Philosophy (PHIL)

In this course, students will be introduced to the nature of philosophical inquiry by considering some of the most fundamental questions that can be asked about the nature of reality, human beings and our knowledge of both: Does god exist? Do human beings have free will? What's the essence of personal identity? What does it mean to have knowledge? Can we know anything at all? Do human beings have an obligation to act morally? What makes a particular action moral or immoral?

In this course, students will be introduced to the nature of philosophical inquiry by considering some of the most fundamental and controversial questions in moral philosophy: Do human beings have an obligation to act morally? Where do our moral principles come from? Are there objective moral truths? What makes a particular action moral or immoral?

This course will explore issues and problems using a comparative philosophy methodology and Asian perspectives, such as Indian, Chinese, and Japanese traditions.

This course offers a critical examination of the history of multi-cultural philosophical and ethical systems and their implications for interactions with, and relationships between, humans and non-humans. The critical examination will take place in the context of contemporary environmental/ecological issues.

This course focuses on current society's use of probabilities and statistics, and explores how most academic disciplines use these types of data to analyze information and draw conclusions. Students will better understand and use probabilities, statistics, and risk evaluations to make better decisions, and more generally develop skills to safely draw inferences when available evidence leaves them unsure about what is true.

In this course, students will watch a selection of movies and analyze them in light of the various philosophical ideas that they explore. Primary attention will be devoted to identifying, considering, and evaluating these philosophical ideas, the ways they are artistically presented in film, and their connections to both traditional philosophical problems and each student's personal world and life view.

This course explores a range of important ideas, arguments, and theories advanced by such ancient Greek philosophers as the Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Hellenistic Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics. Using these thinkers, we will explore such timeless issues as what is the nature of reality and knowledge and what does it mean to be human, including what does it mean to be virtuous and good and what does it mean to love.

In this course, students will be introduced to a range of important ideas, arguments, and theories advanced by such "modern" (17th-18th century) philosophers as Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, etc. Primary attention will be devoted to the so-called "rationalist" and "empiricist" traditions and the way these modern philosophical traditions considered fundamental questions about the nature of reality, human beings and our knowledge of both. Immanuel Kant's important critique of these traditions and the way his ideas influenced the development of subsequent philosophy also will be considered.

This course aims to improve understanding among students regarding basic rights and duties of citizens and the government including how to effect change. This will be addressed through the lens of philosophy. Students will engage in a philosophical analysis of law, rights, duties, citizenship, government, obligation, and social change.