DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Spring 2007
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 above description.
PHIL 200R 1. Topics: Philosophy of Religion
4.00 credits
Cade, Joel
Prerequisite: None
This course will examine basic philosophical approaches to religion and its role in the lives of both individuals and society at large. After the initial overview, the class will focus primarily upon the phenomenology of Emmanuel Levinas, whose philosophy has given rise to a "rebirth" in the dialogue between philosophy and theology. The goal of this course will be to gain an understanding of the philosophical study of religion. This course will be evaluated in terms of four exams, a term paper, and attendance/participation.
PHIL 203R 1. Mysteries of Self & Soul
4.00 credits
Reed, Don
Prerequisite: none
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.
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 303 1W. Ethics and Psychology
4.00 credits
Reed, Don
Prerequisite: PHIL 103R or 203R or permission.
This is a course focusing on issues at the intersection between moral theory and psychology. The goal of the course is to explore theories of moral development, moral functioning, and moral education, especially as articulated by psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists who base their empirical work on self-consciously philosophical concepts of morality and by philosophers in dialogue with them. Primary texts by such theorists as Dewey, Piaget, Durkheim, Kohlberg, and Gilligan will be read. More recent work in the field of moral development will also be considered, especially essays from recent Handbooks of Child Psychology. Students will write several short reflection papers, a book review, and a research paper to be delivered as a conference presentation. Writing intensive.
PHIL 311 1W. Modern Philosophy
4.00 credits
Cade, Joel
Prerequisite: PHIL 210R or 310 or permission.
This course will survey this history of philosophy from the writing of Rene Descartes' Meditations through the late 19th Century reactions to Hegel's system by Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, and
Friedrich Nietzsche. We will end the course with a brief introduction to Edmund Husserl's phenomenological turn. The first goal of this course will be to grasp an understanding of the basic questions and problems that define modern philosophy. The second goal will be to prepare the student for further historical philosophical education. This course will be evaluated in terms of two exams, a term paper, and attendance/participation. Writing intensive.
PHIL 400 1W. Senior Seminar
Topic: Advanced Research Methods in Philosophy
4.00 credits
Martinez-Saenz, Miguel
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 1W. Independent Study
1.00-4.00 credits
Staff
Prerequisite: Permission required.
PHIL 491 00. Internship
1.00-4.00 credits
Staff
Prerequisite: Permission required.
PHIL 499 1W. Senior Honors Thesis
4 credits
Staff
Prerequisite: Departmental permission.
