Philosophy

PHIL 101: Logic 
Colin Patrick MWF 9:10am-10:10am
Joel Martinez MWF 11:30am - 12:30pm

Analyses of arguments with an emphasis on formal analysis. Propositional and predicate calculus, deductive techniques, and translation into symbolic notation.

Prerequisites: None. 

PHIL 102: Introduction to Philosophy
J.M Fritzman MWF 10:20am-11:20am

Introduction to problems and fields of philosophy through the study of major philosophers’ works and other philosophical texts. Specific content varies with instructor.

Prerequisites: None. 

PHIL 103: Ethics
Colin Patrick MWF 10:20am-11:20am

Fundamental issues in moral philosophy and their application to contemporary life.

Prerequisites: None 

PHIL 215: Philosophy and the Enviornment
Jay Odenbaugh TTH1:50pm-3:20pm

Investigation of philosophical questions about our relationship to the environment. Topics include the value of individual organisms, species, ecosystems; the concepts of wildness and wilderness; aesthetics of natural environments; and the relationship between ecological science and environmental policy.

Prerequisites: None.

PHIL 307: Recent Continental Philosophy
J.M. Fritzman MWF 10:20am - 11:20am 

Key movements such as psychoanalysis, phenomenology, hermeneutics and existentialism, structuralism, Marxism, poststructuralism and deconstruction, critical theory.

Prerequisites: Any 100- or 200-level philosophy course.

Restrictions: Sophomore standing required. 

PHIL 310: Metaphysics
Jay Odenbaugh TTH 11:30pm-1:00pm

Personal identity, time, free will, composition, persistence, universals, particulars, possibility, necessity, realism, antirealism.

Prerequisites:PHIL 101. PHIL 250. PHIL 102 or one course in the history of
philosophy sequence (PHIL 301 through PHIL 307) recommended.

Restrictions: Sophomore standing required. 

PHIL 312: Philosophy of Language
Rebecca Copenhaver TTH 9:40am-11:10am

Philosophical issues concerning truth, meaning, and language in the writings of 20th century thinkers such as Frege, Russell, Grice, Putnam, Quine, Searle, Kripke.

Prerequisites: PHIL 101. PHIL 250. PHIL 102 or one course in the history of
philosophy sequence (PHIL 301 through PHIL 307) recommended.

Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.

PHIL 314: Ethical Theory
Joel Martinez MWF 12:40pm-1:40pm

The main systematic approaches to issues in moral philosophy. Meta-ethics: meaning of moral terms, relativism, subjectivism, ethics and science, social contract theory. Normative ethics: deontological duties, utilitarianism, virtue and character, egoism, rights, natural law, justice, blameworthiness, excuses.

Prerequisites: PHIL 102 or PHIL 103. PHIL 250.

Restrictions: Sophomore standing required

PHIL 453: Advanced Themes in Philosophy: Memory 
Rebecca Copenhaver TTH 1:50pm - 3:20pm

Memories play a central role in our lives. But what exactly do we remember? Do we recall our subjective experiences of the past or the past itself? Are our memories mainly even about the past? When I remember the route to work it seems like I’m doing something for the present, not the past. And what about memories of things that never happened? Are these memories or imaginings? How accurate does memory have to be in order for it to be evidence? What are the ethics of memory, including public memory? Are there things we have a duty to forget? To remember? What do public memorials and monuments do, and can they do harm?

Prerequisites: PHIL 101. PHIL 250. One 300-level philosophy course or
consent of instructor.

Restrictions: Sophomore standing required