What does it mean to live well? How can we achieve happiness, contentment, or satisfaction in life? How should we deal with life’s inevitable disappointments, difficulties, and suffering? This course will explore a variety of answers to these questions by considering the wisdom and insights from a variety of schools of thought, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Stoicism, and contemporary movements. By the end of the course, students will formulate their own philosophy of living well and put it into practice.
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This course will significantly improve your reasoning abilities, helping you to become (1) a more careful reader, listener, and thinker, (2) a better judge of evidence and arguments, and (3) more skilled at expressing your ideas in a compelling and effective way. The course will cover: perceptual schemas, cognitive biases, credibility, the uses and abuses of language, recognizing and evaluating arguments, recognizing fallacies, active listening, and nonverbal communication. There will be ample opportunity to develop your reasoning abilities through analysis of a variety of philosophical, religious, ethical, and political arguments.
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A study of those issues which are of common concern to philosophy and religion. Topics focused upon include: the nature and function of religion; the existence and attributes of God; the claims of reason and the claims of faith; God and the problem of evil; the meaning of religious statements; religious experience and the inexpressible; religion and morality; human freedom and the meaning of life.
An introductory exploration of basic ethical issues from different philosophical perspectives as well as from the vantage point of the Christian faith. This course is designed to encourage a thoughtful appraisal of the deep questions of life within the broadest possible context.
A survey of the history of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratics through the scholastics, concentrating upon the main thinkers, ideas, and cultural developments of the period.
A survey of the history of Western philosophy from the 17th Century through the 20th Century, concentrating upon the main thinkers, ideas and cultural developments which have shaped the modern mind.
In this course, students will read texts from philosophers across various time periods covering issues in the philosophy of science, such as the distinction between science and pseudoscience, values in scientific research, issues with underdetermination, the laws of nature, and scientific empiricism. Upon completing the course, students will be able to articulate several philosophical positions concerning each of the topic areas listed above. Assignments and readings have been selected to will help the student achieve the larger goal of recognizing the structure of arguments, articulating arguments, improving reading comprehension, and improving communication skills.
This course is a survey of Western philosophical thought with the purpose of introducing students of theology to the philosophical ideas which have had a significant influence on the development of Christian theology. Tradition and Culture Course.
This course is devoted to concentrated study in liberation theologies and philosophies. Liberation theologies grow out of a wide variety of historical situations spanning the globe. Specific attention will be given to understanding the differences between a variety of schools of liberation thought and applications of those schools to historical or contemporary situations.
This course will consider issues in global ethics, that is, ethical issues related to, or popularized by, transnational connections. As we study these issues, priority will be given to the perspectives of non-Western thinkers. Issues to be studied may include: the enduring legacies of colonialism, conception and critiques of human rights, gender relations and equality, non-Western conceptions of justice, the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of globalization,the impacts of global trade and "sweatshops," climate change, and terrorism. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of the complex ways people and societies in other parts of the world are impacted by global interconnections.
Religious views about the environment have profound impacts. Examining religious views about what the environment is, what its importance is, and what humans’ relationship to it is reveals ideas behind many modern day approaches to the environment. The religious component to environmental views—views promoting the environment as a good in itself and views promoting the notion of the environment as a means to human ends—is explored in this class. Students will interpret religious texts, explain key concepts in various religious and philosophical perspectives, and orally articulate theological viewpoints.
This course will survey some of the major texts of classical Chinese and Japanese philosophy in order to develop an understanding of the development of the broad strains of Asian philosophy. Some attention will also be given to the roots of Buddhism in India; to the influence of Asian philosophies on early American philosophy; and to the reception and influence of classical texts in contemporary Asian and American culture.
This course is an introduction to American philosophy. The aim of the course is to provide a survey of the main movements and texts of American Philosophy, including early religious philosophies, American Idealisms, the American Enlightenment, Transcendentalism, Pragmatism, Radical Empiricism, and the philosophy of science.
This course explores significant issues in social ethics in the United States, including some or all of the following: race, gender, sexuality, bioethics, crime and punishment, immigration, economic justice, and the environment. Attention will be given to contemporary debates on these issues as well as their development historically and their relation to American cultures and institutions. Study of these issues will help deepen our thinking about key American ideals such as freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness.
This course aims to familiarize students with the major themes and arguments of environmental philosophy through careful reading of classical and contemporary literature. It is an introduction to the philosophical issues concerning nature and the environment. Topics may include: philosophy of nature, environmental ethics, animal rights, hunting and fishing, water use, land ethics and agriculture, forestry, ecophenomenology, deep ecologies, environment and social justice, new technologies, wilderness, sustainability, and biodiversity. For Philosophy majors (and for those who may add the major later on) this course also serves as their senior seminar.
This course investigates the nature of minds, considering such questions as: Can minds be reduced to brains? If so, how can they represent the world, or carry meaning? And how can we be rational agents? If, on the other hand, minds are immaterial, how could they emerge out of, and interact with, the physical world? Can we create machines with minds? Is there a difference between simulating intelligence and actually having it? Could things with artificial intelligence be subjects of consciousness? What does it mean to have consciousness, or be a subject, anyway? Topics at the intersection of philosophy and the sciences may include: the unity of consciousness and split-brains; autism and theory of mind; animals and self-awareness.
This course examines the nature and extent of human freedom, considering such questions as: Is free will compatible with determinism? If the natural world is indeterministic, can we be free? Human freedom will matter in so far as it’s necessary for moral responsibility, so we will examine the relationship between these concepts, and the implications of various accounts of free will for practices of praise and blame, reward and punishment. We will also consider what the sciences can tell us, looking at skeptical challenges arising from neuroscience and psychology to the claim that we are normally free and responsible for what we do, and considering empirical work on issues like addiction and psychopathy.
This course focuses on the development of advanced critical thinking and logical reasoning skills. Students will sharpen their ability to recognize and evaluate the logical structure of reasoning as it occurs in everyday examples and advanced argumentation through the study of propositional logic (including validity, soundness, truth-tables, and implication rules), and predicate logic. Students will study inductive logic, including techniques such as generalization, causal argument, inference to best explanation, probabilistic reasoning, and decision theory. This course is particularly valuable for those intending to take the LSAT or other graduate school examinations.
An examination of classical and modern political theory, concentrating on selected works from each period. Emphasis will be placed on differing interpretations of human nature, power, justice, and the best political order.
A concentrated study of one or more philosophers, a period or particular branch of philosophy.
In consultation with a faculty member, a second semester senior will select a research topic. With supervision from the faculty member, the student will research and write a paper during the semester. At a final senior thesis forum, the student will present his/her paper to fellow seniors as well as the faculty of the department.
Senior Standing