Undergraduate Course Descriptions

PHI 101 - Introduction to Philosophy - Explores issues that philosophers have traditionally considered, including morality, reality, and knowledge. General studies: HU

PHI 103 - Principles of Sound Reasoning - Fallacies, validity, and soundness of arguments. May include syllogistic, elementary symbolic, inductive logic, and scientific method. Prerequisite: ENG 101 or 105. General studies: HU/L credit

PHI 105 - Introduction to Ethics - Philosophical examination of such questions as, How should we live? Is morality a social invention? Does anything matter? General Studies: HU

PHI 120 - Introduction to Medical and Bioethics - Philosophical examination of moral problems that arise in medicine and biology, e.g. end-of-life, reproduction, and patient's rights.

PHI 300 - Philosophical Argument and Exposition - Develops techniques of philosophical argument and exposition. Frequent written exercises. Course content may vary with instructor. Prerequisites: major, instructor approval. General Studies: L

PHI 301 - History of Ancient Philosophy - History of western philosophy from its beginnings through the Hellenistic period. General studies: HU, H

PHI 302 - History of Modern Philosophy - History of western philosophy from the Renaissance through Kant. General studies: HU, H

PHI 304 - Existentialism - Covers such topics as absurdity, authenticity, the meaning of life and death, responsibility, and subjectivity. May include readings in phenomenology. Prerequisite: PHI 101 or 103 or 105 or instructor approval. General Studies: HU

PHI 305 - Ethical Theory - Current theories about the nature of morality (metaethics) and about what is right and wrong (normative ethics). Prerequisite: PHI 105 or 306 or 307 or 309 or 335 or instructor approval. General Studies: HU

PHI 306 - Applied Ethics - Philosophical discussion of contemporary moral and political issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, animal rights, affirmative action, and sexual rights. General Studies: HU

PHI 307 - Philosophy of Law - Nature and source of law and its relation to morality. Legal rights, legal enforcement of morals, civil disobedience, liability and responsibility, punishment, judicial reasoning, justice, property, and differences between theories of natural and positive law. General Studies: HU

PHI 308 - Philosophy of Art - Central problems in philosophy of art, e.g., the nature of a work of art, modern and traditional theories of art, aesthetic perception and experience, and objectivity and relativity in art criticism. General Studies: HU

PHI 309 - Social and Political Philosophy - Alternative principles and methods relevant to problems of human association and conflict; justice and power, freedom and equality, and autonomy and order are discussed. Prerequisite: PHI 105 or 305 or 335 or instructor approval. General Studies: HU

PHI 310 - Environmental Ethics - Examines a full range of philosophical positions pertaining to our moral relationship to the natural world; anthropocentrism, individualism, biocentrism. General Studies: HU

PHI 311 - Philosophy in Literature - Selected works of literature introducing philosophical problems such as the nature of moral goodness and people's relation to the world and other people. General Studies: HU

PHI 312 - Theory of Knowledge - Nature, sources, and limits of human knowledge. Topics may include truth, a priori knowledge, empirical knowledge, perception, induction, and skepticism. Prerequisite: PHI 101 or 103 or 300 or 301 or 302 or 333. General Studies: HU

PHI 314 - Philosophy of Science - Structure and justification of scientific theories, explanation, and theory change. Roles of observation and laws, theoretical concepts and entities, reduction, probability, confirmation, space and time, and causation. General Studies: HU

PHI 315 - Philosophy of Language - Problems pertaining to the nature of language, including meaning, reference, truth, definition, analyticity, translatability, synonymy, and contributions of contemporary linguistics. Prerequisite: PHI 103 or 300 or 333. General Studies: HU

PHI 316 - Metaphysics - Problems pertaining to the nature of reality. Topics may include nature of person, minds, substance, universals, space, time, causation, and modality. Prerequisite: PHI 101 or 103 or 300 or 301 or 333. General Studies: HU

PHI 317 - Philosophy of Mind - Nature of consciousness. Common sense view of mind, behaviorism, materialism, dualism, functionalism, self-knowledge, and knowledge of other minds. Prerequisite: PHI 101 or 103 or 300 or 301 or 302 or 333. General Studies: HU

PHI 318 - Philosophy of Religion - Classical arguments for the existence of God. Argument from evil against the existence of God. Justification of religious belief. Prerequisite: any PHI or REL course. General Studies: HU

PHI 319 - Philosophy of Computing - Philosophical problems surrounding the theory of computation. Turing machines, mind and AI, neural network computing, ethics, and epistemology of computing. Lecture, lab, discussion. General Studies: CS/HU

PHI 320 - Bioethics - Criticial examination of mora lquestions arising in biomedical contexts, particularly due to new technologies and scientific discoveries.

PHI 325 - Philosophy of Social Science - Philosophical problems surrounding the aims, structure, and methods of the social sciences. General studies: HU/SB

PHI 332 - 19th-Century Philosophy - The history of 19th-century philosophical thought, emphasizing either the German or the British traditions. Prerequisite: PHI 302. General Studies: HU

PHI 333 - Introduction to Symbolic Logic - Symbolic techniques, emphasizing deductions and proofs in the propositional and 1st-order predicate calculi.

PHI 335 - History of Ethics - Major works of moral philosophy, both ancient and modern, such as those by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and Mill. Prerequisite: PHI 101 or 105 or 305 or 306 or 307 or 309 or instructor approval. General Studies: HU

PHI 401 - Rationalism - Examines classical philosophical rationalism, as in Descartes, Spinoza, Malebranche, or Leibniz. Contemporary rationalist thought may also be examined. Prerequisites: PHI 302 and 305 (or 309 or 312 or 316 or 317).

PHI 402 - Empiricism - Examines representatives of either classical or contemporary philosophical empiricism, e.g., Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Butler, Berkeley, Reid, Hume, Mill, Carnap, and Ayer. Prerequisites: PHI 302 and 305 (or 309 or 312 or 316 or 317). General Studies: HU

PHI 403 - Contemporary Analytic Philosophy - Aims and methods of such 20th-century philosophers as Frege, Moore, Russell, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Ayer, Wisdom, Ryle, Austin, Strawson, Quine, and Sellars, with application to metaphysics and epistemology. Prerequisites: PHI 302 and 312 (or 314 or 315 or 316 or 317 or 401 or 402). General Studies: HU

PHI 413 - Advanced Symbolic Logic - Properties of formal systems axiomatizing propositional and 1st-order predicate logic. May also include modal logic, number theory, and limits of logicism. Prerequisite: PHI 333

PHI 420 - Topics in Philosophy - Course descriptions on file in department. Topics may be selected from the following:

• History of Philosophy
• Metaphysics/Epistemology
• Philosophy of Language/Logic
• Philosophy of Science
• Value Theory

*PHI 420 courses may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: one relevant upper-division PHI course or instructor approval.

PHI 428 - Immunophilosophy - Integrates immunology and philosophy, including psychoneuroimmunology and the mind-body problem, and immunologic/psychologic perspectives on self and self-identity. Discussion, original literature readngs and written assignments. Cross-listed as MIC 428. Credit is allowed for only MIC 428 or PHI 428. Pre- or corequistes: MIC 420 or PHI 317 or instructor approval.

Note: The HPS courses have been moved to the new School of Life Sciences.