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Philosophy Course Offering Fall 2007
Listed by number for Fall of 2007
Lower Division Courses [go]
Note: Both 100- and 200-level courses are appropriate as a first course in Philosophy. You do not have to take a 100-level before taking a 200-level course.
- PHIL 123.01A - Philosophy of Human Nature (HML) G Schaefer
- PHIL 123.02A - Philosophy of Human Nature (HML) G Schaefer
- PHIL 130-02A Social Philosophy (HML)C Wright
- PHIL 150.01A - Philosophy in Literature (HML) D Beach
- PHIL 153.01A & 02A - Philosophy & Gender (HML)J Keller
- PHIL 180.01A - Great Issues (HML) S Wagner
- PHIL 210.01A - Logic (HML) T Robinson
- PHIL 243.01A - Environmental Ethics (HML) C Wright
- Upper Division Courses[go]
- PHIL 333.01A - Medieval Philosophy (HMU) T Robinson
- PHIL 334.01A - Modern Philosophy (HMU)S Wagner
- PHIL 339.01A - Chinese Philosophy (HMU)C Wright
- PHIL 343.01A - Philosophy of Violence/Non-Violence (HMU)R McGraw
- PHIL 353.01A - Philosophy of Knowledge (HMU)E Esch
- PHIL 359.01A - Moral Philosophy (HMU)S Wagner
- PHIL 362.01A - Business Ethics (HMU)G Schaefer
- CORE Curriculum, Honors, etc. [go]
- Honors 250C.01A- Great Issues (HML) E Esch
- Honors 310.01A - Great Books/Ideas (HMU)D Beach
- CORE 390.05A - Senior Seminar: Social Issues and the LawT Robinson
- CORE 390.08A & 10A - Senior Seminar: Reading for LifeT Cunningham
Lower Division Courses
PHIL 123-01A -Philosophy of Human Nature
Instructor: Greg Schaefer
|
Section 01A |
A series of influential theories of human nature have developed in the West in the past 2,500 years. In this course we will assess them in terms of their underlying assumptions, rational coherence, and ultimate consequences (in particular, their implications for individual action and social coexistence). We will begin by looking at the development of the Western conception of human nature in the ancient Greeks, medieval Christians, early modern rationalists and empiricists, and Kant. After Kant, we will look at a series of thinkers who questioned the traditional Western conception: Marx, Freud, and the existentialists. Finally, we will look at the recent attempts of evolutionary biology and cognitive science to offer a new conception of human nature. In order to have some actual humans to think about, we will read two literary works: Euripides’ Hippolytus and Ibsen’s A Doll House.
PHIL 123-02A - Philosophy of Human Nature
Instructor: Greg Schaefer
Days: 2-4-6
Time: 1:00 - 2:10
Place: BAC A106 - CSB
CORE: HML
Banner CRN: 11223
Of all the things in the world that human beings wonder about, from whether world is composed out of air, earth, fire and water or the Periodic Table of Elements to the questions of morality and justice, perhaps no question has so occupied and perplexed thinkers as the question of human beings themselves. What are we? Are we fundamentally animals or rational beings? Spiritual beings? Do women and men share one nature, or are there separate natures or parts of nature for each? Is it possible for us to change who and how we are, or is our nature fixed in the laws of nature, in the design of God? Are humans fundamentally evil or good? Does human life have a meaning or is "meaning" simply an illusion we've created to comfort ourselves? We will look at these questions through readings from the Bible, from literature and philosophy, spanning the gamut from the ancient Greeks and Hebrews to 20th century existentialism.
PHIL 130-02A Social Philosophy
Instructor: Chuck Wright
Days: 2/4/6
Time: 11:20-12:30
Place: HAB 117 -CSB
CORE: HML
Banner CRN: 11236
In the United States today, most citizens tend to take for granted that liberty and equal treatment are fundamental parts of social justice. Not all people have thought this way, though. Thus the first part of the class will be devoted to the study of Plato’s Republic – a profoundly influential philosophical work that suggests that neither individual liberty or political equality are necessary for a well-ordered society. We are certain to disagree with Plato, and this disagreement will allow us to explore our reasons for valuing liberty and equality. This exploration will be aided by our study of two further classic texts in the Western tradition of political philosophy: John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government and Jean Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract. Following our examination of these philosophical sources for our society’s political ideals, the class will investigate the question whether or not freedom and equality are possible in a capitalist society. We shall read arguments from a variety of perspectives. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels will argue that the regime of private property is inherently oppressive. Joseph Pichler, Irving Kristol, Friedrich von Hayek, and others contend that capitalism and private property are the best guarantors of individual freedom. We will also read works of social science and investigative journalism such as Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Beth Schulman’s The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans, as well as selections from Erik Schlosser, Fast Food Nation and David Rieman, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison. These and other readings will provide detailed descriptions of the challenges faced by working Americans and so will be important sources of information for our deliberations as to whether the critics or defenders of capitalism are closer to the truth.
PHIL 150-01A - Philosophy in Literature
Instructor:D Beach
| Section 01A Days: 2-4-6 Time: 9:40 - 10:50 Place: Quad 353 - SJU CORE: HML Banner CRN: 11582 |
From the beginning of philosophy, literature reflects some of the same concerns that philosophy shows. Are we free? Who are we anyway? How do we deal with conflict? What is the meaning of love in human life? Where do we find meaning? Where do grief and death and pain and joy fit into the human situation? Where are we going in life and death? Some of the great writers that will appear in this course are Sophocles and Oedipus Rex, Emily Dickinson with some of her poetry with its overtones of death. And the role of love that runs through the Song of Songs in the Old Testament and on into The Memories of Old Jack by Wendell Berry. But I could never get through a course dealing with literature without looking at some shorter works of Thomas Mann, like The Holy Sinner and something of Tolstoy, like his Twenty-Three Tales or The Death of Ivan Ilych. As a reflection on literature we will look at Sartre’s What is Literature? Surely there will be papers over the course of the semester. I don’t yet know about exams
PHIL 153-01A& 02A - Philosophy and Gender
Instructor: Jean Keller
| Section 01A Days: 2-4-6 Time: 1:00 - 2:10 Place: HAB120 - CSB CORE: HML, Gender Banner CRN: 10788 |
Section 02A Days: 2-4-6 Time: 2:40 - 3:50 Place: HAB120 - CSB CORE: HML, Gender Banner CRN: 10789 |
This course will bring a philosophical perspective to the examination of gender, race and ethnicity, sexual identity, and the interconnections among them. Questions to be considered include: What does a specifically philosophical perspective bring to consideration of the above? Are gender, sexual identity, and race socially constructed or biological givens? How centrally do these aspects of identity inform: a) individuals’ experiences of the self? b) their experiences of the world around them? And c) how other respond to and treat them? What would it look like to truly treat people as individuals and give all person equal consideration and equal rights in full acknowledgement of the differences among us?
Specific sub themes include: intersexuality and transgender; debates surrounding gay marriage, gay families and Catholic perspective on homosexuality; considerations of masculinity, femininity, and feminism; gender identity and racial/ethnic identity; sexism, racism, and homophobia
PHIL 180-01A - Great Issues
Instructor: Stephen Wagner
| Section 01A Days: 2-4-6 Time: 11:20 - 12:30 Place: Quad 361- SJU CORE: HML Banner CRN: 11199 |
Throughout the ages, several issues have been central to the quest for philosophical insight about human existence. This course examines a number of those issues – free will vs. determinism, the making of moral judgments, the grounds for religious belief and other topics as time allows. Through careful reading of texts and class discussion, we will critically analyze the ideas that philosophers have offered and strive to formulate our own philosophical views on these issues.
PHIL 210-01A: Logic
Instructor: Tim Robinson
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 11:20 - 12:30
Place: Quad 353 - SJU
CORE: Quantitative Reasoning Flag
Banner CRN: 11583
This in an introductory course in philosophical logic. Theory is kept to a minimum. The emphasis is on practice. Much of the work is problem solving. The basic structure of logical procedure is used to sort out the coherence of arguments in ordinary language, and in symbolic and quantified language. This course carries a quantitative flag.
PHIL 243-01A: Environmental Ethics
Instructor: Chuck Wright
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 8:00 - 9:10
Place: HAB 106 - CSB
CORE: HML
Banner CRN: 10792
Environmental ethics was until relatively recently an oxymoron. There could be no such thing as “environmental ethics,” according to conventional wisdom, because humans had no ethical obligations to beings that were not human. However, the dominance of modern technology and industry and the unwanted (and largely unexpected) consequences of this dominance have caused modern humans to reconsider this comfortable assumption and to reflect on the values and moral convictions that structure our interaction with the nonhuman world. This class is an introduction to this process of reconsideration and reflection – we shall explore challenges and alternatives to traditional human-centered conceptions of morality. By taking a class in environmental ethics you will choose to engage in an ongoing process of inquiry that is of concern, quite literally, to every living being.
This class also represents an opportunity for you to prepare yourselves better for the responsibilities of democratic citizenship. Membership in a democratic society gives you a unique opportunity (and responsibility) to participate in a process of collective will formation that promises—for better or for worse—to shape the future of earth’s living systems.
Upper Division Courses
PHIL 333-01A - Medieval Philosophy
(Cross listed with JC #367A-01)
Instructor: Tim Robinson
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 2:40-3:50
Place: Quad 353- SJU
CORE: HML
Banner CRN: 11584
The history of medieval philosophy is a story whose chapters range over 1000 years and take place throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. In order to explore medieval ideas in some depth, we will focus on selected episodes in that story, examining a sample of major thinkers between Augustine and Aquinas. Our themes include the amalgamation of Greek philosophy by medieval thinkers, the integration of philosophic thought with religious belief, evolution in the institutional settings of philosophic inquiry, and the diversity of philosophic methods. If you want to learn how to be a real scholastic, this may be your only chance.
PHIL 334-01A - Modern Philosophy
Instructor: Steve Wagner
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 9:40 - 10:50
Place: Quad 361 - SJU
CORE: HMU
Banner CRN: 10795
We will look at the writings of some of the most important philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries. We will start with Descartes’ investigation of the Rationalist foundations of human knowledge, and then look at the response of the Empiricists to the Cartesian project. We will then look at Kant’s attempt to reconcile the two traditions. The course will involve careful, critical examination of the central texts of these philosophers. The writing for the course will involve two major papers and a number of short analytical papers of the assigned readings.
PHIL 339-01A -Chinese Philosophy
Instructor: Chuck Wright
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 9:40 - 10:50
Place: HAB 106 - CSB
CORE: HMU
Banner CRN: 11752
This course will explore the human condition through a close reading of selected foundational texts in the Chinese Philosophical traditions of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.
Central themes will include:
· The Confucian emphasis on individual cultivation of virtuous character as the preeminent goal in human life; the value and function of political authority as well as the risks inherent in its exercise; and the conditions under which cultivation of character would help assure the appropriate utilization of government authority.
· The Taoist analysis of humanity’s dysfunctional propensity to augment individual selves through the competitive pursuit of social goods; their conclusion that conventional aspirations create unnecessary conflict and undesirable difficulty both in individual as well as social life; and their proposed logic of “non-action,” according to which a genuinely satisfying life can only be obtained through disentangling one’s “strivings” from the conventional priorities and institutions of human society.
The influence of these two contrasting and mutually contesting directions of thought on Chinese Buddhist and neo-Confucian philosophy.
We will also examine Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist perspectives on:
- the tension between individual freedom and obligations to community;
- the problematic relation between cultivation of moral virtue and possession of worldly goods (wealth, power, prestige); and
- the question whether human being is essentially a social construct, or a metaphysical essence separate from convention and society.
In this course students will also study and discuss early Chinese philosophical teachings concerning the nature of male and female and their appropriate social roles; historical analyses of the role of Confucian teachings in constructing these gender categories and institutions; philosophical discussions of the compatibility of Confucian teachings with contemporary egalitarian gender sensibilities.
Study of the Chinese philosophical tradition will equip participants with: (a) a detailed understanding of moral and political concepts central to Chinese culture, as well as to all cultures influenced by Confucian or Chinese Buddhist concepts (e.g. Japan & Korea); (b) better developed interpretive skills necessary for building a global community based on mutual understanding; (c) practice in the skill of reaching understanding through the collaborative search for common meanings and shared moral & political convictions; (d) an understanding of how Western culture appears from Confucian, Taoist or Buddhist perspective; and (e) an understanding of whether or not, (and if so, how) indigenous Chinese philosophical teachings can be made compatible with Western conceptions of individual freedom and rights (for women in particular).
PHIL 343-01A -Philosophy of Violence/Non-Violence
Note: Cross-listed with PCST 343-01A
Instructor: Rene McGraw, OSB
Days: 2-4-6
Time: 11:20 - 12:30
Place: Quad 353 - SJU
CORE: HMU
Banner CRN: 11586
Classical and modern philosophy did not, in general, make the subject of violence and nonviolence an explicit theme of research. Contemporary philosophers have begun to investigate the structure of violence and nonviolence on both an ethical and metaphysical level. This course will concentrate on the way that violence in the contemporary world is related to our love affair with technology. Forgotten very often is our relationship to the other person, especially if the person is poor or the nation is of a different race or religion – an outsider. At the heart of the course will be a long essay by Martin Heidegger, entitled Question Concerning Technology. Surrounding that main text will be a long magazine article by James Der Derian, which gives an overview of the philosophical terrain, and the introduction to Emmanuel Levinas’ text Totality and Infinity. Two exams. One long paper. Daily writing of a paragraph.
PHIL 353-01A - Philosophy of Knowledge
Instructor: Emily Esch
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 1:00-2:10
Place: Quad 349 - SJU
CORE: HMU
Banner CRN: 11588
In this course, we will examine the nature and limitations of human knowledge. We will discuss both classical and contemporary theories of knowledge, and follow the historical development of rationalist and empiricist theories. We will also spend significant time on what is called the problem of other minds (how do we know what others are thinking?) and some problems of self-knowledge (how should we understand the nature of introspection? can I be wrong about the contents of my own mind? what distinguishes the first-person perspective from the third-person perspective?). Alternative years..
PHIL 359-01A - Moral Philosophy
Instructor: Stephen Wagner
Days: 2-4-6
Time: 9:40-10:50
Place: Quad 349 -SJU
CORE: HMU
Banner CRN: 10797
We will first consider some of the most prominent moral theories in the tradition of western philosophical thought, such as the views of Aristotle, John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant. We will analyze their views to see if they provide adequate guides for living a good life. We will then turn to a number of contemporary moral views which claim to offer variations or alternatives to the classical models – such as feminist ethics, virtue ethics, and the use of literary texts to develop moral points of view. Most of our work will be through class discussion of our readings. Our focus throughout will be to consider whether we can find guidance for our own lives in the moral views we will consider.
PHIL 362-01A - Business Ethics
Instructor: Greg Schaefer
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 11:20-12:30
Place: HAB 117 - CSB
CORE: HMU
CRN #: 10799
In this course we will examine the role of philosophy in business ethics, attempt to determine what moral managerial decision-making is, and apply our determination to current issues. We will begin by looking at the ways in which philosophy is adept at expanding the moral imagination in business, in revealing blind spots in managerial mental frameworks, and in ethically assessing various justifications for different conceptions of a market economy. We will develop our thinking in the context of various contemporary issues: meaningful work, marketing, the environment, and globalization. We will rely upon a series of readings (including philosophy, fiction, and nonfiction) and a series of films (both fictional and documentary).
Honors, CORE, and Other Courses
HONR 250C-01A- Great Issues
Open to First Year Honor Students Only
Instructor: Emily Esch
Days: 1-3-5
Time: 2:40-3:50
Place: Quad 339 - SJU
CORE: HML
CRN #: 10422
This writing intensive course introduces you to philosophy through the examination of some of philosophy’s biggest questions. The course is designed around the following five topics: the relationship between the mind and body, personal identity, morality, the concept of God and the problem of evil, and the nature of knowledge.
In respective order, these are some of the questions which fall under each topic. Is the mind an immaterial soul or is it identical to the brain? What makes it possible that you are the same person now that you were ten years ago, given that all sorts of facts about you have changed? What makes an action right or wrong, or a person good or bad? Is the traditional Christian conception of God compatible with the existence of evil in the world? Do we ever know anything? If so, what justifies our beliefs?
HONR 310-01A- Great Books/Ideas
Instructor:Dennis Beach
Days: 2-4-6
Time: 11:20-12:30
Place: Quad 343 - SJU
CORE: HMU
CRN #: 10423
This is a year-long discussion-based seminar that concentrates on some of the world’s greatest works of literature, philosophy, and intellectual history. Authors may include Ovid, Sophocles, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dickens, Austen, Thoreau, Biblical writers, García Márquez, Camus, Eliot, Faulkner, Nietzsche, Homer, Kafka, Flaubert, Stendhal, Dinesen, O’Connor, Plato, Saramago, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Woolf, and others. Preference will be given to junior and senior honors students who will complete the entire year. Registration is by permission of the instructor only. All students in this course purchase a personal library consisting of roughly 100 books, and students are required to read a number of works during the summer. Philosophy majors may substitute one semester for an elective towards the Philosophy major.
CORE 390-05A Senior Seminar: Social Issues and the Law
Instructor: Tim Robinson
Days: 2-4-6
Time: 1:00-2:10
Place: Quad 343 - SJU
CORE: SSem
CRN #: 10956
What role should moral values play in our thinking about legal and public policy issues? The answer depends in part on whether we can justify our moral judgments to each other. How can that be done? What exactly are moral judgments, anyway? We approach these questions by looking at the process of judicial reasoning in criminal law, both as a potential model for moral reasoning, and as a point of intersection between moral and legal considerations. We examine particular cases and issues, as well as more theoretical questions about the foundations of ethics and law.
CORE 390-08A Senior Seminar: Reading for Life
Instructor: Tony Cunningham
| Section 08A Days: Mondays Time: 6:00-9:00 Place: Quad 353-SJU CORE: SSem Banner CRN: 11224 |
Section 10A Days: Tuesdays Time: 6:00-9:00 Place: Quad 353-SJU CORE: SSem Banner CRN: 11224 |
Everyone loves a good story. Yet, great stories can provide us with far more than mere recreation. Stories can provide us with rich character portraits that can reveal the subtleties and nuances of what it mean to live well and responsibly. In this course we shall use novels and films to address Socrates’ most basic ethical questions, “How should one live?” and “What sort of person should I be?” We’ll do so by attending to the details of real-life and fictional characters embroiled in the “business of living.” Reading well offers the possibility of vicarious experience and ultimately, ethical insight. The goal of the Senior Seminar Core requirement is to help students to develop the ability to think about Socrates’ questions. Some of our readings may include Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; Richard Flanagan’s The Sound of One hand Clapping; Toni Morrison’s Beloved; Euripides’ Medea and Hecuba; Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee; Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day; and Charles Frazier’s Thirteen Moons.