Course Catalog

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BELIEF, KNOWLEDGE, FACTS (PL1000)

Introduces the skills and techniques appropriate to philosophy. Analyzes examples of philosophical reasoning as well as ordinary reasoning, to make clear the nature of argument and show what is specific to philosophy. Aims to equip students with essential tools for the understanding of contemporary debate.

ETHICAL INQUIRY: PROBLEMS & PARADIGMS (PL1021)

How should I live? How can I determine whether an action is right or just? These are perennial questions that philosophers have long considered and attempted to answer. Explores the ethical writings of several philosophers, including Plato, Hobbes, and Mill, in order to help us clarify and articulate our own values as well as discover the nature of philosophy.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I: ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL (PL1100)

Formerly PL2011. This course offers an overview of ancient and medieval philosophy. Beginning with the earliest Greek philosophers and ending with the late medieval founding fathers of modern scientific thought, we will read and discuss various answers these thinkers gave to questions such as: 'What is a good life?' or 'How can I reconcile my faith with what reason tells me?' Readings include Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Seneca, Plotinus, Anselm, Avicenna, Abelard, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas and Nicolaus of Autrecourt.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I: ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL (PL1100)

This course offers an overview of ancient and medieval philosophy. Beginning with the earliest Greek philosophers and ending with the late medieval founding fathers of modern scientific thought, we will read and discuss various answers these thinkers gave to questions such as: 'What is a good life?' or 'How can I reconcile my faith with what reason tells me?' Readings include Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Seneca, Plotinus, Anselm, Avicenna, Abelard, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas and Nicolaus of Autrecourt.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY II (PL1200)

Formerly PL2022. This course aims to provide a solid and comprehensive grounding in modern philosophy focusing on the main issues and theories of late Renaissance philosophy, modern Rationalism and Empiricism, philosophies of the Enlightenment, Critical philosophy, modern Idealism, Phenomenology and some questions of analytic philosophy. It offers an introduction to the works of the major figures of this tradition.

How to Think: Formal Logic and Causal Reasoning (PL1300)

Introduction basic tools of factual reasoning, so that you can make better arguments, assess the arguments of others, and recognize typical mistakes in our thinking. The course combines a systematic introduction to basic formal logic and argument analysis with an overview of fundamentals of causal reasoning, the basis for all empirical acquisition of new information.