Course Descriptions By Program

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PHI100 - Perspectives in Philosophy

This course is an introduction to such major philosophical issues as the nature of knowledge, reality, religion and morals.

PHI115 - Logic and Language

This course is an introduction to basic principles and techniques for distinguishing correct from incorrect reasoning.

PHI200 - World Religions

This course studies the seven world religions, including their origins and doctrines.

PHI220 - Ethics

An examination of selected ethical systems and their philosophical foundations, this course places special emphasis on understanding such basic moral concepts as good, right and duty.

PHI247 - Science, Technology and Society

This course examines the philosophical issues that stem from the impact that evolving science and technology have on people’s beliefs, values and behavior.

PHI307 - Medical Ethics

This course extends the study of ethics – theoretical and applied – to moral dilemmas and decision making in the field of medicine and health-related professions.

PHI308 - Bioethics

This course examines ethical controversies arising from the study of biology and the development and application of biotechnology, and considers applications of theoretical ethics to those controversies.

PHI310 - 19th-Century Philosophy

A survey of the development of German idealism after Kant and the voluntaristic reactions to it, this course also considers British Empiricism and French Positivism.

PHI311 - Formal Logic I

An introduction to the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order languages, this course also covers proof theories for such languages.

PHI312 - Formal Logic II

A continuation of PHI 211 Formal Logic I, with emphasis on the metatheory of truth/functional and first-order languages, this course also considers selected topics in the philosophy of logic and the philosophy of mathematics.

PHI325 - Philosophy of Science

A study of the methods, concepts and presuppositions of scientific inquiry, this course attempts to understand the historical development of science in the context of various theories of knowledge and reality.

PHI335 - Aesthetic Theory

This course examines the nature and basis of criticism in the fine arts and literature, the nature and function of art, aesthetic standards, the concept of beauty, artistic creativity, and the meaning of truth in literature and the arts.

PHI355 - Philosophy of Religion

This course considers the nature of religion, speculations and arguments about the nature and existence of God, the possibility of religious knowledge, claims to religious experience and revelation, the problem of evil, the belief in immortality, and the meaning of religious language.

PHI370 - The Philosophy of Law

A survey of the debate about the concept of law in the history of philosophy, this course examines the recent revival of the debate in greater detail. Specific topics include the nature of legal reasoning, the legal enforcement of morality, the problem of responsibility and the concept of justice.

PHI415 - Philosophy of Mind

An examination of important stages in the philosophical development of the notion of mind, this course discusses such contemporary problems as the relation of mind and body and the nature of consciousness, and analyzes such notions as will, emotion, action and memory.

PHI431 - Analytic Philosophy

An examination of selected theories of knowledge, this course includes contemporary discussions.