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Courses
P100 Introduction to Philosophy (3 cr.)
Perennial problems of philosophy, including problems in ethics, in epistemology and metaphysics, and in philosophy of religion. Readings in selected writings of philosophers from Plato to the present.
P135 Introduction to Phenomenology and Existentialism (3 cr.)
Existentialism as a philosophical movement founded on phenomenology. Philosophical themes and their development, applications, or exemplifications in existentialist literature. Course presupposes no particular knowledge of philosophy. Readings from some or all of the following: Buber, Camus, Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Marcel, Nietzsche, Sartre.
P140 Introduction to Ethics (3 cr.)
The study of classical ethics-texts by Aristotle, Kant, Mill, and many others. Examination of some contemporary moral issues.
P145 Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy (3 cr.)
Fundamental problems of social and political philosophy: the nature of the state, political obligation, freedom and liberty, equality, justice, rights, social change, revolution, and community. Readings from classical and contemporary sources.
P150 Elementary Logic (3 cr.)
Development of critical tools for the analysis and evaluation of arguments.
P170 Introduction to Asian Philosophy (3 cr.)
Survey of select philosophical traditions of India, China, and Japan, including Vedanta, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Topics include the nature of reality, ethical responsibility, and the role of the "self" in creating ignorance and attaining enlightenment.
P200 Problems of Philosophy (3 cr.)
Selected writings of modern philosophers concerning some important philosophical problem(s).
P237 Environmental Ethics (3 cr.)
An introductory consideration of philosophical views regarding the extent of human responsibility for the natural environment.
P240 Business and Morality (3 cr.)
Fundamental issues of moral philosophy in a business context. Application of moral theory to issues such as the ethics of investment, moral assessment of corporations, and duties of vocation.
P250 Symbolic Logic I (3 cr.)
Propositional logic and first-order quantificational logic.
P251 Symbolic Logic II (3 cr.)
Identity, definite descriptions, properties of formal theories, elementary set theory.
P253 Inductive Logic (3 cr.)
A logical analysis of the inferential mechanisms of induction and the philosophical problem of the justification of induction. The course will focus on the use of probability theory, especially in its Bayesian interpretation, to model inductive inferences. Some connections will be made with recent developments in artificial intelligence.
P271 Issues in Oriental Philosophy (3 cr.)
Introduction to some of the major philosophical systems of the East. Examination of selected issues in one or more of the following areas of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics. May be repeated once with different topic and consent of instructor.
P281 Philosophy of Religion (3 cr.)
An examination of philosophical issues related to religion. The problem of evil, the rationality of religion, the nature and purpose of religion, and philosophical critiques of religion are among the topics studied.
P302 Medieval Philosophy (3 cr.)
A survey including Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Abelard, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Ockham, and Nicholas of Cusa.
P304 Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (3 cr.)
Selected survey of post-Kantian philosophy, including Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Mill.
P310 Topics in Metaphysics (3 cr.)
Topics such as existence, individuation, contingency, universals and particulars, causality, determinism, space, time, events and change, relation of mental and physical.
P313 Theories of Knowledge (3 cr.)
Topics such as the nature of knowledge; the relation of knowledge and belief, of knowledge and evidence, of knowledge and certainty; and the problem of skepticism.
P314 Modern Philosophy (3 cr.)
A study of Western philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, dealing with such philosophers as Bacon, Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Leibniz, and Kant.
P319 American Pragmatism (3 cr.)
Examination of the central doctrines of Peirce, James, Dewey, Mead.
P320 Philosophy and Language (3 cr.)
A study of selected philosophical problems concerning language and their bearing on traditional problems in philosophy.
P330 Marxist Philosophy (3 cr.)
An examination of major philosophical issues in Marxist theory. Historical materialism and the critique of idealism in metaphysics, the theory of knowledge, ethics, and social science. Discussion of both classical and contemporary sources.
P333 Philosophy Seminar (3 cr.)
Careful collaborative study of selected texts from the history of philosophy in a seminar format. Course may be repeated for credit.
P335 Phenomenology and Existentialism (3 cr.)
Selected readings from Buber, Camus, Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Marcel, Nietzsche, Sartre.
P336 Analytic Philosophy (3 cr.)
Selected readings from Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Ryle, and others. Topics include realism, logical atomism, logical positivism, and ordinary language philosophy.
P338 Philosophy, Technology, and Human Values (3 cr.)
A philosophical study of the role of technology in modern society, including consideration of the relationships between technology and human values.
P340 Classics in Ethics (3 cr.)
Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche. Topics include virtue and human nature, pleasure and the good, the role of reason in ethics, the objectivity of moral principles, and the relation of religion to ethics.
P342 Problems of Ethics (3 cr.)
Concentration on a single problem or on several problems. Examples are bioethics, reason in ethics, and objectivity in ethics.
P343 Classics in Social and Political Philosophy (3 cr.)
Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, and Marx. Topics include the ideal state, the nature and proper ends of the state, natural law and natural right, and social contract theory, and the notion of community.
P345 Problems in Social and Political Philosophy (3 cr.)
Intensive study of one or more problems such as civil disobedience, participatory democracy, conscience and authority, law and morality.
P346 Philosophy of Art (3 cr.)
Classical and contemporary theories of art: investigation and analysis of art works, of the creative activities by which they are produced, and of what is involved in appreciating them.
P348 Philosophy and Literature (3 cr.)
A study of traditional philosophical problems in such areas as theory of knowledge, ethics, and social/political philosophy, using literary texts as primary source material.
P371 Philosophy of Religion (3 cr.)
Topics such as the nature of religion, religious experience, the status of claims of religious knowledge, the nature and existence of God.
P374 Early Chinese Philosophy (3 cr.)
Origins of Chinese philosophical traditions in the classical schools of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. Explores contrasting agendas of early Chinese and Western traditions.
P401 History of Philosophy: Special Topics (3 cr.)
Special topics, such as developing views on one or more of the following subjects: substance, nature, essence, dialectics. May be repeated once with different topic.
P410 Ancient Greek Philosophy (3 cr.)
A study of the earliest period of Western philosophy, dealing with such figures as the pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle.
P435 Contemporary Continental Philosophy (3 cr.)
Study of the work of philosophers in contemporary continental philosophy, including figures such as Foucault, Derrida, Eco, and Habermas.
P490 Readings in Philosophy (1-3 cr.)
Intensive study of selected authors, topics, and problems.
X303 Introduction to Philosophy of Science (3 cr.)
Scientific explanation, discovery, and theory testing. Do logic and mathematics have empirical content? Philosophical issues in the sciences: causality, space-time, free will, and science of human behavior.
X355 Special Topics in the History and Philosophy of Science (3 cr.)
Content and instructors will vary; students may thus receive credit more than once. Admission by consent of instructor or school dean.
