Course Catalog

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Course Catalog

TOPICS IN ME STUDIES (ME4910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

BELIEF, KNOWLEDGE, FACTS (PL1000)

Introduces the skills and techniques appropriate to philosophy. Analyzes examples of philosophical reasoning as well as ordinary reasoning, to make clear the nature of argument and show what is specific to philosophy. Aims to equip students with essential tools for the understanding of contemporary debate.

ETHICAL INQUIRY: PROBLEMS AND PARADIGMS (PL1021)

How should I live? How can I determine whether an action is right or just? These are perennial questions that philosophers have long considered and attempted to answer. Explores the ethical writings of several philosophers, including Plato, Hobbes, and Mill, in order to help us clarify and articulate our own values as well as discover the nature of philosophy.

FIRSTBRIDGE IN PHILOSOPHY (PL1099)

Firstbridge courses are offered to degree seeking freshmen and registration is done via webform in pre-arrival checklist.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I: FROM ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL (PL1100)

This course offers an overview of ancient and medieval philosophy. Beginning with the earliest Greek philosophers and ending with the late medieval founding fathers of modern scientific thought, we will read and discuss various answers these thinkers gave to questions such as: 'What is a good life?' or 'How can I reconcile my faith with what reason tells me?' Readings include Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Seneca, Plotinus, Anselm, Avicenna, Abelard, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas and Nicolaus of Autrecourt.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY II: FROM RENAISSANCE TO MODERN (PL1200)

Formerly PL2022. This course aims to provide a solid and comprehensive grounding in modern philosophy focusing on the main issues and theories of late Renaissance philosophy, modern Rationalism and Empiricism, philosophies of the Enlightenment, Critical philosophy, modern Idealism, Phenomenology and some questions of analytic philosophy. It offers an introduction to the works of the major figures of this tradition.

KNOWING WHY: FORMAL LOGIC AND CAUSAL REASONING (PL1300)

You will understand better why you and why others hold the beliefs they do. The course combines a complete introduction to propositional and predicate logic with an overview of types of causal reasoning. You will apply these new skills to analyze and engage with natural language arguments about philosophical topics and other controversial themes of the day.

TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY (PL1910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY (PL1910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (PL2003)

Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.