Department of Philosophy — Courses in the Philosophy Department

The Philosophy Departmet offers courses at four levels of undergraduate study,as well as some graduate-level courses open to undergraduates:

100-level courses

Courses at the 100 level are typically open to freshmen. They presume no previous course work in philosophy and do not presume completion of the freshman writing requirement (English 101-102 or equivalent).

200-level courses

Courses at the 200 level are typically open to sophomores. They presume completion of an introductory-level philosophy course or course work in subjects related to the course topic or familiarity with philosophical issues. These courses also presume some previous instruction in writing.

300-level courses

Courses at the 300 level are typically junior and senior level courses. They normally presume completion of one or two phiolsophy courses and the freshman writing requirement. These courses are generally either less specialized or less advanced than 400-level courses.

400-level courses

Courses at the 400 level are typically junior and senior level courses. They presume completion of one or two philosophy courses and the freshman writing requirement,and generally they focus on specialized or more advanced topics.

600-level courses

These are graduate courses, open to juniors and seniors with the permission of the instructor.

These categories are guides to aid students in courses selection,rather than prerequisites. Prerequisites for courses are listed with course descriptions.

Courses

PHIL G104
Justice, Punishment and Reparation

PHIL G105
Contemporary Moral and Social Problems

PHIL G106
Justice and Money

PHIL G107
Self and Society

PHIL G109
Moral Debate in Society

PHIL G110
Equality and Justice

PHIL G121
Mind and Reality

PHIL G130
Privacy

PHIL G201
Morals and Law

PHIL G205
The Idea of a Nation

PHIL G206
The Idea of God

PHIL G207
The Meaning of Life

For a complete description of these courses, see the “First-year and Intermediate Seminars” section of this publication.

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PHIL 100
Introduction to Philosophy

An introductory examination of the problems and scope of philosophy.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 108
Moral and Social Problems

Important moral and social issues of current concern are examined and debated. The course covers several problems each semester from a list including criminal punishment, war, abortion, racism, violence, the death penalty, private property, sexism, animal rights, the environment, and hunger.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 120
Introduction to Logic

The study of valid reasoning using formal methods of proof with truth functions, deductions, and quantifiers. Analysis of the logical structure of language related to philosophical questions of truth, paradox, and reference.
Distribution I Area: Mathematics and Computer Languages.
Distribution II Area: Mathematics.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 200
African Philosophy: Personhood and Morality

Through a comparison of the concepts of personhood and morality in the United States, the Akan of Ghana and the NSO of Cameroon, this course offers alternative perspectives on such perennial moral, legal and cultural issues as abortion, polygamy, and religion.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: World Cultures.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Wingo

PHIL 205
Inquiry and Investigation

Examination of the structure, powers, and limitations of science as a systematic way of inquiring into the nature of physical, human, and social reality. Readings from Hempel, E Nagel, Kuhn, Feyerabend, Hanson, Toulmin, and Reichenbach.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Millman and Staff

PHIL 207
Civic Education in Liberal Democratic States

Civic education maintains democratic values. This course examines controversies in definitions of civic values and the balance between state interests and citizens’ liberty rights. Topics include: What takes priority, parental wishes or state requirements when, for example, fundamental Christians, Muslims and others claim accommodations in public education? What aspects of familial or religious life should be shielded from state intervention?
Distribution Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Wingo

PHIL 208
Existential Themes in Philosophy and Literature

This course introduces the area of philosophical and humanistic studies by means of a consideration of existentialist ideas in both literature and philosophy. Issues will be chosen from a list including the self in relation to others; authenticity, self-deception, and bad faith; freedom and responsibility; death and the meaning of life; and the possibility of objective knowledge.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell and Staff

PHIL 209
Individual and Community

This course is a thematic introduction to methods and ideas central to philosophical and humanistic inquiry. The course will take up a series of ideas and thinkers linked by their relation to the theme of the individual in his or her relation to the community. Questions to be explored include: What sort of thing is a community? Are there fundamentally different kinds of communities? What rights and obligations do communities and individuals have over and to each other?
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Smith and Staff

PHIL 210
The Philosophy of Education

Philosophical ideas and concepts relevant to the nature and aims of education.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 215
Philosophical Foundations of Public Policy

This course explores several central philosophical frameworks underlying contemporary public policy debates, including various conceptions of social justice and human rights, utilitarian theory and decision theory. The role of philosophy in public policy will be illustrated through an analysis of such contemporary issues as foreign policy and human rights, tax policy, cost benefit analysis, environmental and health care issues, workfare, world population problems, and the dangerous mentally ill.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Radden, Mr Millman

PHIL 216
The History of Ethics

This course focuses on four or five philosophers whose impact on the development of Western thinking about ethics has been substantial, e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche. The following are the sorts of questions with which they were preoccupied, and upon which we focus in reading them: Is there a single ideal life which all human beings should strive to live—and if so, what does it consist in? What are the virtues that human beings should exemplify? Why should one live a moral life? Are there objective moral standards—and if so, how does one discover what they are? What roles do reason and the emotions, respectively, play in the moral life? Special attention is given to the role that one’s metaphysical views and one’s views of human nature play in shaping one’s theory of ethics.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100, or 108, or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Rivera and Staff

PHIL 218
Major Social and Political Thinkers

The primary concern of this course is historical: the elucidation of the political and social theories of some of the major figures of the Western tradition (e.g., Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx). Emphasis is given to the continuing relevance of these philosophers and political scientists.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Wingo and Staff

PHIL 220
Environmental Ethics

An examination of humanity’s place in the natural world and its implications for ethics. Topics include the environmental crisis and the need for a new environmental ethic, the ethical dimensions of environmental policy issues, human-centered ethics, obligations to future generations, the intrinsic value of the natural world, animal rights, wilderness, and preservation of species.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or PHIL 108, or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Millman and Staff

PHIL 221
Business and Management Ethics

An examination of the principles and theories of ethics applied to the problems of business, management, and industry at the decision-making level. Ethical analysis of cases involving issues such as conflict of interest, whistle-blowing, corporate social responsibility, and codes of ethics.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or 108, or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 222
Moral Issues in Medicine

Concepts of health, illness and healing, under different paradigms of medicine. Is medicine an art or science? What is the impact of medical technology on human life and death? What is considered “natural”? Attention is given to issues in human reproduction (e.g. in vitro fertilization, conception, abortion). Questions of authority, accountability in doctor-patient relationships, patient advocacy, self help, right to health care or to refuse treatment. Social and political questions of health care organization.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Smith and Staff

PHIL 224
The Philosophy of Art

Late twentieth-century art has insistently challenged us to come to terms with our understanding of the very nature of the art work. This course is a survey of the major theories of the nature of art, with special emphasis on the views that art is a matter of representing or imitating reality, that art is a form of catharsis, that art is a matter of the expression of emotion, that art is a special kind of symbolic form. It also addresses such questions as the role of art history in a theory of aesthetic interpretation, the problem of forgery, the issue of artistic responsibility and the recent debates over censorship of the arts.
Prerequisites: PHIL 100 or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell, and Staff

PHIL 225
The Philosophy of Religion

An application of imagination and reasoning in order to appraise the strengths or weaknesses of famous arguments concerning the relation of faith to reason and the existence or non-existence of a western type of God, in view of natural evil and of the rise of science. Discussion of the significance of reports of miracles and of mystical and religious experiences.
Prerequisite: PHIL 108 or 100, or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Shope and Staff

PHIL 227
Existentialism and Phenomenology

An inquiry into the broad philosophical movement of existentialism, through a reading of major existentialist thinkers including Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Merleau-Ponty, Marcel, Kierkegaard, Jaspers and Heidegger. Topics to be discussed include authenticity and freedom, self-deception, the absurd, the critique of Cartesianism, subjectivity and objectivity, and death and the meaning of life.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 230
Philosophy and Feminism

Different philosophical theories of feminist issues, including women’s rights, whether women have a separate or special place in the family and social order, gender differences and biological factors in human nature, theories of patriarchy, how gender and world view are related. Readings from classical and contemporary philosophers and feminist thinkers. Note: At least one course in philosophy and one course in women’s studies are recommended, though not required.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell and Staff

PHIL 232
Philosophy, Race and Multiculturalism

The course explores the philosophical dimension of three or four of the following issues central to current debates concerning multiculturalism in society: cultural respect; ethnic and racial identities; speech codes; cultural and moral relativism; multiculturalism, separatism, and unity.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Blum

PHIL 265
Sanity and Madness

This course looks at a number of questions about insanity or “madness”: What it is like, how it should be described and regarded, therapeutic and curative responses to it, and what special treatment—if any—its sufferers deserve. We pay particular attention to the claims of the so-called “anti-psychiatry” movement, to Foucault and contemporary post-modernist writing, and to feminist analyses of the relation between madness and gender. (Course offered in the spring only.)
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Radden

PHIL 281
Special Topics

A sophomore level course offering selected topics in philosophy. Course content varies and will be announced prior to registration.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 287
Equality

Examination of the ideals of social equality and equal respect in the context of actual inequalities of gender, race, and sexual orientation. Topics are drawn from the following: The nature of equality; racism and racial inequality; justice and the division of labor in the family; sex roles; affirmative action; sexual harassment; sexual orientation and the family; sameness, difference, and equality.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Blum

PHIL 290
The Philosophy of Law

This course explores fundamental questions concerning the nature of law and the relation between law and justice. It examines questions concerning the source of the obligation to obey law, the limits of the obligation to law, and the moral conditions that make law possible. This exploration leads to an examination such of different judicial philosophies of constitutional interpretation as original intent, judicial restraint, and judicial activism. The course continues with a study of some perplexing questions about the meaning of equality and justice as they arise in legal cases dealing with race and/or gender. Some offerings of this course conclude with an exploration of the moral basis of international law by way of a critical analysis of the Nuremberg Trial.
Prerequisite: At least one course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Perina

PHIL 295
Egoism and Altruism

This course explores the phenomena of egoism and altruism in light of two perennial concerns of ethical theory: Do we always act ultimately only for our own benefit? Do we have an obligation or reason to care about the welfare of others? Topics and readings include: The historical debate (Hobbes, Butler, Freud, Colin Turnbull). The desirability of egoism (Ayn Rand, W Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence.) Women and altruism (Anna Freud, Jean Baker Miller). “Psychological egoism” (J Rachels, CD Broad). The nature of care and sympathy (Adam Smith, Max Scheler, M Mayeroff). Sociobiology and altruism (EO Wilson, Mary Midgley). Altruism and society: the case of giving blood (RH Titmuss, Peter Singer). Social psychology and altruism (Darley and Latane). Universal and conditional love (Kierkegaard, L Blum). In addition to standard philosophical readings, the course makes use of material from literature, anthropology, biology, psychology, and sociology, exploring their contribution to an understanding of egoism and altruism.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Blum

PHIL 297
Asian Philosophy

This course introduces students to some of the principal philosophical traditions of India and China. It examines the belief- systems of Hinduism and Buddhism in both India and China, as well as Taoism. Participants also explore in somewhat more detail the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta in the work of Sankara, and the Madhyamika Buddhism of Nagarjuna. Traditional topics to be addressed include metaphysics, the theory of self (or not-self), relations of world and mind, the status of God (or the lack thereof), the situation of women in these religions, the goal of philosophy, and others. Comparisons among these traditions and with Western thought are attempted and encouraged, but no prior knowledge of specific traditions is assumed.
Prerequisite: Some background in Western philosophy.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: World Cultures.
Diversity Area: International.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 303
Simone Weil

Simone Weil (1909-1943) was a French philosopher, political activist, Christian thinker and critic of Western culture. The course focuses on Weil’s writings about politics, work, Marxism, God, affliction, love, power and oppression, the individual and collectivity, science and technology, Plato and Greek culture, philosophy, and truth.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Blum

PHIL 305
Philosophy and Literature

A study of concepts such as self-knowledge, knowledge of others, sympathy, freedom, happiness, fantasy, selfishness, self-deception, pleasure, feeling and desire as they find expression in works of literature. Readings are selected from such works as Middlemarch by George Eliot, Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, The Red and the Black by Stendhal, Remembrance of Things Past by Proust, and Under the Net by Iris Murdoch.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 307
Technology and Values

The impact of technology on contemporary values, and the ethical issues arising out of technology. Topics include global distributive justice; environmental ethics; recombinant DNA technology; and rational methods of technology assessment such as risk-benefit analysis.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Millman

PHIL 308
Feminist Ethics

In the 1960s and ’70s, feminist ethics assumed that ethical theory as it stood was fully adequate to address questions relevant to women’s lives, such as abortion, affirmative action, justice in the family, and pornography. Later, it was recognized that ethics as it is traditionally understood does not capture women’s experience. Such thinkers as Gilligan, Noddings, and Ruddick advanced the view that women’s moral experience is distinctive, and offered theories that utilize this distinctive perspective (often referred to as “the ethic of care”) as a critique of traditional moral theorizing. These theories and their critique by other feminist theorists such as Hoagland are the focus of this course, including approaches to integrity, trust, and responsibility that are possible when women’s ethical experience is taken seriously. Participants also consider the ways in which feminist moral theory is important for understanding issues relevant to women’s lives such as abortion, pornography, environmentalism, and sexuality.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Rivera

PHIL 309
Ethics of Property

This course examines ethical and philosophical foundations of property and contemporary moral dilemmas concerning property, using readings in classical and contemporary ethical, legal, and political theory. Topics will include the relation between personhood and property, biological and intellectual property, privacy as a property right, the communal property of native people, and cultural objects as property.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of two philosophy courses.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Smith

PHIL 310
Ancient Philosophy

Theories about being and not being, truth and falsehood, meaning and reference, knowledge and belief, perception and reason, good and evil, from the pre-Socratics to the Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, and neo-Platonists, with emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. (Course offered in the fall only.)
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Beresford

PHIL 311
Medieval Philosophy: Islamic, Jewish, Christian

In this course we will read one or two major medieval Christian philosophers (e.g., Augustine and Aquinas), one or two major medieval Muslim philosophers (e.g. al-Ghazali and ibn Rushd [Averroes]) and one or two major medieval Jewish philosophers (e.g., Saadia and Maimonides). We will focus on some or all of the following themes: God’s existence, God’s nature, God’s justice, the creation of the universe, the priority of reason versus faith, the literal versus metaphorical nature of religious language, and the soul’s immortality.
Prerequisite: PHIL 310 (Ancient Philosophy) or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 312
Modern Philosophy

The views of the continental rationalists—Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz—and the British Empiricists—Locke, Berkeley, Hume—in relation to general intellectual developments from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. (Course offered in the spring only.)
Prerequisite: One philosophy course with a second strongly recommended, or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 315
Nineteenth Century Philosophy

An exploration of the works of such major European thinkers of the nineteenth century as Hegel, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Marx, and Mill.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 318
Race and Racism

This course examines the genesis of the idea of “race” as a way of viewing human differences from the 16th to the 19th centuries. It also explores conceptions of “racism” in relation to such contemporary phenomena as white privilege, “institutional racism,” race and crime, race and intelligence, affirmative action, racial hostility among non-“white” groups, “internalized racism,” race and class, and anti-immigrant hostility. Finally, the course looks at the notion of “mixed race” persons, their place in the hierarchy of racism and their role in challenging the concept of “race” itself. Though the course focuses primarily on whites and African Americans, racism as it bears on Native Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos is also considered.
Prerequisite: One of the following: A course in philosophy or political theory with a social or ethical focus; a course in Africana studies; a course dealing with racial issues in another discipline; permission of instructor.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Blum

PHIL 323
Mental Health: Law and Public Policy

Such topics as involuntary hospitalization, rights to refuse and receive treatment, institutionalization and deinstitutionalization, competence to stand trial, and the insanity defense are considered through an examination of case law, statutes, policy, and practice respecting the mentally disturbed. Theories of responsibility, rights, privacy, paternalism, and freedom are also discussed.
Prerequisite: PHIL 215 or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Radden

PHIL 327
Meaning and Being

Exploration of themes in recent European philosophy, such as the self and the social world, anti-Cartesianism, subjectivity, language, and embodiment. Special attention to the life-world, being-in-the-world, and forms of life. Readings from such philosophers as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Wittgenstein. The course is an appropriate sequel to PHIL 315 or PHIL 227.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 333
Ethical Theory

A study of some of the major contemporary approaches to issues of right and wrong, good and bad, and good character: utilitarianism, deontology, the ethics of care, virtue ethics, feminist ethics, and issues of current importance in ethics-relativism, moral excellence, gender differences in morality. A systematic rather than historical approach. (Course offered about every two years.)
Prerequisite: PHIL 100.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Blum

PHIL 335
Utopian Justice

This course explores Classical, Renaissance, and 19th and 20th century utopian and anti-utopian writing. Emphasis is given to what constraints of nature and human nature and what principles and values guide our assessments of these “possible worlds” vis-à-vis economic and social justice, freedom, and ecology.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Radden

PHIL 337
Third World Political Philosophy

A study of African, Caribbean, and Afro-American theorists and perhaps a couple of Asian theorists. Topics include theories of race and racism, post-colonial theories, third world Marxism, racial and cultural nationalism, third world women’s issues, identity issues, and contemporary debates in African philosophy. Thinkers studied include Nkrumah, Senghor, Garvey, DuBois, Cabral, Fanon, and Appiah, among others.
Prerequisite: Philosophy 100 or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Wingo

PHIL 344
The Philosophy of Mind

The nature of mind and its relation to body and matter, with emphasis on recent advances in philosophy and psychology.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of instructor.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Shope

PHIL 345
Theory of Knowledge

Knowledge—its nature, forms, methods, scope, and validation. What are the relations of knowledge and justification to sense experience? For example, does knowledge of our surroundings rest upon a foundation of sense experience? Is knowledge of the so-called “truths of reason” in some way independent of evidence provided by sense experience? How is a body of knowledge related to an individual knower? Does the justification of one’s beliefs depend upon what psychology reveals about the reliability of methods for acquiring the beliefs? Readings from contemporary sources.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course numbered 200 or above, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Shope

PHIL 346
The Philosophy of Science

The nature of scientific explanation, with attention to the social and philosophical aspects of scientific methodology.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Millman

PHIL 347
Problems of Metaphysics

Ideas such as substance, causality, mind and body, and free will, as they appear in several major metaphysical systems.
Prerequisite: Any philosophy course numbered 200 or above.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 350
Rationality and Ritual

This course focuses on the controversy about the proper way to interpret traditional magico-religious thought and ritual. It explores, on the one hand, the claim that traditional thought can be correctly viewed as analogous to scientific thought, that it is a product of a theoretical model building process. The course also examines, on the other hand, the claim that ritual, unlike science, can be more correctly and fruitfully viewed as essentially expressive and symbolic. This view holds that ritual is more like the arts than like science, in that its function is to dramatize experience rather than to analyze it. As part of these investigations, the course also raises and examines issues of rationality, relativism, the “primitive mind,” and the differences between science and art, description and expression. Readings are drawn from the writings of such anthropologists and philosophers as Beattie, Evans-Prichard, Horton, Vogt, Feyerabend, Goodman, Hollis, Kuhn, Lukes, Quine and others.
Prerequisites: PHIL 100 or one intermediate-level course in philosophy, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 351
Plato

Plato’s ethics, metaphysics, and theory of knowledge in the Phaedo, Republic, Theaetetus, Cratylus, Parmenides, Sophist, Statesman, and Philebus, as a solution to problems raised by his predecessors, notably the Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Sophists.
Prerequisite: PHIL 211, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Beresford

PHIL 357
Kierkegaard

Theories of meaning, truth, knowledge, good and freedom, in the aesthetic, ethical, and religious works of Kierkegaard, in contrast to those of Plato, Lessing, Kant, Hegel, and Simone Weil.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 360
Bertrand Russell

Russell’s contributions to philosophy of language, logic, theory of knowledge, and science. His relations with other philosophers (Frege, Wittgenstein, William James) and twentieth century intellectual issues (pacifism, secular humanism).
Prerequisite: PHIL 100, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Smith

PHIL 380
Social and Political Philosophy

Representative problems and themes of social and political philosophy, especially the concepts of human rights, liberty, justice, equality, law, social obligation and the social contract. These topics are explored through the work of classical and contemporary political and social philosophers.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course with a second strongly recommended, or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Rivera and Staff

PHIL 381

A junior-level course offering selected topics in philosophy. Course content varies and will be announced prior to registration.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 387
Capitalism and Socialism

A comparative study of the philosophical foundations of two major systems of economic production and distribution. Through readings of representative authors the course focuses on the values embodied in each system. For example: equality, justice, civil liberties, cooperation, and individual initiative. The nature and importance of underlying assumptions about human needs and desires are also considered.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 388
Moral Issues

Application of advanced philosophical techniques to case studies and philosophical issues concerning three or four interrelated moral issues, such as suicide, self-defense, capital punishment, abortion, and euthanasia. Emphasis on contemporary sources with some consideration of the views of classical philosophers. Approximately one month is spent on each issue.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or 108, or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 397
Marxist Philosophy

A philosophical exploration of the thought of Karl Marx, based on a reading of his early and mature works. Topics discussed are idealism and materialism; the relation between theory and practice; dialectic; alienation; ideology; class; the analysis of capitalism; reification; and some contemporary theories, including critical theory and socialist feminism. Other theorists read include Lenin, Engels, Mao Tse Tung, Lukács, Braverman, EP Thompson, Marcuse, and Gorz.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 405
African Political Philosophy

Exploring human experiences in African political thought could illuminate understanding of power relationships in the world. This course focuses on political and philosophical questions about the relationship between individual citizens, groups, states, societies and indigenous African political thoughts and practices. Participants explore central issues relating to freedom of women from oppression by men supported by customs; freedom of the mind from constraints on inquiring, questioning, and speaking; freedom of the economy from opportunists; and freedom of citizens from all forms of tyranny. The course investigates the works of such African “Philosopher Kings” as Kwame Nkrumah, Kenneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere, and Leopold Senghor in relation to questions of political legitimacy, political order, colonial influence and domination, individual rights, and communal identifications.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Wingo

PHIL 410
Feminist Legal Theory

This course focuses on several ways that feminist philosophy forces reconsideration of basic philosophical tenets and practices of American law. Key areas of feminist concern to be addressed include articulating and interpreting the demand for equality in light of questions about the ways in which the situations of men and women are the same or different; and understanding the significance of abortion, sexual harassment, and rape. Key areas of the law on which these concerns put pressure include equality as sameness, the distinction between public and private, the presumption of innocence, and the appeal to “what any reasonable man would believe” as a standard in law.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or PHIL 230, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell

PHIL 414
Contemporary Analytic Philosophy

This course deals with some major trends in analytical philosophy in the twentieth century. It examines such movements as logical atomism, logical positivism, ordinary language philosophy, contemporary pragmatism, and irrealism, in order to explore their emphasis on the role of language in the formulations of solutions to traditional problems in epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics. The course also explores current debates over relativism. Readings include the work of such philosophers as Russell, Carnap, Ayer, Austin, James, Quine, Goodman, Putnam, and others. Some knowledge of logic is desirable.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100, and one additional philosophy course at or above the 200 level; or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 430
Literary Theory and Critical Theory

This course presents contemporary literary theory in connection with related developments in contemporary philosophy of language. Philosophy of language asks: What is it for a set of signs or symbols to have meaning? How is meaning, in general, possible, and how is it that a particular set of signs can have a particular meaning? What is a language? What is the relation between the sign and the signifier, the word and the object? What is the relation between writing, speech, and being? Literary theory and critical theory ask: What is a literary text? What is a genre and why do we distinguish them? What is an author? What is interpretation? Is paraphrase (saying the same thing two different ways) really possible? What is the role of the critic? How do the norms governing interpretation help to shape the “reality” that is interpreted? Readings range from ordinary language philosophy (e.g., Wittgenstein, Austin, Searle) to structuralism to new criticism to reader-response theory, deconstruction, and post-structuralism.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell

PHIL 437
Topics in Feminist Theory

This course is an advanced discussion of a current topic or topics in feminist theory. It is designed for students with some background in philosophy and in feminist theory. Some sample topics are feminist ethics, feminist epistemology, feminist and social constructivist theories of the self, feminist social and political theory. A Philosophy Department booklet lists current topics.
Prerequisite: PHIL 230 or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell

PHIL 440
Logic and Language

Topics in philosophy of language and logic: theory of reference, meaning, relation between language and reality, role of logical analysis of language in Russell’s theory of descriptions and its critics, liar paradox and theory of truth, Chomsky’s views on language and mind, and the relation between language and culture. Readings in current philosophy and linguistics. Course satisfies Linguistics Program requirements.
Prerequisites: Two philosophy courses, including one in logic, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Smith

PHIL 450
Rights

This course examines a range of contemporary theories, including those of Rawls, Nozick, Feinberg, and Dworkin. It outlines the classical tradition, and introduces the work of legal positivists like Austin and Hart. Emphasis is placed on alternatives to rights based theories and on criticisms of rights systems, such as that put forward by contemporary communitarians, virtue theorists, and feminist theorists.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Perina, Ms Radden, and Staff

PHIL 452
Aristotle

Aristotle’s philosophy as a response to Plato’s views about meaning, being, knowledge, ideas, number and the good.
Prerequisite: PHIL 310 or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Beresford

PHIL 455
Hegel and German Idealism

This course is an introduction to the philosophy of Hegel and to the Hegelian tradition, through a reading of Hegel’s major work, The Phenomenology of Spirit. Other readings for the course include excerpts of The Science of Logic and The Philosophy of Right, as well as important critical sources.
Prerequisite: One philosophy course at or above the 200 level, or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 462
The Critical Philosophy of Immanuel Kant

The Critique of Pure Reason, with special attention to Kant’s epistemology and critique of metaphysics.
Prerequisite: PHIL 312 or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 465
Kant’s Moral Philosophy and Its Critics

A study of some of the major ethical writings of Immanuel Kant, possibly the greatest moral philosopher in the Western tradition—Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, selections from Critique of Practical Reason, Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. Also Arthur Schopenhauer’s critique of Kant’s ethics, On the Basis of Morality. Brief attention to Hegel’s critique of Kant.
Prerequisite: Two courses in philosophy, one of which must be at 200 level or above.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 468
Nietzsche

An advanced intensive philosophical study of Nietzsche’s works, from The Birth of Tragedy to On the Genealogy of Morals.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of two philosophy courses, one of which must be at the 200 level or above.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Tirrell

PHIL 470
Wittgenstein

Intensive study of the early and late work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Beginning with Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the course provides a historical-philosophical context for Wittgenstein’s mature work. Other works read include Philosophical Investigations, Zettel, and On Certainty.
Prerequisites: PHIL 100 and one intermediate course in philosophy or equivalent.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Smith and Staff

PHIL 478
Independent Study I

Independent study on approved topics in philosophy.
Prerequisite: Approval of Philosophy Department.
1-3 Credits

PHIL 479
Independent Study II

See PHIL 478.

PHIL 480
Group Independent Study

Group independent study on approved topics in philosophy.
Prerequisite: Approval of Philosophy Department.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 481
Selected Special Topics in Philosophy

An advanced course offering intensive study of selected topics in philosophy. Course content varies and will be announced prior to registration.
Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or 108.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

PHIL 501
Foundations of Philosophical Thought

By discussing four or five traditional substantive problems in philosophy-morality, the nature of knowledge, freedom of the will, the nature of mind, and social organization—we attempt to derive a common approach that philosophers bring to these problems when developing their own solutions or criticizing the solutions of other philosophers. We also consider some of the ways that substantive issues and debates in philosophy relate to contemporary non-philosophical issues in our society and can be introduced into a broad range of educational environments outside standard philosophy courses.
Prerequisites: Junior standing and permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Millman