PHIL 101 Introduction to Philosophy: Problems in Philosophy

Professor: W. Griffith

CRN: 92386

Distribution: A

Time: Tu Th 10:30 am - 12:00 pm ASP 302

of related interest: French Studies
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.


PHIL 103 Introduction to Philosophy: History of Philosophy

Professor: G. Hagberg

CRN: 92387

Distribution: A

Time: Tu Th 3:40 pm - 5:00 pm OLIN 202

of related interest: French Studies
A critical examination of the work of some major figures in the history of philosophy, emphasizing historical continuities and developments in the subject. Authors include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Nietzsche, and Russell.


PHIL 105 Reason, Language, and Argumentation

Professor: D. Berthold-Bond

CRN: 92388

Distribution: A

Time: W F 9:00 am - 10:20 am OLIN 201

This is a course in informal logic. We will examine the functions of language and reasoning as they occur in everyday discourse. Beginning with an analysis of the structure of a wide variety of informal fallacies, we will turn to an investigation of how these fallacies are employed for such purposes as persuasion, deception, and indoctrination. Examples will be taken from the spheres of politics, the news media, advertising, and the writing of educational textbooks.


PHIL 209A History of Modern Philosophy: The Rationalists

Professor: D. Berthold-Bond

CRN: 92389

Distribution: A

Time: W 1:20 pm - 3:20 pm OLIN 203

Cross-listed: French Studies
A close study of the three great figures of seventeenth-century Continental rationalism: Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibnitz.


PHIL 231 History of Aesthetics

Professor: D. Berthold-Bond

CRN: 92391

Distribution: A

Time: Tu Th 9:00 am - 10:20 am OLIN 201

A study of some of the main sources of aesthetic theory in the Western philosophical tradition. Selections from Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Tolstoy, Croce, and Dewey.


PHIL 331 Advanced Logic

Professor: R. Martin

CRN: 92392

Distribution: A

Time: M W 9:00 am - 10:20 am OLIN 304

We will study the proof theory and model theory of first-order logic and prove its completeness, in the manner of Henkin 1949. Then we will develop formal arithmetic and prove some important limitative results, especially incompleteness (Goedel 1931). Finally, if time permits, we will study a variety of modal systems and some of their philosophical applications, e.g., tense logic and the logic of indexicals.


PHIL 350 Pragmatism

Professor: G. Hagberg

CRN: 92393

Distribution: A

Time: M 1:20 pm - 3:20 pm OLIN 306

We will examine in detail the content and methods of a number of classic works of American philosophy, emphasizing issues in epistemology. Our authors will include Peirce, William James, Royce, Dewey, Santayana, Mead, and a number of more recent writers. The philosophical movements we discuss include Transcendentalism, Pragmatism, Empiricism, and Realism. Our investigation of these works will take us into problems in the philosophy of religion, ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of education, and social and political philosophy.


PHIL 371 The Philosophy of Kant

Professor: W. Griffith

CRN: 92394

Distribution: A

Time: W 10:30 am - 12:30 pm HEG 300

Cross-listed: German Studies
An introduction to one of the classic texts of Western philosophy, Kant's magnum opus, The Critique of Pure Reason. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy and permission of the instructor.