Department of Philosophy
Courses
THE HUMAN PERSON AREA:
| PHL 1011 | THE HUMAN PERSON |
3 Credits |
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An introduction to the nature, methods, and relevance of philosophy through an attempt to answer the question, "What is a person?" The primary focus of the course will be an analysis of philosophical arguments concerning the mind/body problem, freedom and determinism, immortality, and the relation of the individual to society.
THE MORAL PHILOSOPHY AREA:
| PHL 1031 |
MORAL PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
The ethical dimension of human existence: 1) moral law and value, rights and obligations; 2) examination of traditional and contemporary norms and theories of morality, including natural law; 3) application to contemporary society--life, peace, sex, truth, economic and political justice.
THE GOD, WORLD, AND SOCIETY AREA:
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PHL 2011 |
KNOWLEDGE AND EXISTENCE |
3 Credits |
|---|
Three basic problems concerning reality and the quest to know reality: 1) the origin, validity, and limits of human knowledge; 2) Graeco-Christian, modern, and contemporary approaches to being and causality; and 3) the problem of God.
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PHL 2021 |
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
A critical survey of the basic theories of human knowledge and the nature of reality, as found in the thought of the Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Emphasis will be placed on the thought of Plato and Aristotle.
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PHL 2031 |
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
A critical analysis of the basic problems of the Middle Ages: the theories of knowledge, the constitutive, ontological construction of things, the relations between things and an absolute, the naming of God, the distinction between philosophy and theology, the schools of realism and nominalism, the relation of body and soul, the distinction of the sciences.
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PHL 2041 |
MODERN PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
A critical analysis of the rationalist and empiricist movements in philosophy of the 17th and 18th centuries. Emphasis will be placed on both the epistemological theories of the philosophers involved and their metaphysical presuppositions. Attention will also be paid to the various proofs of God's existence offered by these philosophers.
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PHL 2051 |
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE |
3 Credits |
|---|
A focused examination of the major ethical, metaphysical, and political theories of Plato and Aristotle. The course is intended for students who have completed their GER and for philosophy majors. The class will cover the ideas of these two philosophers on such topics as the nature of virtue, the soul, change in the physical world, substance, the best political regime, and the relation between political activity and philosophy.
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PHL 2151 |
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP |
3 Credits |
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This course explores a number of descriptions of love and friendship found in works of literature and philosophy from ancient Greece and Rome. It compares ancient conceptions of friendship with representative modern conceptions. An important theme to be explored is the presentation of erotic love as a form of divine madness that can be both dangerous and beneficial. Some authors to be read include Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Catullus, and Emerson.
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PHL 2161 |
VIOLENCE AND RECONCILIATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND |
3 Credits |
|---|
The course will examine violence and reconciliation in Northern Ireland from both a philosophical and sociological perspective. The instructors will pay special attention to both the socio-historical roots of "The Troubles" and the moral context of discourses of retribution and forgiveness. During the stay in Northern Ireland, SJU students are guests of Corrymeela, an ecumenical community committed to the work of reconciliation by providing a "safe and shared space" where people can meet as Protestants and Catholics, British and Irish, rich and poor, and through open dialogue and interaction grow in trust with one another. Students, during the second week of the stay, will be expected to live with a family in Belfast and work at a cross-cultural community site.
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PHL 2171 |
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
This course serves as an introduction to major works in the history of social and political philosophy. With a survey of important figures and texts from ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary periods, the course will address basic philosophical questions about society and the political order. These questions include: In what sense is the political order a community? What is the philosophical basis and justification of law and political authority? What are the social and political implications of a commitment to human freedom and equality? What is power? What is justice?
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PHL 2241 |
PHILOSOPHY OF ART |
3 Credits |
|---|
An exploration of the nature of art and of esthetic experience; art as revelation of reality and as alternative to reality; symbolism and meaning; criteria for critical evaluation.
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PHL 2261 |
PROBLEMS IN THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE |
3 Credits |
|---|
A critical examination of several key problems in epistemology. Topics include theories on the nature of truth, the problem of induction, knowledge of the external world, and knowledge of other minds. Readings from major philosophers will be analyzed and evaluated.
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PHL 2301 |
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW |
3 Credits |
|---|
A critical examination of the theory, history, and concrete realities of law and the legal system: theories about the nature of law, the relationship between law and morality, and justifications given for punishment; the history that gave rise to modern ideas about law, criminals, and punishment; the meaning and place of law and the judicial system in our world today.
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PHL 2321 |
PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH |
3 Credits |
|---|
A study of the reality of death as the boundary of human experience. The course explores the meaning of death and its relationship to the meaning of life, examines evidence for and against the thesis that death is the end of human existence, and considers implications for selected contemporary issues (e.g., death with dignity, medical definition of death).
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PHL 2271 |
TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
This course will examine recent developments and debates in political
philosophy. Some attention will be given to the history of different
approaches to political philosophy, but the emphasis will be on
contemporary problems, figures and texts. Topics to be examined might
include just and unjust wars, patriotism and cosmopolitanism,
alienation and social unity, the rule of law, and the role of religion
in politics.
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PHL 2411 |
CONTEMPORARY ATHEISM AND THE PROBLEM OF GOD |
3 Credits |
|---|
After a study of the classical arguments concerning God's existence, the course examines examples of 19th century atheism (Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche) and belief (Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky) and 20th-century atheism (Sartre, Camus) and belief (Rahner, Marcel).
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PHL 2421 |
GOD IN RECENT PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
A critical study of recent challenges to the traditional conception of God as eternal, immutable, omniscient, and omnipotent. Revisions of this traditional conception are thought to be required to make sense of petitionary prayer, guarantee human freedom, and resolve the problem of evil. The course will also discuss the senses in which belief in God's existence can and should be rationally justified.
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PHL 2441 |
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION |
3 Credits |
|---|
Philosophical reflection from existential, analytic, and metaphysical perspectives on some of the following topics: religious experience and interpretation, belief, human destiny, evil, knowledge of and language about God. Readings from classical and contemporary sources.
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PHL 2451 |
PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, RELIGION |
3 Credits |
|---|
The course will have a historical perspective and will emphasize that, both historically and in contemporary discussions, philosophy of religion has been dependent upon the scientific worldview of time, from Ptolemy to Newton and Einstein and his successors. The course will emphasize the need for engagement with contemporary science in order to pursue philosophy of religion meaningfully in the contemporary world and will ask what new ways of thinking about ultimate and religious questions are prompted by contemporary scientific findings, particularly in the fields of biology and astronomy.
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PHL 2461 |
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE |
3 Credits |
|---|
Methodological problems of observation, discovery, testing: the realistic import of models and theoretical entities; the use of paradigms in science; revolutionary periods in science; the relationship between science and philosophy; scientific determinism; science and human values.
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PHL 2471 |
PHILOSOPHY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES |
3 Credits |
|---|
An analysis of the metaphysical conception of the human person forming the pre-understanding of the various theories of the social sciences; the relation of the various criteria for knowing to the theories which issue from them; the metaphysics of the reductions; materialism, positivism, historicism, cultural relativism; the epistemological problems of subjectivism, objectivism, scientific methodology, determinism, freedom.
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PHL 2481 |
FREEDOM AND DETERMINISM |
3 Credits |
|---|
A metaphysical and epistemological analysis and evaluation of the various philosophical positions on the determinism-free will issue. Various kinds of determinism (hard, soft, theological, etc.) will be critically examined, and various ways of arguing in support of free-will (from choice, deliberation, remorse, etc.) will be assessed.
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PHL 2491 |
SCIENCE, MIND, AND PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
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A critical examination of metaphysical and epistemological issues in the contemporary philosophy of mind. These issues include the problem of reductionism, the problem of intentionality and mental representation, personal identity, conceptual foundations of psychology, and the possibility of artificial minds.
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PHL 2501 |
FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY |
3 Credits |
|---|
Feminist challenges to traditional ways of thinking in epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics and ethics. Examination of feminist criticisms regarding: the nature and justification of knowledge; dominant conceptions of rationality and objectivity; various dualistic ontologies; and prevailing conceptions of the self. Consideration of possible gender-bias in traditional philosophical methods.
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PHL 2561 |
THE PHILOSOPHY OF AQUINAS |
3 Credits |
|---|
Selected topics in the metaphysics, psychology, epistemology, and ethics of Thomas Aquinas. The problem of faith and reason; contemporary developments in Thomism.
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PHL 2581 |
CONTEMPORARY THOMISM |
3 Credits |
|---|
St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest philosopher-theologians of the middle ages, employed both faith and reason to conceive a remarkably comprehensive and nuanced understanding of reality. Recently, some philosophers have been returning to the works of Aquinas and attempting to transpose his vision to meet the distinctive intellectual and cultural challenges of our own quite different age. After providing an introduction to Aquinas' thought, this course will examine in depth the writings of one or more contemporary Thomists (e.g., Bernard Lonergan, Jacques Maritain, Etienne Gilson, Karl Rahner, Pierre Rousselot, Josef Pieper).
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PHL 2661 |
GERMAN IDEALISM |
3 Credits |
|---|
An analysis of the major thinkers from Kant to Hegel. Kant: the categorical thinking, Ideas of reason. Fichte: an analysis of consciousness, various notions of God. Schelling: nature, notion of creation, mythology and revelation. Hegel: Logic, the Absolute or Idea, the identity of being with thinking.
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PHL 2671 |
PHILOSOPHY OF CORNEL WEST |
3 Credits |
|---|
The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with the thought of Cornel West who has been recognized as one of the most important African American intellectuals since W.E.B. Dubois. West epitomizes the synthesis of scholarship and political activism. His work is consistent with the Jesuit imperative that we be "men and women for others." In this course we will not only examine the philosophical foundation of the work of Cornel West, we will also situate the work of West in the context of democratic struggles. To this end, we must remember that the democratic project is not finished. It is hoped that we will learn from West how to combine scholarship, love, a thirst for justice, and activism in a way that has world-transformative implications.
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PHL 2681 |
THE PHILOSOPHY OF KARL MARX |
3 Credits |
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An analysis and evaluation of the early writings of Karl Marx. Topics to be stressed include the metaphysical roots of Marx's concept of human beings, the causes and effects of alienation, economic determinism, and the rise of philosophical communism.
| PHL 2691 |
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. |
3 Credits |
|---|
While much attention has been given to King as an activist, little has been written about his philosophical development and the further implications of his philosophical positions. Much of what King preached, wrote, taught, believed, and lived has its origin in his engagement with philosophy. In his writings one can see him struggle with such thinkers as Marx, Hegel, Kant, Nietzsche and others as he attempts to makes sense of and transform the human condition. King’s struggle against the dehumanization of African Americans and the poor often led him to an interesting synthesis of theology and philosophy. For this reason we must also address the philosophical and emancipatory aspects of the works of Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, Howard Thurman, and Walter Rauschenbusch.
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PHL 2711 |
AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
Philosophy in the American context: the "American experience", historical and contemporary; philosophical concerns that arise in that context; the classical American philosophers--Edwards, Peirce, James, Royce, Dewey, and Whitehead. Central concerns: the meaning of experience; scientific inquiry as a model of knowing; the meaning of religion and religious experience; the problems of value (moral and aesthetic); the problem of community.
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PHL 2741 |
KIERKEGAARD, NIETZSCHE, DOSTOEVSKY |
3 Credits |
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Against the backdrop of classical metaphysics and human rationality, the sources and early development of existential themes are developed. Selected readings from Kierkegaard (Either/Or, Fear and Trembling), Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil) and Dostoevsky (Notes from the Underground).
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PHL 2781 |
FRENCH EXISTENTIALISM |
3 Credits |
|---|
In comparison with and in contrast to classical theories of being and knowing, the philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Gabriel Marcel, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty are critically pursued. Selected readings include plays, a short novel, and some philosophical essays.
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PHL 2771 |
GERMAN EXISTENTIALISM | 3 Credits |
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A study of the German Existential movement, from its 19th century origins in Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and the Phenomenology of Husserl to its most prominent 20th century representatives, including Heidegger, Jaspers, Tillich and Buber.
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PHL 2801 |
PHENOMENOLOGY AND ITS CRITICS |
3 Credits |
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Examination of the philosophical method in contemporary European thought known as phenomenology. Central question: what makes knowledge and meaning possible, with particular attention to how our conscious and unconscious activity in thought and practice may shape our awareness of reality. The course will focus on Husserl and on at least one critical development of Husserl's thought (e.g., Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur).
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PHL 2841 |
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
Readings from works of the major contributors to the language-oriented way of philosophizing currently practiced in England and the United Sates: Frege, Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, Ryle, Ayer, Geach, Quine, and Kripke. Topics include sense and reference, names and descriptions, the concept of existence, the analytic/synthetic distinction.
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PHL 2891 |
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY |
3 Credits |
|---|
The metaphysical notion of being in the early Vedas, the various names of God, the epistemological criteria distinguishing the various schools of Indian philosophy, the metaphysics of Jainism and Buddhism, the six schools of Indian philosophy, contemporary problems in Indian philosophy.
OTHER PHILOSOPHY COURSES:
These courses do not fulfill the philosophy requirements of the University GER.|
PHL 2071 |
LOGIC |
3 Credits |
|---|
A study of the logic of ordinary language; the function of language, forms of argument, fallacies, definition; analysis of propositions and deductive reasoning; inductive reasoning, analogy and scientific hypothesis testing.
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PHL 2081 |
SYMBOLIC LOGIC |
3 Credits |
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The study of a method for translating arguments from ordinary language into a symbolic notation which reveals logical structure, procedures for establishing the validity or invalidity of deductive arguments so symbolized, and properties of formal deductive systems--independence of axioms, expressive and deductive completeness, and consistency.
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PHL 2181 |
LEGAL THEORY (SEE POL 2041) |
3 Credits |
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PHL 2221 |
BUSINESS, SOCIETY, AND ETHICS (SEE MGT 2461) |
3 Credits |
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PHL 2881 |
LANGUAGE & MEANING |
3 Credits |
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This course is a survey of the main issues in the philosophy of language, the branch of philosophy in which philosophers try to make sense of what language is, and what we do with it. It covers theories of meaning and reference, speech acts, the nature of metaphor, prepositional attitudes, and theories of truth. Readings will include works by Russell, Quine, Davidson, Grice, Austin, Searle, Wittgenstein, and Kripke. It is an upper-division philosophy elective, but no prior familiarity with these issues and these philosophers is assumed.
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PHL 2953 |
HONORS READINGS AND RESEARCH IN PHILOSOPHY |
6 Credits |
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PHL 2971 |
SENIOR SEMINAR |
3 Credits |
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Readings, research, and dialogue concerning a common theme; a paper is required. Senior majors; minors with chair's permission.