CRN

94003

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 101

Title

Problems in Philosophy

Professor

William Griffith

Schedule

Tu Th            1:30 pm -  2:50 pm       ASP 302

An introduction to the problems, methods, and scope of philosophical inquiry. Among the philosophical questions to be discussed are those associated with morality, the law, the nature of mind, and the limits of knowledge. Philosophers to be read include Plato, Descartes, David Hume, William James, A. J. Ayer, Sartre, C. S. Lewis, and Lon Fuller.

 

CRN

94005

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 107

Title

Informal Logic / Critical Reasoning

Professor

Daniel Berthold

Schedule

Mon Wed       8:30 am -  9:50 am       OLIN 201

This course is devoted to the development of skills of analysis and evaluation of reasoning and argumentation.  Its aim is to strengthen the ability to reason well. The emphasis of the course is on techniques of inductive reasoning — or "informal" logic, reasoning in which cogency cannot be determined simply through analysis of the formal structure of arguments — although we also touch more briefly on certain basic elements of "formal" logic, such as the structure of syllogisms, the rules of validity, and the use of syllogisms in ordinary reasoning.   (Philosophy 237, Symbolic Logic, focuses on deductive reasoning, and hence is an excellent complement to this course.)  We will practice techniques of diagramming and distilling arguments; learn methods of detecting common fallacies of reasoning; study central features of inductive reasoning such as the nature of causal inference and argument by analogy; and investigate the relation between argumentation and explanation.  The course will proceed through progressively more complex examples of reasoning and argument, and eventually to the evaluation of extended arguments from the domains of politics, social policy, law, and ethics.

 

CRN

94009

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 108

Title

Introduction to Philosophy

Professor

Mary Coleman

Schedule

Tu Th            10:00 am - 11:20 am     OLIN 204

Western philosophers address questions that most of us naturally find puzzling, such as: do we have free will?; do we know what the world around us is really like?; does God exist?; how should we treat one another?  We will critically examine historical and contemporary texts that address these and other central themes of the philosophical tradition.

 

CRN

94007

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 230

Title

Philosophy and the Arts

Professor

Garry Hagberg

Schedule

Tu Th            3:00 pm -  4:20 pm       OLIN 202

Cross-listed: Integrated Arts

We will critically investigate a wide range of theories and problems in the philosophy of art, emphasizing issues of artistic meaning. Among the topics to be discussed are whether there exists an aesthetic experience unique to the art world; the nature of representation and mimetic theories of art; the role of expression in artistic definition and criticism; formalism and the form/content distinction; the logic of aesthetic evaluation and its relation to ethical argument; and subjectivity and objectivity in aesthetic perception. We will examine both classical and contemporary theories as they apply to questions arising out of architecture, dance, drama, film, literature, music, painting, and photography.

 

CRN

94010

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 247

Title

Philosophy of Mind

Professor

Mary Coleman

Schedule

Mon Wed       10:00 am - 11:20 am     ASP 302

An introduction to the philosophy of mind. We will focus on contemporary readings and such questions as: is your mind something different from your body and, in particular, something different from your brain?; can you know for sure that the people around you have conscious mental lives?; might it be, in principle, impossible for a computer or robot to have a mind, no matter how fancy the program it's running is?; is it possible that you yourself don't have a mind?

 

CRN

94008

Distribution

A / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 350

Title

Pragmatism

Professor

Garry Hagberg

Schedule

Th                 7:00 pm -  9:20 pm       ASP 302

A detailed examination of the content and methods of a number of classic works of American philosophy, emphasizing issues in epistemology. Authors include Peirce, William James, Royce, Dewey, Santayana, Mead, and more recent writers. The philosophical movements discussed include transcendentalism, pragmatism, empiricism, and realism. The investigation of these works will involve problems in the philosophy of religion, ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of education, and social and political philosophy.

 

CRN

94004

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL / ECON 351

Title

Economic Justice

Professor

Kris Feder / William Griffith

Schedule

Fr                  1:30 pm -  3:50 pm       ASP 302

What is a just way of distributing the goods and resources of society?  This is obviously an old question, an extremely difficult and divisive question, and yet an important and unavoidable question for thoughtful citizens.  Furthermore, any adequate discussion of justice in distribution must also take into account the effects of such distribution.  How do various ideals of justice interact with economic realities? Are there important distinctions to be made among the concepts of justice, fairness, equity, and equality? Some writers argue for an ideal of equal opportunity, while others prefer the notion of equality of outcomes. We will focus on these questions as applied to the United States.  We will discuss not merely issues of values, for example, various ideas that have been proposed as to what is a just system of taxation, but also matters of historical/political fact: What is the current distribution of wealth in this country?  What has it been in the past?  How did we come to have the tax (and subsidy) system that we have?  While some have held that all taxation is theft, others have taken the opposite view—that a person’s pre-tax income has no special ethical status because individual incomes depend on the actions of government and society. In short, we will be considering interrelated issues of fact and of value, of ideals and the possible, of philosophy and of economics and of history. Authors studied include John Stuart Mill, John Rawls, Richard Musgrave, Robert Nozick and Amartya Sen.

Prerequisite: At least one related course in philosophy, economics, or a related area. Permission of instructor required

 

CRN

94006

Distribution

A  / * (Humanities)

Course No.

PHIL 389

Title

Philosophy and Literature of Jean Paul Sartre

Professor

Daniel Berthold

Schedule

Mon               1:30 pm -  3:50 pm       ASP 302

Cross-listed:  French Studies, Human Rights

The course readings from a variety of Sartre's philosophic texts, including Existentialism, Anti-Semite and Jew, Essays in Aesthetics, and Being and Nothingness, and a number of his novels and plays, including Nausea, The Wall, No Exit, The Respectful Prostitute, Dirty Hands, and The Devil and the Good Lord. The relation between the two genres of Sartre's writing is explored, including the extent to which the philosophic and literary productions complement each other.