PL-101   Introduction to PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

A historico-critical inquiry into the nature of the philosophical enterprise; the meaning of existence; knowledge and truth; and values in their religious, ethical, and aesthetic significance.

PL-104   EthicsCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): SJL

Theoretical ethics and its application to enduring and contemporary moral issues. Thorough examination of the basic principles of a rational, humane, and practical moral system. Also listed as RS-104.

PL-106   Elementary LogicCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

A consideration of valid reasoning as it relates to language and definition. Primary attention is given to discerning and identifying informal fallacies, techniques for determining the validity of inference, and the evolution of symbolic systems. Recommended for students preparing to take the GRE or LSAT.

PL-198   Special Topics in Philosophy (100 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in philosophy to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

PL-201   Philosophy of ReligionCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): PL-101

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An examination of certain salient features of Western religious thought, emphasizing the problems of religious language, the nature and validity of religious experience, traditional and contemporary ideas of God, morality, death, and evil. Also listed as RS-201.

PL-202   Great Issues in World PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An examination of great philosophical works from several cultural traditions. The course uses original works from Western, Indian, and Chinese civilizations to focus on philosophical approaches to a cluster of "great issues" while putting the philosophers and their works in historical context.

PL-202H   Great Issues in World PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): HO

Critical investigation of some of the critical ideas and arguments that have been defended and promoted by thinkers in a variety of cultures. Open only to students in the Honors Program.

PL-203   Philosophy of LanguageCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Investigation of questions about the concepts of language, meaning, and understanding. Consideration of some of the major contributions on these and related concepts.

PL-204   ExistentialismCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Existentialism is about what it means to be an individual who has to create a meaning for his or her own life. Establish the context for existentialism within the history of philosophy as a whole, but also consider the impact that existentialist ideas have generally had in literature, art, and culture.

PL-205   Ethics and LiteratureCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Explore the nature of ethical problems and theories through philosophy and literature.

PL-210   Philosophy in FilmCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An introduction to philosophy using films in conjunction with traditional readings. Study some of the most important questions in the history of philosophy, such as: the nature of reality and its relationship to appearances, the nature of the self, human and artificial intelligence, the possibility of freedom, the nature of ethics, and the theory of meaning.

PL-211   Social and Political PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Course Type(s): None

Comparative study of the philosophical assumptions underlying significant Western conceptions of social order and community.

PL-212   The Christian Intellectual TraditionCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Students will explore the history of Christianity through some of its most provocative and significant "turning points." They will study both the historical context and the intellectual particulars of theological and philosophical debates over the origins of the universe, the humanity of Jesus Christ, the formation of the biblical canon, the nature of religious reformation, the nature of God, and the role of religion in public life. Also listed as RS-212.

PL-216   Religions and Philosophies of IndiaCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): BI.EL, CD, CC

Introduction to the fundamental elements of the orthodox and non-orthodox philosophical and religious systems of India. Highlights plurality of timeless distinct gnostic systems that, having discovered the "Self," search for liberation from the stream of time. Also listed as RS-216.

PL-250   History of Philosophy ICredits: 3   

Course Type(s): None

The beginning of philosophical speculation in Ionia, its golden age in Athens, the Roman interlude, and the flourish and decline of medieval philosophy.

PL-260   Informal LogicCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): RD

An introduction to some of the most important principles of informal logic. Topics include: concepts, classification, definitions, propositions, argument structure, diagramming arguments, explanation, and fallacies.

PL-277   Comparative ReligionsCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): BI.EL, GU, RE

Students are introduced to the fundamental differences and similarities of world religions that, throughout history, were and are at war with each other. Highlights a plurality of distinct creeds that, postulating an Absolute Truth, search to regain that Ultimate Reality through various ways of life or moral codes. Also listed as RS-277.

PL-298   Special Topics in Philosophy (200 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in philosophy to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

PL-298H   Special Topics in Philosophy (200 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): HO

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in philosophy to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. Only open to students in the Honors Program. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

PL-299   Independent Study in PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

Guided research on selected topics; conference with sponsoring professor. Prior permission of the directing professor and department chair is required to take this course.

PL-305   Philosophy of ArtCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Place of beauty and art in human life; standards of taste and aesthetic experience; classical and contemporary theories.

PL-307   American PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): PL-101

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

Classical and contemporary philosophical theories developed in the United States by such philosophers as Jonathan Edwards, Emerson, Royce, Santayana, James, Dewey, and Whitehead.

PL-316   The Modern Mind: From Descartes to the PresentCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): 3 credits in Philosophy

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

A systematic study of the central theses of philosophers and philosophical schools from early Continental Rationalism and British Empiricism to the contemporary patterns of philosophical thought.

PL-324   American Political ThoughtCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): PS-102 or PS-103

Course Type(s): PSAM

The development of political thought in the United States with emphasis on the late nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers and statesmen, along with the development of ideology of groups in American politics. Also listed as PS-324.

PL-340   Plato's DialoguesCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): RD

A critical study of Plato's dialogues, with a particular emphasis on the role that reasoned oral discourse plays in these texts.

PL-350   Multicultural EthicsCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): CD, RE

A study of some of the most influential authors in the history of ethical history, and also feminist and multicultural criticism of those classic sources.

PL-360   Philosophy and LiteratureCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): RD

An exploration of the intersections of philosophy and literature with a particular focus on questions concerning the nature of authorship and moral authority.

PL-370   Multicultural Social and Political PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): CD, RE

A study of some of the most influential authors in the history of social and political philosophy, and also feminist and multicultural criticism of those classic sources.

PL-398   Special Topics in Philosophy (300 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in philosophy to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

PL-490   Seminar in PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Course Type(s): None

Selected topics in which participating students present and discuss research papers. Approval of the philosophy faculty at the recommendation of the instructor is required for the student to take this course.

PL-498   Special Topics in Philosophy (400 Level)Credits: 1-3   

Term Offered: Spring Term

Course Type(s): None

An intensive study of a particular subject or problem in philosophy to be announced prior to registration. May be conducted on either a lecture-discussion or a seminar basis. If a prerequisite is required it will be announced in the course schedule.

PL-499   Individual Studies in PhilosophyCredits: 3   

Prerequisite(s): Junior standing, twelve credits of Philosophy, and prior permission of the directing professor and department chair

Term Offered: All Terms

Course Type(s): None

Guided research on selected topics; conference with sponsoring professor. Junior standing, twelve credits of Philosophy, prior permission of the directing professor and department chair is required to register for this class.