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.