PHIL Course Descriptions
Table of Contents
PHIL 250 Introduction to Philosophy
3 credit hours
This course is designed to introduce students to what it means to think and live philosophically. There are a number of different variations of this course. Each variation picks a different topic through which to explore how philosophy can be a tool for interpreting, understanding, and interacting with the world. Not only that, we will also examine how philosophy can shape the way in which we live out our lives. Each course includes some reading of Plato and at least one other major philosophy in the tradition. Examples of different variations of this course include: "God, Freedom and Evil", "Simplicity", "Socrates and Plato", "Land and Humans", and "Virtue and Faith".
PHIL 285 Selected Topics
1-3 credit hour
A seminar on a topic chosen by the professor. Recent topics have been apologetics; postmodern philosophy and Christian thought; philosophy of science; philosophy of E. Levinas; and philosophy of sex, singleness, and marriage. Prerequisite: upper-division majors and others by permission.
PHIL 350 Logic
3 credit hours
Logic involves a study of Aristotelian forms of deductive reasoning, including the syllogism, inductive reasoning, fallacies, and some aspect of symbolic logic, including Venn diagrams and truth tables. Its goal is to facilitate sound thinking that is both creative and critical.
PHIL 351 Moral Philosophy
3 credit hours
This course will explore questions about how we ought to live and what kind of person we ought to be. Questions may include: What is the good life—the life worth living? What makes an action the morally right thing to do? Is there even such a thing as the morally right thing to do? And if there is, isn’t it all relative? What’s God or religion have to do with the good life and the right thing to do? Can we know right from wrong? How should we think about specific ethical dilemmas?
PHIL 352 Metaphysics and Mind
3 credit hours
This course is an introduction to metaphysics, exploring questions about the fundamental nature of reality, including some questions that overlap with philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and theology. Questions may include: What is the nature of being and existence? What is time and is time travel possible? What is human free will? What determines personal identity over time? Is the mind material? What is gender? Is there a necessary foundation to reality, and if there is, must it be divine?
PHIL 353 Epistemology
3 credit hours
This course is an introduction to epistemology, exploring questions about the nature of knowledge, and rational belief. Questions may include: How should ‘knowledge’ be defined? What can we know? What does cognitive science teach us about the rationality of our beliefs? Should we generally trust what people say? To what extent can reasonable people disagree? And does being intellectually virtuous have anything to do with knowing? Is faith opposed to knowledge or can we know religious truths?
PHIL 420 Philosophy of Religion and Apologetics
3 credit hours
Philosophy is an attempt to answer the Big Questions. In this course we will attempt to answer some of the big questions of religion. These questions are of immense importance; the course of millions of people’s lives rests on certain answers to these questions. Is there a God? What evidence is there for the existence of God? Does the existence of evil rule out God’s existence? If God existed, wouldn't it be more obvious? Could religious experience provide grounds for rational religious belief? Has science undermined reasonable belief in God and miracles? Is faith just inherently irrational as such? Apologetics is a defense of the Christian faith, and throughout this class Christian responses to these questions will be explained, interrogated, and defended.