Below is a listing of the classes being offered for Spring 2010. For information on specific times, days and instructors, please check  the Master Class Schedule on NOVASIS. 

PHI 1050 - 001 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33918

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MW from 08:30 am to 09:20 am Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.

Instructors: Jessie Brooke Dern

PHI 1050 - 002 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33920

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 09:30 am to 10:20 am Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: John V. Garner

PHI 1050 - 003 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33924

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 09:30 am to 10:20 am Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Timothy Jussaume

PHI 1050 - 004 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33926

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 10:30 am to 11:20 am Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Geoffrey G. Karabin

PHI 1050 - 005 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33928

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 10:30 am to 11:20 am Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Elizabeth A. Irvine

PHI 1050 - 006 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33929

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 10:30 am to 11:20 am Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Michelle Joelle Falcetano

PHI 1050 - 007 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33932

 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 11:30 am to 12:20 pm Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Geoffrey G. Karabin

PHI 1050 - 008 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33934

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 11:30 am to 12:20 pm Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Elizabeth A. Irvine

PHI 1050 - 009 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33936

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 11:30 pm to 12:20 pm Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Alexander Gerard Kratchman

PHI 1050 - 011 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33938

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MW from 1:30 pm to 2:45 pm Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Sarah Elizabeth Vitale

PHI 1050 - 012 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33941

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MW from 03:00 pm to 04:15 pm Location: TBA
The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Sarah Elizabeth Vitale

PHI 1050 - 013 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33944

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MW from 04:30 pm to 05:45 pm Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world.
Instructors: Christopher B. Ruth

PHI 1050 - 014 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33946

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 08:30 pm to 09:45 pm Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructor: Christopher Philip Noble

PHI 1050 - 015 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33949

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 10:00 am to 11:15 am Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Neil David Brophy

PHI 1050 - 016 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33952

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 10:00 am to 11:15 am Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Michael J. Olson

PHI 1050 - 017 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33955

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 11:30 am to 12:45 am Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Neil David Brophy

PHI 1050 - 018 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33957

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 11:30 am to 12:45 am Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Michael J. Olson

PHI 1050 - 019 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33958

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 01:30 am to 02:15 pm Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Christopher M. Davidson

PHI 1050 - 020 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33959

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 02:30 am to 03:45 pm Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Christopher M. Davidson 

PHI 1050 - 021 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33960

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 04:00 pm to 05:15 pm Location: TBA The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Adrienne B. St. Clair

PHI 1050 - 100 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33961

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. M 06:10 - 08:50 Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Christopher B. Ruth

PHI 1050 - 101 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33962

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. R 06:00 - 09:30 Location: TBA Attributes:  Fast Forward Class

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: Helen S. Lang

PHI 1050 - A10 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33963

Enrollment: 0 of 12 students. Days: MW from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA F from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: James R. Wetzel

PHI 1050 - B10 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33964

Enrollment: 0 of 12 students. Days: MW from MW from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA F from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA 

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: James R. Wetzel 

PHI 1050 - C10 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33965

Enrollment: 0 of 12 students. Days: MW from MW from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA F from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: James R. Wetzel 

PHI 1050 - D10 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33966

Enrollment: 0 of 12 students. Days: MW from MW from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA F from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: James R. Wetzel 

PHI 1050 - E10 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33967

Enrollment: 0 of 12 students. Days: MW from MW from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA F from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: James R. Wetzel 

PHI 1050 - F10 Intro to Philosophy CRN:33968

Enrollment: 0 of 12 students. Days: MW from MW from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA F from 12:30 pm to 01:20 pm Location: TBA

The issues of God, persons and nature, and knowledge. Readings include sources which give special consideration to the classical and Christian perspectives. The goal of this course will be to introduce students to major texts in the history of philosophy and familiarize them with some of its most important questions. About a third of the course will be spent on ancient and medieval philosophy, with its struggle to answer questions about the nature of reality and its political and metaphysical significance. Then we will move to the moderns, bringing up questions about how it is that we come to know the external world. The course will conclude with the major contemporary critics of modernity and capitalism, critics that attempt to examine the very project of what philosophy does or can do in the modern world. Instructors: James R. Wetzel 

PHI 2010 - 001 Logic & Critical Thinking CRN:33969

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 09:30 am to 10:20 am Location: TBA

Argument, or discourse that claims to give reasons for believing something, is a familiar and ubiquitous part of our legal, scientific, economic, political, and moral life. Without arguments—that is, without giving each other reasons for holding certain claims as true and others as false—society could not be held together, unless one supposes that force or habit could do the job for a time. Logic is the study of the formal dimension of arguments. As such it uniquely belongs at once to philosophy, alongside ontology, epistemology, ethics, etc., and to mathematics, where it distinguishes a sub discipline on the same level as algebra, geometry, or analysis. In this course, we shall try to do justice to logic’s double classification by setting up a conversation between philosophy and mathematics, weaving back and forth between formal proofs and elucidations carried out in the less formal but more searching language of a thought which orients itself according to philosophy’s fundamental questions. Without conflating the two, this conversation will hopefully shed light on both philosophical and mathematical ideas through their mutual elucidation. The course will comprise three units, introducing respectively what are known as 'informal logic', 'formal logic', and 'metalogic'. In the first two parts of the course, we will learn how to build and use some typical logical-mathematical systems—categorical, sentential, and predicate logic—while reflecting upon their philosophical motivation (why build them?) and their particular components (do they work?). At this stage, the drive is toward greater formalization, while at the same time we will remark upon the challenge to formalization that persists in the form—or formlessness—of ordinary language. By the end of Unit Two, you will be empowered to use some basic logical systems to assist your thinking about an endless variety of issues, and also to think about the limits of such systems from the outside. Unit III will introduce you to the interesting techniques and deep concepts of metalogic—the philosophical and mathematical reflection on logical systems and their limitations, which made it possible to think about the very idea of a logical system, about the implications and limitations of this idea, from the inside. The results studied in this section form a key part of the intellectual inheritance of the late nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. They are vital for understanding recent developments in philosophy, mathematics, physics, and information theory which impact the orientation of contemporary life. Moreover, they are often deep, surprising, and beautiful. The leading idea of this part of the course is “incompleteness”, referring to the results first proved by the logician Kurt Gödel in 1931 and subsequently known as the 'First and Second Incompleteness Theorems'. These theorems forever changed our philosophical picture of logic and its powers. Their consequences are still being thought through at the cutting edge of our civilization. You might say that in 1931, logic started talking about itself, and we are still interpreting what it had to say. 

PHI 2010 - 002 Logic & Critical Thinking CRN:33970

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 10:30 pm to 11:20 pm Location: TBA Argument, or discourse that claims to give reasons for believing something, is a familiar and ubiquitous part of our legal, scientific, economic, political, and moral life. Without arguments—that is, without giving each other reasons for holding certain claims as true and others as false—society could not be held together, unless one supposes that force or habit could do the job for a time. Logic is the study of the formal dimension of arguments. As such it uniquely belongs at once to philosophy, alongside ontology, epistemology, ethics, etc., and to mathematics, where it distinguishes a sub discipline on the same level as algebra, geometry, or analysis. In this course, we shall try to do justice to logic’s double classification by setting up a conversation between philosophy and mathematics, weaving back and forth between formal proofs and elucidations carried out in the less formal but more searching language of a thought which orients itself according to philosophy’s fundamental questions. Without conflating the two, this conversation will hopefully shed light on both philosophical and mathematical ideas through their mutual elucidation. The course will comprise three units, introducing respectively what are known as 'informal logic', 'formal logic', and 'metalogic'. In the first two parts of the course, we will learn how to build and use some typical logical-mathematical systems—categorical, sentential, and predicate logic—while reflecting upon their philosophical motivation (why build them?) and their particular components (do they work?). At this stage, the drive is toward greater formalization, while at the same time we will remark upon the challenge to formalization that persists in the form—or formlessness—of ordinary language. By the end of Unit Two, you will be empowered to use some basic logical systems to assist your thinking about an endless variety of issues, and also to think about the limits of such systems from the outside. Unit III will introduce you to the interesting techniques and deep concepts of metalogic—the philosophical and mathematical reflection on logical systems and their limitations, which made it possible to think about the very idea of a logical system, about the implications and limitations of this idea, from the inside. The results studied in this section form a key part of the intellectual inheritance of the late nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. They are vital for understanding recent developments in philosophy, mathematics, physics, and information theory which impact the orientation of contemporary life. Moreover, they are often deep, surprising, and beautiful. The leading idea of this part of the course is “incompleteness”, referring to the results first proved by the logician Kurt Gödel in 1931 and subsequently known as the 'First and Second Incompleteness Theorems'. These theorems forever changed our philosophical picture of logic and its powers. Their consequences are still being thought through at the cutting edge of our civilization. You might say that in 1931, logic started talking about itself, and we are still interpreting what it had to say. Instructors:

PHI 2010 - 003 Logic & Critical Thinking CRN:33971

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MWF from 12:30 pm to 1:20 pm Location: TBA Argument, or discourse that claims to give reasons for believing something, is a familiar and ubiquitous part of our legal, scientific, economic, political, and moral life. Without arguments—that is, without giving each other reasons for holding certain claims as true and others as false—society could not be held together, unless one supposes that force or habit could do the job for a time. Logic is the study of the formal dimension of arguments. As such it uniquely belongs at once to philosophy, alongside ontology, epistemology, ethics, etc., and to mathematics, where it distinguishes a subdiscipline on the same level as algebra, geometry, or analysis. In this course, we shall try to do justice to logic’s double classification by setting up a conversation between philosophy and mathematics, weaving back and forth between formal proofs and elucidations carried out in the less formal but more searching language of a thought which orients itself according to philosophy’s fundamental questions. Without conflating the two, this conversation will hopefully shed light on both philosophical and mathematical ideas through their mutual elucidation. The course will comprise three units, introducing respectively what are known as 'informal logic', 'formal logic', and 'metalogic'. In the first two parts of the course, we will learn how to build and use some typical logical-mathematical systems—categorical, sentential, and predicate logic—while reflecting upon their philosophical motivation (why build them?) and their particular components (do they work?). At this stage, the drive is toward greater formalization, while at the same time we will remark upon the challenge to formalization that persists in the form—or formlessness—of ordinary language. By the end of Unit Two, you will be empowered to use some basic logical systems to assist your thinking about an endless variety of issues, and also to think about the limits of such systems from the outside. Unit III will introduce you to the interesting techniques and deep concepts of metalogic—the philosophical and mathematical reflection on logical systems and their limitations, which made it possible to think about the very idea of a logical system, about the implications and limitations of this idea, from the inside. The results studied in this section form a key part of the intellectual inheritance of the late nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. They are vital for understanding recent developments in philosophy, mathematics, physics, and information theory which impact the orientation of contemporary life. Moreover, they are often deep, surprising, and beautiful. The leading idea of this part of the course is “incompleteness”, referring to the results first proved by the logician Kurt Gödel in 1931 and subsequently known as the 'First and Second Incompleteness Theorems'. These theorems forever changed our philosophical picture of logic and its powers. Their consequences are still being thought through at the cutting edge of our civilization. You might say that in 1931, logic started talking about itself, and we are still interpreting what it had to say. Instructors: Yong Michael Kim

PHI 2115 - 001 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33972

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 10:00 am to 11:15 am Location: TBA

This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: Sarah-Vaughan Brakman

PHI 2115 - 002 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33973

Enrollment: 0 of 5 students. Days: TR from 11:30 am to 12:45 am  This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: Sarah-Vaughan Brakman

PHI 2115 - 003 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33975

Enrollment: 0 of 5 students. Days: TR from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm Location: TBA

This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: James J. McCartney

PHI 2115 - 004 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN: 34363

Enrollment: 0 of 5 students. Days: TR from 1:00 pm to 2:15 pm.  This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: Sarah-Vaughan Brakman

PHI 2115 - 005 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33979

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 02:30 pm to 03:45 pm. This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: James J. McCartney (P)

PHI 2115 - N02 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33974

Enrollment: 0 of 30 students. Days: TR from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm Location: TBA

This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: Sarah-Vaughan Brakman

PHI 2115 - N03 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33976

Enrollment: 0 of 30 students. Days: TR from 11:30 am to 12:45 pm Location: TBA

This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: James J. McCartney

PHI 2115 - N04 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33978

Enrollment: 0 of 30 students. Days: TR from 1:30 am to 2:15 pm Location: TBA

This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: Sarah-Vaughan Brakman

PHI 2115 - N05 Ethics for Health Care Prof CRN:33980

Enrollment: 0 of 30 students. Days: TR from 02:30 am to 03:45 am Location: TBA

This section of Ethics for Healthcare Professionals will be a discussion-based examination and analysis of the ethical issues embedded in clinical practice. Drawing heavily on narrative, research, and clinical literature from nursing and medicine, we will reflect on some of the morally salient elements of clinical decision making, with particular emphasis on the interaction and relationships between patients and their healthcare team, patients and their families, healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions, and individual members of various healthcare teams. We will also spend some time talking about the role of ethics in policy-formation, and the interplay between hospital/institutional policy and decisions at the bedside. This course is geared toward future clinicians. Non-clinicians are welcome to take the course, but need to be aware of the professional focus of the readings and assignments. Note: This is a discussion-based course. Students who are not willing to actively prepare for and participate in class discussion should not enroll in this course Instructors: James J. McCartney

PHI 2121-001 Environmental Ethics CRN:33981 Enrollment: 0 of 35

Days: MW 01:30 pm to 2:45 pm Location TBA

Environmental Ethics as an area of philosophical inquiry that critically engages questions and issues regarding the ethical relationship between human beings and the natural world that we inhabit. How has the relation between human societies and nature been constructed through ideas, discourses, values, and practices?  How ought we behave toward, and interact with what environmental philosophers call the “more-than-human world”? How have the ideas we currently hold toward beings and entities in nature emerged throughout western intellectual history? What ideas within western philosophical and theological traditions may contribute to eco-social crisis, and which ones carry the potential to forge healthy, sustainable, and just relations with the natural world?

This course examines these and other questions in part through a survey of classic and contemporary authors and positions. Areas of environmental ethics explored include:

• Antropocentric (human-centered) ethics
• Ecocentric ethics
• Environmental Justice
• Ecofeminism
• Social, Political, and Economic Thought and the Environment
• Deep Ecology
• Religious and Faith-Based Responses to Environmental Crisis
• Eco-phenomenology
• Philosophies of Place
• Environmental Theory and Praxis

 The course is discussion-based, and students throughout the term engage in a environmental perception and reflection project which entails locating a nearby place in nature, and coming into conscious interaction with it. Students engage in philosophical practice as we inquire into the moral, political, metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological status of that which is called “nature” or “the environment.” A central theme of the course is to identify the ways that philosophical dualisms  (normative, metaphysical, hierarchical) have served in the western tradition to separate and subordinate nature to humans, and how such beliefs are entangled with social inequalities. In addition to looking critically at conceptual beliefs and practices that affect the environment, this course  explores emerging liberatory positions, movements, and ideas that resist human destruction of the natural environment and seek to transform the way humans relate with the natural world.  Instructor: Chaone Mallory

PHI 2121-002 Environmental Ethics CRN:33982 Enrollment: 0 of 35

Days: MW 03:00 pm to 4:15 pm Location TBA

Environmental Ethics as an area of philosophical inquiry that critically engages questions and issues regarding the ethical relationship between human beings and the natural world that we inhabit. How has the relation between human societies and nature been constructed through ideas, discourses, values, and practices?  How ought we behave toward, and interact with what environmental philosophers call the “more-than-human world”? How have the ideas we currently hold toward beings and entities in nature emerged throughout western intellectual history? What ideas within western philosophical and theological traditions may contribute to eco-social crisis, and which ones carry the potential to forge healthy, sustainable, and just relations with the natural world?

This course examines these and other questions in part through a survey of classic and contemporary authors and positions. Areas of environmental ethics explored include:

• Antropocentric (human-centered) ethics
• Ecocentric ethics
• Environmental Justice
• Ecofeminism
• Social, Political, and Economic Thought and the Environment
• Deep Ecology
• Religious and Faith-Based Responses to Environmental Crisis
• Eco-phenomenology
• Philosophies of Place
• Environmental Theory and Praxis

The course is discussion-based, and students throughout the term engage in a environmental perception and reflection project which entails locating a nearby place in nature, and coming into conscious interaction with it. Students engage in philosophical practice as we inquire into the moral, political, metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological status of that which is called “nature” or “the environment.” A central theme of the course is to identify the ways that philosophical dualisms  (normative, metaphysical, hierarchical) have served in the western tradition to separate and subordinate nature to humans, and how such beliefs are entangled with social inequalities. In addition to looking critically at conceptual beliefs and practices that affect the environment, this course  explores emerging liberatory positions, movements, and ideas that resist human destruction of the natural environment and seek to transform the way humans relate with the natural world. Instructor: Chaone Mallory

PHI 2140-001 Phil of Criminal Justice CRN:33983 Enrollment: 0 of 35

PHI 2140-099 Phil of Criminal Justice CRN:33984 Enrollment: 0 of 35

PHI-2160-001 CRN 33985 Enrollment: 0 of 30

Days: TR 13:00 - 14:15

This course begins with learning classical just war theory, the ethical theory taught to our military, a middle way between pacifism and total war. This takes the first half of the semester. The course then examines two examples of the U.S., or U.S. allies, not following just war theory. The first is the U.S. supported Salvadoran government in its 1980’s war against the FMLN guerrillas (the Farabundo-Marti Front for National Liberation). The second is the British and American policies of bombing civilian populations in Germany and Japan during World War II.

                There will be three tests, each on one–third of the course material. There will be three 5-page paper topics assigned, and two of these three are required. The teacher’s style is to lecture extensively using the blackboard. Students can gain extra points by attending campus lectures and events.

                Required Textbooks (all paperbacks):

1)       Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, 3 ed. (Basic Books, 2000).  ISBN 0-465-03705-4

2)       Leigh Binford, The El Mozote Massacre: Anthropology and Human Rights, (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1996). ISBN 0-8165-1662-6

3)       A.C. Grayling, Among the Dead Cities: the History and Moral Legacy of the WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan, (Walker & Co., N.Y., 2007) ISBN-10: 0-8027-1565-6

PHI 2180 - 001 Computer Ethics CRN:33986

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 01:00 pm to 02:15 pm Location: TBA

Instructors: William M Fleischman (P) Attributes: Writing Enriched Requirement

PHI 2180 - 002 Computer Ethics CRN:33987

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 02:30 pm to 03:45 pm Location: TBA

Instructors: William M Fleischman (P) Attributes: Writing Enriched Requirement

PHI 2400 - 001 Social & Political Phil CRN:33988

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MW from 04:00 pm to 05:15 pm Location: TBA

This course explores the historical evolution of “political cultures,” understood as the practical modes of intelligibility that dictate the very nature of politics by determining who qualifies as a political subject, what is visible as a political action, and how the spatio-temporal framework of politics is structured. The first section of the course is dedicated to analyzing the historical emergence and evolution of three major political configurations that have marked the history of the Euro-American world: natural political culture (Plato and Aristotle), ecclesiastical political culture (Augustine), and contractual political culture (Locke, Rousseau and other modern political theorists). The second section of the class will examine the specificity of our own socio-political ethos by studying contemporary debates on political liberalism, communitarianism, multiculturalism, radical democracy, minority rights, gender and race inequality, postmodernism, globalization and terrorism. Instructors: Gabriel Rockhill (P)

PHI 2420 - 001 Philosophy of Women CRN:33988 Enrollment : 0 of 30 students

Enrollment: 0 of 20 students. Days: MW from 03:00 am to 04:15 pm Location: TBA

In this course students will compare and contrast various contemporary theories on gender and will critically examine the way women have been portrayed in some of the canonical texts of western philosophy.  Our goal is to sustain a cooperative learning environment in which we look deeply at Feminist Theories and the Feminist Movement from a variety of perspectives.  Students also will be challenged to explore how various theories address social practices and affect other oppressed social groups.

Instructor: Katie Grosh Attributes: Cross-listed course, Diversity Requirement 2, Writing Enriched Requirement Comment: Cross-listed P&J

PHI 2420 - 002 Philosophy of Women CRN:33990 Enrollment : 0 of 30 students

Enrollment: 0 of 20 students. Days: MW from 0:30 am to 05:45 pm Location: TBA

In this course students will compare and contrast various contemporary theories on gender and will critically examine the way women have been portrayed in some of the canonical texts of western philosophy.  Our goal is to sustain a cooperative learning environment in which we look deeply at Feminist Theories and the Feminist Movement from a variety of perspectives.  Students also will be challenged to explore how various theories address social practices and affect other oppressed social groups.

Instructor: Katie Grosh Attributes: Cross-listed course, Diversity Requirement 2, Writing Enriched Requirement Comment: Cross-listed P&J

PHI 2450 -001 Catholic Social Thought CRN:33991 Enrollment: 0 of 24 students 

Days: MWF from 11:30 am to 12:20 pm

This course is designed to examine the last century of Catholic Social Thought from Rerum Novarum to present.  In 1891, Leo XIII makes it clear that Catholic Social Thought is grounded in the social and political philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.  Reflections, therefore, on the Aristotelean-Thomistic understanding of the virtues (especially the distinction between justice and charity) and their respective duties will serve for making clear the basic principles of Catholic teaching.  Aquinas’ reliance on Augustinian thought is also reiterated in this tradition.  In Catholic Social Thought the axiological nature of our social, political, and economic systems are analyzed philosophically as well as scripturally.  The duty of the Church to be a voice in evaluating these systems is confirmed in several papal encyclicals as well as several pastoral letters of the American bishops.  This rich tradition of social philosophy and moral theology may one day cease to be what the Center for Concern has termed the Church’s “best kept secret.”

Instructors: Daniel T. Regan (P) Attributes: Cross-listed course Comment: Cross-listed P&J

PHI 2710-001 Theories of Knowledge CRN:33992 Enrollment: 0 of 30 students

Days: TR 04:00 pm to 5:15 pm Location: TBA

Instructor: Dalia T. Nassar

PHI 2760 - 001 Philosophy & Literature CRN:33993 Enrollment: 0 of 30 students 

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: MW 4:30 pm to 5:45 pm Location: TBA

What do we tell when we tell our story? Who is this “I” that has a story of its own? Who are we as audience of our stories and of others’ stories? What does it mean to relate to others through their stories? Telling one’s story is always more than retelling one’s past. Through our stories we invent our selves, we find connections between events, we shape how we make sense of events, situations, and relationships. But the words and images we have at our disposal are never solely our own. We receive words and images from others and the world around us before we take up these words and images to make and remake ourselves. Likewise, we—as much as our stories—become something else as we address ourselves to others. Who am I, I who can tell a story about herself? Who are you who addresses yourself to me? How did we get here? Who have we become? What are the limits and obstacles of our becoming? Can we begin the story anew?

In this course we will examine the intersection between philosophy and literature within these questions of self-narration. Our inquiries will address in particular questions of representation and identity; of audience and receptivity; of embodiment, race, and gender; and of the limits of narration. We will study works by Hannah Arendt, John Barth, Frederick Barthelme, Roland Barthes, John Berger,  Jorge Borges, Susan Brison, Judith Butler, Italo Calvino, Adriana Cavarero, Isak Dinesen, Michel Foucault, Jamaica Kincaid, Joyce Carol Oates, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Patricia Williams.  Instructors: Annika Thiem

PHI 2800-001 Philosophy of History CRN:33994 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR 2:30 - 3:45 Location: TBA

This course examines the historical development and transformation of the relationship between philosophy and history.  We begin by analyzing philosophy in the era of chronology, prior to the massive historicization of philosophic practice around the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries.  We then concentrate on the fundamental changes that occurred in philosophic practice through the course of this transformation.  These changes were linked to what historians have called the modern regime of historicity or a novel conception of historical time as a linear process of development in which the past becomes autonomous and the future is transformed into an open horizon of possibility.  It is within the modern regime of historicity that the 19th-century utopian philosophical and political projects developed, and it is to these that we will turn our attention in the third section of the course.  We will then concentrate on how these projects have played themselves out in the historical conjuncture that is our own, which is sometimes referred to as the era of the “end of history” or the “end of utopia.”  Finally, we will examine some of the central debates in contemporary historiography in order to explore various “logics of history” and hone tools for explaining how history informs our present situation and outlines possibilities for the future.  In addition to being a philosophy class, this course draws extensively on work from at least three other disciplines:  history, sociology and political theory.  Representative authors include:  Hegel, Marx, Lenin, Fukuyama, Castoriadis, Foucault, Wallerstein, Kracauer, Benjamin, and Koselleck.

Instructor: Gabriel Rockhill

PHI 2920 - 001 Asian Philosophies CRN:33995 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

Days: TR from 03:00 pm to 04:15 pm  An introduction to several important philosophical traditions in Asia. We'll focus on basic ideas in the Hindu tradition (India), two key early works in the Taoist tradition (China), and both the early form of Buddhism (India) and its later developments, especially Zen (China, etc.). Written work includes several short reaction-to-texts papers, one exam, and two longer (but less than 10 pages) papers. Instructors: Michael H. Prosch (P)
Attributes: Diversity Requirement 3

PHI 3020 - 001 History of Ancient Philosophy CRN:33998 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

Enrollment: 0 of 35 students. Days: TR from 11:30 pm to 12:45 pm Location: TBA

Plato, Aristotle and selected pre-Socratic and Hellenistic philosophers in the context of ancient and classical Greek civilization.

Instructors: Helen S. Lang 

PHI 3040 - 001 History of Early Mod Philosophy CRN:33999 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

Days: TR from 02:30 pm to 03:45 pm Location: TBA
The European philosophy: Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant. Their works take shape during the scientific revolution and in an era of religious and political ferment; this is the era of Galileo and Newton, the Thirty Years’ War and the English Civil Wars, and the emergence of modern ideas of toleration and intellectual freedom. We will examine how philosophy interacts with these broader aspects of culture. Our major questions will be drawn from metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy: (1) What is there? (2) How do we know, and what counts as knowledge? (3) What are the ethical, social, and political implications of the answers given? Writing assignments will include short (2 page) and medium length (4-6 page) essays. Class meetings will be a mixture of lecture and discussion. Instructors: Julie Klein (P)

PHI 3410-001 Thomas Aquinas CRN:33000 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

Days: TR 01:00 to 02:15  Location: TBA
Thomas Aquinas is regarded by many—both fans and critics alike—as the greatest thinker of the Catholic tradition.  What is it about Aquinas’s wisdom that has evoked such respect from so many different quarters? 

In this course, we will explore some of Aquinas’s most interesting teachings, including his views on the existence of God, creation, the immortality of the soul, faith and reason, knowledge and love, happiness, virtue, natural law, grace, Christ and the Eucharist.

Since Thomas himself was a questioner, there will be ample room in the course for both critics and devotees of Aquinas’s views, as well as for those who simply want to learn more about the teachings of one of the world’s greatest thinkers.

Instructors: Michael M. Waddell 
Attributes: Cross-listed course, Writing Enriched Requirement

PHI 4610 - 001 Philosophy of Mind CRN:34001 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

 Days: MW from 01:30 pm to 02:45 pm Location: TBA

  Instructors: John Bova (P)

PHI 4610 - 002 Philosophy of Mind CRN:34002 Enrollment: 0 of 35 students

Days: MW from 03:00 pm to 04:15 pm Location: TBA

Instructors: John Bova (P)

PHI 4800 - 001 French Existentialism & Phenomenology CRN:34003  Enrollment: 0 of 35 students.

Days: MWF from 10:30 am to 11:20 am Location: TBA

An exciting period of philosophy took place in France from the thirties to the sixties during which a number of young thinkers took serious issue with traditional forms of Western philosophy. Stressing the lived experience of what it is to be human, they addressed such issues as perception, body, death, sexuality mass society, forms of communication, rationality. Their hope was to forge a new way of philosophizing that would be possible within the limits of a finite and fragile humanity. Instructors: Thomas W. Busch (P)

PHI 5000-001 SEM: ART, ORIGINS AND OTHERNESS CRN:34005 Enrollment: 0 of 20 students

 Days: M from 03:00 pm to 05:30 pm
In modern understandings of art the stress is primarily on originality and creativity, whereas in pre-modern thought the stress is primarily on imitation and representation. We will look at the philosophical significance of this contrast, and the shift to creativity, in light of the metaphysical status accorded to art in the wake of Kant's transcendental philosophy. The place of art in the wake of Kant’s transcendental philosophy is ambiguous and complex. Ambiguous: Hegel proclaims art, on its highest side, to be something behind us; yet a significant number of post-Kantian philosophers invest art with a metaphysical significance in some ways unprecedented in the Western tradition. Complex: while art is proclaimed as autonomous and for itself, the nature of its relation to philosophy, and the challenge it poses for the identity and practice of philosophy is notable. Our concern will be the relation of art and philosophy in light of this ambiguous and complex status. What significance has art in challenging philosophy with forms of otherness and singularity that seem to resist incorporation without remainder into a rational system of concepts? Against the background contrast of Kant's transcendental originality and Platonic transcendent originals, we will look at the legacy of transcendental originality in selected texts of Hegel, Schelling, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger. What happens when we try to absolutize human “creativity”?  Is the notion of imitation unavoidable, imitation as a relation to something other to ourselves? What is the significance of the darker sense of origin that comes to emerge? What of the ambiguous status of otherness in light of transcendental emphasis on self-activity? How do we view creativity? Has too much been expected of art? Has art taken the place of a formerly religious transcendence? Does it challenge philosophy to reformulate its own practice of thought?

Required TextsHofstadter and R. Kuhns (editors), Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, latest edition   W. Desmond, Art, Origins, Otherness: Between Art and Philosophy, Albany: SUNY Press, 2003.

Instructor:  William Desmond Attributes: A&S Research Requirement, Writing Intensive Requirement

PHI 5000-002 SEM: The Problem of Evil CRN 34006 Enrolment: 0 of 15 students

Days: MW from 4:30 to 5:45 Location : TBA

Once the problem of evil gets loosed from an obsession with crime and punishment, it takes us into negotiations with broken relationships. The need for unbreaking those broken relationships (a need seemingly impossible to satisfy) puts us somewhere between an aspiration to knowledge and a desire for forgiveness. This seminar is at root a meditation on philosophy and heart-break.

Instructor: James Wetzel

PHI 5000 - 003 Medieval Islamic and Jewish Philosophy CRN:34007 Enrollment: 0 of 20

Days: TR from 04:00 pm to 05:15 pm Location: TBA

This course is a window into a central period in Muslim and Jewish intellectual history.  We will explore medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy against the backdrop of the Aristotelian and Platonic inheritance.  In essence, our leading question will be: How did thinkers in these two monotheistic traditions appropriate ancient Greek philosophy?  What inspiration did it provide?  What adaptations were required?  What innovations were made?  Major themes for the course include the nature of philosophy and its relationship to revelation and to law; the nature of prophecy and theories of governance; theories of human cognition; and theories concerning the creation and nature of the world. Authors to be studied include such giants of the Islamic tradition as al-Farabi, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), al-Ghazali, Averroes (Ibn Rushd), and such giants of the Jewish tradition as Maimonides (Moshe ben Maimon), Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom).  Greek learning had a remarkable posterity among readers of Arabic, who translated and commented on the Greek inheritance in centers such as Baghdad.  Jewish thinkers were also active as translators, and those who lived under Islamic rulers were literate in Arabic.  Still others were influenced by Islamic philosophy in translation.  Maimonides, for example, had an extensive knowledge of Islamic philosophy (falsafa) and the dialectical theology known as kalam.  He wrote his masterpiece, The Guide of the Perplexed, in Arabic (Dalālat Alhā’irīn); the authoritative Hebrew translation (Moreh Nebuchim) was made by Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon.  Gersonides was fascinated by Ibn Rushd’s commentaries on Aristotle.  We will devote ourselves to these major thinkers and to the ways they discuss their predecessors.  Along the way, we’ll consider historical questions about the availability, transmission, and translation of manuscripts.  Not all of our philosophers had the same texts, and not all of our philosophers’ works survived into modernity. 

 All primary source material will be in English translation.  In keeping with the research-oriented character of the seminar, we will also read significant secondary articles and books in the disciplines of philosophy, history, and religion.  No prior coursework in Islam or Judaism is assumed.  Class sessions will proceed in a seminar discussion style.  All students will be required to write a series of short papers and will produce a term paper.

Instructor: Julie Klein (P) Attributes: A&S Research Requirement, Writing Intensive Requirement Diversity 3

PHI 6000 - 001 Research Seminar CRN:34008 Enrollment 0 of 10 students

Days: TBA Location: TBA Instructors: John Carvalho (P)