Required Courses

An examination of the beginnings of Western philosophic thought from the pre-Socratics through the Hellenistic period, with extensive consideration of Plato and Aristotle.

The Aristotelian tradition as developed within Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Modern philosophy explores the works of 17th and 18th century thinkers such as Descartes, Spinoza, Cavendish, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. This era is the birth not only of many philosophical questions still alive today, but also of the scientific revolution. Of specific interest to these thinkers are questions about the limits of human knowledge, the nature and capacity of the human mind, and the relationship between reason, faith, and scientific inquiry.

Students will gain an understanding of the broad narrative of Western philosophy by studying texts from significant philosophers in several historical periods.

Study of key philosophical texts and thinkers of India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

The conditions that make knowledge possible and the criteria of truth and falsity. Selected representative historical thinkers.

What is art and how is it different from nonart? What is the nature of our appreciation of beauty? These are questions that frame this introductory course in aesthetics.

Are there good reasons for acting morally? Are consequences relevant to the morality of actions, or only our intentions? What is the nature of moral virtue? What is a good life? This course provides systematic analysis of such questions, drawing from important works in the history of moral philosophy and engaging with pressing contemporary ethical issues.

Investigates the philosophical foundations of political authority and social organization. Concepts such as freedom, equality, justice, and power are explored through engagement with primary texts.

Investigates some of the great themes of European philosophy and the problem of metaphysics as the intellectual inquiry which is supposed to clarify the nature of reality.

The study of individual existence as the situation in which one makes meaning through free and responsible choices. Primary authors are the nineteenth- and twentieth-century existentialists such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, and Sartre although earlier philosophers may be studied as well for their existentialist themes.

Logic is the formal study of arguments and inference. Particular attention is given to symbolic representations of systems of rationality and to what makes an argument valid or invalid.

The course focuses on expanding your understanding of the thinking process and developing the skills to become a better thinker. You will recognize the need to hold consistent intellectual standards for yourself and others. A specific focus is on text analysis, logical reasoning, and argument evaluation. Critical thinking may be the single-most valuable skill that one can bring to any job, profession, or life challenge.

Designates new or occasional courses that present the opportunity to study a major era, theme, or set of thinkers in philosophy, at the foundational level. Consult the current course schedule for available topics.

An examination of the beginnings of Western philosophic thought from the pre-Socratics through the Hellenistic period, with extensive consideration of Plato and Aristotle.

The Aristotelian tradition as developed within Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Modern philosophy explores the works of 17th and 18th century thinkers such as Descartes, Spinoza, Cavendish, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. This era is the birth not only of many philosophical questions still alive today, but also of the scientific revolution. Of specific interest to these thinkers are questions about the limits of human knowledge, the nature and capacity of the human mind, and the relationship between reason, faith, and scientific inquiry.

Students will gain an understanding of the broad narrative of Western philosophy by studying texts from significant philosophers in several historical periods.

Study of key philosophical texts and thinkers of India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

The conditions that make knowledge possible and the criteria of truth and falsity. Selected representative historical thinkers.

What is art and how is it different from nonart? What is the nature of our appreciation of beauty? These are questions that frame this introductory course in aesthetics.

Are there good reasons for acting morally? Are consequences relevant to the morality of actions, or only our intentions? What is the nature of moral virtue? What is a good life? This course provides systematic analysis of such questions, drawing from important works in the history of moral philosophy and engaging with pressing contemporary ethical issues.

Investigates the philosophical foundations of political authority and social organization. Concepts such as freedom, equality, justice, and power are explored through engagement with primary texts.

Investigates some of the great themes of European philosophy and the problem of metaphysics as the intellectual inquiry which is supposed to clarify the nature of reality.

The study of individual existence as the situation in which one makes meaning through free and responsible choices. Primary authors are the nineteenth- and twentieth-century existentialists such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, and Sartre although earlier philosophers may be studied as well for their existentialist themes.

Logic is the formal study of arguments and inference. Particular attention is given to symbolic representations of systems of rationality and to what makes an argument valid or invalid.

The course focuses on expanding your understanding of the thinking process and developing the skills to become a better thinker. You will recognize the need to hold consistent intellectual standards for yourself and others. A specific focus is on text analysis, logical reasoning, and argument evaluation. Critical thinking may be the single-most valuable skill that one can bring to any job, profession, or life challenge.

Designates new or occasional courses that present the opportunity to study a major era, theme, or set of thinkers in philosophy, at the foundational level. Consult the current course schedule for available topics.

Selected topics in the philosophy of science are explored such as the distinction between science and pseudoscience; the nature of confirmation, refutation, and explanation; realism and antirealism about scientific theories; and the possibility of conflict between science, religion, and the law.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

The development of technology raises unique questions about what it means to be human, what constitutes a just society or institution, and what constitutes moral behavior. This course uses the resources of moral philosophy to explore the ethical issues of modern technology. Potential topics include artificial intelligence, privacy, anonymity, autonomous machines, big data, surveillance, the environment, social media, and misinformation.
Prerequisite: Any 3-credit Philosophy course

In our dreams, we see, hear, and touch the worlds of our mind's own creation and sometimes we are so convinced by the reality of our dreams that we cannot distinguish them from reality. How do we know we are not dreaming? When we see, smell, taste, and touch the world around us, what is it that we are immediately aware of? Is it the real world itself-the world of physics-or, instead, are we aware of a world constructed by our minds? In Dreams, Perception, and Reality, we will explore some of the most fundamental philosophical questions beginning from their historical origins to contemporary philosophical and neuroscientific approaches to understanding dreams, perception, hallucinations, and imagination.

Investigates the concepts of space and time with reference to ancient Enlightenment and contemporary philosophy.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PHILOSOPHY COURSE

An examination of the problem of being true to oneself informed by existential ontology and ethics.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Introduces phenomenology as a working method for philosophical reflection on lived-experience. Topics include the distinction between the natural and phenomenological attitudes; the intentional structure of consciousness; the basic analysis of cognitive, evaluative, and volitional experience; and the phenomenological critique of naturalism, dualism, and subjective idealism.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Philosophically examines how feminist analysis can enhance an understanding of ourselves and the world.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PHILOSPHY COURSE

Explores theories of social, political, and economic justice from the ancient to the modern and contemporary periods.
Prerequisite: TAKE A 3 CREDIT PHILOSOPHY COURSE

Investigates the many philosophical issues surrounding race and racial identity. Some issues are metaphysical, such as what races are and whether race is a "real" feature of persons or not. Other issues are moral and political issues, such as what racism is, how it shapes our political landscape, and how societies can combat it.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PH COURSE;

Philosophical foundations of Marx's thought in Aristotle, Hegel, Feuerbach, and other predecessors. Analysis of Marx's conceptions of alienation, exploitation, historical materialism, and his critique of liberal political thought. Various philosophical responses to Marxism and evaluation of its applicability to contemporary capitalist societies.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

The philosophical study of the nature of law, the legal system's relationship to natural law, and theories of jurisprudence.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PH COURSE

Historical investigation of the nature of meaning and language, with a particular focus on work done since the mid-nineteenth century. Explores the relationship between the meaning of a proposition and the conditions for the possibility of its truth or verification, and the extent to which all meaning and understanding are (or are not) unified into a holistic "conceptual scheme."
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Engages representative figures from American Transcendentalism and American Pragmatism in the attempt to answer the questions, "How shall I live?" "What can I know?" and "What is real?"
Prerequisite: Take 3 credit Philosophy course

The philosophical traditions from Germany, from Leibniz in the seventeenth century through contemporary writers.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

The foundations and some applications of decision theory and game theory are introduced, e.g.:, decision equilibria, Bayesian learning, paradoxes of rationality, risk assessment, environmental policy, nuclear brinksmanship, cooperation theory and evolutionary theory.
Prerequisite: Take 3 credits Philosophy Course

An introduction to issues in analytic and/or Continental philosophy from postmodernity forward.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

The problem of God before and after Kant's "Copernican Revolution," phenomenology of religion, and postmodern theology.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Emphasizes the ethics, politics, and metaphysics of the Aristotelian system and its contrast to the Platonic synthesis.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Understanding of the various philosophical and ethical issues raised by a consideration of the environment and of humans' place within it.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PHILOSOPHY COURSE

The course explores a wide range of common and significant political ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, communism, fascism, libertarianism, populism and others. It also explores the meaning and use of the word "ideology" and how different ideologies can differ in scope or purpose.

Conservatism will study conservative political thinking as a general philosophical approach to politics and social issues, present in all times and places, and as an evolving body of thought and movement in the United States.
Prerequisite: 100-level philosophy course

Progressivism will study progressive political thinking as a general philosophical approach to politics and social issues, present in all times and places, and as an evolving movement and body of thought in the United States.
Prerequisite: 100-level philosophy course

European and Anglo-American philosophy from the seventeenth-century Enlightenment to the early twentieth century.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Uses contemporary films to lead students through advanced philosophical examination of issues such as epistemology, ethics, religion, technology, and the nature of the mind.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Inquires how encountering great literature can help one wrestle with longstanding philosophical questions. Students read novels and stories and analyze them in light of philosophers associate with existentialism, phenomenology, and aesthetics.
Prerequisite: TAKE 3 CREDITS PH COURSE

Examines the ethical and legal issues surrounding abortion, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, genetic cloning, genetic therapy/enhancement, genetic patenting, and healthcare allocation.

Reflections on the nature and meaning of human existence from a range of historical eras.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

In-depth analysis of the three major normative theories of ethics-virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism-with some attention to metaethics.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Examines some of the most important texts in the philosophical tradition on the questions of happiness and human flourishing.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PH COURSE

This course is for the study, preparation, and participation in the Intercollegiate Northeast Regional Ethics Bowl debate competition. Students spend at least three hours a week examining contemporary ethical situations. They learn how to frame an ethical dilemma. They learn various ethical approaches such as consequentialist ethics, duty-based ethics, virtue ethics, social contract theory, discourse ethics, the principle of double-effect, paternalism, biocentric and anthropocentric approaches to environmental ethics, principles of autonomy and benevolence. The students also research each case to understand the various relevant factors of each case and how they impact the analysis of the case. Finally, the students participate in an intercollegiate debate competition in which they articulate, defend, analyze, and comment on the cases in a timed, competition format. The approximate time spent on case preparation, study, and participation, averages out to 3 hours/week for a period of 15 weeks. 2-3 hour-weekly meetings are guided by a professor in a seminar format. The students also spend at least one hour a week on independent research and consultations. The competition day itself lasts 7-12 hours, depending on how far the team advances. The purpose of the course is to engage the students socratically and teach them to apply theoretical learning, to engage in research, and to articulate their opinions in an organized fashion that considers all sides of an issue before coming to an ethical conclusion. The goal is to teach students how to think and analyze situations ethically in a critical and fair manner.

Study of the human person from a Catholic philosophical perspective, including the topics of intersubjectivity, transcendence, human nature, freedom and the nature of the will, and the problem of death.

Designates new or occasional courses that present the opportunity to study the theme of the search for beauty. Consult the current course schedule for available topics.
Prerequisite: Take a PH course

Designates new or occasional courses that present the opportunity to study the theme of freedom, equality, and the common good. Consult the current course schedule for available topics.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

Designates new or occasional courses that present the opportunity to study the theme of wellness and well-being. Consult the current course schedule for available topics.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credits PH course

Designates new or occasional courses that present the opportunity to explore philosophical questions about human nature and experience in a global context. Consult the current course schedule for available topics.

Designates new or occasional courses that may or may not become part of the department's permanent offerings. Courses capitalize on a timely topic, a faculty member's particular interest, an experimental alternative to existing courses, etc. Prerequisites established by the department as appropriate for the specific course. Course title is shown on the student's transcript. Consult the current course schedule for available topics and prerequisites.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit PH 100 level course

Inquires how encountering great literature can help one wrestle with longstanding philosophical questions. Students read novels and stories and analyze them in light of philosophers associate with existentialism, phenomenology, and aesthetics.
Prerequisite: TAKE 3 CREDITS FROM A 200 LEVEL PH COURSE

To gain an understanding of evolutionary biology and the philosophical difficulties it creates for Christianity and our understanding of human nature.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit Philosophy course

majors to gain practical experience in an area to which the discipline applies. Internships are arranged in advance of the semester in which they are to be taken.

In this seminar-style course, students will develop an understanding of philosophical research methods by assisting faculty engaged in current philosophical research. They will learn to use research databases, evaluate relevant literature, and be introduced to the research writing process.