Fall 2008 Philosophy Department Offerings
Course Offered
Intro philosophy
(190.001)
TR 9:25
Professor
Oberrieder
Intro philosophy
(190.002)
TR 10:50
Oberrieder
Intro to Ethics
(195.001)
MWF 1
Intro to Ethics
(195.002)
MWF 2
Philosophy of
Religion
(240.001)
TR 1:40
C.
Thomas
Description
This course aims to introduce the student to philosophy and to foster philosophical thinking about
one’s life. The course will explore, through class discussion, certain fundamental questions and
arguments of ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as they arise in and from
the reading of selected works of Plato, Aristotle, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume,
and Immanuel Kant. Some of the questions the course will consider are the following: What is
happiness? Do I really exist? Can I know anything with certainty? Does God exist? What is
moral? Not open to seniors.
This course aims to introduce the student to philosophy and to foster philosophical thinking about
one’s life. The course will explore, through class discussion, certain fundamental questions and
arguments of ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as they arise in and from
the reading of selected works of Plato, Aristotle, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume,
and Immanuel Kant. Some of the questions the course will consider are the following: What is
happiness? Do I really exist? Can I know anything with certainty? Does God exist? What is
moral? Not open to seniors.
A study of the principal ethical traditions of Western culture and their application to contemporary
moral issues and social problems. Not open to seniors.
C.
Thomas
A study of the principal ethical traditions of Western culture and their application to contemporary
moral issues and social problems. Not open to seniors.
Rosental
Philosophy of
Religion
(240.002)
TR 3:05
Rosental
Ancient Greek
Philosophy
(311.001)
TR 3:05
Late 19th and
early 20th century
phil.
(316.001)
T 4:30-7:00
Great
Ancient/Medieval
Philosopher
(361.001)
MW 4:30
Oberrieder
Prerequisite: FYS 101
A survey of questions and issues in the philosophy of religion, using both contemporary and
historical sources. Our anthology Philosophy of Religion, by Louis Pojman, includes the following
topics: arguments for the existence of God, religious experience, the problem of evil, the attributes
of God, miracles and revelation, death and immortality, faith and reason, religion and science,
religious pluralism, and religion and ethics.
Prerequisite: FYS 101
A survey of questions and issues in the philosophy of religion, using both contemporary and
historical sources. Our anthology Philosophy of Religion, by Louis Pojman, includes the following
topics: arguments for the existence of God, religious experience, the problem of evil, the attributes
of God, miracles and revelation, death and immortality, faith and reason, religion and science,
religious pluralism, and religion and ethics.
Prerequisite: one course in philosophy.
A survey of ancient Greek philosophy, including the pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle.
C.
Thomas
Prerequisite: PHI 314.
A survey of late nineteenth and early twentieth century philosophy, which can include the schools of
existentialism, phenomenology, pragmatism, and analytic philosophy. Possible figures to be
covered include Peirce, James, Husserl, Dewey, Russell, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Sartre.
Rosental
Prerequisite: PHI 311.
Considered by many to be the greatest Christian philosopher ever, and one of the seminal Fathers of
the Church, the thought of Augustine is both historically and theologically interesting, but also
philosophically significant. Just some of the important issues we’ll be examining: the problem of
evil, free will, foreknowledge and sin, epistemology (belief, illumination, faith and knowledge), and
Augustine’s cogito. We’ll be reading a wide range of his writings.
Spring 2009 Course Offerings
PHI 180: Logic & Language – Dr. E. Thomas
PHI 190: Intro Philosophy – Dr. Oberrieder
PHI 195: Intro Ethics – Dr. E. Thomas
PHI 250: Philosophy of Mind – Dr. Rosental
PHI 260: Philosophy of Art – Dr. Rosental
PHI 290: Philosophy & Medicine – Dr. E. Thomas
PHI 290: The American Founding & Phil. – Dr. Oberrieder
PHI 314: Early Modern Philosophy – Dr. Rosental
PHI 315: Kant & the 19th century – Dr. E. Thomas
PHI 361: Nietzsche – Dr. C. Thomas