PHIL - Philosophy

This course serves to introduce philosophy majors to the discipline of philosophy and to aid their transition to college by introducing students to services and opportunities at the University and skills necessary for successful college work.

A first study of the major themes and issues of philosophy. Recommended but not required for the advanced philosophy course.

A study of the requirements of clear thinking in all areas of human experience.

This course will investigate the meanings and origins of myth and magic from a couple of different perspectives. It will be concerned mainly with the historical and psychological origins of mythical and magical entities and practices, their efficacies and social and religious functions, as well as their impacts on the psychological development of individual personalities.

Nietzsche claims that art and not morality is the real metaphysical activity of life. We will examine several philosophers who argue art can be much more than a pleasant diversion. We will investigate their claims about art while also considering whether selected paintings, films, pieces of music, and installations do what philosophers believe they do. This will be a discussion based seminar. (Prerequisite: Survey of Philosophy or permission of the instructor).

Problems in the concept of knowledge, such as the definition of knowledge, theories of truth, and the acquisition and justification of belief.

A study of problems such as personal identity and human nature; freedom and determinism; teleology; space, time, matter, and causality; and paradigm shifts.

Issues such as the definition and justification of the state, human rights, justice, social welfare, and social obligations. Readings from classical and modern sources.

Major Western theories, such as relativism, egoism, utilitarianism, naturalism, and so on.

Religious experiences have been playing a most important role in human activities and social evolutions. From certain perspective, the manifestations of religious feelings are much wider than the faith and ceremonies of any set of consecrated doctrines. We can observe religious implications - or what Freud calls "oceanic feelings" - in a hodgepodge of phenomena including football festivities, spending sprees, stock market skyrocketing, obsessive gambling, sexual exhilarations, substance addictions, intellectual enlightenments, aesthetic engrossments, patriotic fanaticisms, and suicide bombings. With a view to untangling some hidden mysteries underlying various religious feelings, this course intends to explore the nature and origins of religious experiences from a combination of philosophical, psychoanalytical, and comparative approaches.

Sartre urged us to take responsibility for our lives and much of existentialist literature has explored how to go about doing that. This course will examine major works from thinkers who have been labeled as existentialists such as Camus, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir. It may also include works of literature that have been labeled existentialist and ask how they relate to the theories. This will be a discussion based seminar. Prerequisite: Survey of Philosophy or permission of the instructor.

This course will explore the authentic meanings of Confucianism and Daoism as well as their significance for modern life. We will study some most representative treatises on and translations of Confucian and Daoist classics. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with historical and philosophical facts about these schools of thinking and to help student to develop and in-depth understanding of selected texts from each of these schools. At the same time, the course aims to prepare students for the skills of critical thinking in the encountering of different cultural and value systems.

Prior approval of department chairperson and or the coordinator is required. Investigation of a topic of special interest, with reports to instructor.

Consideration of topics in which courses are not otherwise offered, but for which there is a current need. Subject matter varies.