Philosophy Courses

PHIL 140

The Examined Life

3 credit hours

This course is an introduction to philosophy that encourages reflection on what it means to live a human life. The course seeks to engage students in the activity of philosophical reflection through close reading, analysis, interpretation, and discussion of primary texts that address ethical or political issues. For first-year students only. NOTE: students may not receive course credit for both PHIL 140 and PHIL 150.

PHIL 150

The Examined Life

3 credit hours

This course is an introduction to philosophy that encourages reflection on what it means to live a human life. The course seeks to engage students in the activity of philosophical reflection through close reading, analysis, interpretation, and discussion of primary texts that address ethical or political issues. For sophomores and above. NOTE: students may not receive course credit for both PHIL 140 and PHIL 150.

PHIL 200

Ethics

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an introduction to some of the central philosophical approaches to ethical and moral issues.

PHIL 201

Philosophy of Knowledge

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

An introduction to some of the central philosophical approaches to the origin, nature, and the scope of knowledge. Offered spring

PHIL 202

Special Topics in Philosophy

1 to 5 credit hours

Courses offered on an occasional basis devoted to a select philosophical topic.

PHIL 210

Logic and Argument

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an introduction to reasoning, including traditional and modern approaches, formal and informal logic and basic canons of argument. Offered spring.

PHIL 242

Philosophy in the Yellowstone

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150, ENGL-120 or HONOR-150

This course introduces students to the philosophical foundations of the role of wilderness in human culture through a close study of environmental policy disputes in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

PHIL 246

Education and Society

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course offers an examination of the nature, purposes, and methods of education, with education understood broadly as communication that forms people's habits, attitudes and beliefs. The course will consist largely of study of philosophical and sociological theories about education.

PHIL 253

Philosophy and Culture

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course examines the concept of culture, various current cultural phenomena and practices. It also examines the nature, role and limits of the philosophical critique of culture.

PHIL 254

Philosophy and Race

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course examines questions of racial identity and racial injustice from a philosophical perspective. Issues examined may include, among others, philosophical assumptions behind concepts of race; how concepts of race have changed throughout history; and the relationship between race and other categories of identity, such as ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality.

PHIL 255

Feminist Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course focuses on ethical and political theories in feminist philosophy and intersecting concerns in other areas of feminist philosophy and gender theory (e.g., feminist epistemology, feminist critiques of the tradition of Western ontology, eco-feminism, metaphysics and phenomenology of gender, etc.).

PHIL 265

Political Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an introduction to some of the central philosophical approaches to questions about the state, the character of the good society, the relation between authority and power, and theories of rights and obligation.

PHIL 266

Wealth and Power

3 credit hours

P: HONOR-151, PHIL-140, or PHIL-150;

Formerly Philosophy and Economics. This course focuses on philosophical discussions about wealth, power and related issues, such as property, work, inequality, capitalism and socialism.

PHIL 271

Philosophy and Literature

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course involves reading and discussing works of literature in light of the philosophical traditions that influence or are contested in these works. Issues for discussion may also include questions of interpretation, criticism and translation, as well as the significance of philosophy to the literary writings of one or more authors.

PHIL 280

Chinese Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an introduction to Classical Confucianism, Classical Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

PHIL 285

Philosophy of Human Nature

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an introduction to philosophical questions about the nature of human beings.

PHIL 290

Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an introduction to some of the central issues and approaches in the philosophy of science.

PHIL 293

Philosophy of Mind

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course focuses on historical and contemporary philosophical discussions of the mind-body problem, the nature of mental states, mental causation, consciousness, our knowledge of other minds and intentionality.

PHIL 294

Philosophy and Cognition

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course introduces students to the study of cognition by examining different disciplinary approaches to the study of learning and memory, perception, self-awareness, language-use, and other intelligent behavior.

PHIL 304

History of Ancient Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course surveys selected topics in Greek and Roman philosophy from the Presocratics to Plotinus.

PHIL 305

History of Medieval Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course surveys selected topics in Christian, Jewish and Islamic philosophy from Augustine to the Renaissance.

PHIL 306

History of Early Modern Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course surveys selected topics in modern philosophy from Descartes to Hume.

PHIL 307

History of Late Modern Philosophy

3 to 4 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150
P: PHIL-306

This course surveys selected topics in modern philosophy from Kant to the late-19th century.

PHIL 308

History of Contemporary Philosophy The Analytic Tradition

3 credit hours

This course surveys selected topics in philosophy from the 20th-century to the present. NOTE: It is recommended that students take PHIL 306 before enrolling in this course.

PHIL 350

Independent Study

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

Offered by special arrangement.

PHIL 374

Studies in Ancient Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an extended and intensive study of a topic, figure, or text in ancient philosophy.

PHIL 378

Studies in Contemporary Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an extended and intensive study of a topic, figure, or text in philosophy from the 20th-century to the present.

PHIL 380

Studies in the History of Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an extended and intensive study of a topic, figure or text in philosophy prior to the 20th-century.

PHIL 382

Studies Text Philosophy

3 credit hours

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is an extended and intensive study of a topic, figure, or text in modern or contemporary philosophical text.

PHIL 390

Senior Seminar

1 credit hour

P: PHIL-140 or PHIL-150

This course is a scholarly treatment of a philosophical question in the form of a paper based on one or more primary texts and with reference to selected secondary sources. The Senior Seminar will be taken under the supervision of a faculty member, normally in the spring semester of the student's senior year. (Only students majoring in philosophy may enroll). Offered spring.