Return to Philosophy and Religion | Courses Index
[1] Courses in Philosophy (PHIL)
1301 PHILOSOPHY FOR LIVING A UCA Core course satisfying three hours of the Inquiry and Analysis requirement as a humanities elective. Develops basic skills in critical thinking, emphasizing clarification of personal values, major views of human nature, and issues in philosophical thought. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [ACTS: PHIL1103]
1330 WORLD PHILOSOPHIES A UCA Core elective satisfying the diversity in world cultures requirement. Develops basic skills in critical thinking, emphasizing the global nature of philosophizing and the clarification of personal and social values through cross-cultural understanding. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
1373 FYS: HUMANITIES The FYS (first-year seminar) in Humanities provides a small-classroom environment for students designed to promote community, develop skills necessary for success, and reinforce the importance of written and oral communication. Topics will vary depending on instructor.
1375 FYS: DIVERSITY IN WORLD CULTURES This course provides a small classroom environment for students designed to promote community and an awareness of diversity of human experiences and to reinforce the importance of critical reasoning and of verbal and written communication.
2300 EXISTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN PHILOSOPHY An elective for majors and minors in philosophy and religious studies. Critical introductory study of existential problems in philosophy. For students who want a more advanced introduction to philosophy. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
2305 CRITICAL THINKING A UCA Core course satisfying three hours of the Inquiry and Analysis requirement as a humanities elective. Designed to improve a person’s ability to reason clearly and correctly and to make rational decisions based on understanding decision strategies, knowing how to use information, and being able to avoid erroneous thinking. Combines lecture, discussion, and critical writing methods. [ACTS: PHIL1003]
2310 INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC A required course for all philosophy majors and minors (may substitute PHIL 3310) and an elective for minors in linguistics. A course for any student wanting to improve reasoning abilities. Introductory study of correct inference in deductive, scientific, and everyday contexts. Included are classical and modern logic, the logic of science, the principles of definition, and the common errors of reasoning. Primarily lecture and task-oriented instruction.
2325 CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS A UCA Core elective satisfying the responsible living requirement. Introduction to the major moral and ethical problems that confront individuals of the 21st century, such as abortion, euthanasia, animal rights, and world hunger. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
2360 GENDER, RACE, & CLASS: PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES A UCA Core elective satisfying the responsible living requirement. An introduction to philosophical issues concerning gender, race, and class with an emphasis on how these issues affect our identities and ways of living with others. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
3300 GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY One of the history of philosophy sequence. Required for all majors in philosophy but open to other students with interest in ancient philosophy. Encouraged as an elective for minors in philosophy. Early Western philosophy from Thales through Plotinus. Special emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: I, C]
3301 MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY One of the history of philosophy sequence; an elective for majors and minors in philosophy and religious studies. Major thinkers and issues from the medieval period. Emphasis on Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
3302 MODERN PHILOSOPHY One of the history of philosophy sequence. Required of all majors in philosophy but open to any student with interest in modern philosophy. Encouraged as an elective for minors in philosophy. Major philosophical figures from the Renaissance through Kant. Emphasis on Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
3303 NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY One of the history of philosophy sequence; an elective for majors and minors in philosophy and religious studies. Major issues and philosophers in the nineteenth century, including Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Comte, Mach, Schopenhauer, and Mill. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
3304 AMERICAN PRAGMATISM One of the history of philosophy sequence. The study of the major American philosophers and movements from colonial times to the present with emphasis on pragmatism. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
3310 SYMBOLIC LOGIC May serve as a requirement or an elective course for majors and minors in philosophy, but open to all students with interest in modern symbolic logic systems. Course topics include translation of English sentences into logic, construction of truth tables to test for logical properties, and natural derivations (proofs) in both propositional and predicate logic. Combines lecture method with problem-solving activities. [UD UCA Core: I]
3320 ETHICS Required for all majors and minors in philosophy (may substitute as a requirement for PHIL 3325). Fundamental ethical theories in the history of philosophy including those of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Mill. Contemporary moral theories also will be studied. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: I, R]
3325 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY An elective course for majors and minors in philosophy (may substitute as a requirement for PHIL 3320). Either a survey of selected major political theories from Plato to Marx or a careful examination of historical and contemporary discussions of a basic topic like justice, rights, or political authority. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: I, R]
3330 PHILOSOPHY OF LAW This course will focus on major traditions and issues in the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory. Topics to be covered will include: morality and the law, the rule of law, rights, and constitutionalism. Elective for students majoring or minoring in philosophy. Encouraged for Pre-Law students. Lecture and discussion.
3331 PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION An elective for majors and minors in philosophy and may serve as a requirement or elective for students in religious studies but open to any student with interest in the topic. Nature of religious experiences, faith, and reason, the theistic arguments, the problem of evil, immortality, and problems of religious language. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: I]
3340 CRITICAL THEORIES OF RACE An elective for majors and minors in philosophy and African/African-American Studies. Attempts to understand the history, significance and value of the African American experience. Key issues include identity, alienation, justice and racism. Combines lecture and discussion. [UD UCA Core: D, R]
3341 THEORIES OF KNOWLEDGE An elective course for majors and minors in philosophy but open to others with interest. A systematic exposition and critical analysis of some of the following problems in the theory of knowledge: concepts of truth, theories of perception, personal identity and knowledge of other minds, and alternative conceptions of the nature and limits of knowledge, including rationalism, empiricism, and intuitionism. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
3343 PHILOSOPHY OF SEX AND LOVE Elective for students majoring or minoring in either philosophy or religious studies and an elective for gender studies minors and other interested students. This course focuses on a number of philosophical treatises on the subjects of sex, love, and the relationship between the two. Combines lectures and discussions.
3345 FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY An elective course for philosophy majors and minors, as well as gender studies minors and other interested students. An examination of the relationships between feminism and philosophy. The course will compare and contrast different types of feminist theory, e.g., liberal, existentialist, radical, socialist, psychoanalytic and multicultural feminism. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: D, R]
3352 ASIAN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION An elective course for majors and minors in philosophy or religious studies and a required core course for the Asian studies minor. Major religions and philosophical ideas of Asia with emphasis on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: D, C]
3360 PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARTS An elective course for majors and minors in philosophy but open to all students interested in the arts. A study of the nature and purpose of the arts and of the experience of meaning and value through artistic creation and appreciation. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: C]
3370 METAPHYSICS An elective course for all students majoring or minoring in either philosophy or religious studies and an elective for other interested students. This course is a survey of what Aristotle called “first philosophy.” Metaphysics is a field of study in which one attempts to clearly and systematically address a wide-range of philosophical questions whose answers underlie our fundamental understanding of the nature of reality. Lecture and discussion format.
3375 PHILOSOPHY OF MIND An elective course for all students majoring or minoring in philosophy and an elective for other interested students. This course is an introduction to the philosophy of mind which combines a survey of historical positions in the field with related contemporary issues in the study of consciousness, evolutionary psychology, and artificial intelligence. Lecture and discussion.
3380 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE An elective course for majors or minors in philosophy but open to students interested in science. An examination of the methods of scientific explanation and confirmation in logical and historical contexts. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: I, C]
3390 INTERNSHIP IN PHILOSOPHY For majors and minors to fulfill elective requirements in one of the four required fields: History, Social and Political, Value, or Metaphysics and Epistemology. Which elective it may fulfill is dependent on the content of the internship program and at the discretion of the chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Each internship is tailored to the needs of the employer and the interests of the student. Internships require 120-150 hours of work with the employer for 3 hours of elective credit. Prerequisites: junior or senior standing and consent of departmental internship coordinator.
3395 TOPIC IN PHILOSOPHY Study in depth of a selected major problem in philosophy or the works of individual philosophers or groups of philosophers. Content changes May be repeated for credit. See semester schedule for description of content.
4300 READINGS IN PHILOSOPHY Independent study designed to deal in depth with specific problems and individuals in philosophy. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
4301 PHILOSOPHY FOR HONORS TUTORIAL Independent study designed to provide the exceptional student an opportunity to do advanced philosophical research. May count toward the major. Prerequisite: Invitation by the philosophy department.
4305 CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY One of the history of philosophy sequence. A focused study of one or two areas of continental philosophy. These areas include phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and postmodernism. Philosophers studied may include Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Gadamer, Derrida, and Foucault. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
4306 ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY One of the history of philosophy sequence. A study of empiricist metaphysics and epistemology including philosophers such as Russell, Wittgenstein, Ayer, Lewis, Ryle, Quine, and Davidson. Combines lecture and discussion methods.
4310 GREAT WORKS IN PHILOSOPHY Capstone course. Close reading of a major work in philosophy leading to the writing of a philosophical paper. Elective in the History of Philosophy area for majors. [UD UCA Core: Z]
4320 APPLIED ETHICS This course emphasizes the practice of philosophical ethics through the application of ethical theories and reasoning to various problems or themes. Emphasis is placed on applying ethical theories and reasoning to various aspects of contemporary private and public life. Topics may include but are not limited to ethics and business, the environment, international politics, or gender. This course is an elective and fulfills the Social, Political, and Values area for the philosophy major and minor. Content changes according to the area studied. May be repeated for up to six hours of credit with consent of the chair. Lecture and discussion. [UD UCA Core: D, R]
4330 PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE An elective course for majors or minors in philosophy or Linguistics, but open to others with interest in the topic. An inquiry into the nature of language in its relations to consciousness, logic, social behavior and reality. Combines lecture and discussion.
4340 THE MEANING OF LIFE Capstone course. An elective course for majors and minors in philosophy and religious studies. A study of classical and contemporary attempts to answer the question “What is the meaning of life?” Key issues include personal identity, sources of significance, mortality and religious belief. Combines lecture and discussion methods. [UD UCA Core: Z]
4350 HEALTH CARE ETHICS An elective course designed primarily for students of the health sciences, but also will count toward a major or minor in philosophy. A study of the issues and principles of ethics related to health care. Topics include ethical reasoning, bioethics, and individual case studies of problems arising within the practice of various health care fields.