39 courses with the subject PHIL, 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.
PHIL 100Introduction to Philosophy This course seeks to provide an understanding of what philosophy is by
discussing some of the main problems that philosophers examine and by developing skills in the methods used in philosophy. Among the kinds of problems considered in this course are: Is it always wrong to break the law? Can we prove God’s existence? What is ‘personal identity’? What distinguishes knowledge from mere belief? (Staff, offered every semester) PHIL 110 Puzzles and Paradoxes Puzzles can be both fun and frustrating. In some places, working to solve them can also provide fascinating insights about our world. Philosophical puzzles and paradoxes are like that. This course will cover a variety of challenging puzzles about the nature of reality, morality, language and what we can know about the world. Some of these puzzles have been solved, but many are not yet solved, and we can learn much from both of these. Even if you don’t solve a particular puzzle completely, working toward the answer can help you with future problems by giving you a set of tools that you can use again and again to get other answers. Puzzles and paradoxes make you a better thinker. (And, for some, they are lots of fun too.) (Barnes, offered annually)
PHIL 130Moral Dilemmas A moral dilemma is a situation in which there are good reasons to do something and ap
parently equally good reasons for not doing it. In this course, students will see what kind of reasoning is appropriate when we are confronted with a moral dilemma. The work for the course will include (1) understanding different moral principles, (2) applying these principles to the “facts” of different cases, (3) evaluating different moral principles, (4) understanding, constructing, and evaluating arguments. Students acquire an understanding of moral concepts and how to make use of those concepts in everyday situations. Students develop the skills for making intelligent judg- ments about which of alternative courses of action is the morally right one. (Barnes, offered annually)
PHIL 151Crime and Punishment This course explores the relationship between moral responsibility and criminal
responsibility. It looks at some perennial problems in ethical theory, such as: What makes an act wrong? When is a person morally responsible for their actions? When is punishment an appropriate response to behavior that violates social norms? It also looks at some problems in legal theory and in public policy, such as: What sorts of acts ought to be criminal? When is a person legally responsible for her actions? Why should insanity be a defense to criminal charges? The following general question links all these problems: Which forms of behavior control are morally justifi- able responses to which forms of social deviance? (Staff, offered occasionally)
PHIL 152Philosophy and Feminism This course examines both the ways in which philosophical concepts and meth
odologies have influenced contemporary thinking about gender and the ways in which feminist viewpoints have challenged many traditional philosophical ideas. Among the topics discussed are: marriage, sexuality, prostitution, human trafficking, affirmative action, and the connections between feminism and other liberation movements. (K. Frost-Arnold, offered alternate years) HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 326 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE
PHIL 210Philosophy of Race and Racism This class introduces students to the philosophical study of race. The
topic of race has gained increasing focus within academic philosophy in recent decades, and this class will expose students to key issues surrounding race within philosophy’s three main branches, namely, epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics. Other approaches to the study of race might also be explored, including those taken from critical legal studies and critical race theory. Questions explored within this class might include the following: What is race? What is racism? How has racism shaped our society? What role has racism played in the thinking of philosophers across generations? How should we address problems of racial injustice? Is liberalism racist, and if so, should we dispense with it? What are race reparations and what is the case for them? Students will grapple with such questions in order to better understand the myriad dimensions of race. (Staff, offered occasionally) [Area 2: Values and Normative
PHIL 310Cooperation, Competition, and Justice In the second half of the 20th century, game theory emerged as
a powerful tool in economic theory. It helps us understand how people trust, threaten, and come to cooperative agreements. We will use mathematically simple game theory to understand how morality might be seen as an agreement by a diverse group of people, and what such a morality might demand of us and our government. Central issues will include: self-interest, fairness, rationality, redistribution of wealth, rights, and morality. We will begin with some classic texts by Hobbes and Mill, then quickly move into how contemporary economic thinking (esp. game theory) has influenced recent developments in utilitarian and contractarian theory. Upper level students from philos- ophy, economics, political science and public policy are encouraged to take this course (Barnes, offered alternate years) [Area 2: Values and Normative Theory] PHIL 330 Foundations of Ethics Contemporary philosophers looking at the history of ethics generally see 4 primary types of moral theories: virtue theory, contractarianism, deontology and consequentialism. This course will take a close look at the classic texts that are seen as the primary origins of these theories, written by Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant and Mill. We will also read contemporary criticisms and refinements of these theories. (Barnes, offered alternate years) [Area 2: Values and Normative Theory]
PHIL 342Experiencing and Knowing Why should we believe What others tell us? How do we know the external
world Exists? How reliable are the inductive methods of science? How can we tell when we have achieved knowl- edge? What is the scope of human knowledge? What are its limits? This course examines some 20th century discus- sions of these and similar questions that have long intrigued thinkers wishing to understand the capacities of the human mind. (K. Frost-Arnold, Offered alternate years) [Area 1: Knowledge & Reality]
PHIL 345Power, Privileg and Knowledge How is power used to shape the knowledge produced in a society? How
does my race or gender influence my knowledge and ignorance? These are key questions in social epistemology, which is the study of the social dynamics of knowledge. In this course, students explore the historical beginnings of social epistemology in the work of Marx, Foucault and Goldman. Drawing on this history, students conduct a sophis- ticated study of contemporary work by feminists and philosophers of race. Among the topics discussed are: the cor- poratization of science, knowledge of the female orgasm, white ignorance, and strategies for becoming a responsi- ble knower in a world of power and privilege. (K. Frost-Arnold, offered alternate years) [Area 1: Knowledge & Reality] PHIL 350 Theories of Reality This course will focus on questions such as the following: What is real? Is the material world the only reality? Are properties, like being round, or being rational, as real as things? Is mind, awareness, con- sciousness, a different sort of reality? Are people simply complex machines? Are human beings free to create their own futures? With respect to physical reality, we will consider issues such as causality, space, time, and substance. For persons, we will examine the relationship between mind and body, the idea of personal identity, and the nature of human free will and responsibility. Both classical and contemporary perspectives will be considered. (Staff, offered annually) [Area 1: Knowledge & Reality]
PHIL 355Philosophy of Time We seemingly experience the phenomenon of time every day. But what exactly is
it? One of the greatest philosophers of time, C. D. Broad, declared that the problem of understanding time is “the hardest knot in the whole of philosophy.” This course is an attempt to begin to unravel this knot. The topics are divided into two main sections reflecting the two main issues in the philosophy of time: the ontology of time and the properties of time. The ontology of time concerns, first and foremost, whether time is real, and, if so, whether only the present exists or whether the past and the future exist along with the present. The second section of the course concerns the consideration of the particular properties of time that give rise to several well-known questions involving time: How does time pass? What gives time its direction? Can we time travel into the past or future? These questions seem simple, but as one attempts to seek answers, it becomes clear that no obvious answers are to be found. Thus, this class ultimately serves not only as a philosophical introduction to the basic issues concerning time but also offers to students an illustration of how to structure and think through abstract issues. (Leininger, offered occasionally) [Area 1: Knowledge & Reality] HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 329 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE
At least one course from each of the following two areas (at least one of which must be at the 300-level): Area 1: Knowledge and Reality Area 2: Values and Normative Theory The course description for each course states whether it satisfies Area 1 (“Knowledge and Reality”) or Area 2 (“Values and Normative Theory”). Any five additional philosophy courses, at least two of which must be at the 200-level or higher. Students majoring in philosophy may count a maximum of 2 CR grades toward the major.
