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Undergraduate Catalog

2009 - 2010

Philosophy (Phil)


Undergraduate Courses


    100-Level Courses

    PHIL 110 : Introduction to Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 110 : Introduction to Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp; Honors also.
    DESCRIPTION: Articulating, assessing, and defending fundamental positions on topics such as reason, knowledge, science, education, ethics, politics, and religion.

    PHIL 150 : Reasoning and Writing. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 150 : Reasoning and Writing. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp, Su; Honors also.
    RECOMMENDED: Recommended for philosophy majors and minors.
    DESCRIPTION: Informal grammar, logic, and rhetoric as tools for reading and writing. Library research.
    NOTE: Fulfills GE First-Year Writing requirement. No course challenges accepted.


    200-Level Courses

    PHIL 201 : History of Philosophy 1. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 201 : History of Philosophy 1. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp on demand, Su on demand; Honors also.
    DESCRIPTION: Western civilization from Greek antiquity to Renaissance, primarily from perspective of philosophy; exploring fundamental questions in human experience; examining formative events in history; understanding value of important texts.

    PHIL 202 : History of Philosophy 2. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 202 : History of Philosophy 2. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp on demand, Su on demand; Honors also.
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 201.
    DESCRIPTION: Western civilization from Renaissance to present, primarily from perspective of philosophy; exploring fundamental questions in human experience; examining formative events in history; understanding value of important texts.

    PHIL 205 : Deductive Logic. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp on demand.
    DESCRIPTION: History and use of syllogistic and propositional logic; evaluating arguments with Venn diagrams, truth tables, and Copi-style proofs and proof strategies.

    PHIL 210 : Science and Civilization 1. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 210 : Science and Civilization 1. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F; Honors also.
    DESCRIPTION: History of Civilization from Greek antiquity to scientific revolution; methods in early science and their philosophical significance; exploring fundamental questions in human experience; examining formative events in history; understanding value of important texts.

    PHIL 211 : Science and Civilization 2. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 211 : Science and Civilization 2. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: W; Honors also.
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 210.
    DESCRIPTION: History of Civilization from scientific revolution to present; concepts and methods in modern science and their philosophical significance; exploring fundamental questions in human experience; examining formative events in history; understanding value of important texts.

    PHIL 213 : Introduction to Ethics. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 213 : Introduction to Ethics. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Su on demand.
    DESCRIPTION: Nature and justification of moral standards, beliefs, and decisions.

    PHIL 214 : Introduction to the Philosophy of Art. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 214 : Introduction to the Philosophy of Art. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    DESCRIPTION: The experience of beauty in nature, in literature, and in the arts.

    PHIL 215 : Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 215 : Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    DESCRIPTION: Existence and nature of God, God's foreknowledge and man's free will, faith, immortality, and religious experience and language.

    PHIL 218 : Science and Religion. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 218 : Science and Religion. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: Irregularly (check with department).
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Epistemological and metaphysical similarities and differences undergirding historical problems in science and religion. Nature and effects of past reconciliations; possibility and desirability of current reconciliations.


    300-Level Courses

    PHIL 300 : Philosophical Writing. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 300 : Philosophical Writing. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W; Honors also.
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 150, 205; or equivalents.
    DESCRIPTION: Writing philosophical papers about philosophical texts or problems. Research methods in philosophy. Library research paper.
    NOTE: Fulfills GE Advanced Writing requirement. No course challenges accepted.

    PHIL 305 : Predicate Logic. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp on demand.
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 205.
    DESCRIPTION: History and use of predicate logic; evaluating arguments with counterexamples and proofs; informal mathematical proofs.
    NOTE: Fulfills GE Languages of Learning requirement.

    PHIL 320R : Studies in Ancient Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 320R : Studies in Ancient Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 201.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or topics.

               : Topics in Greek Philosophy.
               : Pre-Socratics.
               : Socrates.
               : Plato.
               : Aristotle.
               : Neo-Platonism.
               : Plotinus.
               : Stoicism.
               : Greek Ethics.
               : Greek Science.
               : Greek Metaphysics.
               : Greek Logic.
               : Greek Political Theory.
               : Greek Epistemology.
               : Greek Philosophy of Religion.
               : Helenistic Philosophy.
               : Church Fathers.
               : Chinese Philosophy.
               : Hindu Philosophy.
               : Buddhism.

    PHIL 330R : Studies in Medieval Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 330R : Studies in Medieval Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 201.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or topics.

               : Topics in Medieval Philosophy.
               : Augustine.
               : Anselm.
               : Averroes.
               : Bonaventure.
               : Maimonides.
               : Aquinas.
               : Duns Scotus.
               : William of Ockham.
               : Boethius.
               : Medieval Jewish Philosophers.
               : Medieval Arabic Philosophers.
               : Medieval Ethics.
               : Medieval Science.
               : Medieval Epistemology.
               : Medieval Metaphysics.
               : Medieval Logic.
               : Medieval Political Theory.
               : Medieval Philosophy and Religion.
               : Meister Eckhart.

    PHIL 340R : Studies in Modern Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 340R : Studies in Modern Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 202.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or topics.

               : Topics in Modern Philosophy.
               : Continental Rationalism.
               : Descartes.
               : Spinoza.
               : Leibniz.
               : British Empiricism.
               : Hobbes.
               : Locke.
               : Descartes and Locke.
               : Berkeley.
               : Hume.
               : Kant.
               : Hegel.
               : Schopenhauer.
               : German Idealism.
               : Nietzsche.
               : Nietzsche and Freud.
               : Kierkegaard.
               : Utilitarianism.
               : Modern Political Theory.
               : Bentham.
               : J. S. Mill.
               : Pragmatism.
               : Peirce.
               : William James.
               : Dewey.
               : Bergson.
               : Alexander.
               : Bradley.
               : Bosanquet.
               : British Idealism.

    PHIL 350R : Studies in Contemporary Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 350R : Studies in Contemporary Philosophy. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or topics.

               : Topics in Contemporary Philosophy.
               : Philosophy of Social Science.
               : Philosophy of Mind.
               : Philosophy of History.
               : Philosophy of Psychology.
               : Philosophy of Theology.
               : Philosophy and Film.
               : Philosophy and Literature.
               : Philosophy of Architecture.
               : Contemporary Analytical Philosophy.
               : Contemporary Political Theory.
               : Russell.
               : Moore.
               : Frege.
               : Truth.
               : Wittgenstein.
               : Whitehead.
               : Ordinary Language of Philosophy.
               : Logical Positivism.
               : Continental Philosophy.
               : Existentialism.
               : Hermeneutics.
               : Phenomenology.
               : Philosophy of Cognitive Science.
               : Ricoeur.
               : Husserl.
               : Heidegger.
               : Sartre.
               : Levinas.
               : Merleau-Ponty.
               : Gadamer.
               : Dufrenne.
               : Derrida.
               : Leotard.
               : Foucault.
               : Marion.
               : Contemporary French Philosophy.
               : Oakeshott.


    400-Level Courses

    PHIL 405 : Metalogic. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F
    PREREQUISITE: Phil 305.
    DESCRIPTION: Completeness and undecidability of predicate logic; incompleteness of arithmetic and set theory; treatment of related philosophical topics and of nonclassical topics as time permits.

    PHIL 413 : Ethics. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, Su on demand.
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or problems.

    PHIL 414R : Philosophy of Art. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 414R : Philosophy of Art. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F
    PREREQUISITE: one philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or topics in aesthetics.

    PHIL 415 : Philosophy of Religion. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 415 : Philosophy of Religion. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected figures or problems.

    PHIL 416 : Philosophy of Law. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 416 : Philosophy of Law. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: The relation between natural and enacted law; theories of punishment; utilitarian and nonutilitarian theories of law; liberty.

    PHIL 420 : Philosophy of Language. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 420 : Philosophy of Language. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp on demand.
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Meaning and reference, synonymy, metaphor, exemplification, translation; linguistic, artistic, and perceptual symbol systems.

    PHIL 421 : Metaphysics. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, Sp on demand.
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Basic categories of being: appearance and reality, law, causality, space, time, eternity, deity.

    PHIL 422 : Epistemology. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: W, Su on demand.
    PREREQUISITE: One philosophy course.
    DESCRIPTION: Meaning, limits, and justification of knowledge.

    PHIL 423 : (Phil 423--Physcs 314) History and Philosophy of Science. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 423 : (Phil 423--Physcs 314) History and Philosophy of Science. (3:3:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W; Honors also.
    PREREQUISITE: Phy S 100 or instructor's consent.
    DESCRIPTION: Scientific explanation, concepts, and models. Philosophical assumptions and criteria for theory selection, as exemplified by historical development of basic ideas in science.

    PHIL 449R : Philosophical Lecture Series. (1:1:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    PHIL 449R : Philosophical Lecture Series. (1:1:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    DESCRIPTION: Lectures on philosophical topics by faculty and advanced students.

    PHIL 490 : Senior Seminar. (1:1.0:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W
    PREREQUISITE: Senior status.
    DESCRIPTION: Review of philosophical principles and advanced writing experiences culminating in a publishable paper.

    PHIL 499R : Honors Thesis. (.5-6:ARR:ARR) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp, Su
    PREREQUISITE: Instructor's consent.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected topic or figure in philosophy

    500-Level Graduate Courses (available to advanced undergraduates)

    PHIL 501R : Graduate Seminar. (.5-5:5:0) (Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)
    OFFERED: F, W, Sp, Su
    PREREQUISITE: Instructor's consent.
    DESCRIPTION: Selected topic, figure, or movement in philosophy, as announced in current class schedule.



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