Philosophy (PHI)

This course introduces fundamental philosophical issues through an historical perspective. Emphasis is placed on such figures as Plato, Aristotle, Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Upon completion, students should be able to identify and distinguish among the key positions of the philosophers studied.

This course introduces fundamental issues in philosophy considering the views of classical and contemporary philosophers. Emphasis is placed on knowledge and belief, appearance and reality, determinism and free will, faith and reason, and justice and inequality. Upon completion, students should be able to identify, analyze, and critically evaluate the philosophical components of an issue.

This course covers Western intellectual and philosophic thought from the early Greeks through the medievalists. Emphasis is placed on such figures as the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Epictetus, Augustine, Suarez, Anselm, and Aquinas. Upon completion, students should be able to trace the development of leading ideas regarding reality, knowledge, reason, and faith.

This course introduces basic concepts and techniques for distinguishing between good and bad reasoning. Emphasis is placed on deduction, induction, validity, soundness, syllogisms, truth functions, predicate logic, analogical inference, common fallacies, and scientific methods. Upon completion, students should be able to analyze arguments, distinguish between deductive and inductive arguments, test validity, and appraise inductive reasoning.

This course introduces theories about the nature and foundations of moral judgments and applications to contemporary moral issues. Emphasis is placed on moral theories such as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Upon completion, students should be able to apply various ethical theories to moral issues such as abortion, capital punishment, poverty, war, terrorism, the treatment of animals, and issues arising from new technologies.