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Philosophy Department Homepage

PHIL 101. Introduction to Philosophy (1 course)

Selected problems of philosophy and some alternative solutions. Readings from philosophers of the past and present. Seniors admitted only by permission of instructor.

PHIL 106. God, Evil and the Meaning of Life (1 course)

Readings by philosophical, religious and literary authors on such questions as the meaning of God, arguments for the existence of God, the problem of evil, the meaning of human life, the relation of morality and religious belief. Open to first-year students and sophomores; open to others only by permission of instructor.

PHIL 197. First-Year Seminar (1 course)

A seminar focused on a theme in the study of philosophy. Open only to first-year students. May be repeated once in the first year with a different topic.

PHIL 202. Logic (1 course)

A systematic study of reasoning with emphasis on questions of meaning and validity. Includes sentential logic, elementary quantification, a survey of fallacies and selected topics in inductive logic.

PHIL 203. Cosmology [See also PHYS 203] (1 course) 

An examination of fundamental questions about the origin, order, and meaning of the universe from the perspective of physics, philosophy, and other disciplines. Topics include: creation myths; development of Western cosmology; physics and metaphysics of space and time; the Cosmological and Design arguments for the existence of God; the Anthropic Principle; life and consciousness.

PHIL 206. Topics (1 course)

Usually a field of philosophy or a historical development or a problem or set of problems. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

PHIL 207. Ethics and Business (1 course)

An examination of ethical questions relating to business activity. Topics include: economic justice, the moral responsibilities of corporations, rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, business and consumers, regulation of business.

PHIL 208. Biomedical Ethics (1 course)

Perplexing moral issues arising in contemporary biomedical practice, research and medical care which impinge upon our deeply held notions of human dignity and value. Readings from religion, philosophy, ethics and public policy, medical science and law.

PHIL 211. Philosophy of Sex and Gender (1 course)

An introduction to the principal views in the history of philosophy on the issues concerning the status of women, relationship between the sexes, sexual attitudes and orientations. First part of the class: the foundations of the Conservative View and reactions against them. Second part of the class: some problem areas such as the desire for pleasure, homosexuality in society, pornography and whether there are unconscious libidinal mechanisms directing our lives.

PHIL 213. Ethical Theory (1 course)

Historical and contemporary answers to some of the main problems of ethics, including the standard of right and wrong, the criteria of goodness, the possibility of ethical knowledge and the place of reason in ethics.

PHIL 214. Philosophy of Art (1 course)

Traditional and recent theories of art, the work of art, criticism, theories of taste and aesthetic quality, and special problems concerning the individual arts.

PHIL 215-216. History of Western Philosophy (1 course each semester)

Major philosophers and philosophical schools of the West. Fall semester: the pre-Socratics to Augustine. Spring semester: Descartes through Kant.

PHIL 218. Chinese Philosophy (1 course)

Major philosophers and schools in Classical China. Readings are selected from the writing of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Xunzi, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Hanfeizi. The main focus will be on Chinese philosophy, but some comparisons with Western thought will be made. Not open to first-year students.

PHIL 219. Existentialism (1 course)

Introductory course in Existentialism. Major writers from both 19th and 20th centuries including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Camus. Issues to be discussed: the meaning of life, the value of morality, absurdity of life, the relation between being and nothingness.

PHIL 305. Philosophy of Science (1 course)

The nature, aims and methods of the natural and social sciences. The nature of scientific description, explanation and prediction. The role of theories, models and deduction in science. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or major in science or permission of instructor.

PHIL 307. Topics (1 course)

This course is generally a topic-area such as metaethics, medieval philosophy, philosophy of religion, the philosophy of language, European philosophy in the 19th and 20th centuries and philosophy of common sense. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

PHIL 309. Advanced Logic (1 course)

Techniques of proof in sentential logic, predicate calculus and predicate calculus with identity. Introduction of metalogical issues of consistency, completeness and G”del incompleteness. Topics in philosophical logic such as modal, tense and epistemic logics. Prerequisite: PHIL 202 or permission of instructor.

PHIL 311. Epistemology (1 course)

What is knowledge? What is it for a belief to be justified? What is the relationship between knowledge and justification? In this course, we examine some of the main analyses of knowledge and some of the main criteria of justification. Readings will include classic and contemporary sources. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of instructor.

PHIL 312.  Metaphysics (1 course)

A philosophical study of the nature of reality, considering such problems as the theory of causes, the status of universals, freedom, mind-body, space and time, individuation. The course will consider both historical and contemporary sources. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of instructor.

PHIL 313. Death (1 course)

An examination of philosophical questions surrounding death. Topics include the rationality of fear of death, the possibility of the survival of death, the relation between mortality and the meaning of life, and the ethics of suicide and euthanasia. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of instructor.

PHIL 315. Philosophy of Law (1 course)

An inquiry into the nature of law, the relation of law to morality, the notion of responsibility in the law, punishment and the import for law of liberty of expression. Readings from classical and recent philosophers of law.

PHIL 317. Philosophy of Language (1 course)

An inquiry into the nature and function of language, considering questions of reference, meaning, metaphor and the relationship of logic to thought. Although the course will focus primarily on issues raised by Frege and Wittgenstein and developed by contemporary analytic philosophers, discussions of language by non-analytic philosophers may also be considered. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of instructor.

PHIL 351. Medieval Philosophy (1 course)

This course examines the main figures and debates in Medieval Philosophy, beginning with St. Augustine of Hippo and concluding with Machiavelli. Some topics covered: the refutation of skepticism; what is truth; the City of God versus the City of Man; Natural Law; Just War; and what constitutes good government.

PHIL 430. Major Philosophers (1 course)

One or two philosophers, usually chosen from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein and Frege. Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

PHIL 433. Philosophical Problem (1 course)

A study of one problem such as universals, time, freedom, causation, happiness and necessary truth. Attention mainly to recent papers and books. Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

PHIL 439. Seminar in Philosophy (1/2-1 course)

Planning, researching and writing, in consultation with the instructor and other philosophy majors, a draft of a substantial paper to become the thesis in the major. Prerequisite: major in philosophy and senior status. Grade deferred until the thesis is completed. May not be taken Pass-Fail.

PHIL 490. Independent Study in Philosophy 1/4-1 course)

Directed studies in a selected field or fields of philosophy. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

E-mail questions or comments to: sbates@depauw.edu

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