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Philosophy Course Descriptions
PHIL 200 Knowledge and Reality (2)
Overview of the contours of a world and life view coupled with
more detailed critical analysis of perennial and foundational
issues in epistemology (the nature of truth and knowledge) and
metaphysics (the nature of reality: persons, the world, and
God), such as our capacity to know, perform free actions, or
survive death. Liberal Arts Foundation - Philosophical
Foundation.
PHIL 201 Ethics (2)
Critical analysis of alternative theoretical frameworks of
historical significance in terms of which humans have struggled
to understand the nature of goodness and the process of ethical
decision making, with close attention to the nature and sources
of character (personal excellence: virtue and vice) and the
foundations of morality. Liberal Arts Foundation - Philosophical
Foundation.
PHIL 202 Metaphysics, Morality, and Mind (4, F, S)
Critical analysis of the contours of a world and life view
coupled with more detailed critical analysis of perennial and
foundational issues in epistemology (the nature of truth and
knowledge)metaphysics (the nature of reality: persons, the
world, and God), and ethics (the nature of goodness and the
process of ethical decision making, with close attention to
character—virtue and vice—and the foundations of morality).
Liberal Arts Foundation - Philosophical Foundation.
PHIL 210 Community, Ideology, and the Environment (3)
(See description under Off-Campus Programs-Adirondack section.)
Liberal Arts Foundation - Philosophical
PHIL 223 Critical Thinking (2, F)
Introduction to basic argument analysis and informal fallacies,
with special emphasis on how to recognize, analyze, and evaluate
arguments expressed in everyday, ordinary language.
PHIL 224 Formal Logic (2, F)
Introduction to deductive inference via the formal languages of
modern philosophical logic. Will include truth functional
propositional logic and quantified predicate calculus, with
perhaps some modal logic.
PHIL 241 History of Philosophy I: Ancient and Medieval
(4, F)
Survey of intellectual history from early Greek through late
Medieval thought. Includes Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle,
Epicureans, Stoics, Augustine, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham.
Readings include both primary and secondary sources. If combined
with PHIL 242, meets both Liberal Arts Foundation -
Philosophical Foundations and Liberal Arts Exploration -
Humanities.
PHIL 242 History of Philosophy II: Modern and Contemporary
(4, S)
Survey of intellectual history from early modern through
twentieth century and postmodern thought. Includes Descartes,
Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant, as well as
major figures and movements from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Readings include both primary and secondary sources. If combined
with PHIL 241, meets both Liberal Arts Foundation -
Philosophical Foundations and Liberal Arts Exploration -
Humanities.
PHIL 250 Aesthetics (2, OD)
A philosophical study of art and aesthetic experience. The
nature of beauty, the nature of art, the interpretation and
aesthetic evaluation of art, and art in its ethical dimension
are topics covered via readings drawn from historical and
contemporary sources. Though the visual arts of painting and
sculpture will be the focus, other art forms, such as music,
dance and drama, are examined as well.
PHIL 260 Introduction to Political Thought (3, F)
Introduces students to Western political thought from the
ancient to the modern world through a close reading of important
thinkers. By considering problems of community, obligation,
order, justice, liberty, and freedom, the course equips students
for careful normative reflection on public life.
PHIL 300 Christianity and Postmodernism (3, F)
(See course description in Off-Campus Programs-Australia
section.)
PHIL 306 Varieties of Postmodernism (3, M)
Interdisciplinary analysis of the many faceted cultural
phenomenon known as “postmodernism.” Moves from an initial
starting point considering postmodernism as a reaction to
various philosophical claims associated with modernity to the
meaning and significance of postmodern ideas as they have been
transposed into a variety of other contexts in the analytic
humanities, literature, arts and sciences.
PHIL 315 Theory of Knowledge (4, S07)
Examination of contemporary perspectives on the nature and
limits of human knowledge, as well as the concept of truth.
PHIL 326 Ethical Theory (4, S06)
Analysis of traditional normative theories (formalism,
consequentialism, and virtue ethics) through the reading of
primary sources. Also explores developments in contemporary
moral theory.
PHIL 350 Reason and Religious Belief (2, F)
Analytic approach to philosophic thought regarding some of the
concepts and beliefs of Christian theism. Attention given to
arguments for the existence of God, the problem of evil, and the
roles of faith and reason in religious belief.
PHIL 360 History and Philosophy of Science (4, F06)
Survey of the rise of western science from its origins in
antiquity to the present, addressing both the content and
methods of science in each major period. Major figures
considered include Aristotle, Galen, Copernicus, Kepler,
Galileo, Descartes, Boyle, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, and
Einstein. A wide range of science fields will be surveyed and
specific attention is given throughout to the interrelationships
between science and other disciplines, the relationship between
science and culture, and the interaction of science and
religion.
PHIL 290, 390, 490 Special Topics (2, 3, or 4, OD)
Examination of specific movements or particular problems in
philosophy, or themes in the history of ideas.
PHIL 414 Major Figures (2, 3, or 4, OD)
In-depth study of the thought of one or more figures with an
emphases on critical analysis and evaluation of primary source
material.
PHIL 191, -2; 291, -2; 391, -2; 491, -2 Independent Study
(1, 2 or 3)
PHIL 495 Senior Capstone: Philosophy Colloquium (1, F, S)
A required capstone course for philosophy majors normally
completed in one of the final two semesters of the student’s
college experience. Prerequisite: A minimum of 18 hours in
philosophy.
PHIL 496 Honors in Philosophy (3, S)
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