Spring 2010 Course Descriptions
Phil-P 105: Thinking and Reasoning (3 credits)
MW 4372 1:00-2:15P
Joseph Rabbitt
MW 4212 7:00-8:15P
Gregory Fowler
TR 4763 2:30-3:45P
Gregory Fowler
(Not open to students who have taken P150)
(Campuswide Gen Ed Fundamental Literacies: Critical Thinking)
This course aims to help students learn how to identify and assess arguments and
to improve their reasoning skills in a variety of areas. Students will study the
art of precise expression and will learn how to recognize arguments, to analyze
their structure, and to detect hidden assumptions or flaws they might contain.
We will study a number of common fallacies (mistakes) in reasoning, along with
various techniques for detecting them.
Phil-P 110: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (3 credits)
MW 28224 4:00-5:15P Matthew Shockey(Campuswide Gen Ed Fundamental Literacies: Critical Thinking)
The first part of the course will introduce students to the discipline of philosophy by looking at some of its perennial issues -- among others, the nature of justice, whether we have free will, and the source of evil in the world – as seen through the lens of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (1963) and the philosophers he cites in it, including Plato (5th cent. BCE), Augustine (4th-5th cent CE), and Aquinas (13th cent. CE). Then we will read part of Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) to think about what we as human beings can know with certainty, whether we can prove that God exists, and what sort of connection there is between mind and world. From there we will turn to Friedrich Nietzsche’s Gay Science (1887), which, among other things, attacks Western religion and the morality rooted in it and champions art as a substitute for religion. Finally, we will read a novel inspired by Nietzsche, Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984). Throughout the course we will discuss the fundamentals of critical thinking: how arguments are constructed, the sorts of basic fallacies in reasoning we are prone to, different modes of persuasion we use to move each other, and different kinds of reason and evidence.
Phil-P 110: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (3 credits)
TR 4214 11:30A-12:45P JR ShraderTR 28225 5:30-6:45P JR Shrader
(Campuswide Gen Ed Fundamental Literacies: Critical Thinking)
This course is an introduction to the methods of philosophy and several persistent philosophical problems, with a heavy emphasis on critical thinking and analysis of philosophical texts. In the first half of the course, students will study in-depth the principles of good reasoning and critical thinking. These include distinguishing the various roles words and concepts play within a language, analyzing words and concepts to discover their essential meanings, identifying arguments within a text, and critically evaluating arguments. In concert with learning these basic skills, students will read some classic philosophical texts both to gain an appreciation for the history of philosophy and to see how philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Descartes practiced critical thinking. In the second half of the course, students will be introduced to some of the central problems that have concerned philosophers throughout the ages (and that remain relevant today). Topics that will be covered include some of the following: (1) The problem of knowledge. Is there an absolute truth to be found, and if so, what can we really know about the world?, (2) The existence of God. What reasons support theism (belief in God)? What reasons support atheism (denial of belief in God)? (3) The mind/body problem. Are humans just material, or do we have a nonphysical part (a soul) responsible for our thoughts? What is the essential part of each of us? (4) The existential problem. What is life all about? Is there an objective standard for living a good life, or are we on our own in defining our purpose? Students should expect not to be given answers to these questions, but to apply the critical thinking skills they have acquired to reach their own conclusions. Students will be evaluated based on homework assignments, study questions, and exams.
Phil-P 110: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (3 credits)
MW 4213 11:30A-12:45P Gregory Fowler(Campuswide Gen Ed Fundamental Literacies: Critical Thinking)
Students in this course will be introduced to philosophical issues and methodology through consideration of three fundamental philosophical topics: the problem of freedom and determinism, the mind-body problem, and the existence of God. This will involve formulating and evaluating particular answers to the following questions and to others like them: Are we free? Can we be free if each of our actions is caused by prior events? If not, why not? If so, how? Is the mind the very same thing as the brain? Are human beings nothing over and above their bodies? Does God exist? What reasons do we have to think that he does? That he does not? Is the existence of evil compatible with the existence of God? By considering and discussing arguments for and against particular answers to these questions, students will acquire important critical thinking skills.
Phil-P 140: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS (3 credits)
MW
3707 8:30-9:45A
Louise CollinsTR 3708 1:00-2:15P Louise Collins
TR 4149 10:00-11:15A Joseph Kotva ELKHART
In our everyday lives, we face many moral questions, small and large: Should I tell my boss about my co-worker's pilfering? What should I think about my friends who use illegal drugs in private? What moral values should I teach my kids? In this class, we'll learn about different approaches to resolving moral problems. We'll apply the views of classical and contemporary philosophers to several case studies, to see what insights they offer us.
Phil-P 214: MODERN PHILOSOPHY (3 credits)
TR 3709 11:30A-12:45P Gregory Fowler(LAS: Western Culture 2)
(LAS: Science and Culture)
The early modern period of philosophy was a time of upheaval characterized by an attempt to ground human knowledge of the world and by challenges to traditional views concerning the nature of human beings. The causes of this upheaval are far from clear. Changes in scientific methodology and accepted scientific theory certainly played a role. The rediscovery of certain ancient skeptical writings may have done so as well. In this course, we will examine the writings of philosophers during this period, focusing especially on discussions concerning the nature and scope of human knowledge and on the debate between materialists and dualists concerning the nature of the mind.
Phil-P 250: INTRODUCTORY SYMBOLIC LOGIC (3 credits)
TR 28226 4:00-5:15P Kenneth Boyce(Prereq: Math M014 or Math placement level 3)
(Campuswide Gen Ed Fundamental Literacies: Critical Thinking)
This course introduces the student to the basics of symbolic logic and elementary proof theory. The primary focus will be on the construction of formal proofs. Topics covered will include propositional logic, predicate logic, quantification and identity.
Phil-P 344: CLASSICS IN SOC & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (3 credits)
MW 28227 10:00-11:15A Matthew Shockey(LAS: Western Culture 2)
What makes a government legitimate? Does government make us more free or less free? What relation is there between the economic organization of society and its structure of government? Do we have rights that exist apart from government, or are all rights legislated? Do we even need government at all? We will address these and other fundamental questions of political philosophy through a reading of several classic authors of the modern period, including Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx, and John Stuart Mill.
Phil-P 371: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION (3 credits)
MW 28228 2:30-3:45P JR ShraderThe philosophy of religion is the critical examination of basic religious beliefs and concepts. This means that in this course we will be looking at many different examples of religious beliefs and concepts and (i) analyzing what is actually meant by these beliefs and concepts and (ii) determining if there are good rational grounds for accepting or rejecting certain religious beliefs. This course will focus primarily on the concepts and beliefs of Western religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) although there will be a section of the course on religious pluralism where the concepts and beliefs of some Eastern religions will be discussed. Topics that we will investigate in the course include: the concept of God (what is meant by some of the attributes of God like omnipotence and omniscience), arguments for and against the existence of God, religious and mystical experience, the problem of evil, miracles, life after death, and predestination versus human freedom.
Phil-T 390: LITERARY & INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS (3 credits)
MW 4610 1:00-2:15P Matthew Shockey(Theme: Environmental Philosophy)
(Campuswide Gen Ed Common Core: Literary and Intellectual Traditions)
This course will address two related questions central to environmental philosophy. (1) Does non-human nature have some value apart from its usefulness for human beings? (2) How should we human beings treat the natural world, given that we cannot help but have some impact on it? We will consider these questions from a number of perspectives, and in the process we will address some of the pressing environmental issues of our times, including the environmental effects of modern agriculture, strip mining in Appalachia, and climate change. A portion of the class will also be devoted to work by Dr. Paul Thompson (MSU), who will be giving two Philosophy Day talks on environmental issues connected to agriculture.
Phil-P 490: READINGS IN PHILOSOPHY (1-3 credits)
ARR 3711 ARR Louise Collins(Consent of instructor required)
Phil-P 495: SR PROSEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY (1-4 credits)
ARR 3712 ARR Louise Collins(LAS: Second Level Writing)
(Consent of instructor required)
