Philosophy Courses
Humanities Division
Students may plan a minor in Philosophy by consulting with the
faculty in the
discipline. No course offering listed here presupposes any
prior work in any specific area, nor does it have as a
pre-requisite any course work in Philosophy or in another field,
unless it is so
indicated.
Courses marked with an asterisk (*) may be used to partially fulfill
Core Requirements.
PHIL 105*
Problems in Philosophy
-
An examination of questions and concepts which have
greatly determined the history of philosophic thought and
science. Some selected themes are love and beauty, truth and
opinion, leisure and work, evil and free choice; man, demons,
and God.
Every Semester, 3 Credits
PHIL 106*
Logic
-
An introduction to the theory and practice of deductive
and inductive reasoning of both traditional and modern logic.
Some selected problems are universals and particulars, the
ambiguity of language, contradiction and contrariety, valid
and/or true conclusions, and fallacies.
Spring, 3 Credits
PHIL 205*
Ethics
-
An introduction to representative theories of moral
conduct and moral knowledge. Some authors to be considered are
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, the Stoics, Augustine,
Aquinas, Kant, Mill, Moore. Some selected themes are hedonism,
self-realization, natural law and contract, Christian ethics,
the categorical imperative, situation ethics, the language of
ethics.
Fall, 3 Credits
PHIL 206*
Aesthetics
-
An introduction to representative theories on the
nature of beauty, aesthetic judgement, and artistic creation.
Some authors to be considered are Plato, Aristotle, Schiller,
Nietzsche, Hiedegger. Some selected topics are inspiration and
artistic creation; the idea of beauty and beautiful things;
beauty, morality, and politics; and the nature of man and
aesthetic judgement.
Fall, 3 Credits
PHIL 210*
Ethics and Public Affairs
-
Ethical opinion on race and sex discrimination, criminal
punishment and the death penalty, civil disobedience, war, moral
enforcement, abortion, and bio-medical technology.
Spring, 3 Credits
PHIL 211*
Philosophy of Science
-
A brief history of the scientific understanding and the
nature of the scientific method. A classification of the
sciences. Questions about mathematics and logic. Space, time,
and physical laws. Causality. Reality and language: reality as
it is and reality as constructed by the scientist.
Fall, 3 Credits
PHIL 212*
Philosophy of Law
-
Some topics to be discussed are the difference between
justice, the law, and the laws; the various kinds of laws:
eternal, natural, divine, and positive; the origins of law;
contract, usage, the state; laws and history; laws and
obedience. Some authors to be studied are Plato, Thomas
Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Ortego, Kelsen.
Fall, 3 Credits
PHIL 219*
20th Century Philosophy
-
A survey of the most significant contemporary trends
in philosophy; phenomenology (Husserl), analysis (Wittgenstein)
and existentialism (Heidegger). Some selected themes are:
consciousness, objectivity, and temporality; language and the
structure of the world; being, anxiety and death.
Fall, 3 Credits
PHIL 223*
Existentialism
-
A concentrated study of the precursors and main
figures of the movement, with special
emphasis on Ortega, Heidegger,
and Sartre. Some selected themes are: being, nothingness, and
death; history and human nature; classical intellect and living
reason.
Spring, 3 Credits
PHIL 225*
Love, Sex, and Death
-
The thought of ancients and contemporaries in philosophy,
theology, and literature on the meaning of love, sex, and death.
On Occasion, 3 Credits
PHIL 227*
Freud and Consciousness
-
A study of selected writings by Freud, with
emphasis on his theory of the mind. Dreams, errors, jokes,
neurotic symptoms: from consciousness to the unconscious. The
biological and physical science presuppositions of Freudian
psychology.
Spring, 3 Credits
PHIL 300* Topics in Philosophy
-
A seminar examining one
philosophical topic at an advanced
level. Topics will be chosen by the
instructor and announced in the
course schedule the semester prior
to the offering. Typical topics
would be Philosophy and Literature;
Philosophical Problems in Modern
Literacy Interpretation; or the work
of a specific philosopher.
Prerequisite: Permission of the
Instructor.
On Occasion, 3 Credits
PHIL 400
Independent Study
-
Problems and questions in a special area of method or
content, as suggested by students' concerns in a certain
problem-set in philosophy or in a given discipline outside
philosophy (e.g., moral questions in vivisection or in
capitalism; the fundamental conditions rendering social action
possible; the foundations of psychic structure; logical and
methodological similarities in the humanities, the social
sciences, and the natural sciences).
On Occasion, 3 Credits
 
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