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Courses

A summary of each course to help with your selection.

Academic Year

Programs

Course ID

Course ID	Course
PHIL 313	PHIL 313 British Empiricism Course Credits: 3 A study of empiricist philosophy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Selected writings of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume are analyzed and interpreted. As we discuss each author’s ideas, we will evaluate their positions on the limits of knowledge and experience, the intelligibility of revelatory truth, the existence of God, the divisibility of reality, the role of nature, and the ethics and politics of human life. Prerequisite(s): 3 sem. hrs. of philosophy. NB: Not offered every year. See department chair.
PHIL 314	PHIL 314 Reason & the Enlightenment Course Credits: 3 A study of rationalist philosophy in the European Enlightenment period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Selected writings of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz are analysed and interpreted. As we discuss each author's ideas, we will evaluate their positions on: the limits of reason, the intelligibility of revelatory truth, the existence of God, the divisibility of reality, the role of nature, and the ethics and politics of human life. In the process of dialoguing about these ideas, we shall also study the historical importance of the Enlightenment in modernity as well as the original intent of the philosophers in question with attention to their historic context. We shall also assess the enduring relevance of the Enlightenment to the modern age. Prerequisite(s): 3 sem. hrs. of Philosophy NB: Not offered every year. See department chair.
PHIL 315	PHIL 315 Kant Course Credits: 3 A study of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, focusing primarily on Kant's seminal work, Critique of Pure Reason. Prerequisite(s): 9 sem. hrs. of Philosophy NB: Not offered every year. See department chair.
PHIL 320	PHIL 320 Social & Political Philosophy Course Credits: 3 An examination of foundational ideas and problems in political life and thought. Both classical and contemporary texts are used. Concepts to be treated include the state, society, the citizen, democracy, liberty, equality, authority, obligation, and disobedience. Cross-listed: POLS 320 Prerequisite(s): 3 sem. hrs. of Philosophy or Political Studies or third-year standing
PHIL 331	PHIL 331 Environmental Philosophy Course Credits: 3 Explores the theological and philosophical dimensions of the doctrine of creation and from there highlights the various philosophical shifts of outlook that helped usher in modern naturalism and its notions of nature. We will investigate the metaphysics behind the fact/value dichotomy, various environmental ethical frameworks, the case for the moral status of non-human animals and abiotic entities, the evolution of the ecological crisis, the conceptual substructures of some popular contemporary environmental frameworks, and some of the agendas of response to our current ecological crisis. Cross-listed: GENV 331 Prerequisite(s): Second-year standing or instructor's consent NB: PHIL/GENV 221 and PHIL/GENV 331 may not both be taken for credit.
PHIL 333	PHIL 333 Philosophy & Literature Course Credits: 3 This course surveys major ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern approaches that attempt a theory of literature. The course places modern and postmodern theories in historical perspective by reading key ancient and medieval authors. In particular, resources from the Latin Scholastic tradition most relevant to contemporary debates about literary theory are highlighted. Prerequisite(s): 3 sem. hrs. of Philosophy NB: Not offered every year.
PHIL 340	PHIL 340 Moral Philosophy Course Credits: 3 The problem of determining standards of right and wrong as well as the problem of determining what is of value in itself. The moral theories of prominent philosophers, both ancient and modern, are examined. Prerequisite(s): 3 sem. hrs. of Philosophy. Recommended: PHIL 106 or 210 NB: Not offered every year. See department chair.
PHIL 350	PHIL 350 Symbolic Logic Course Credits: 3 A study of the propositional calculus, quantification theory, the theory of definite descriptions, and other topics in modern symbolic logic.. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 103 or instructor's consent NB: Not offered every year. See department chair.
PHIL 366	PHIL 366 Philosophy of Biotechnology & Ethics Course Credits: 3 Students will apply philosophical perspectives to questions regarding the challenges presented by the use of biotechnology on humans, plants, and animals. Does philosophy offer ways to assess the goals of biotechnology? Is philosophy able to judge what is unethical? How does the philosophical ideal of wisdom bear upon biotechnology? How can philosophy help to articulate the relationship between humans, animals, and nature in general? How can philosophy help to situate biotechnology as part of our ability to live a good life within society? Prerequisite(s): Third-year standing

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