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Spring 2010 Courses In PhilosophyLinks will lead you
to biographical information PHILOSOPHY 101
Section I (1 unit)
M W F 9:10 - 10:00am PHILOSOPHY 101 Section III (1 unit)
M W F 11:10 - 12noon In this course we will survey several fundamental philosophical questions. We will begin with a brief introduction to basic philosophical concepts and the structure of arguments. We will then examine important questions and survey historical and contemporary responses by philosophers to these questions. Some questions to be discussed are: What can I know? Does God exist? Are my actions free? What makes an action morally right or wrong? This course will develop your analytic skills and improve your ability to think and write clearly. It will also allow you to appreciate important historical and contemporary philosophical texts and form your own responses to the fundamental questions mentioned above. ________________________________________________________________ PHILOSOPHY 202 (1 unit)
T R 10:10 - 12noon This course uses concepts of social justice to frame the social history of African Americans from 1619 until today. I employ analyses adapted from A Leon Higgenbotham, Amartya Sen, Derrick Bell and others. The course includes an issues and historically oriented introduction to a broad range of philosophical subject matter and methodologies through a clarification and analysis of argumentation used to justify selected social and political institutions and practices-- including reparation and affirmative action. ________________________________________________________________
PHILOSOPHY 301 (1 unit)
W 1:10 - 4:00pm This course examines theoretical and practical perspectives on ethical issues in relation to the environment. The theoretical issues range from whether we should assign moral value to species other than the human (and if so, on the basis of what criteria) to whether we have moral obligations to preserve the environment for future generations (and if so, what this would imply for the present generations). The practical issues range from creating incentives for restricting population growth without abdicating responsibilities toward the world’s hungry, to the issue of what short and long term policies and practices need to be adopted to deal effectively with reducing pollution and hazardous waste while working toward a recycling, sustainable global society. _______________________________________________________________
PHILOSOPHY 302 (1 unit)
M 10:10 - 12noon & This course examines the ethical foundations of leadership. It involves an in-depth discussion of foremost leadership theories and their applications to different contexts. It critically examines the morally distinct aspects of leadership by looking at the relationships among power, self-interest, and morality; and analyzes leadership from within the ethical frame-works of virtue, duty, and utility along with discussing the ethical challenges of diversity (culture relativism, race, and gender) to traditional leadership ethics. _____________________________________________________________
PHILOSOPHY 315 (1 unit)
M 2:10 - 5:00pm This is an introduction to the theory of knowledge. We will critically examine competing theories of knowledge, the nature of truth, and the justification of belief. Topics addressed include skepticism, contextualism, and “interest-relative” theories of knowledge. _______________________________________________________________
PHILOSOPHY 380 (1 unit)
M W F 11:10 - 12noon Aristotle may have exercised more influence on our Western intellectual tradition than any other individual. It is simply a fact that, while his predecessors had made use of logic, Aristotle discovered the syllogism. Immanuel Kant could say, in his era, that our understanding of logic had not significantly improved since the time of Aristotle. But it is not for historical reasons, simply, that Aristotle is interesting. Aristotle’s philosophy continues to exercise influence today, especially concerning controversies over the nature of existence, identity, the soul, and the way one should live. In this course, we will attempt to understand and evaluate what Aristotle has to say on these matters. ________________________________________________________________ |
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