31 courses with the subject PHI, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
PHI 101Introduction to Philosophy3
Core Curriculum Foundation Course. A study of the major eras in the history of philosophy: Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary and also of principal branches in philosophy: Aesthetics, Epistemology, Theories of Ethics, Logic, Metaphysics, and Theories of Justice. Students study the Catholic/Jesuit tradition and become able to identify the elements of rational argumentation. PHI 101 is a prerequisite for PHI 200 courses.
A study of principal contemporary and classical discussions about the existence and nature of God, God's relationship to the world, the individual and society.
An introductory study of logic treating such topics as: deduction, techniques for evaluating reasoning, language and meaning, various formal and informal fallacies, and the notion of implication.
A study of enduring questions such as: What does it take to be a just person and to create a just society? Includes investigations of (1) theories of justice and (2) problems of justice relating to injustice and oppression due to race, class, species, and gender.
A survey of principal traditions in moral reasoning with attention to moral principles inclusive of utility, deontology and virtue, and their applications to contemporary social realities.
What do we mean by classifying together all non-human animals as 'animals'? This course critically examines the traditional notion that animals are commodities or resources for human use. It questions whether all sentient beings have intrinsic value and should be respected and what form that 'respect' should take.
A study of how prominent technologies such as television, cellular phones, and medical breakthroughs affect individual persons and our society, and in what ways technological innovations make us better or worse. Utilizes movies and/or episodes of Black Mirror.
A study of the moral implications of the current food system in connection with the production, distribution, and consumption of food and aims to examine what might constitute a reasonable position regarding the ethics of what we eat and what each of us can do to help bring about a more just food system.
A study of the role of virtue and vice in the moral life, how they emerge from developments of personal character and relate to meaningful human happiness, fulfillment, and the good life.
Required course for specific minors. This course requires 20 hours of direct service. Students pursuing the ethics minor will register for 258E and students pursuing the justice minor will register for 258J.
A study of the nature, sources and sanctions of law and legal theory, treating concerns of legal positivism, natural law theory, rights and justice, and the relationship between law and morality.
PHI 267Faith, Reason, and Justice Catholic Social Thought3
A study of the philosophical foundations of Catholic social teaching, articulated from the time of Pope Leo XIII through present day, and those features that make it unique, both as compared to other contemporary accounts of justice and in identifying and rectifying current injustices.
A study of various issues of human rights in global perspective to ask if human rights transcend political orders, whether they are universally applicable to all human beings, or determined to be culturally relative.
An investigation into feminist theories that analyzes the role that gender plays in society and in the formation of the masculine and feminine subjects; an examination of notions of power, structure and work; and gender as performance and representation.
A study of philosophical assumptions underlying concepts of race that treats designations of racial identities, the political effects of racial classification, the ethics of race and the metaphysical legitimacy and social reality of racial designations.
A study of foundational philosophical theories on how to organize the collective and social life of individual human beings, examining justifications for state authority, establishing citizen's rights and allocating resources for human well-being.
This course studies feminist philosophy and feminist theories of justice in global contexts, including Indigenous America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. This course will compare feminist theory from Western contexts (European and American) with its global counterparts, with special focus on the way gender, sex, and sexuality operate differently in different global contexts.
A study of contemporary views concerning the philosophy of mind and consciousness. Topics may include the mind-body problem, the nature of the mental and mental content, problems in intentionality, perception, language, artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness.
This course is a broad introduction to the intellectual movements, figures, and ideas in Russian philosophy, beginning with Skovoroda, the self-proclaimed “Socrates in Russia,” and ending with reflections on post-Soviet philosophical trends. This will expose us not only to a breadth of Russian thinkers and traditions from different eras, but also a diverse pool of intellectual traditions within those eras. Our course will explore and investigate these movements, figures, and ideas both chronologically and thematically, with an emphasis given to the historical, social, and political contexts within which these movements and figures relate. Priority will also be given to primary source material (including both philosophical texts and other cultural media embodying the ideas and motifs of the movement or idea under discussion) which will be grounded in secondary frameworks (via introductory readings and class lectures/discussions.)
A study of various approaches to thinking philosophically about art and covering the history of aesthetics with special emphasis on contemporary arts including film and music.
A study of various approaches to thinking philosophically about beauty and covering the concept in the history of aesthetics with special emphasis on the problems of beauty in contemporary culture.
This course is an introduction to the philosophical analyses of film, and the growing literature on philosophy of film. With some variation, courses tend to focus on topics such as film realism, the nature of documentary film, auteur theory, cognitivist or psycho-dynamic theories of spectating, the nature of horror or comedy films, etc.
This course covers major figures and movements in western philosophy in the ancient, medieval and early modern periods. Students will be introduced to major figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume and Kant.
A course that covers major figures and movements in western philosophy from the 19th to the 21st Century. Movements include German Idealism, Marxism, Utilitarianism, and Phenomenology. The course then considers developments in Continental and Anglo-American traditions.
We live inside capitalism, but do we understand this system that we live in? We might be like the swimming fish who doesn’t grasp what water is. In this class we will take a close look at what capitalism has been and what it is today. We will read philosophers who defend it and philosophers who critique it. The theory of capitalism will be explored from foundational theorists like Adam Smith and John Locke. We will also read modern proponents of neoliberal capitalism and theories from people who believe that capitalism works when well-regulated, by authors such as Robert Reich, in his book Saving Capitalism. For the second half of the semester, we will study some possible alternatives to capitalism, including socialism, communism, and anarchism. We will think about ideas from writers such as Marx and Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxembourg, Ursula LeGuin, David Graeber, and others. The end of the semester will leave us well-positioned to analyze our present day. Where are we now? Where could we be? Where do we want to be?
A seminar style course offered by faculty in the Department of Philosophy on a rotating basis and focusing on a different topic each time it is offered. Check with the department to find out what will be offered in any given academic year.
Philosophy majors who plan to attend graduate school in philosophy should complete a senior thesis. This is a culminating experience in which a student expresses mature habits of self-directed study and critical analysis, with an ability to integrate knowledge beyond the expectations of a seminar paper. A senior thesis addresses a select philosophic topic and is especially concerned with philosophic argumentation. A philosophy major who writes a senior thesis demonstrates ability to exercise appropriate research methods, to provide critical assessment of issues, to assess theoretical presuppositions underlying a discourse and to advance well-constructed argumentation. A senior thesis ought to exhibit the values of the department mission.
A tutorial style course on a topic approved by the department and agreed upon between the student and a professor. Independent studies require an application and approval by the associate dean.
