DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Spring 2006
PHIL 110R 1M. Logic and Critical Reasoning
4.00 credits
Martinez-Saenz, Miguel
Prerequisite: Minimum Math Placement 22
This course is divided in two parts. The first part of the course considers important aspects of philosophical reasoning in relation to the Aristotelian tradition by way of the study of categorical logic, the analytic tradition by way of the study of prepositional/predicate logic and its different applications. Students will take three exams and weekly quizzes to determine their competency during this part of the semester. The second part of the course helps students develop their critical thinking skills. Students will engage in exercises evaluating landmark Supreme Court decisions. Students, for example, will evaluate Dred Scott v. Sanford, Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These are just a few examples of landmark cases that not only had undeniable political implications, but forced us to question our willingness to accept others. The second part of the class will be evaluated by weekly quizzes, in-class exercises and one final paper. Math reasoning intensive.
PHIL 110R 2M. Logic and Critical Reasoning
4.00 credits
Martinez-Saenz, Miguel
Prerequisite: Minimum Math Placement 22
See description above.
PHIL 203R 01. Mysteries of Self & Soul
4.00 credits
Reed, Don
In this course students will explore a range of definitions and descriptions of what we variously refer to as “the self,” “the mind,” “the soul,” “the spirit,” “the psyche,” “free will,” “personality,” “character,” etc. The two primary prompts for our considerations will be movies such as The Matrix and The Exorcist and texts from the history of philosophy and psychology, including Freud and Beauvoir. Evaluations will be based on quizzes, periodic tests, class participation, class presentations, and a final exam.
Cont.d PHIL 203R 01 Mysteries of Self & Soul
We will address questions such as the following:
- Am I my body, or something more than but including my body, or something in but distinct from my body?
- Can I be aware of anything except through the medium of my bodily sense organs? Can I have an “out-of-body” experience?
- Am I the same person I was 10 years ago, even though almost every cell in my body is different? Would I be the same person if I lost an arm? If I became quadraplegic? If I were just a brain in a vat?
- When did “I” begin existing? When I was conceived as a fertilized egg? When I became a viable fetus? When I was born? When I learned to talk? When I went through puberty?
- Will I survive the death of my body in any meaningful sense?
- What is the relationship between my conscious experience and the functioning of my brain? Are they the same thing? If they are different, how do they influence each other? Do they influence each other?
- Do I constitute myself through my own choices and actions? Or am I constituted – made to be who I am – by the influences in my environment?
- Am I free or just unaware of the many ways my will is determined by forces outside of me?
- Do I know for sure that other selves exist? Could they all just be extremely complicated mechanisms like robots?
- Am I just an extremely complicated mechanism?
PHIL 206R 01. Philosophy of Culture in Latin America
4.00 credits
Martinez-Saenz, Miguel
The student will be exposed to different philosophical perspectives from different regions in Latin America. The class covers primarily four areas of study. First, we will examine the idea of a “Latin American Philosophy.” In other words, is there some “thing” that we can identify as peculiar to Latin America? Second, we will evaluate different conceptions of being in the world from a Latin American perspective. Our questions will include but will not be limited to the following: What does it mean to be a human being? Why do I exist? How should I live? Third, we will consider education and movements of liberation. What role does spirituality play in social and political movements in Latin America? How does education affect culture and cultural identity most specifically? Fourth, we will evaluate the influence of the “postmodern” movement in Latin America. What does it mean to be a postmodern Latin American philosopher? Should one be a postmodern Latin American philosopher? Have Latin American philosophers in general remained prisoners of “modernity”? Students will be expected to write 4 short essays and take two exams. There will also be short-answer quizzes given periodically on the reading assignments. In this class students will be expected to engage in dialogue with me and, at times, with each other.
PHIL 311 1W. Modern Philosophy
4.00 credits
McHugh, Nancy
Prerequisite: PHIL 210R with a C- or better, 310, or permission
This course will analyze the modern period in philosophy, the seventeenth-century through the nineteenth-century. We will read modern thinkers as Descartes, Locke, Kant, Marx and contemporary analyses of these thinkers by philosophers such as Charles Mills, Carole Patemen and Susan Bordo. During the semester we will consider a wide variety of issues. Some of these will be what is the proper role of government, how does one know if others have thinking minds, the role of the individual in society, what is reason, who has reason. Weekly quizzes, exams, papers. Writing intensive.
PHIL 380 1W. Topic: Gender, Science, and Medicine
4.00 credits
McHugh, Nancy
Prerequisite: One previous course in Philosophy
Gender, Science and Medicine is a course in feminist science studies and
philosophy of medicine. Among the questions to be addressed are: Are
science and medicine gendered? Is science value-free? What is objectivity?
What is the best way to achieve objectivity? How do science and medicine
represent women’s bodies and women’s health? We will study several
different approaches to feminist science studies and philosophy of medicine.
Among them are feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint theory, feminist
postmodernism. We will also look at specific case studies and practices in
science and medicine, such as midwifery and primatology. The course is
writing and reading intensive. Writing assignments consist of a final
scholarly paper that incorporates cases studies developed by students, a
conference paper which is a shortened version of the scholarly paper, book
review, weekly reaction papers.
PHIL 400 1W. SENIOR SEMINAR – Topic: Advanced Research Methods in Philosophy
4.00 credits
Reed, Don
Prerequisite: PHIL 312 or permission
The goal of this course is to complete a senior thesis in philosophy. We
will work on writing time management, thesis construction, research
techniques, drafting, editing, writing collaboration, paper presentation and
critiquing others' work. The course will include a symposium in which
students will deliver brief versions of their theses for a department
colloquium. Writing intensive.
PHIL 490 00. Independent Study
1.00-4.00 credits
Staff
PHIL 491 00. Internship
1.00-4.00 credits
Staff
