Mohawk Valley Community College
Utica and Rome, New York
Course Outline
HU296
Topics in Philosophy
C-3, Cr-3
Course Description:
This course provides a topical examination of ethics and morality, religion, and social
and political philosophies and their impact on contemporary thought. Conflicts between
differing schools of thought and their societal implications are stressed.
Prerequisite: EN 102 English 2: Ideas and Values in Literature
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon the successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
 Explore philosophic ideas and issues by raising questions, attempting answers to
those questions, and raising further questions about the answers, within the context of
the course readings, formal and informal writings, lectures, and discussions.
 Improve one’s philosophical thinking skills.
 Acquire a basic understanding of some fundamental notions of the logic used in
philosophy, such as the basic structure of an argument and the use of evidence and
reasoning.
 Learn to support personal opinions with evidence and reasoning.
 Gain a basic understanding of the spirit, nature, scope, and methodology of philosophy.
 Distinguish between “professional philosophy” and “philosophy for everyone.”
 Understand that all people can philosophize.
 Understand the notions of the “philosophizer” and “philosophizing” in contrast to the
“philosopher” and “philosophy.”
 Understand that philosophic inquiry occurs both in private and within a community of
learners, constituted by the thinkers of both the past and the present.
 Distinguish philosophy from other fields of knowledge, especially the sciences and
theology.
 Distinguish between the specialized experience of science and the “common
experience” of philosophy.
 Examine the contemporary positions challenging the philosophical enterprise:
skepticism, relativism, historicism, and subjectivism.
 Distinguish between first-order questions and second-order questions.
 Explore philosophic topics and questions touching on physical reality, non-physical
reality (metaphysics), the human person, ethics, politics (political theory), and
knowledge (epistemology).
 Analyze and evaluate philosophical arguments.
 Analyze and evaluate opposing philosophical positions.
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Assess the opinions and arguments of those who make up the community of learners
in the classroom.
Judge the intellectual and moral relevance of philosophical ideas and arguments to the
contemporary world.
Use the resources of libraries to write a research paper on a philosophical idea, issue, school,
or movement.
Major Topics:
 Historical survey of Western thought from the pre-Socratics to contemporary philosophers
 Metaphysics
 Epistemology
 Social and political philosophies
August 2011