Philosophy Course Descriptions

This course is designed to acquaint the student with the basic directions and problems of early western philosophical thought, particularly in the areas of epistemology and metaphysics. Starting with the pre-Socratics, through Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, this course concludes with study and comparison of the systems of Augustine and Aquinas. Class hrs. 3.

This course is designed to acquaint the students with the continental rationalists Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza. It contrasts their assumptions and methods with those of the British rationalists Locke, Berkley and Hume. The course concludes with attempts by Kant and by the American pragmatists to synthesize these divergent views. Class hrs. 3.

An introductory course in religion designed to study the histories, basic beliefs and characteristic practices of the world’s major religions. An explanation of Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are included. Tribal religions, as well as contemporary sects and cults, are also studied. Class hrs. 3.

This course is an introduction to the principles and methods of logical thinking. Topics included are language and logic, formal and informal logic, logical fallacies, critical thinking and an introduction to symbolic logic. Class hrs. 3.

This course explores moral philosophy through the writings of such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Benthan and Mill, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, James and Dewey, and Rawls. Through these readings students are introduced to the major ethical theories of eontology, consequentialism and relativism and come to understand how they may be compatible and in what areas they seem to be in opposition. The ethical ideas studied in the first half of the semester are then applied to a variety of contemporary conflicts. Class hrs. 3.