Course Descriptions
Lower Division
100. General Logic (4)
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition) and either GE Section A.3 (Math) or MATH 210. A study of deductive and inductive inferences. Attention to formal and informal fallacies and the relations of logic and language. Emphasis on critical thinking and the attainment of skill in it. Not open to students who have completed Philosophy 200. (Available for General Education, Basic Subjects.)
150. Introduction to Philosophical Thought (3)
Prerequisite: EPT score of 151 or higher, or credit in Developmental Writing 098, or completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition). An introduction to philosophy emphasizing the concepts of knowledge, reality and mind with attention to such topics as scepticism, dogmatism, common sense, materialism, mind-body dualism, the existence of God and free will. (Available for General Education, Humanities.)
160. Introduction to Philosophy: Society and Values (3)
Prerequisite: EPT score of 151 or higher, or credit in Developmental Writing 098, or completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition). Philosophy 150 is not a prerequisite. An introduction to philosophy emphasizing questions concerned with evaluations of human conduct, social institutions, and works of art. (Available for General Education, Humanities.)
165: Today's Moral Issues (3)
Prerequisite: EPT score of 151 or higher, or credit in Developmental Writing 098, or completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition). A philosophical examination of a range of today's moral issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, the environment, war, and world hunger. (Available for General Education, Applied Arts and Sciences.)
200. Critical Reasoning (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition) and either GE Section A.3 (Math) or MATH 210. Examination of the relationship between logic and language. An accelerated introduction to the concepts essential to the identification, analysis and evaluation of arguments, with attention to deduction, induction and common fallacies. Emphasis on the application of these concepts. Not open to students who have completed Philosophy 100. (Available for General Education, Basic Subjects.)
201. Ancient Philosophy (3)
Prerequisite: EPT score of 151 or higher, or credit in Developmental Writing 098, or completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition). A critical examination of selected topics in ancient Western philosophic thought, with attention to the pervasive influence of Plato and Aristotle. (Available for General Education, Humanities.)
202. Modern Philosophy (3)
Prerequisite: EPT score of 151 or higher, or credit in Developmental Writing 098, or completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition). Philosophy 201 is not a prerequisite. A critical examination of topics in modern philosophic thought, selected from the writings of such figures as Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. (Available for General Education, Humanities.)
210. Reasoning in the Sciences (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Section A.1 (Composition) and either GE Section A.3 (Math) or MATH 210. The concepts, methods, and limitations involved in the systematic procedures of empirical inquiry in the sciences and in ordinary thought, e.g., probability, measurement, causal relations, statistical inference, the concepts of "law" and "theory." (Available for General Education, Basic Subjects.)
230. Introduction to Formal Logic (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Section A.1 (Written Composition) and either GE Section A.3 (Mathematics) or MATH 210. An introduction to modern deductive logic; includes propositional logic and theory of quantification. (Available for General Education, Basic Subjects.)
296A-Z. Experimental Topics in Philosophy (3-4)
Selected topics in philosophy with course content to be determined.
Upper Division
301. Moral Problems in Contemporary Society (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. A philosophical inquiry into contemporary moral problems arising in fields of endeavor such as the law, medicine, politics, and public policy. Discussion of these issues will be based upon reading of non-philosophic as well as philosophic sources.
303. Sexual Ethics (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. An examination of some of the moral issues in sexual conduct.
305. Business Ethics and Public Policy (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. An application of the insights and methods of moral philosophy to a practical examination of contemporary moral problems and normative issues of public policy concerning the conduct and responsibilities of individuals and firms in business and the organization and role of business and economic institutions in society. Regular written assignments will be required. (Available for General Education, Applied Arts and Sciences.)
310. Philosophical Problems (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement and 3 units of philosophy. An introduction for upper-division students to such central philosophic problems as knowledge, truth, reality and mind. Regular written assignments will be required. Not open to students who have completed Philosophy 150. (Available for General Education, Humanities.)
313. Philosophy of Film and Literature (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. A study of philosophical ideas and problems as expressed in works of literature. Regular written assignments will be required.
318. American Philosophy (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement and 3 units of philosophy. A study of the dominant movements in American thought, from the Puritans to the early 20th century: the Colonial Period (Jonathan Edwards), the Enlightenment (Thomas Jefferson), the Transcendentalists (Emerson and Thoreau), the Pragmatists (Peirce and William James), and idealistic and other early 20th-century movements (Royce, Dewey). Attention to issues such as freedom, persons and nature, and science and values. Regular written assignments will be required.
330. Philosophy of Science (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. An analysis of the concepts reality, knowledge, mind and theory which attempts to answer the question: What is the character of the scientific picture of human beings and nature? (Available for General Education, Humanities)
331. Intermediate Logic (3)
Prerequisite: Philosophy 230. Continution of Philosophy 230. Preliminary examination of various extensions of classical formal systems such as theory of identity, theory of descriptions and modal logic, and an introduction to the methods of appraising formal systems (consistency and semantic completeness). (Available for General Education, Basic Subjects.)
338. Philosophy of Religion (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. An examination of the conceptual problems religious claims pose and arguments regarding knowledge of God, evil, miracles, death and survival, religious experience, religion and morals, faith and reason. Regular written assignments will be required.
339. Philosophical Issues in Religion (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. A philosophical examination of issues relating to religion, for instance, whether religion requires belief, how drugs relate to religious experience, the nature of mysticism, and the relation between religion and ethics.
341. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. An examination of some of the main issues in the thought of Kierkegaard and the thought of Nietzsche, such as subjective and objective truth, the logic of faith, the category of transvaluation and the death of God.
342. Existentialism (3)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement and 3 units of philosophy. A study of some representative works of the major existentialists, with the aim of discovering the fundamental tenets of existentialism. Emphasis will be placed on existentialism's influence on and relevance to contemporary thought. Regular written assignments will be required.
343. Indian Philosophy (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. A survey of Indian philosophy from the Vedic period to the modern era with attention to relationships between India's philosophies, history and culture. (Available for General Education, Comparative Cultural Studies.)
344. Chinese Philosophy (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. A survey of Chinese philosophy from Confucius to the People's Republic with attention to relationships between China's philosophies, history and culture. Regular written assignments will be required. (Available for General Education, Comparative Cultural Studies.)
345. Social and Political Philosophy (4)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement; 3 units of philosophy. A survey of classical and contemporary theoretical approaches in social and political philosophy. Covers the work of thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Marx, and Mill, as well as such topics as liberty, equality, justice and democracy. Will also include regular sessions on philosophical writing and methodology. Regular written assignments will be required.
348. Philosophy and Feminism (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. A philosophical analysis of the concept woman in contemporary U.S. culture, and other central concepts in feminist thought; for example, the nature of oppression, equality and justice, and relationships between sex, gender, and sexuality. A critical study of philosophical issues in feminism. Regular written assignments will be required. (Available for General Education, Comparative Cultural Studies.)
349. Philosophy & Public Affairs (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. Philosophic examination of the concepts, values, and arguments relevant to understanding and evaluating practical social and political issues central to current public debates concerning such matters as civil and political rights, social and economic inequality, the environment, biotechnology, economic policy and global trade, and the national defense. Regular written assignments will be required. (Available for General Education, Humanities, Section C-3.)
350. Epistemology and Metaphysics (4)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement and 3 units of philosophy. An examination of traditional epistemological problems with attention to major positions such as empiricism and rationalism and with attention to related metaphysical topics such as causality, space and time, substance, and possible worlds. Will also include regular sessions on philosophical writing and methodology. Regular written assignments will be required.
355. Mind and Reality (4)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement and 3 units of philosophy. An examination of traditional and contemporary views concerning the mind, such as the nature of consciousness and intentionality, the prospects and limitations of artificial intelligence and psychological explanation, the nature of mental causation, and the relationship between mind and body. Will also include regular sessions on philosophical writing and methodology. Regular written assignments will be required.
360. Ethical Theory (4)
Prerequisites: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement and 3 units of philosophy. A survey of classical and contemporary theoretical approaches to moral philosophy. Covers such theories as utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, ethical relativism, and the divine command theory. Will also include regular sessions on philosophical writing and methodology. Regular written assignments will be required.
380. Aesthetics (3)
Prerequisites: 3 units of philosophy and completion of the lower-division writing requirement. An examination of issues in aesthetics such as the nature of art, the paradox of fiction, the role of censorship, the idea of ineffability, the concepts of beauty and genius, and the relationship of art to morality, cognition, aesthetic experience and theory.
390. Philosophy of Law (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the lower-division writing requirement. Philosophical questions arising from the analysis and evaluation of concepts and theories connected with law: law and morality, justice, freedom and responsibility, and the nature of judicial reasoning. Regular written assignments will be required.
396A-Z. Selected Topics in Philosophy (3-4)
Selected topics in philosophy with course content to be determined.
401. Advanced Ancient Philosophy (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including PHIL 201; at least one of PHIL 346, 350, 355, or 360 is also strongly recommended. A detailed study of selected works by Ancient philosophers, with an emphasis on Plato and Aristotle.
402. Advanced Modern Philosophy (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including PHIL 202; at least one of PHIL 346, 350, 355, or 360 is also strongly recommended. A detailed study of selected works by modern philosophers from Descartes to Mill.
403. Contemporary Philosophy (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 346, 350, 355, or 360. An examination of selected contemporary philosophical writings.
431. Philosophical Topics in Logic (3)
Prerequisite: 6 units of philosophy including PHIL 230; at least one of PHIL 346, 350, 355, or 360 is also strongly recommended. An examination of philosophical issues in logic, such as the nature of and choices between logical systems and the relation of logic to traditional philosophical issues.
439. Phenomenology (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 350 or 355. A study of the phenomenological approach to issues such as the nature of consciousness, the role of intentionality and meaning in experience, and our experiential relations to others and the world around us. The focus will usually be on one or more historically significant phenomenologists, e.g., Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre.
445. Philosophy of Language (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 350 or 355. An examination of selected topics concerning the nature of language, such as sense and reference, theories of meaning, pragmatics and speech acts, meaning skepticism, the analytic/synthetic distinction, and metaphor.
446. Advanced Social and Political Philosophy (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of Phil 346 or 360. An advanced analysis and evaluation of selected topics in social and political philosophy, such as the nature of justice, equality, liberty, political rights, and the law.
450. Advanced Epistemology and Metaphysics (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 350 or 355. An advanced study of selected topics in epistemology and metaphysics, such as internalism and externalism, rationalism and empiricism, theories of knowledge, skepticism, causality, possible worlds, space and time, and universals and particulars.
455. Advanced Topics in Mind and Reality (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 350 or 355. An advanced study of selected topics concerning the mind and its relation to reality, such as the nature of consciousness, intentionality, mental causation, psychological explanation, artificial intelligence, and the mind/body problem.
460. Advanced Ethical Theory (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 346 or 360. An investigation of advanced topics in ethical theory such as moral responsibility, justice, human rights, intrinsic values, and the justification of punishment.
495. Advanced Philosophy of the Sciences (3)
Prerequisites: 6 units of philosophy including at least one of PHIL 330 or 350 or 355. An advanced study of one or more key issues in the philosophy of science or philosophical issues in the special sciences, such as explanation, causality, laws and theories, theory evaluation, realism and anti-realism, and relations between the physical and social sciences.
496A-Z. Selected Topics in Philosophy (3-4)
Selected topics in philosophy with course content to be determined.
497. Senior Research Seminar (3)
Prerequisites: Senior standing and at least 21 units in philosophy courses. Extended research project on a topic of the student’s choice. Collaborative learning is required. Team projects are encouraged. The focus will be on formulating a thesis and pursuing appropriate means of developing it in a research project. Class meetings will focus on research methodologies and on students’ discussion of their projects.
499. Independent Study (1-3)