Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus · Courses
PHIL
22 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.
None Restriction: None Description: Acquaints the beginning student with philosophical problems and methods. Possible topics include the existence of God, human freedom, the scope and limits of human knowledge, the nature of mind, the nature of morality, and the relationship between the individual and the state. Cross-Listed: No
None Restriction: None Description: Understands and evaluates philosophical attempts from various historical eras and cultures to say what it means to live a good life. Applies these accounts of the good life to students’ own lives and encourages them to think about principles discussed in class can make their own lives better. Cross-Listed: No
None. Restriction: None. Description: Examines attempts to answer foundational questions of ethics, including the following: Why should we be moral? What do morally correct actions have in common? Are there objective moral standards, or are moral codes relative to individual societies? Does morality require religion? Applies diverse moral theories to contemporary debates and controversies, such as environmental ethics, abortion, capital punishment, affirmative action, and animal rights. Analyzes readings and arguments from historical and contemporary figures. Cross-Listed: No
None. Restriction: None. Description: Examines ethical issues in medicine and health care, such as patient autonomy and surrogate decision making; death, dying, and end of life care; reproductive ethics; justice and allocation of health care resources; global health, poverty, and development; public health ethics; and ethics of emerging medical technologies. Analyzes readings and arguments from philosophers, medical professionals, and policy makers. Cross-Listed: No
none Restriction: none Description: Considers the ethical implications of various emerging technologies. Examines the philosophical and ethical debates concerning the use of technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, genetic engineering, autonomous cars and weapons, and online data collection. Evaluates the use of such technologies in students’ lives and in society in general.
None Restriction: None Description: Analyzes the structure of logical arguments. Demonstrates the ability to use basic strategies to evaluate logical arguments.
None Restriction: None Description: Examines philosophical attempts to say what it means to live a good life. Is living a good life simply about maximizing the pleasure one experiences? Does a good life require religious faith? Is being virtuous essential to living a good life? Historical thinkers considered may include Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Laozi, Augustine, Aquinas, Rousseau, Nietzsche, and Russell. Contemporary philosophical work on happiness informed by empirical research may also be considered.
As appropriate to course content Description: Offered on an experimental or temporary basis to explore topics not included in the established curriculum. A given topic may be offered under any special topic identity no more than three times. Special topics numbered 281 are offered primarily for lower-level undergraduate students.
None Restriction: None Description: Introduces thinkers and themes from the Western philosophical tradition through the examination of classic texts from antiquity through the modern period. Examines works of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Epictetus, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Topics include the nature of the mind, the foundations of knowledge, and the nature of morality and the good life. Cross-Listed: No
none Restriction: none Description: Introduces central issues in philosophy of mind, with a special emphasis on mental representation, consciousness, and the computational theory of mind. Explores historical and contemporary approaches to questions such as: Is the mind an immaterial thing? Is the mind identical with the brain? Or is the mind a kind of computer, related to the brain in the way a computer program is related to hardware? Is it possible for machines to really think and feel? What is consciousness and can it be explained scientifically?
As appropriate to course content Description: Offered on an experimental or temporary basis to explore topics not included in the established curriculum. A given topic may be offered under any special topic identity no more than three times. Special topics numbered 481 are primarily for upper-level undergraduate students.
