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Course Descriptions: Full department offerings and Course Planning Guide
PHL 199 Special Studies
(Credit to be arranged.)
PHL 201 Introduction to Philosophy (4)
General introduction to philosophy. While different instructors will use different materials, typically classical texts, attention will be given to what makes a question a philosophical question and the nature and methods of philosophical inquiry.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 210 Philosophy of Religion (4)
Examination of philosophical questions involved in the study of religion, e.g., the meaning of "God," or "gods;" the traditional arguments for the existence of a god; the meaning of faith and the question of its connection to reason; the problem of evil (of reconciling a god's alleged perfection with the existence of evil). Note: this is not a class in comparative religion or the history of religion.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 212 Philosophy in Literature (4)
An introduction to traditional philosophical issues as they appear in literature, especially in fiction. The specific philosophical problems and the literary works will vary from term to term and from instructor to instructor.
Offered Winter, Summer
PHL 300 Philosophical Methods and Concepts (4)
A survey of the major strategies of proof and disproof central to philosophical reasoning, and of the fundamental concepts and distinctions employed in current philosophical discourse. Aims at providing students who have a serious interest in thinking philosophically with the conceptual tools found to be useful for this purpose. Not recommended as a first course in philosophy.
Offered Fall and Winter
PHL 301, 302 History of Philosophy (4, 4)
Study of Western philosophy during the ancient period (classical Greek through Hellenistic times) and the modern period (17th Century to present).
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring (301, 302)
PHL 303 Critical Thinking (4)
Designed to improve reasoning and skills of critical assessment of information. Instruction focuses on practical methods that are applied to case studies from public media such as editorials, essays, propaganda, advertisements, and newspaper reports of scientific studies. Recommended prerequisite: junior status or relevant sophomore inquiry.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 306 Science and Pseudoscience (4)
An examination of basic issues in philosophy of science through an analysis of creation science, faith healing, UFO abduction stories, and other pseudosciences. Some of the questions addressed: What distinguishes science from pseudoscience? How are theories tested? When is evidence reliable? Must we invoke the supernatural to explain certain aspects of reality?
Offered Spring
PHL 308 Elementary Ethics (4)
General introduction to ethical theory. Attention will be given to such questions as whether there are objective moral distinctions, what makes right acts right and wrong acts wrong, and how we know (if we do) that actions are right or wrong. Among the theories likely to be considered are relativism, egoism, utilitarianism, and Kantianism.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 309 Business Ethics (4)
Study of the ethical aspects of practices and organizational structures in the business world. Course begins with a review of some traditional theories of ethics. The bulk of the course is devoted to specific contemporary topics, for example: the moral status of corporations; the concept of work place rights; responsibility in advertising; environmental constraints on business; affirmative action in hiring; the social roles of profit and private property; role of work in the life of the individual.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 310 Environmental Ethics (4)
Critical study of issues raised by the attempt to formulate an adequate environmental ethic. Some of these issues deal with how our treatment of the environment affects other human beings, i.e., future generations. Others have to do with how non-human beings are to be treated. Do animals have rights? Do species have rights? Do our proper moral concerns extend to such things as trees, rivers, and possibly the planet itself? A number of current problems will be considered, such as population control, limits to growth, global warming, and endangered species.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 311 The Morality of Punishment (4)
The focus is on the nature and proper aims of punishment; moral considerations that bear on the justice and wisdom of punishment. Consideration will be given to the main theories of punishment: retributionism, utilitarianism, paternalism, and the view that punishment should be replaced by therapy. Prerequisite: PHL 303 or the relevant Sophomore Inquiry.
Offered Fall and Spring
*PHL 312 Feminist Philosophy (4)
Critically examines traditional schools of philosophical thinking from a feminist perspective. Recommended prerequisite: one philosophy course other than PHL 306 or 324.
Offered Winter
PHL 313 Life and Death Issues (4)
Cluster course consisting of philosophical aspects of moral problems dealing with life and death issues. Such issues may include abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, starvation, and nuclear war.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
PHL 314 Computer Ethics (4)
Examines the moral principles and judgements relevant for appraising key tools of computer ethics. Topics include: ethical aspects of new information technologies; are technologies value- laden; potential abuses and their social consequences; freedom, privacy, and control; security, reliability, and professional responsibilities - risks, control, and regulations; piracy and ownership; ethics of hacking; ethics of virtual environment; international aspects of new technologies.
Offered Fall
PHL 315 Existentialism (4)
Introduction to a number of philosophers and literary figures gathered together under the name "existentialism." Authors include Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rilke, Kafka, Ortega y Gasset, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre and Camus. Topics include consciousness, (in)authenticity, alienation, death, anxiety, freedom, time, nihilism, historical meaning and religion. Recommended prerequisite: one philosophy class.
Offered Winter
PHL 316 Social and Political Philosophy (4)
The main philosophical theories of the nature and principles of a just society. Social and political order, freedom, justice, and happiness are declared to be the principle ends of any society. Philosophical theories describe, explore, explain, and frequently attempt to justify specific social or political arrangements in order to attain these goals.
Offered Fall, Winter
*PHL 317 Philosophy of Art (4)
Philosophical issues concerning the creation, interpretation, and
consumption of art. Includes an overview of the major philosophical
theories about the nature of art, an examination of the relationship
between art and ethics, art and psychology, art and pornography, and
relativism of aesthetic value judgments.
Not Offered 2008-09
*PHL 319 Introduction to Asian Philosophy (4)
Different systems of Asian philosophy through the main classical texts drawn from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Topics include the nature of reality, the self, causality, language, knowledge, and ethics.
Offered Spring
PHL 321 Practical Epistemology (4)
Considers criteria for knowledge-claims based on different sources, such as: memory, perception, eyewitness testimony, expert testimony, and medical and scientific experts. Do the criteria for reasonable belief differ so fundamentally from one object-domanin to another that we cannot expect a single formal definition of 'knowledge'?
Offered Spring
PHL 324 Introduction to Formal Logic I (4)
Course in basic formal logic. Major topics include the method of deduction for showing propositional arguments valid and the method of counter-example for showing such arguments invalid. Truth table methods, tests for consistency, and syllogistic arguments are optional topics.
Offered Fall, Winter, Spring
*PHL 325 Intro to Formal Logic II: Predicate Logic (4)
Continuation of PHL 324 Introduction to Formal Logic I. Primary emphasis will be on formal methods for dealing with arguments involving the terms "all" and "some." Major topics include the method of deduction for showing predicate logic arguments valid, and the method of counter-example for showing such arguments invalid. Prerequisite: PHL 324.
Offered Spring
Offered Spring
*PHL 327 Introduction to Quantitative Literacy (4)
The goal is to learn to think intelligently and critically about important uses of quantitative data by means of discussion of the following topics: samples, measures, scales, relationships, risks, predictions, graphs, averages, percentages, distributions, random effects, and estimates. Intended for students who do not normally take classes that involve quantitative matters; its mathematical content is kept at an absolute minimum.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 332 Phenomonology (4)
Examination of the Kantian roots of what becomes known as "intentionality" (i.e., that our conscious acts are directed towards objects, intending them). Various theories of intentionality will be read and discussed (e.g., Husserl, Heidegger, Frege, and Searle). There will be limited discussion of the alleged ties between intentionality and existentialism. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 333U Philosophy of Law (4)
Offered Spring
PHL 399 Special Studies (4)
Philosophy of Sex & Love- Offered Fall & Spring
Medieval Philosophy- Offered Winter
PHL 403/503 Honors Thesis (Credit to be arranged.) Consent of Instructor.
PHL 404/504 Cooperative Education/Internship
(Credit to be arranged.) Consent of Instructor.
PHL 405/505 Reading and Conference
(Credit to be arranged.) Consent of instructor.
PHL 407/507 Seminar
(Credit to be arranged.) Consent of instructor.
PHL 410/510 Selected Topics
(Credit to be arranged.) Consent of instructor.
*PHL 414/514 Plato (4)
Study of selected dialogues of Plato with attention to such topics as his theory of forms, moral philosophy, political philosophy, and to the individual topics of the dialogues, as, for example, knowledge, being, virtue, piety, love, friendship, the state, the nature of philosophy. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 415/515 Aristotle (4)
Study of some of the works of Aristotle, such as his Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics, parts of the Organon Rhetoric. Among topics for attention are substance, essence, categories, cause, the good man, practical reason. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 416/516 The Rationalists: Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza (4)
Study, with comparisons, of selected works of these philosophers who maintained that knowledge comes primarily from reason. Likely readings: for Descartes, Meditations, or Rules, or Discourse on Method; for Spinoza, Ethics; for Leibniz, a selection from among his many collected works and fragments. Offered approximately every second year. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09 *PHL 417/517 The Empiricists (4)
Study of the British philosophers, Locke, Berkeley and Hume, who hold that all of the ingredients of thought enter the mind by way of experience and that only what has a definite relation to experience can be thought. Among the particular topics considered will be material substance, spirit, abstract ideas, causation, induction, and skepticism. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Fall
*PHL 419/519 Kant (4)
Study of Kant's Philosophy primarily as represented in the Critiques of Pure Reason, Practical Reason, Judgment. Readings from some of these or related works. Possible topics for consideration: necessary connection, the analytic-synthetic distinction, conceptions of science and metaphysics, relation between metaphysics and morality. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 420/520 Wittgenstein (4)
Consideration of some of the major works of Wittgenstein with emphasis on the later work, especially the Philosophical Investigations. Attention will be given to Wittgenstein's contributions to philosophical method, as well as to his treatment of issues concerning language, meaning, intention, understanding, necessity, and the nature of human persons as language users. Prerequisite: 12 credits in philosophy.
Offered Fall
*PHL 421 19th Century Philosophy (4)
Study of Western philosophy from Kant to the Twentieth century. Recommended prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Winter
*PHL 422 American Philosophy (4)
Surveys important perspectives, ideas, and theories in the writings of major American philosophers. Focuses on four main topics: the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey; pragmatism more generally, as developed in the work of Charles Peirce, William James, and George Herbert Mean; classical American philosophy more generally still, as articulated int he writings of Josiah Royce and George Santayana (in addition to Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead); and the larger intellectual and cultural context of this philosophy, as found in both earlier writers, (e.g., puritans, American enlightenment figures, and transcendentalists) and later, contemporary authors rooted in the pragmatic tradition.
Not offered 2008-09 *PHL 423/523 Metaphysics (4)
Philosophical examination of traditional metaphysical issues (such as relation of body and mind, free will and determinism) and of the more influential ontologies (idealism, materialism, dualism). Introduction also to contemporary controversies over the feasibility of metaphysics as a rationale discipline (logical positivism and its critics). Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Winter
*PHL 424/524 Epistemology (4)
Philosophical examination of some of the main issues in the theory of knowledge (such as our knowledge of the external world, of the minds of others, of logical and mathematical truths, etc.). Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 425/525 Analytic Philosophy (4)
Examination of the analytic philosophical tradition from Frege and Russell through early Wittgenstein and the Positivists to the present. Recommended prerequisites: 8 credits in philosophy and upper-division standing.
Offered Fall
*PHL 432/532 Philosophy of Mind (4)
A study of the nature of mental states. Main topics are dualism and various forms of materialism, behaviorism, mind-body identity theories, and functionalism; and the nature and content of propositional attitudes (e.g., belief, desire, meaning). Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Fall
*PHL 433/533 Philosophy of Language (4)
A study of the nature of language, and of problems of meaning, reference, and truth. Prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Not offered 2008-09
*PHL 445/545 Advanced Ethics (4)
A course in moral epistemology or "meta-ethics" dealing with such matters as the distinction and connections between fact and value, "is" and "ought", description and evaluation. Recommended prererequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Fall
*PHL 446/546 Topics in Ethics (4)
A course on the nature of moral reasoning dealing with such topics as whether moral reasoning presupposes some completely general and fundamental moral principles, whether moral reasoning involves the apprehension and application of rules, the relevance of consequences to the justification of conduct, and the significance of the moral relations between persons. Recommended prererequisites: PHL 308 or 445 or consent of instructor.
Offered Fall & Spring
*PHL 450 International Justice (4)
The aim of this course is to examine moral principles and judgements relevant for appraising the key tools of foreign policy. Included are issues of military, humanitarian, and covert intervention, economic sanctions, development assistance, human rights, democracy, and transitional justice. Recommended prerequisite: 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Fall
*PHL 451/551 Classical Figures (4)
Intensive study of some classical figure such as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Nietzsche, Hegel. Course may be repeated for credit. Recommended prerequisite: Junior or senior level.
Offered Winter and Spring
*PHL 455/555 Morality and Health Care (4)
Emphasis on philosophical examination of the issues in health care. An introductory investigtion into selected issues, for example, but not limited to: euthanasia, abortion, allocation of tranplantable organs, rationing health care, treatment of impaired newborns. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or 8 credits in philosophy.
Offered Winter
*PHL 470/570 Philosophy of Science (4)
Focus on the history and philosophy of the scientific method. Topics include an overview of the major models of the scientific method (inductivism, falsificationism, Kuhnian paradigms, etc.) and issues peraining to the accuracy of these models and their rationality such as theory-ladenness of observation, testing-holism, and the incommensurability of theory change. Prerequisites: 8 credits in philosophy and upper-divsion standing.
Offered Winter
*PHL 471/571 Topics in Philosophy of Science (4)
An in-depth analysis of some specific metaphysical issue pertaining to scientific epistemology such as (but not limited to) explanation, causation, realism, geometry, and relativism. Topics vary per course which will allow students to take course more than once, with departmental approval, to apply toward major requirements. Prerequisites: 8 credits in philosophy and upper-division standing.
Offered Spring
*PHL 474/574 Philosophy of Logic (4)
Topics: validity, sentence-proposition, connectives, quantifiers, truth, paradoxes, logical necessity and possibility. Optional topics: metalogic, the construction of formal systems of logic and formal proofs of certain of their properties, e.g., consistency and completeness. Recommended prererequisite: PHL 325.
Not offered 2008-09
PHL 481/581, 482/582, 483/583, Biomedical Ethics (4)(4)(4)
A three-term sequence that provides a practical bioethics education in clinical health care, biomedical and behavioral research, and public policy. PHL 481/581:Introduction to the concepts, methods, and literature of health care and biomedical research ethics, designed to familiarize participants with the basic definitions and arguments in the major topics of clinical and research ethics. PHL 482/582 and PHL 483/583:Concepts and skills developed in PHL 481/581 will be intensively examined; students take responsibility for several aspects of teaching. Courses may be taken in sequence. An acquaintance with health care services is recommended.
Offered Fall (4/581), Winter (4/582), and Spring (4/583)
*PHL 485 Honors Seminar (4)
Selected topics within areas of the instructor's research. Both students and teacher will be expected to produce substantial written material on the topic, to be shared and critiqued. Recommended particularly for students considering graduate work in philosophy. Prerequisites: 24 credits in philosophy with a GPA in philosophy courses of at least 3.5.
Offered Spring
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