CSB | SJU - 2001-2003 Academic Catalog

Home > 01-03 > Academic Departments > Philosophy > PHIL 300-Level Courses

Philosophy 300-Level Courses (PHIL)

331 Ancient Philosophy. (4)

Western philosophy traces its origins to the great thinkers of Greece. This course combines a careful investigation into ancient philosophy as a whole with concentration on the thought of Plato and Aristotle. Fall and/or spring.

333 Medieval Philosophy. (4)

Philosophy in the West did not take a long nap after the ancient era. This course in medieval philosophy will investigate the period which began with Augustine and reached its culmination in 13th- and 14th-century Scholasticism, especially with Thomas Aquinas. It will investigate at least three major philosophers or schools of philosophy of that era. Alternate years.

334 Modern Philosophy. (4)

A new turn in philosophy begins with the writings of Rene Descartes and ends with the Critiques of Immanuel Kant. This course will seek to highlight three thinkers or schools from that era. Fall.

336 19th-Century European Philosophers. (4)

Philosophy on the European continent followed no one pattern in the 19th century. G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche and Henri Bergson make this century one of the most varied in the history of philosophy. This course will focus on one or more thinkers to explore European thought of that epoch. This course can be repeated for credit, with the approval of the department chair, when content varies. Alternate years.

337 Analytic Philosophers. (4)

An examination of the dominant philosophical orientation in the English speaking world during the 20th-century. Both "foundational" analytic thinkers (e.g., Russell, Wittgenstein) and contemporary philosophers (e.g., Quine, Kripke) will be considered. Alternate years.

338 American Philosophers. (4)

Though American thinkers have been heavily influenced by European philosophers, an indigenous philosophy began to develop in North America in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century. Philosophers that may be discussed include Charles Sanders Peirce, Josiah Royce, William James, John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead. This course can be repeated for credit, with the approval of the department chair, when content varies. Alternate years.

341 20th-Century Continental Philosophers. (4)

A series of philosophies with the same kind of method but with different content has grown from the methodology of the philosopher and mathematician Edmund Husserl. People such as Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Jean Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas, Paul Ricoeur and Jacques Derrida have applied the method of Husserl to very different problems. This course will choose from these and other contemporary continental thinkers. This course can be repeated for credit, with the approval of the department chair, when content varies. Alternate years.

343 Philosophies of Violence/Nonviolence. (4)

This course looks at the way that the search for security and the claim to possession of absolute truth can lead to violence. The way of thinking involved in technology easily structures the world so that whatever does not fit into that framework is discounted and ignored and treated violently, as the philosopher Martin Heidegger shows. How does such an attitude lead to violence? Finally, the course will look at the nonviolent ethical response which the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas demands from the person who hears the call of the poor and the oppressed when they cry out against their oppression and poverty.

345 Topics in Philosophy and Conflict Studies. (4)

Literature of Western and Non-western traditions—not only philosophy but epic, fiction, poetry, drama, narrative, memoirs—ranging from the classical period into the 21^st century, presents us not only warring individuals and political entities, but with worlds in conflict. This course will look at issues of conflict and draw from the readings an understanding of the world opened up by the texts. Questions to be explored may include: How does the vision of the world drawn from text and language touch the way people respond in conflict? How does a study of the philosophy of language and critical theory help us to understand what conflict is and how it works? Alternate years. Fall.

353 Philosophy of Knowledge. (4)

What is meant by saying a sentence is true? What are the criteria to be followed in order to arrive at truth? Is it possible to reach definitive truth? Theories of knowledge and truth from Empiricist to Rationalist to Realist. Alternate years.

354 Metaphysics. (4)

Metaphysics examines and tests our most fundamental ideas about what is real and how it hangs together. We may be led to examine these ideas by realizing how they are entangled with the solution of persistent problems: Is real freedom possible? Is the soul immortal? Is there a God? Sooner or later we confront questions about the meaning of concepts like being, time, cause, nature and mind. This course investigates a selection of these fundamental problems and concepts. Spring.

357 Topics in the Philosophy of Science. (4)

An examination of selected topics in the philosophy of the natural and social sciences. Possible topics include philosophical presuppositions of the sciences, models of explanation, induction and confirmation, causality, evolution, philosophy of psychology, and the nature of theoretical entities. Course can be repeated for credit with the approval of the department chair when content varies. Alternate years.

358 Philosophy of Law. (4)

This course will consider some of the central conceptual and normative issues in the area of jurisprudence. Concepts such as legal responsibility, negligence, causality, cruel and unusual punishment, etc., will be considered. Frameworks for legal decision-making will be developed and applied. Fall.

359 Moral Philosophy. (4)

The meaning of rights and responsibilities, values and obligations. Questions of good and evil, right and wrong, freedom and determinism. Natural law, utilitarianism and other systematic theories of morally right behavior. Fall and/or spring.

360 Political Philosophy. (4)

This course examines the relation between moral and political values and goods. Consideration of such questions as whether politics can be neutral among competing conceptions of morality, the nature, justification, and limits of political authority and whether politicians should be held to different moral standards from the rest of us.

361 Feminist Ethics. (4)

Consideration of whether women's experiences offer unique perspectives in moral theory. Comparison of feminine and feminist approaches to ethics. Possible topics include: the nature of feminism, freedom and oppression; the role of care, trust, autonomy, reason and emotion in the moral life; different moral voices among women.

368 Special Topics. (4)

Offered by faculty members in areas of their special interest. Offered as schedule allows.

371 Individual Learning Project. (1-4)

Supervised reading or research at the upper-division level. Permission of department chair and completion and/or concurrent registration of 12 credits within the department required. Consult department for applicability towards major requirements. Not available to first-year students.

398 Honors Senior Essay, Research or Creative Project. (4)

Required for graduation with "All-College Honors" and "Departmental Distinction in Philosophy." Prerequisite: HONR 396 and approval of the department chair and director of the honors program. For further information see HONR 398.