2021-2022 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Philosophy |
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PHIL HI - Honors in Philosophy
4 Semester Hours
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PHIL HII - Honors in Philosophy
4 Semester Hours
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PHIL 1000 - Introduction to Philosophy
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to the classic problems; methods of philosophy, including topics such as logic, critical thinking, the existence of God, the basis of knowledge, human nature, the mind/body problem, free will, ethics, the meaning of life,; some applied moral problems
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PHIL 1010 - Critical Thinking
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to basic reasoning; critical skills focusing on learning how to determine whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment on a claim depending on how much evidence; valid argumentation supports it The course includes learning how to detect arguments, how to detect non-argumentative psychological persuasion, how to detect faulty reasoning, how to judge statistical claims, how to judge polls; surveys, how to judge the quality of an experimental scientific study, how to analyze everyday forms of persuasion (in journalism, advertising, politics,; personal conversations), how to apply the specific standards of aesthetic, legal,; moral reasoning,; how to write clear, coherent, well-argued; well-supported essays; reports
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PHIL 2000 - Ways of Knowing
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to theories of knowledge from a variety of philosophical traditions, including topics such as mysticism, empiricism, rationalism, skepticism, pragmatism,; feminism
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PHIL 2010 - Social & Political Philosophy
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to theories; problems of social; political organization, with special emphasis on the concepts of government, justice, punishment, family, property, work,; peace
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PHIL 2100 - Contemporary Moral Issues
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to moral philosophy, including topics such as metaethics (the definition of good; evil, the source of morality, morality, morality’s relationship to religion; biology, the proper goals of human life), ethical theory (the importance of consequences versus duties, virtue versus right; wrong, the ethical theories of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Mill, Kant, Nietzsche, feminists, evolutionists),; applied ethics (abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, privacy rights, biotechnology, gay rights, animal rights, racism, sexism, multiculturalism, military policy,and others)
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PHIL 2110 - Biomedical Ethics, Law, and Policy
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to conceptual; ethical issues concerning medicine; biotechnology, including topics such as the definition of death; disease, the definition of personhood, abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, reproductive technology, patients’ rights, human; animal research, organ transplants, cloning, biotechnological enhancement,; health care rights
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PHIL 2120 - Environmental Ethics, Law, and Policy
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to conceptual; ethical issues concerning the environment, including topics such as the definition of “nature”; “technology”, major types of environmentalism, green politics, wilderness preservation; restoration, deforestation, animal rights, transgenic crops, pesticides, population control, pollution,; sustainable practices
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PHIL 2130 - Business Ethics, Law, and Policy
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to conceptual; ethical issues concerning business, including topics such as the responsibilities of businesses, obligations to employees, customer, community, environment,; shareholders, issues of fair wages, outsourcing, international employment, product safety, corporate culture, mission statements; ethics codes, whistle-blowing, marketing; truth in advertising, intellectual property rights, information technology; privacy, unions; workers’ rights, litigation; legal liability, discrimination; affirmative action, accounting; fraud, ethical investing, corporate takeovers,and general ethical issues of capitalism, socialism,; commercialism
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PHIL 2140 - Philosophy of Law
4 Semester Hours
An examination of fundamental issues in law, including the source, nature,; content of law; natural versus positive law; law’s relationship to morality; theories of judicial interpretation; punishment; responsibility; rights; duties; liberty; restriction; legal ethics; contract law;; property law
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PHIL 2210 - Aesthetics
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to the nature of art; specific art forms, aesthetic experience; judgment,; relations between the aesthetic values; other kinds of values (moral, political, religious, etc)
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PHIL 2220 - Philosophy and Literature
4 Semester Hours
A study of various works of literature with an eye to issues such as the nature; function of language, perception; reality, self; the spoken word, theories of meaning,; texts; subtexts Authors considered include Beckett, Borges, Pinter, Gass, O’Connor, DeLillo, Robbe-Grillet, Abish, Woolf,; others
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PHIL 2230 - Philosophy of Happiness
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to the conceptual, ethical,; psychological issues of happiness, including topics such as the proper role of happiness in life, the issue of happiness as an ultimate goal, the definition of happiness, the best ways to achieve happiness, the question of whether happiness is possible, the relationship between happiness; morality, scientific studies of happiness, the rise of positive psychology, mood-altering drugs, conceptual issues of mental health,; criticisms of happiness including issues of the value of misery, suffering,; depression
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PHIL 2240 - Philosophy of Violence
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to the conceptual, ethical,; psychological issues of violence, including topics such as violence that has traditionally been hard for people to pay attention to because of its horrific nature, the politics; physiology of torture, the machines; structures of war, the inflammatory writings of sexual deviant Sade,; the forgotten history of what is today called “trauma” Two populations that emerge for our studies are male survivors with combat trauma; female survivors of rape; domestic abuse
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PHIL 2250 - Philosophy of Film
4 Semester Hours
A study of issues in the formation of personal; social experience through the mediation of film, using historically important films; film theories along with philosophers as primary sources
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PHIL 2260 - Philosophy of Law
4 Semester Hours
An examination of fundamental issues in law, including the source, nature, and content of law; natural versus positive law; law’s relationship to morality; theories of judicial interpretation; punishment and responsibility; rights and duties; liberty and restriction; legal ethics; contract law; and property law.
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PHIL 2400 - Work, Ethics, and Society
4 Semester Hours
Students in this course will have the opportunity to use the instructor’s interdisciplinary approach as an entry into the exploration of work within the context of wider societies; cultures This course includes a substantial ethics component This is the gateway course for students minoring in Vocation, Ethics,; Society
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PHIL 2750 - Special Topics
4 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 2751 - Special Topics
1 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 2752 - Special Topics
2 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 2753 - Special Topics
3 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 2850 - Internship
4 Semester Hours
An internship in which a student works under the supervision of the department.
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PHIL 2900 - Logic
4 Semester Hours
An introduction to propositional logic; quantification,; to a lesser extent syllogistic logic Attention will be given to scientific method; induction; to informal analysis of arguments in language
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PHIL 3010 - History of Philosophy I
4 Semester Hours
A survey of Western philosophy from the ancient through the medieval period
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PHIL 3020 - History of Philosophy II
4 Semester Hours
A survey of Western philosophy from the Renaissance through the 20th century This course does not function as an introduction to philosophy
Prerequisites: PHIL 3010 recommended
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PHIL 3120 - Philosophy of Mind
4 Semester Hours
An examination of the nature of mind, including topics such as mental versus physical explanations of minds, perception, optical; cognitive illusions, the limits of human knowledge, personal identity, artificial intelligence, evolutionary explanations of moral; religious beliefs,; thought experiments about zombies, brains in vats, brain implants,; robot civil rights
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PHIL 3140 - Philosophy of Religion
4 Semester Hours
An examination of issues arising from religious experience; beliefs, including topics such as the arguments for; against the existence of God, the nature of the divine, the problem of evil,; human destiny Same as RLST 3310
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PHIL 3300 - Moral Psychology and Neuroscience
4 Semester Hours
An examination of the evolutionary, cognitive,; neurological mechanisms of human moral psychology Topics covered include ethical theories; the intuitive conflicts that arise in classic moral dilemmas, the problem of persistent inconsistent moral judgments, moral decision making, moral development theory, the nature; classification of moral emotions (shame, pride, disgust, etc), attributions of blame; responsibility, moral judgment; causation, trust; loyalty, moral luck,; cognitive moral pathologies such as psychopathy The course will cover the history of moral psychology but will focus predominantly on recent empirical studies of moral cognition using neuroimaging; neuropharmacological manipulations
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PHIL 3500 - Applied Experimental Philosophy
4 Semester Hours
A personalized project-oriented course in which a student works closely with the instructor on a research question of their own interest Students will draw from various methods of applied philosophy, including empirical experiments, field observations, subject interviews, quantitative; qualitative textual analysis, possibility gridding,; conceptual/logical analysis Recent projects have addressed topics in medicine, law, politics, psychology,; evolutionary theory, including government food aid; obesity, how to measure trust, moral psychology of liberal; conservative thought, faking mental illness, cognitive science of literature, the history of physical illness; the anti-vaccination movement May be combined with Honors Projects Permission of instructor required
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PHIL 3501 - Applied Philosophy: Methods and ResearchýExperimental & Applied Research
1 Semester Hours
A project-based course focusing on original research identified by the student; the instructor Experimental philosophy uses concept analysis to identify which questions traditionally associated with philosophy (epistomology, free will, morality, casual inference, etc) may be at least partly addressed by using the experiemental research methods of cognitive science, neuroscience,; psychology Applied philosophy takes a particular problem or phenomenon,; employs a set of methods to analyze; make recommendations for solving the problem or explaining the phenomenon Those methods include conceptual analysis, definitional clarification, problem identification, assumption identification, possibility gridding, logical analysis, field observation, thick phenomenological description, text mining,; experimental research Students interested in this course should contact the instructor to discuss research ideas; meeting times (which are very flexable; not linked to the standard course meeting times) While the Philosophy department has significant resources for projects in moral psychology, biomedical ethics; medicine, students may wish to propose projects in law, public policy, religion, or science Recent student projects include analyzing interpersonal trust, correlating political positions with moral psychology, the spread of ADHD as a diagnosis, the role of public assistance in promoting obesity, moral psychological causes for literary character popularity, motivations for anti-vaccination choices among educated people,; the problems in declining empathy among physicians
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PHIL 3502 - Experimental & Appl Research
2 Semester Hours
A project-based course focusing on original research identified by the student; the instructor Experimental philosophy uses concept analysis to identify which questions traditionally associated with philosophy (epistomology, free will, morality, casual inference, etc) may be at least partly addressed by using the experiemental research methods of cognitive science, neuroscience,; psychology Applied philosophy takes a particular problem or phenomenon,; employs a set of methods to analyze; make recommendations for solving the problem or explaining the phenomenon Those methods include conceptual analysis, definitional clarification, problem identification, assumption identification, possibility gridding, logical analysis, field observation, thick phenomenological description, text mining,; experimental research Students interested in this course should contact the instructor to discuss research ideas; meeting times (which are very flexable; not linked to the standard course meeting times) While the Philosophy department has significant resources for projects in moral psychology, biomedical ethics; medicine, students may wish to propose projects in law, public policy, religion, or science Recent student projects include analyzing interpersonal trust, correlating political positions with moral psychology, the spread of ADHD as a diagnosis, the role of public assistance in promoting obesity, moral psychological causes for literary character popularity, motivations for anti-vaccination choices among educated people,; the problems in declining empathy among physicians
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PHIL 3503 - Experimental & Appl Research
3 Semester Hours
A project-based course focusing on original research identified by the student; the instructor Experimental philosophy uses concept analysis to identify which questions traditionally associated with philosophy (epistomology, free will, morality, casual inference, etc) may be at least partly addressed by using the experiemental research methods of cognitive science, neuroscience,; psychology Applied philosophy takes a particular problem or phenomenon,; employs a set of methods to analyze; make recommendations for solving the problem or explaining the phenomenon Those methods include conceptual analysis, definitional clarification, problem identification, assumption identification, possibility gridding, logical analysis, field observation, thick phenomenological description, text mining,; experimental research Students interested in this course should contact the instructor to discuss research ideas; meeting times (which are very flexable; not linked to the standard course meeting times) While the Philosophy department has significant resources for projects in moral psychology, biomedical ethics; medicine, students may wish to propose projects in law, public policy, religion, or science Recent student projects include analyzing interpersonal trust, correlating political positions with moral psychology, the spread of ADHD as a diagnosis, the role of public assistance in promoting obesity, moral psychological causes for literary character popularity, motivations for anti-vaccination choices among educated people,; the problems in declining empathy among physicians
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PHIL 3750 - Special Topics
4 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 3751 - Special Topics
1 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 3752 - Special Topics
2 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 3753 - Special Topics
3 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 3800 - Directed Study
4 Semester Hours
Course is offered when a student needs a special subject covered to meet a professional requirement or wants to work with an instructor to look more deeply into a particular aspect of a discipline. Instructor consent required.
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PHIL 3850 - Internship
4 Semester Hours
An internship in which a student works under the supervision of the department.
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PHIL 3851 - Internship
1 Semester Hours
An internship in which a student works under the supervision of the department.
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PHIL 3852 - Internship
2 Semester Hours
An internship in which a student works under the supervision of the department.
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PHIL 3853 - Internship
3 Semester Hours
An internship in which a student works under the supervision of the department.
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PHIL 3902 - Junior Seminar
2 Semester Hours
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PHIL 4750 - Special Topics
4 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 4751 - Special Topics
1 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 4752 - Special Topics
2 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 4753 - Special Topics
3 Semester Hours
This course addresses areas not covered in other courses. It may be repeated for credit with different topics.
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PHIL 4800 - Directed Study
4 Semester Hours
Course is offered when a student needs a special subject covered to meet a professional requirement or wants to work with an instructor to look more deeply into a particular aspect of a discipline. Instructor consent required.
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PHIL 4801 - Directed Study
1 Semester Hours
Course is offered when a student needs a special subject covered to meet a professional requirement or wants to work with an instructor to look more deeply into a particular aspect of a discipline. Instructor consent required.
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PHIL 4802 - Directed Study
2 Semester Hours
Course is offered when a student needs a special subject covered to meet a professional requirement or wants to work with an instructor to look more deeply into a particular aspect of a discipline. Instructor consent required.
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PHIL 4803 - Directed Study
3 Semester Hours
Course is offered when a student needs a special subject covered to meet a professional requirement or wants to work with an instructor to look more deeply into a particular aspect of a discipline. Instructor consent required.
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PHIL 4850 - Internship
4 Semester Hours
An internship in which a student works under the supervision of the department.
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PHIL 4912 - Senior Seminar
2 Semester Hours
Prerequisites: PHIL-4902
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