PHIL 102R 01/02. Introduction to Philosophy
4 credits
Schossberger, Cynthia
This course is an introductory examination of the basic areas of philosophy, addressing questions like the following: What is Justice, and what is it to be just? What sorts of things exist, and how can we distinguish reality from mere appearance? How does the mind work, and is it a physical part of our being, or is it something extra-physical, like the soul? Can the soul "control" the body? Can we understand creatures with minds different from our own? Do any non-physical things even exist, for instance, minds, souls, or spirits? What does it mean to reason, and to reason well? Do we have free will, or are our behaviors and thoughts determined by chemical and physical events in our brains? Is knowledge possible, and how do we know what we know?
PHIL 103R 01. Ethics and Identity
4.00 credits
Reed, Don
This is an introductory level course in ethics and social identity, exploring the ways our ideals and principles are related to our places and identities within concrete social systems. Students will learn about current psychological studies of morality, including findings about what tends to make us happy and what we need to do to be happy. We consider especially the role of friendship and companionship. We examine how a drive for “success” may tend to compromise one’s happiness rather than lead to it, because of how it can affect our relationships and our satisfaction with our lives. Students watch several movies outside of class, which serve as extended examples for our class discussions, and study primary texts in the history of ethics by Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Mill. Evaluations are based on daily quizzes, periodic short tests, and a final exam.
PHIL 103R 02. Ethics and Identity
4.00 credits
Reed, Don
Prerequisite: none
See PHIL 103R 01 description above.
PHIL 200A 01. Philosophy and Art of Hip-Hop Culture
4.00 credits
Bailey, J.
This course will look at the content and forms of Hip Hop Expression as well as the assessment of performance, lyrics and images placed upon, and embodied by, its audience. This course will be taught thematically, focusing particularly to the fundamental human questions such as: The search for God, love and knowledge; the historical concerns of cultural authenticity, race and sexuality; language as artistic expression and meaning; Chiefly we are looking at Hip Hop as a Cultural Socratic Art-Form, namely the historic look at Hip-Hop’s ability to question, inform and engage in the search for purpose within a democracy through its drama, music, and cultural forms.
Philosophy 204R 1W. Philosophy of Women’s Lives
4 credit hours
McHugh, Nancy
No prerequisites
NOTE: This section of the course is an Inside-Out and Project Jericho collaborative course taught at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center with female youth that are detained. If you are interested in registering for the course you must meet with me first to get permission to register. Please contact me at nmchugh@wittenberg.edu or stop by my office, Hollenbeck 306, to arrange a meeting.
Philosophy of Women’s Lives is a course that studies women’s issues at a local, national and global level. The course combines narratives of women’s lives from across the globe with arguments in feminist theory to actively connect theory with experience. We will be reading material by Latina, African, Islamic, European, East Asian and Asian writers as well as African-American, Chicana and white U.S. writers. Among the topics we will discuss are individual and collective rights, body image, sexuality, reproductive rights, women’s labor, various definitions feminism, the role of feminism in cultures, and the future of global feminism. The course will be reading intensive. You will be assessed through written assignments, and course projects.
Philosophy 204R 2. Philosophy of Women’s Lives
4.00 credits
McHugh, Nancy
No prerequisites
Philosophy of Women’s Lives is a course that studies women’s issues at a local, national and global level. The course combines narratives of women’s lives from across the globe with arguments in feminist theory to actively connect theory with experience. We will be reading material by Latina, African, Islamic, European, East Asian and Asian writers as well as African-American, Chicana and white U.S. writers. Among the topics we will discuss are individual and collective rights, body image, sexuality, reproductive rights, women’s labor various definitions feminism, the role of feminism in cultures, and the future of global feminism. The course will be reading intensive. You will be assessed through quizzes, essay exams, written assignments, and course projects. This section of the course has an optional language component. See below.
Optional Course Component: Cultures and Language Across the Curriculum (LANG 230)
Interested in using your foreign language skills to earn extra credit connected to this course and to learn more about the subject matter of this course at the same time? If so, register for the CLAC components offered here. You don’t need to be fluent in the language to exercise this option. In fact, you need only to have completed two credits beyond 112 or to be currently enrolled in a course beyond 112. Your work will be guided by your professor and by faculty from the Languages Department. The CLAC module is designed for intermediate level language learners.
Students who select the CLAC option will complete work in a foreign language that will supplement the work in this course. Students who complete the CLAC assignments successfully will earn 1 credit for the CLAC component.
To register for the CLAC component, you must also register for a one-credit LANG 230 CLAC module listed among the Language Department’s offerings. Meeting times and location will be arranged at the beginning of the semester. Credit for CLAC modules may be counted toward the requirements for International Studies and as elective credit in the Language department.
PHIL 310 1W. Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
4.00 credits
Reed
Prerequisite: One prior course in PHIL or permission of instructor.
This course is an introduction to the historical method of philosophical reflection and an introduction to the philosophers of a particular period and a particular tradition (ancient Greek to medieval European). As part of the first goal, we will observe the historical nature of philosophical thinking, i.e., the way it develops historically, not by accident but by its very nature. We will trace one tradition of answers to questions variously answered by four particular notions (which themselves are reformulated over and over again): (1) the notion that abstractions (like geometrical figures and the periodic table of elements) are the true objects of knowledge; (2) the notion that it is sometimes very difficult if not impossible to do what you know is good and not to do what you know is bad; (3) the notion that to be real and to be excellent are the same, i.e., that being and goodness are identical; and (4) the notion that the soul is immortal and lives on after the body decays and ceases. Students will take a mid-term and a final exam and write four papers. Writing intensive.
PHIL 312 1W. Contemporary Philosophy
4.00 credits
Bailey
Prerequisite: PHIL 311 or permission of instructor.
By taking this class, students should 1) gain a basic understanding of philosophical movements in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; 2) gain a greater understanding of the ideas that shaped contemporary philosophy and the context in which those ideas developed; 3) gain a greater appreciation of the diverse world around them and a greater understanding of the extent to which the past shapes the present; 4) improve their written and oral communication skills, gain greater perspective and hone their critical and analytical skills (such as the ability to distinguish between fact and interpretation); and finally 5) nurture intellectual curiosity and skepticism and enjoy having a supportive audience with which to share ideas. Students will be expected to write weekly reaction papers, and four essays of varying lengths (from 4 pages to 10 pages) throughout the semester. Writing intensive.
Philosophy 380 1W The Many Faces of Justice
4 credits
McHugh, Nancy
In The Many Faces of Justice we will begin studying different models of criminal and social justice. We will be attentive the roles of race, class, gender, sexuality and disability within these different models and social systems. Among topics that will be studied are restorative practices, the death penalty, the lives of victims and communities after crimes, the role of race and economic class in criminal justice, lives of women who are detained and the role of masculinity in the prison system. As part of a class project we will track individual cases of people who have been incarcerated in order to study if their sentences are just. Some of the texts that we will using are Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, Sister Helen Prejean’s The Death of Innocents, Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish and Dennis Sullivan and Larry Tiffts’ Handbook of Restorative Justice: A Global Perspective. You will be assessed in this course through writing assignments, including a final seminar paper, and through a final class project.
PHIL 490 00. Independent Study
1.00-4.00 credits
Staff
Prerequisite: Permission only.
PHIL 491 00. Internship
2.00-12.0 credits
Staff
Prerequisite: Permission only.
