised independent or collaborative inquiry into fundamental and applied problems within a discipline that requires students to gather, analyze, and synthesize and interpret data and to present results in writing and other relevant communication formats.
Nontraditional format…
Nontraditional Format…
Faculty-supervised independent or collaborative inquiry into fundamental and applied problems within a discipline that requires students to gather, analyze, and synthesize and interpret data. Students will write or produce a thesis or other professional capstone product, such as a report or…
See if and when courses are offered in a given semester via our downloadable course schedule.
Spring 2025 Course Schedule
Fall 2024 Course Schedule
Summer 2024 Course Schedule
Spring 2024 Philosophy Courses
Fall 2023 Course Schedule
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