Undergraduate Course Descriptions Spring 2008

Click here to see Fall 2007 Course Descriptions

Spring 2008 Course Descriptions

Introduction to Philosophy
10100 01 (23318)
David
2:00-3:15 TR (F)
First Year Students Only
co-requirement 12100

This course uses a mixture of historical and contemporary readings to introduce students to some of the central topics in philosophy:

Logic and Reason˜What is a good argument?
Knowledge and Skepticism˜What, if anything, do we know other than ourselves?
God, Faith, and Reason˜Can God be proven? Is it rational to believe in miracles?
The Mind-Body Problem˜Is the mind immaterial? How is it related to the body?
Rationalism vs. Empiricism˜Is there innate knowledge?
Causation and Freedom˜Are we free agents?
Format: Lecture with separate discussion sections.

Texts: Plato, Meno (Hackett 1981); R. Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (Hackett 1993); D. Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett 1993); and a Course Reader, available at the DECIO Copy Center.

Requirements: Active participation in discussion sections; two very short papers, one longer paper, a short in-class midterm exam, and a short in-class final exam.

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 01 (21876)
Jensen, J.
9:30-10:45 TR
First Year Students Only

This course is designed to introduce you to some of the major questions and problems addressed in philosophy in the Western tradition. We will examine questions such as: Does God exist? What is knowledge? What is truth? What is a person? How are the human mind and the human body related? Will I survive my death? Am I free? Within the context of these questions, you will be introduced to both classical and contemporary philosophers through reading and discussion.

The main textbook for the course will be Reason and Responsibility edited by Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau. Other supplementary readings will be distributed throughout the course of the semester. Tentatively, the course requirements will include 3 papers and 2 exams.

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 02 (22432)
Jensen, J.
11:00-12:15 TR
First Year Students Only

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 03 (20605)
Langan
8:30-9:20 MWF
First Year Students Only

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to philosophy through an examination of a sampling of philosophical classics. Themes that we will examine in the course include: the nature of philosophy and of philosophical wisdom; the distinctiveness of the philosophical life; the relation between intellection and affection in the pursuit of wisdom; the existence and nature of God; the relation between intellectual virtue and truth; the relation between faith and reason; the nature of human flourishing; the role
of individuality in the pursuit of human flourishing; the relation between moral virtue and happiness. The philosophers to be discussed include Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Descartes, and Nietzsche.

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 04 (20542)
McKaughan
12:30-1:45 TR
First Year Students Only

This course is a topics-based, though historically sensitive, introduction to some central problems and methods of philosophy. By carefully reading and discussing great classical and contemporary philosophical texts, we will confront foundational questions about life, about our understanding of the world, and about how we ought to conduct our intellectual and moral lives. The course will seek to equip students with the analytic skills needed for critical engagement with these works and to develop the ability to articulate and defend a philosophical position of one’s own. Questions to be considered include: What is knowledge, how do we acquire it, and what are its scope and limits? How should we think about truth and objective reality? What is it to be a person or to have a mind? Are we free? Is it reasonable to believe that God exists? What is the relationship between reason and religious faith? How should we live and what status do moral claims have in a world of facts?

Text: Joel Feinberg & Russ Shafer-Landau, eds. 2007. Reason and Responsibility 13th ed. (Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing).

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 05 (21448)
Walsh
5:00-6:15 TR
First Year Students Only

This is an introductory philosophy course, and presumes no previous study or knowledge of philosophy. The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to several important topics in epistemology, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and ethics. In the first half of this course, we will read Descartes on doubt and the self, Locke on identity and qualities, and Hume on causality, as well as contemporary responses to these classical authors. In the second half of this course, we will read contemporary defenses of three classical positions in ethics, namely, consequentialism, virtue ethics, and Kantian ethics, as well as explore one or two issues in applied ethics, the precise subjects of which will be determined by class preferences. Finally, this course is writing intensive, and so in addition to a mid-term exam and a non-comprehensive final exam, there will be three 5 page papers and eight 2 page homework assignments. For more details on the course, see http://www.nd.edu/~swalsh

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 06 (22018)
Walsh
3:30-4:45 TR
First Year Students Only

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 07 (20280)
Watkins
9:35-10:25 MWF
First Year Students Only

Socrates famously states that the unexamined life is not worth living. In this course, we will investigate his claim, asking ourselves whether and how philosophy contributes to the kind of life we want to live. To this end, we will examine texts by Plato, Cicero, Aristotle, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky and others, with particular emphasis on such questions as: What is philosophy? What is the best kind of life? Why should we be good? What can we know? Does God exist and why does it matter? What is distinctive about human existence?

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 08 (21685)
Mayo
1:55-2:45 MWF
First Year Students Only

This course will attempt to provide a general introduction to the nature of philosophical problems and the methodology one might use to effectively address these problems. In the process, the hope is that you, the student, will learn to think and express your thoughts more clearly, more precisely, more cogently 'in a word' better. This includes developing your capacity to read texts in fair and sensitive yet critical manner. It also includes developing your capacity to write and speak with analytical rigor.

The overall strategy will be to use the first half of the semester to introduce and briefly evaluate an interesting and relevant set of philosophical questions. In the second half of the semester we will then apply what we have learned to the serious examination of a few historically important yet fairly
accessible philosophical works.

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 09 (24478)
Keller, Lorraine
11:00-12:15 TR
First Year Students Only

Philosophy might be defined as the pursuit of knowledge of the highest (or most fundamental) truths. But what is knowledge? What is truth? In this course we will look into these questions by examining both classical and contemporary texts by influential philosophers. We will discuss the relation between knowledge and truth, the question of whether truth is objective or relative, and the relevance (or lack thereof) of one's personal morality to one's relation to the truth. Students will be challenged to form and rigorously defend their own views on these topics.

Introduction to Philosophy
10101 10 (27882)
Keller, Lorraine
9:30-10:45 TR
First Year Students Only

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 01 (22037)
Ameriks
11:00-12:15 TR
First Year Students Only

This course is an introduction to philosophy. It concentrates on four classic
texts from the modern period, texts that continue to have an influence on all
fundamental work on how we are to approach questions of knowledge and value
against the background of traditional religion, modern science, and modern
society. Issues under discussion will include the relation of mind and body,
sense and understanding, feeling and reason, freedom and duty. The course will
emphasize the process of reading a text carefully in order to identify,
reconstruct, and begin to evaluate philosophical arguments.

Texts: Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, ed. J. Cottingham
David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, ed. S. Buckle
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract, ed. D. Cress
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, ed. M. Gregor

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 02 (22452)
O'Callaghan
9:30-10:45 TR
First Year Students Only

The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to certain major philosophical themes through the examination of key figures in Western philosophy. It will also introduce logical concepts and techniques for philosophical argument. The 20th century English philosopher Whitehead wrote that all of philosophy is little more than a footnote to Plato, the 4th century BC Greek philosopher. We will consider philosophers Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, and Nietzsche as themes in their work touch upon themes in Plato. We will examine a number of historical texts in order to begin to see the ways in which central questions about the world around us have been asked, and how answers to these questions have been proposed. Among these questions have been the relationship of power to questions of justice, and right and wrong, education in society, the interrelationship of teaching and learning, the relation between what can be known by reason and what can be known by faith alone, and whether the existence of a creator God matters in any way for how one would go about answering these questions.

The course aims at the understanding of certain fundamental philosophical themes, through the development of the skills of reading, writing, and arguing in a manner appropriate to philosophy.

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 03 (22690)
Joy
11:00-12:15 TR
First Year Students Only

What is a philosophical problem? How are philosophical problems related to what we study in the social sciences, the natural sciences, and religion? This introduction to Philosophy focuses on several classic strategies for conducting philosophical inquiry, including those of Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and several 21st-century thinkers. Readings will cover the history of philosophy as well as recent writings on ethics and the neurosciences.

Requirements: This University Seminar satisfies the 100-level Philosophy requirement. Written work includes four papers and a midterm exam. Class participation and regular attendance are also important.

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 04 (22691)
O'Callaghan
12:30-1:45 TR
First Year Students Only

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 05 (22692)
TBA
12:30-1:45 TR
First Year Students Only

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 06 (22693)
DePaul
2:00-3:45 TR
First Year Students Only

Two things follow from the fact that this is a University Seminar: (1) Classes will have a discussion rather than a lecture format. (2) The course will be writing intensive, with students required to write and rewrite three short papers (5-7 pages).

As an introduction to philosophy, we will use contemporary and historical texts to examine a number of questions that have vexed philosophers from ancient times to the present:

Does God exist?
Why does God allow evil?
Can we know about the world external to our own thoughts and sensations, and if we can, how?
What if anything unifies our selves through time?
Are there any objective moral truths or are all moral claims relative?
What determines whether an action is right or wrong? Is it the consequences of the action, the intentions of the actor, or something else?
What is the good life for a human being?

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 07 (22694)
Neiman
2:00-3:15 TR
First Year Students Only

According to at least one great philosopher, philosophy is an inquiry into three major questions. These are 1) Who am I ? How ought I to live? 3) What can I hope for (if I live the way I ought)? Since, according to the instructor, we cannot help but live out or "enact" answers to these questions in our everyday lives, it makes sense for us to try to make our enacted answers as well thought out as possible. Thus, the point of this seminar will be to help students learn what it means to engage in such thinking, philosophical thinking.

There will be lecture and discussion in class, and writing assignments appropriate to the objectives of University Seminar. POSSIBLE authors include Pope John Paul II, Plato, St. Augustine,Descartes, John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Mahatma Gandhi.

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 08 (22695)
Neiman
3:30-4:45 TR
First Year Students Only

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 09 (22696)
Watson
5:00-6:15 TR
First Year Students Only

An examination of fundamental questions about the nature of human existence, based on a critical examination of works in the existentialist tradition.

Honors Philosophy Seminar
13185 10 (27899)
Cross
5:00-6:15 TR
First Year Students Only

The course introduces some central philosophical concepts and methods by tracing the origins of Ancient Greek thought, beginning with the pres-Socratic philosophers and advancing through the most important philosophers up to the time of Augustine. The emphasis will be two-fold: while endeavoring to understand and appreciate the historical milieu within which the questions considered first arose, we will, at the same time, seek to determine for ourselves where we should agree, and where we should disagree, with the theses promulgated. Amoung the questions given sharp formulation in our period are: Is morality relative? Or are there moral facts? What does morality have to do, if anything, with religion? Are there defensible reasons for being a theist? Or is theism somehow essentially irrational and indefensible?

Required texts: Norman Melchert, The Great Conversation, vol.1, fifth edition (Oxford University Press, 2007). This is available from the campus bookstore. We will also do some short treadings in Aquinas, Summa Theologiae.

Required work: There will be one preliminary and one final examination. In addition you will write two essays, each of 1,500-2,000 words.

Philosophy University Seminar
13185 11 (TBA)
Watson
3:30-4:45 TR
First Year Students Only

An examination of fundamental questions about the nature of human existence, based on a critical examination of works in the existentialist tradition.

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 01 (20603)
Mulherin
10:40-11:30 MWF

This course provides an introduction to philosophy through an engagement with texts written by central authors in the Western philosophical tradition. The focus of the first half of the class will be metaphysical, and will treat questions such as: What am I? Do I survive after death? What is it that makes me the very person who I am? Does God exist? In considering these topics, we will read works by Plato, Descartes, Hume, and John Perry. After the mid-semester break, we will turn our attention to questions of a more explicitly ethical character: What is it to be good? What should I do? What is the origin of our ethical concepts? In this half of the class, we will read works by Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, and Sartre. At the conclusion of the semester, in addition to having gained some familiarity with some answers to the fundamental philosophical questions, the student will have developed the ability to recognize and critically evaluate philosophical arguments.

Course Requirements: 3 short papers, 10 brief quizzes based on the assigned readings (the two lowest of which will be dropped), a midterm, and a final.

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 02 (20001)
Boeninger
11:45-12:35 MWF

Introduction to Philosophy is a course designed (1) to acquaint you with some seminal philosophical problems arising from attempts to answer profound questions about God, knowledge, minds and bodies, freedom and responsibility, and morality and ethics; and (2) to teach you about, and give you practice in
developing, key tools, skills, and methods relevant to critical thinking, reasoning, and becoming a more reflective person. The philosophical skills we aim to develop will aid your understanding of, and appreciation for, the philosophical questions and problems we will encounter.

Required Texts:
- Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy, 13th edition, by Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau
- Five Dialogues, by Plato (G.M.A. Grube, trans.)

Requirements: 2 exams (30%), 3 papers (45% - 2 short, 1 medium length), and some short exercises/assignments (25%)

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 03 (21515)
Toader
3:30-4:45 TR

In this introductory course, we will examine a few basic philosophical questions: How can we know there is an external world? What are the sources and scope of our knowledge? What is the method of science? Is it rational to belive that God exists? Can we talk meaningfully about God? How can one explain th existence of suffering in our world? What is the basis of morality? The goal is that students develop their ability to read philosophical texts, both classic and contemporary ones, and to argue consistently in favor of their own philosophical views. Requirements include a few quizzes, three papers, two exams.

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 04 (20992)
Branson
12:50-1:40 MWF

An introduction to some basic issues in philosophy through a variety of both classical and contemporary readings. We will begin the class with a viewing of The Matrix and use that film to facilitate a discussion about the distinction between appearance and reality, and the question "Why do Ideas Matter?" We will then discuss why clear definitions and sound reasoning matter in philosophy, leading into a short introduction to contemporary logic. With those tools in hand, we will then go on to more in-depth discussions about the existence of God, free will, the relation between the mind and the body, the objectivity or subjectivity of moral values along with some important moral theories, and finally the nature and extent of human knowledge.

Requirements: In addition to occasional pop quizzes over the reading material (10% of your grade), there will be 3 papers (5%, 15%, and 25%), a quiz over logic (5%), a mid-term (15%) and a final (25%).

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 05 (21351)
Thames
11:00-12:15 TR

The history of philosophy has shaped virtually every aspect of our culture, and thus has served to shape who each of us is as individuals. We will explore the ways in which this is true by examining and critically reflecting upon some of the most important and influential philosophical texts ever written. The first half of the course will focus on modern philosophy beginning with Descartes and continuing up to the 20th century. We then return to their sources in Plato and Aristotle, and up through the medieval period preceding Descartes. Then we will return to the contemporary period by reflecting upon the writings of John Paul II, whose Fides et Ratio is an exercise in coming to terms with much of the ideas and themes we will have explored.

The course will require four papers, two open-book exams, and several quizzes.

The syllabus for the course is available here:
http://www.nd.edu/~bthames/teaching.html

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 06 (22173)
Branson
1:55-2:45 MWF

Introduction to Philosophy
20101 07 (24479)
Jech
9:30-10:45 TR

This course is devoted to exploring some interesting and influential answers that philosophers have given to some persistent sources of human wonder and doubt: what the good life is, whether we are free, whether we can know anything at all, whether philosophy is even worthwhile for us to engage in. We shall pay attention to a few authors who particularly manifest philosophical excellence and "apprentice" ourselves to them in the hope that by paying particularly close attention to the very different methods by which our authors approach philosophy we shall thereby become better philosophers ourselves.

The format of the class shall be primarily lectures with regular time made available for discussion of particularly interesting or knotty problems in our authors.

Grades will be assigned on the basis of (1) several short papers (1-3 pages), and one longer final paper (6 pages), (2) a take-home mid-term, (3) a final exam, and (4) periodic short quizzes.

Texts to be read include:
Plato, Apology, Euthyphro, and Gorgias
Aristophanes, The Clouds
Saint Augustine, On Free Choice
René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes From the Underground

Philosophy of Human Nature
20201 01 (22783)
Reimers
8:30 -9:20 MWF

Classically, the question about human nature has been posed in terms of the relation of the soul to the body. However, when we speak in daily life of "human nature" we refer to what we love and hate, what we most want, and how we behave. In this course we will examine the the human constitution in relation to emotion, love, desire, and their effects on and implications for human action. In a word, by examining human nature, we explore the meaning of human life.

Texts will be drawn from the Vatican Council's constitution Gaudium et Spes, Plato's Republic, Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Happiness, and Karol Wojtyla's Love and Responsibility.

Course requirements: one term paper, two tests, and a final exam.

Philosophy of Human Nature
20201 02 (22784)
Reimers
9:35 - 10:25 MWF

Classically, the question about human nature has been posed in terms of the relation of the soul to the body. However, when we speak in daily life of "human nature" we refer to what we love and hate, what we most want, and how we behave. In this course we will examine the the human constitution in relation to emotion, love, desire, and their effects on and implications for human action. In a word, by examining human nature, we explore the meaning of human life.

Theories of Sexual Difference
20205 01 (27902)
Kourany
5:10-6:00 MWF
Cross List: GSC 20102

What kind of differences separate men and women? Are these differences natural or are they socially produced, and are these differences beneficial to us or are they limiting? Most important, what does equality mean for people characterized by such differences? These are the questions we shall pursue in this course, and we shall pursue them systematically, devoting attention even to the male/female sex difference itself and the current debates about intersexuals, transsexuals, and transgendered persons.

The style of the course will be discussions, and these will be informed by readings drawn from a variety of sources, including natural and social scientists as well as philosophers, and both feminists and contributors to men's studies. Requirements will include three papers.

Minds, Brains and Persons
20208 01 (27911)
Johnson
9:30-10:45 TR

This course will examine two families of problems in the philosophy of mind. The first of these concerns the nature of consciousness and the relation of mind and body: Are mental phenomena reducible to, or explicable in terms of, physical (mostly neurophysiological) events; do attempts to incorporate our mental life within a purely physical theory adequately account for the distinctive features of consciousness? The second concerns the nature of self-knowledge and moral motivation: How extensive is the mind‚s awareness of its own states; how well do we know our own thoughts, desires, etc; how much knowledge of ourselves is required in order to make moral progress and what are the implications for moral agency of the kinds of limitations we confront in knowing our own minds? Readings will include both historical figures (Augustine and Descartes) as well as recent scholarship in the philosophy of mind and moral psychology. Written work for the course will consist of several short quizes, a short (5 pages) paper and a longer (10 pages) paper.

Minds, Brains and Persons
20208 02 (27929)
Johnson
11:00-12:15 TR

Knowledge and Mind
20209 01 (24481)
Hebbeler
3:30-4:45 TR

In this course we shall explore questions concerning the nature of knowledge, the activity of knowing, and the nature of the knower. We shall investigate these questions as they have been formulated and reflected on throughout the western philosophical tradition, and in particular in the philosophical theories of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Kant. As we read each philosopher, we shall concentrate on a particular set of philosophical problems. We shall look at the traditional analysis of knowledge in its early appearance in Plato, the concepts of intelligibility and justification as presented by Aristotle, the problems of foundationalism and skepticism in Descartes, and the possibility of practical, rational belief as formulated by Kant. Throughout the semester we shall regularly return to questions regarding our capacity for justified beliefs about God and the mind, as well as to questions regarding the moral aspect of belief. Finally, we shall at times appeal to contemporary philosophical discussions insofar as they shed light on, or raise problems for the theories we are discussing.

Success in this course will depend heavily on careful reading of the assigned texts and on coming to class prepared to ask and answer questions and discuss the material.

Requirements: regular class participation, two shorter papers (3-4 pp.), one longer paper (6-7 pp.), and a final exam.

Knowledge and Mind
20209 02 (TBA )
Hebbeler
5:00-6:15 TR

Success in this course will depend heavily on careful reading of the assigned texts and on coming to class prepared to ask and answer questions and discuss the material.

Requirements: regular class participation, two shorter papers (3-4 pp.), one longer paper (6-7 pp.), and a final exam.

Images of Humanity in Modern Philosophy
20213 01 (TBA )
Robbins
11:45-12:35 MWF

Philosophy considers the modern age to begin with the reaction to the upheavals in thought and society that have their origins in the sixteenth-century. The fragmentation of religion brought forth by the Reformation issued not only in radically new ways of understanding humankind's relation to God, and thus of how faith and its relation to knowledge is understood, but also altered social experience in deep and fundamental ways. The advent of modern science with the astronomical theories of Copernicus and others forced basic changes in how humankind conceived its position in the universe and, ultimately, in its conception of the nature of reality itself.
The convulsions wrought by this era are still with us, and for this reason, this age has been continually subjected to debate and reinterpretation. The meaning of this era in human thought is still not fully understood, even hundreds of years after its occurrence. We continue to grapple with the legacy of the seventeenth century.
This course explores the philosophical interpretations of the human condition brought forth in this era, with particular attention to the development of moral and political thought therein. We therefore read some of the most revolutionary philosophical works produced in the seventeenth-century, including Hobbes' Leviathan and Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. In addition to these classic and indispensable texts, we examine some of the main reactions to these texts, including works by Samuel Clarke, Francis Hutcheson and David Hume.

Images of Humanity in Modern Philosophy
20213 02 (TBA)
Robbins
12:50-1:40 MWF

Chinese Ways of Thought
20218 01 (23785)
Jensen
11:00-12:15 TR
Cross List: LLEA 30101, ANTH 30081, ASIA 30101, GSC 30449, HIST 30143, RLT 40218, THEO 30214

Chinese Ways of Thought is a special topics class on religion, philosophy, and the intellectual history of China. Conventionally it is assumed that the religion and philosophy of the Chinese can be easily divided into three teachings: daoism, buddhism, and "Confucianism." Chinese Ways of Thought questions this easy doctrinal divisibility by introducing the student to the world view and life experience of Chinese as they have been drawn and local cultic traditions, worship and sacrifice to heroes, city gods, earth gods, water sprites, nature deities, and above all, the dead. China's grand philosophical legacy of Daoism, Buddhism, "Confucianism," and later "Neo-Confucianism" with which we have become familiar in the West derived from the particular historical contexts of local practice and it was also in such indigenous contexts that Islam and later Christianity were appropriated as native faiths.

Paradoxes
20229 01 (27950)
Speaks
3:30-4:45 TR

Topic: Bertrand Russell suggested that philosophical theories can be tested
by their ability to deal with logical puzzles. This is the approach to philosophy that we will take in this course. The puzzles with which we will be concerned are paradoxes: sets of propositions each member of which is intuitively true which are nonetheless jointly inconsistent. Paradoxes of various sorts have been a focus of study in almost every area of philosophy; accordingly, this course will use paradoxes as a tool to raise questions about the following topics, among others: the nature of space and time; the nature of physical objects and change; the possibility of an omniscient and/or omnipotent God; the rules which govern what we rationally ought to believe, and what we rationally ought to do. We will also discuss more purely logical paradoxes such as the sorites, the liar, and Russell's paradox. A subsidiary aim of the course will be to help students to appreciate the importance of consistent beliefs and to improve their ability to think clearly about the logical relations between claims.

Evaluation: Two papers, a midterm exam, and a final exam.

Texts: Sainsbury, Paradoxes. Other readings will be made available in PDF form online.

More information will be made available on the course web site, which is at:

http://www.nd.edu/~jspeaks/courses/20229/

Philosophy of Culture
20230 01 (27952)
McInerny, D.
12:30-1:45 TR

The plurality of cultures in the modern world, along with the conflicts that so often occur between them, makes the question of culture central to our experience. This course is devoted to an exploration of the meaning of culture within the Catholic intellectual tradition, and the relationship of such culture to the dominant cultures of the modern world. Texts from Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas will help frame the discussion before we turn to readings from modern Christian writers who pondered the meaning of culture within the crucible of the 20th century.

Principal texts: Aristotle, selections from Metaphysics and Politics; St. Augustine, selections from City of God; St. Thomas Aquinas, selections from Summa theologiae; Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture; T. S. Eliot, selections from Notes Toward the Definition of Culture; Jacques Maritain, selections from Integral Humanism; Christopher Dawson, selections from The Historic Reality of Christian Culture. Readings will also be taken from the works of G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor.

Course Requirements: two five-page essays and one three-page disputed question, along with a series of quizzes and a final exam.

Ethics
20401 01 (22622)
Rabbitt
8:30-9:20 MWF

This course will introduce students to some of the most important answers to questions about the nature of ethical life and about how people figure out what sort of life they should live. In the first two-thirds of the semester we will closely examine some of the foundational texts in ethical theory with of goal of discovering and evaluating the answers questions such as: What is happiness? Is happiness part of the ethical life? What is virtue? Do we have moral obligations to other people? What is the source of the authority of morality's demands? How does ethical theory relate to concrete moral issues? This final question will be explicitly addressed in the final third of the semester when we turn to the consideration of one or two “real-life” moral problems. The problems to be discussed will be decided in consultation with the class. Options will likely include the problem of poverty and the distribution of wealth, the morality of abortion, and the morality of affirmative action policies.

The first part of the course will be lecture driven, but active participation will be a necessary ingredient. The final third of the course will depend more significantly on student participation and discussion.

Student evaluation will be based on: a) class participation, b) occasional quizzes c) weekly 1-2 pg. papers, d) two 4-6 pg. papers, e) a midterm, and f) a cumulative final.

Required Texts: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics; Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; Mill's Utilitarianism; all other required readings will be available on electronic reserve.

Ethics
20401 02 (22793)
Rabbitt
9:35-10:25 MWF

Student evaluation will be based on: a) class participation, b) occasional quizzes c) weekly 1-2 pg. papers, d) two 4-6 pg. papers, e) a midterm, and f) a cumulative final.

Required Texts: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics; Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; Mill's Utilitarianism; all other required readings will be available on electronic reserve.

Ethics
20401 03 (27955)
DiQuattro
10:40-11:30 MWF

This course will cover seminal texts in the history of ethics, beginning with Plato and ending with some 20th century readings. We will read the texts closely to examine the authors' views concerning virtue, right action, the best human life and the role of reason in action. We will also read Nietzsche and Sidgwick, who in different ways offer a challenge to ethics. We will pay special attention to how the authors' different ethical views are related to different views about the role of reason in action and about moral education. One overarching purpose of the course will be to orient students to how ethical discourse and concerns have developed and changed, so that they might have a sense for how we have come to conceive of ethics and use moral discourse in the ways we tend to today. So the course will end with some readings from the 20th century to introduce students to emotivist and relativist conceptions of ethics and some historically sensitive critiques of those conceptions.

The central texts for the course will be Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature (selections), Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil (selections), and Henry Sidgwick's The Methods of Ethics (selections). There will also be readings from Plato, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Rousseau, and a selection of 20th century authors.

Ethics
20401 04 (27957)
DiQuattro
11:45-12:35 MWF

Ethics
20401 05 (27962)
Rodriguez
1:30-2:45 MW

Over the course of the semester, we will examine the basic nature of, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of, a variety of moral theories, including cultural relativism, ethical egoism, divine command theory, and feminist ethics. We will cover some views (Kant, Mill, Aristotle) in more detail. The semester will conclude with a section on applied ethics (although we will be discussing concrete applications in the context of each view as well), specifically, just war and pacifism, with readings by Aquinas, Cady, Yoder, and Gandhi (among others).

Grades for the class will be based on three medium-length (5-6 page) papers, two (non-cumulative) exams, one group presentation, and class participation.

Ethics
20401 06 (27964)
Rodriguez
3:00-4:15 MW

Grades for the class will be based on three medium-length (5-6 page) papers, two (non-cumulative) exams, one group presentation, and class participation.

Ethics
20401 07 (TBA)
Garcia
3:30-4:45 TR

At several times in the semester, you will be required to read to the class a
short paper in which you defend your position on a specific moral issue; your
papers will be subjected to critical in-class discussion. I intend for this
discussion to be rigorous but charitable.

We will focus on the interrelations between three issues in moral philosophy:

(1) What is the nature and ground of morality? Are moral standards objective,
that is, are they true independently of what we happen to think of them? If
there are objective moral standards, where do they come from? Does morality
depend upon God?

(2) Even if there are objective moral standards, why should I bother to live in
accord with them?

And (3), What is the moral thing to do with respect to real-world cases such as
world hunger, animal rights, terrorism, racism, euthanasia, etc.?

Requirements: For each class, you are required to prepare at least three
questions based on the reading(s). Over the course of the semester, you will
be required to write four papers (two short, two long). There is a mid-term
and a final exam.

Ethics
20401 08 (TBA)
Garcia
5:00-6:15 TR

We will focus on the interrelations between three issues in moral philosophy:

(2) Even if there are objective moral standards, why should I bother to live in
accord with them?

And (3), What is the moral thing to do with respect to real-world cases such as
world hunger, animal rights, terrorism, racism, euthanasia, etc.?

Moral Problems
20402 01 (22658)
Keller
3:30-4:45 TR

This course will focus on moral issues that arise in contemporary public debate. Topics will include a selection from the following: euthanasia, gay marriage, environmental concerns, racism and racial profiling, free speech, distributive justice, abortion. Other topics may be discussed as called for by current events or the particular interests of the class. Students will be exposed to multiple points of view on the topics and will be given guidance in analyzing the moral frameworks informing opposing positions. In addition to thinking about the moral issues surrounding a given topic, we will also think about how the moral issues about a given topic should influence the laws that relate to it. The goal of the course will be to provide the basis for respectful but rigorous and informed discussion of matters of common moral concern.

Moral Problems
20402 02 (22661)
Keller
5:00-6:15 TR

Moral Problems
20402 03 (27965)
Wicks
2:00-3:15 TR

This course is an introduction to moral philosophy. We will begin by discussing questions about the nature of morality, including whether or not there are objective moral standards and whether we can ever have genuine knowledge of moral truths. The principal focus of the course however will be on topics of particular moral controversy, including abortion, euthanasia, sex and sexuality, and the extent of our obligations to the poor. Many philosophers have claimed that philosophical arguments can shed light on these questions, and perhaps even produce definite answers. We shall read arguments supporting a variety of viewpoints on each issue.

As well as providing an opportunity to reflect on a variety of important contemporary issues, the course is intended to help you to develop your skills at analyzing and critically evaluating arguments.

Requirements include: 2 short papers (5-7 pages), one longer paper (8-10 pages) and an in-class presentation on one of the readings.

Morality & Modernity
20415 01 (23054)
Solomon/Wicks
10:40-11:30 MW(F)
Cross List: HESB 30232, PHIL 40314

Our society is deeply divided by controversies over a large range of moral issues. These issues include abortion, the circumstances in which war is justifiable, and the proper distribution of scarce resources, but such examples of moral disagreement can be easily, perhaps endlessly, multiplied. Underlying these controversies are even more profound disagreements about the nature and purpose of morality, about which we hold different and often incompatible views. In this course we will explore the history of modern morality by examining the work of the philosophers who have been most influential on post-Enlightenment moral thought, especially Kant and Nietzsche, along with the writings of two of modernity‚s most insightful critics, Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor. Finally, having examined the sources of our deepest moral disputes we will address the questions of how best they might be resolved and where we should look for ways of thinking about morality adequate to the challenges of the modern world.

Texts:
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (ISBN-10: 0268035040)
Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (ISBN-10: 0060892994)
Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (ISBN-10: 087220166X)
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (ISBN-10: 019283617X)
Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (ISBN-10: 0674268636)
_____________________

The course is cross-listed as PHIL 20415/40314 and the above course description/text list applies to both. However, the requirements are slightly different.

Requirements for 20415: three short papers, a midterm and a final examination.

Requirements for 40314: two short papers, one longer paper and a final examination.

Self & Society
20423 01 (27975)
Rush
9:30-10:45 TR
Cross List: HESB 30243

An examination of the relation of individuals to the social entities to which they belong. The investigation is partly historical (i.e., we shall consider several treatments of this issue that have been proposed in the past). It is also partly conceptual (i.e., we shall consider various contemporary responses to the question).
Texts from: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Rawls, Nozick, Geertz, et al.

Required text: Political Thought, ed. Rosen & Wolff (Oxford UP).

Practicing Medical Ethics
20615 01 (25884)
Solomon
9:00am - 4:00pm on Sat. TBA

This is a one-day, one-credit course. The purpose of this course is to give students who may have a vocation in health care the opportunity to engage in conversation with physicians, philosophers and theologians familiar with medical ethics. Participants will be looking at real cases studies and real situations they might encounter in practicing medicine. The course is also an opportunity for students to form a mentoring relationship with a practicing physician. Students must read a small course packet of case studies and related readings ahead of time to prepare for the course. In order to receive credit, students must attend the one-day course in full and write a 4-6 page paper on their perspective on one of the cases, due approximately two weeks after the one-day course. Lunch will be provided. DOES NOT SATISFY UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT.

Philosophy and Science Fiction
20620 01 (25884)
Rea
9:35-10:25 MW(F)
Cross List: STV 20125

The science fiction genre is rich with stories that explore classic philosophical questions and exploit timeless philosophical puzzles and paradoxes. In this class, we will examine the way in which several core problems of philosophy are raised in contemporary works of science fiction, and then we will look carefully at more systematic discussions of those problems by well-known figures in the history of philosophy. We will discuss, among other things, the possibility and limits of human knowledge, the nature of time, paradoxes of time travel, the possibility of free human action, and some widely discussed puzzles about identity and persistence over time. The result will be an introductory survey of some core issues in the areas of philosophy known as metaphysics and epistemology.

Course Requirements: Probably two exams, two or three short papers, and class participation.

Texts: A course packet available at Decio Copy Center, and Michael Phillips (ed.), Philosophy and Science Fiction.

Philosophy of Religion
20801 01 (TBA )
Dodsworth
12:50-1:40 MWF

In this class, we will discuss several main topics in philosophy of religion as it has developed in the three major monotheistic traditions, with an emphasis on Christian theism. The course will primarily focus on religious epistemology. We will look at the classical arguments for the existence of God as well as the major challenges to religious belief. We'll also pay attention to the status of religious belief: how does it compare to beliefs in other domains? What standards of justification are appropriate for religious belief (e.g., must one be able to prove the existence of God in order to have justified belief)? Finally, we will consider the relationship between morality and religious belief.

Course Requirements: Two 6-8 pages papers along with a final exam.

Main Text: Eleonore Stump and Michael J. Murray, eds., Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions (Blackwell, 1999). All readings are from this text unless otherwise noted. I may also include additional readings if time permits.

Philosophy of Judaism
20806 01 (25455)
Neiman
3:00-4:15 MW

This course aims at introducing students to the quest for a philosophical understanding of Judaism, for the most part as found in the work of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972).

Rabbi Heschel was well known as a scholar of the prophets, philosopher, religious educator and social activist. His version of Judaism, based on his own vast knowledge of the Jewish philosophical tradition and preference for the prophets as religious exemplars, had an important effect not only on the American Jewish Community but on Christians as well. For example, Rabbi Heschel worked closely with the Rev. Martin Luther King , Jr. during the Civil Rights struggle of the 60s; King often referred to Heschel as Rabbi Abraham. Pope Paul VI claimed him as one of his favorite theologians. Rabbi Heschel was active as an advisor to those at Vatican II who drafted Nostra Aetate, NOSTRA AETATE, a welcome statement on the attitude of the Catholic Church to non-Christian religions. In this class we will work to emulate Heschel's own method of religious understanding through ecumenical thinking.

In order to provide a useful background for the discussion of Heschel (and the idea of Biblical philosophy in general) , we will also be concerned with what one might refer to as the the history of a chosen people which includes a recognition of ordinary life and practice throughout the ages. We will typically concentrate on the latter (history) on Tuesdays, and the former (Heschel's philosophy per se) on Thursdays. Discussion on Tuesdays will typically be based on short quizzes taken at the beginning of class. Discussion on Thursdays will be based on short writing assignments connected to Heschel's writing. There will be a final exam, as mansted by the University.

Books required: Something of Heschel's, perhaps his God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (FSG) along with Leo Trepp, The History of the Jewish Experience (Behrman House)

All 30000 and 40000 level courses are by permission only *

Ancient & Medieval Philosophy
30301 01 (22568)
Dumont
5:00-6:15 TR
Cross List: MI 30301 01

A survey of Western philosophy from its beginnings in the early Greek physicists to the late middle ages. The emphasis in class will be on the reading and analysis of fundamental texts by main figures of the period: Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Anselm, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas. Concurrent reading of a standard history will supply additional background and continuity.

Requirements: Two papers (one each for the ancient and medieval portions of the course), a mid-term, and final examination.

Ancient & Medieval Philosophy
30301 02 (23355)
Freddoso
1:30-2:45 MW
Cross List: MI 30301 02

A survey of western philosophy from the 6th-century B.C. Presocratics to the 16th-century Scholastics. The lectures will focus primarily on Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, using the twin themes of nature and human nature as an occasion for (a) formulating with some precision the main metaphysical and moral problematics that emerge from the works of Plato and Aristotle, (b) investigating the influence of Plato and Aristotle on the Catholic intellectual tradition, and (c) exploring in some depth the relation between faith and reason.

Texts: Because the lectures will not try to cover all the important figures (though there will be ample references to them, as well as to key early modern philosophers), the students will be expected to read all of the assigned secondary source, viz., James Jordan's Western Philosophy: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, as well as the primary sources assigned for the lectures.

Requirements: In addition, the requirements include (a) two 6-7 page papers on assigned topics, and (b) two exams.

History of Modern Philosophy
30302 01 (21281)
Newlands
9:30-10:45 TR

The sweeping scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries paralleled the development of sweeping new approaches to philosophy. Of particular concern to these so-called “modern philosophers” was to understand the relationship between human beings and the natural world, especially in the light of the emerging new scientific picture. In this course, we will explore many facets of this relationship: the relationship between the mind and the body; the nature, role and knowledge of God; skepticism and knowledge of the natural world; the possibility of human freedom; the possibility of miracles; causation; personal identity; and the nature of the fundamentally real. As we will see along the way, many of the new methods, problems and proposed solutions surrounding these topics are the very methods, problems, and solutions still driving contemporary philosophy.

Readings will be drawn mainly from Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.

Textbook: Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources, eds. Ariew and Watkins, Hackett Publishing

Requirements: 1-2 papers, 1-2 exams and class participation

19th & 20th Century Philosophy
30303 01 (27990)
Ameriks
2:00-3:15 TR

A history of philosophical reactions to Kant, from Fichte to positivism. The focus will be on a) Hegel, b) Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, and c) on the empiricist tradition surrounding Mill. Emphasis will be on the 19th century.

Texts: Nineteenth Century Philosophy, ed. P. Gardiner; and The Essential
Hegel, ed. F. Weiss.

Formal Logic
30313 01 (20437)
Franks
12:30-1:45 TR
DOES NOT SATISFY UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT

In this class we develop a formal system of classical first-order logic with identity, study this system's syntax and semantics, and become proficient at constructing derivations in the system. We also will critically analyze the system's expressive strength by investigating the relationship between formal and informal validity and entailment.

Requirements: Write several take home exams.

Morality & Modernity
40314 01 (23065)
Solomon/Wicks
10:40-11:30 MW(F)
Cross List: PHIL 20415, HESB 30232

Requirements for 40314: two short papers, one longer paper and a final examination.

Aquinas on Creation
43150 01 (27996)
Freddoso
3:00-4:15 MW

An exploration of the central metaphysical questions involved in the claim that God creates the entities in the world ex nihilo, along with an examination of hermeneutical questions involved in the interpretation of the first chapter of the book of Genesis. The main texts for the course will be the treatment of creation and of the work of the six days found in St. Thomas's Summa Theologiae, supplemented by the treatment of creation in Francisco Suarez's Metaphysical Disputations.

Requirements: One 5-page class presentation and a 15-20 page term paper.

Kant: Critique of Pure Reason
43169 01 (24520)
Jauernig
11:00-12:15 TR

This course provides a comprehensive overview of Kant’s critical theoretical philosophy through the discussion of central chapters of Kant’s main work, the Critique of Pure Reason.

Readings:
Primary Text: Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, P. Guyer, A. Wood (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 1999
Main Secondary Source: Henry Allison, Kant’s Transcendental Idealism, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983
Supplementary Text by Kant: Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, edited and translated by Ed Hartfield, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Hegel
43170 01 (27998)
Rush
2:00-3:15 TR

An examination of major themes of Hegel's philosophy with an emphasis on his social and political thought. Topics include Hegel's general account of concepts and conceptual change, his critique of Kant's moral philosophy, his analysis of domination and recognition, and the role of freedom in rational social and political institutions.

Required texts: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. Miller (OUP); Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, trans. Nisbet (CUP)

Course requirements:
1. Regular attendance
2. Two 8-10 pp. papers (weighted equally)

Prerequisite: two prior courses in philsophy

Hume
43180 01 (28001)
Joy
11:45-1:00 MW
Cross list: PHIL 83266

This seminar considers how Hume transformed the modern study of epistemology and metaphysics in the British empiricist tradition. It also focuses on his special relation to Newtonian natural philosophy and his development of a Newtonian account of human nature. That account encompassed not only his philosophy of mind but also his moral psychology and ethics. The seminar thus examines the conceptual connections in Hume's treatment of causation, belief, and moral action. Readings will include contemporary analyses of Hume's problems as well as his own writings.

Requirements: Two medium-length papers, a midterm exam, and short class presentations.

The Rationalists
43183 01 (28005)
Newlands
12:30-1:45 TR

This seminar critically examines the leading 17th century philosophers who have come to be known as "the rationalists": Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, and Leibniz. These figures each developed very rich and exciting philosophical systems that attempted to do justice to the revolutionary changes that were occurring in the philosophical, scientific and religious understandings of the world.

This semester, we will focus especially on their writings about the problem of evil and the problem of freedom. In doing so, we will also have the opportunity to consider other aspects of their systematic attempts to explain the nature of ourselves and our world.

It will be very helpful if students have already taken the department's 30302 course, History of Modern Philosophy. If you have not yet taken that course, you must talk with the instructor before enrolling in this course.

Requirements: Participation (including occasional brief write-ups or presentations) and either one long final paper or two shorter papers (student choice).

Philosophy & Literature
43313 01 (22623)
O'Connor
11:45-1:00 MW (also meets 11:45-12:35 Friday)
Cross List: ENGL 40118, PLS 43313

This intensive four-credit seminar is the gateway course for the Minor in Philosophy and Literature. Core readings for the seminar include: Sophocles, Oedipus The King; Plato, Phaedrus; Aristotle, Poetics; William Shakespeare, Hamlet; Henry David Thoreau, Walden; Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy; Thomas Mann, Death in Venice; and the poetry of Percy Shelley and Wallace Stevens. In connection with the visit of Joshua Landy, the 2007-2008 Philosophy and Literature Lecturer, there will also be Friday meetings on selections from Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time. Interested students are also invited to participate in a one-credit Greek reading group on Plato’s critique of poetry.

The course is a true seminar, with student papers, distributed to the seminar participants in advance, often the focus of discussion. There are about 20 pages of writing assigned, and usually an oral final exam.

To apply for the seminar, or for further information about the course or the minor, please email the director of the Minor in Philosophy and Literature, Professor David O’Connor (doconnor@nd.edu). Registration is by permission only. Some priority will be given to students intending to participate in the minor, but other interested students are encouraged to apply.

The Minor in Philosophy and Literature allows students and faculty to integrate interests that otherwise might have to be studied separately in two or more disciplines or majors. How philosophy and literature complement and compete with each other has been a lively field of intellectual inquiry ever since the ancient Greeks, and the Minor is designed so students can continue this conversation while working closely with faculty mentors. The formal requirements for the fifteen-credit Minor are: the four-credit gateway seminar; two semesters of the one-credit Philosophy and Literature Colloquium on special topics following on the gateway seminar; and three three-credit courses that fit the intellectual profile of the Minor, usually drawn from the advanced offerings in the departments of Philosophy, Classics, and the departments in modern languages and literatures. Students are also strongly encouraged to consider writing a senior thesis related to the Minor.

Philosophy of Law
43403 01 (28007)
Warfield
9:30-10:45 TR

We will focus on issues arising in criminal law including: the nature and limits of the criminal sanction; the relation between evidential and procedural rules and the conception of a
criminal trial as a "search for the truth"; the relevance of mental states to the nature and severity of various criminal offenses.

Students will be required to complete several substantial papers.

God, Philosophy, & Politics
43426 01 (23166)
MacIntyre
11:45-1:00 MW
Cross List: THEO 40825

This class falls into three parts. In the first we consider the implications for politics of the thought of Augustine and Aquinas. In the second we examine the nature and justification of modern democratic states and a variety of problems posed for democracy, including those that arise from the gradual decline in voting that characterizes polities as various as those of Norway, Switzerland and the United States. In the third we ask what resources modern Catholic political philosophy is able to bring to the solution of those problems.

Readings: Augustine, City of God, Book XIX; In City of God tr. R.W. Dyson (Cambridge University Press). Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Ia-IIae 94-96, IIa-Iiae 105, art. 1; In Aquinas: Political Writings tr. R.W. Dyson (Cambridge University Press). R. A. Dahl , On Democracy (Yale University Press). T. E. Patterson, The Vanishing Voter (Random House). J. Maritain, Man and The State (CUA Press), The Person and the Common Good (UND Press).

Paper Topics: Can one be both an Augustinian and a Thomist in one’s political attitudes and activities? Does government in a democracy represent the will of the governed? If so, how? If not, why not? What is the common good? Can a democracy flourish without a concern for the common good? Discuss with reference to both Dahl and Maritain.

Philosophy Against Itself
43604 01 (28008)
Franks
1:30-2:45 MW

In this lecture and discussion class we will study philosophy as a discipline paying close attention to the origins of its several contemporary streams and its place within explanatory and introspective thought more broadly. We will begin by reading some influential and radical treatises of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries whose authors claim (1) to expose mistaken preconceptions underlying the sting of familiar philosophical problems and (2) to overturn the idea of there being any especially lofty or foundational subjects open only to philosophical investigation. In different ways, these critiques suggest that philosophical problems are illusions and philosophical progress is impossible and propose freeing moves whereby the itch to philosophize simply won't arise. Later in the course we will look to historical selections from the traditional philosophical canon for anticipations of these anti-philosophical themes and for different conceptions of what philosophy is and could be.

Probable main readings will be:
Ludwig Wittgenstein, selections from the Philosophical Investigations
Robert Fogelin, Wittgensteins Critique of Philosphy
P. M. S. Hacker, Philosophy
Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
Charles Taylor, Overcoming Epistemology
Penelope Maddy, Second Philosophy

Students will be responsible for recommending historical readings for the last unit of the class in addition to selections from Cicero and David Hume with which we will begin.

Requirements: Class participation, a term paper, a presentation on a piece of philosophical writing that the student finds and adds to our reading list.

Philosophy of Science
43701 01 (28016)
McKaughan
3:30-4:45 TR

Philosophers of science raise questions about science that scientists themselves typically don’t directly address. In the course of surveying developments in the philosophy of science in the 20th century, we shall discuss questions such as: What is science and how can we distinguish it from non-science? What are its aims and methods? What is involved in offering a scientific explanation? What makes a body of data evidence for or against a theory, what standards should we employ in choosing between alternative theories, and how do observations relate to scientific theories more generally? If values play a role in science, does this compromise its rationality or objectivity? Should we believe that our current theories in, say, physics or biology are true? Can biology be reduced to physics and chemistry? What does science tell us about what the world is like and how does the scientific picture of the world relate to our common sense picture? Does science provide anything like a worldview? Do any of our current best theories in some way undermine or support traditional religious beliefs or are they irrelevant to religious faith?

Text: Martin Curd and J.A. Cover. 1998. Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Bio-Medical Ethics & Public Health Risk
43708 01 (23904)
Shrader-Frechette
3:30-6:00 T
Cross List: HESB 43538, STV 40216

Designed for premedical students and those interested in the environment, science, and engineering, the course will survey ethical issues associated with current public-health problems such as pollution-induced cancers occupational injury and death, and inadequate emphasis on disease prevention, nutrition, and environmental health.

Courses requirements: Weekly quizzes but no tests, weekly one-page reading reports, 3 one-page papers, readings for every class, participation in classroom analysis.

Joint Seminar Philosophy/Theology: Augustine and Aquinas on Knowing God
43801 01 (TBA)
Jenkins/Daley
9:35-12:35 Fridays
PH/TH STUDENTS ONLY

One of the central problems for people of faith has always been the source and the validity of language about God: if the divine origin of all things is utterly transcendent, infinite, eternal, and super-personal, how is it possible for humans to form sufficiently clear ideas about him to speak to or about him with assurance? What kind of experience is our knowledge and speech about God based on? What can we say about God with confidence? The roots of this problem lie in classical philosophy, but it came also to be a central preoccupation of many Christian theologians, whose reflections are centered on the Bible and the lived faith of the Church. This seminar, intended for upper level joint majors in philosophy and theology, will consider some major texts on the subject by Saint Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, in relation both to the philosophical traditions on which they drew and to their own theological concerns. After a brief look at some treatises of Plotinus, we will read Augustine's On theTeacher, his Confessions, and his essays On the Advantage of Believing and On Faith in the Unseen. We will then read Ps.-Dionysius's Mystical Theology, and finally focus on Thomas's On Truth, question 14, and on the first 17 questions of his Summa Theologiae. We will also hear brief reports on contemporary scholarly interpretations of what Augustine and Thomas have to tell us about our ability to know and speak of God. Attendance, reading the texts, and a final paper will be the main requirements.

PH/TH STUDENTS ONLY

Philosophy of Religion
43802 01 (28017)
Rea
11:45-1:00 MW

This course will survey some of the central problems and debates in contemporary philosophy of religion. We will discuss the problem of evil, the hiddenness of God, religious pluralism and religious skepticism, the nature of faith, and a variety of arguments in support of the rationality of religious belief.

Texts: Pojman & Rea (eds.), Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, 5th edition, and a course packet.

Requirements: A few short papers or in-class presentations or both, and a term paper.

Philosophy of Mathematics
43906 01 (28020)
Bays
11:00-12:15 TR

This class will examine three questions: What are mathematical truths about? How do we come to know these truths? What role do these truths play in natural science? Focus will be on the ways these questions have been addressed in the recent literature.

The class itself will be a seminar. Each student will give one or two in-class presentations and write a term paper. There will be no final exam.

Directed Readings
46498 01 (20497)
Holloway

Directed Readings
46498 02 (20624)
Holloway

Senior Thesis
48499 01 (21941)
O'Connor

* These courses are typically for majors only and are more difficult than 20000 level courses. For a permission only course, you must sign up for an appointment with Professor O'Connor, the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Sign up sheets will be posted in the hallway outside 100 Malloy Hall. Non major sign up sheets are at the end of advising as majors get first preference.

Department of Philosophy

Undergraduate Course Descriptions Spring 2008

Click here to see Fall 2007 Course Descriptions

Spring 2008 Course Descriptions

All 30000 and 40000 level courses are by permission only *

College of Arts and Letters