Selected studies of major philosophers or philosophical concerns. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Recent offerings include Civil Discourse, Poverty Studies, Native American Philosophy, Mark Twain, Persons Over Time, and Scottish Philosophy. Please consult the online course schedule for current offerings of this course.

Students study, analyze and evaluate competing ethical theories as they apply to questions about our social obligations to those who are poor and lack ready access to vital social goods. Students’ understanding is enhanced by their experience working with local non-profit organizations seeking to provide for the economically and socially disadvantaged. Each student completes 30 hours of service experience with such agencies.

An investigation into the varieties of reasoning, with concentration on the comprehension, evaluation, and construction of arguments. By analyzing examples of reasoning drawn from everyday life, the media, and different academic disciplines, students develop the skills and vocabulary required to articulate how reasoning works and to make reasoning an effective tool for gaining knowledge and participating in public discourse.

The philosophical analysis and evaluation of selected controversies related to the use of law and political systems to create and sustain just social conditions. The typical sort of issues studied would be poverty and world hunger, racism, the death penalty, civil disobedience, and conflicts over the protection of fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy.

The philosophical analysis and evaluation of selected controversies related to the practice of medicine. The typical sort of issues to be studied are abortion, termination of treatment, physician-assisted suicide, the use of reproductive and genetic technologies, and the just allocation of limited medical resources.

The philosophy of cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field in which arguments, theories and methods from the intersection of philosophy and the cognitive sciences are used to reflect about aspects of the mind, including rationality, perception, actions, thoughts, and language. Students study, analyze, and evaluate six theories of representation—logic, rules, concepts, analogies, images, and connections—and three mental architectures—computational, connectionist, and dynamical. Students explore contemporary philosophical research and philosophical perspectives on interdisciplinary debates about the emotions, consciousness, embodiment, agency, and the social.

An introductory study of existentialism through readings in literature and philosophy. Typically with selections from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to Heidegger, Sartre, and Jaspers. The modern predicament of the human being is examined and possible solutions sought.

Emphasis upon the development of a symbolic system for sentential logic. Critical analysis and reasoning skills are practiced. Some aspects of traditional and informal logic receive brief treatment.

Presentation of the major philosophies of the Indian sub-continent in their historic and cultural contexts. In addition to readings from the Vedic and Epic periods, the systems of Buddhism, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, and Vedanta are discussed, sometimes with emphasis placed on one school or text.

Presentation of the major philosophies of China in their historical and cultural contexts, including Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as an examination of neo-Confucianism and the tradition of Zen Buddhism in Japan.

An introduction to academic studies of gender, this course aims to help students develop skills at understanding, analyzing, and engaging gender-related issues. Cross-listed as GEND 268.

Study of particular themes related to an understanding of the relation of humans to the environment. Some years focus on a particular area, such as environmental ethics, philosophies of technology, or philosophies of nature.

Is freedom compatible with a world of cause and effect? Does freedom exist or is the conscious will an illusion? Students study, analyze, and evaluate philosophical arguments concerning freedom of the will, its relationship to moral responsibility, the nature of agency and action, philosophical accounts of intentions, and the relationship between rationality, reasons, and causes of action. Students explore contemporary philosophical research on questions concerning moral psychology, debates about the effectiveness of the conscious will, and debates about the awareness of our own agency.

Study of ancient Western philosophers and philosophical systems. Subjects may include the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and Neo-Platonism. Cross-listed as CLAS 285.

Study of philosophers and philosophical systems of the Enlightenment: Rationalism, Empiricism, and Kant.

Study of Hegel and the reactions to his system in Marx, Mill, the American Pragmatists, and Nietzsche. Prerequisite: PHIL 285 or PHIL 302, or consent.

Study of women’s experience under patriarchy and of the philosophical, theological, and social criticisms arising therefrom.

The philosophical analysis and evaluation of ethical issues pertinent to establishing and maintaining the goods of friendship, family, and community. This course examines such questions as these: What virtues make flourishing relationships possible? What vices make them impossible? When, if ever, is respecting one anothers’ rights not enough? Is “love” always enough? What are the ethical boundaries of different kinds of love? What moral obligations are entailed by our powers as sexual, procreative beings?

Students examine philosophical arguments about the human condition. Students study, analyze, and evaluate philosophical debates about nature vs. nurture, the possible uniqueness of thought and language in humans, and the significance of self-consciousness and social cooperation. We discuss whether there is an essential human nature in light of contemporary philosophical discussions of variation and difference within individuals at a time and over time, across societies and between cultures. Students explore contemporary philosophical research on questions concerning nativism, genetic determinism, human universals, social construction, race, sex and the politics of human nature. Prerequisite: Previous course in philosophy or consent of instructor

Study and evaluation of the major ethical theories that are structuring the context of our contemporary moral debates, regardless of the concrete issue at stake. The course focuses upon understanding and comparing theories about what principles should guide human action, what kind of living constitutes the truly good life, and in what sense judgments regarding moral value have "objective" answers. Prerequistie: a previous course in philosophy or consent of instructor.

What is God like? Should God be understood as a person or a force? How is God related to the world? This course surveys primarily Western thinkers from the times of the biblical writers, through Plato, Aristotle and early Jewish and Christian sources to the development of modern atheism and beyond it to contemporary understandings of God. Issues such as evil, human responsibility and prayer are discussed in relation to divine power and knowledge. Cross-listed as RELI 332.

Philosophical issues related to science and the scientific method with readings from Hempel, Popper, Kuhn, and others. Recommended: major in philosophy or a science.

Study and evaluation of the major philosophical theories and controversies shaping our contemporary political debates over such issues as the nature of social and economic justice, the meaning of equality, the limits of individual freedom, the sources of political obligation, and the characteristics of a well-ordered society. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

The study of philosophical issues and questions related to religious belief, language, and worldview, with particular attention to classical and/or contemporary arguments regarding the relationship of faith and reason. Topics may include arguments of existence of God, the problem of evil, the nature and epistemic value of religious experience, and the implications of pluralism for rational religious commitment. Cross-listed as RELI 370. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy or religious studies, or consent of instructor

Metaphysics is concerned with the most general questions about the foundations of existence. What is the nature of being? What are the basic objects of reality? Is the nature of properties and relations different from the way we talk and think about them? Are there necessary truths? What are space and time? What makes persons, minds, bodies identical with themselves over time? What is the nature of causation? Are human beings free? Is the task of metaphysics descriptive or is metaphysics a revisionary science, explaining and predicting the grounds of existence? Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

Epistemology is the philosophical inquiry into the nature, conditions and extent of knowledge. Are dreams, hallucinations, and illusions threats to our knowledge? Is all knowledge based in our senses or can we have knowledge independent of experience, like propositions in math or logic? Is justified true belief sufficient for knowledge? Does knowledge shift with context? Is knowledge internal or external to a subject’s perspective? Does epistemology involve inquiry into the justification of our beliefs or into the natural origins of our beliefs? Students study knowledge in at least one particular case—perception, action, memory, inference, or testimony. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

An introduction to aesthetics as a theoretical discipline in its own right, a discipline concerned with the nature of representation and thus with beauty and art. The course focuses in particular on issues of aesthetics and visual representation; the relationship between visual arts, literature, and other art forms; the efficacy of aesthetic theory as a mode of reading and interpretation. The class explores these issues in relation to specific works of visual art, film, and literature. Cross-listed as ARTH 389.

What is the nature of the mental and how does it relate to the physical body and physical bodies in general? Is the mark of the mental intentionality, or “aboutness”? What is the nature of representational content of our mental states? Are the contents of our mental states determined by facts internal to the individual or facts external to the individual in the physical world? What is the nature of consciousness and self-consciousness? Students discuss a special topic from the following: perception, action, emotion, memory, thought, language, consciousness, or self-consciousness. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy or consent of instructor.

An advanced seminar in philosophy for senior majors in philosophy and in philosophy and religious studies. Topics are chosen by the faculty member teaching the seminar. This course may be taken by senior philosophy majors in lieu of the senior thesis.

A topics course in philosophy studying selected major philosophers or philosophical concerns. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Recent topics include Poverty Studies, New Philosophy of Science, Spinoza, Ethics and Commerce, Philosophy of Psychology and Early Medieval Philosophy. Please consult the online course schedule for current offerings of this course. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

Students in consultation with a professor research, write, and defend a substantial paper on a topic of their choosing. Open only to philosophy majors in the senior year.