Electives

Inquiry into the political foundations of education and how these interface with epistemological, ethical, and metaphysical concerns. Concrete issues relating to educational injustices will also be addressed. Students will study both classical and contemporary thinkers, such as Confucius, Lao Tzu, Plato, Rousseau, Jane Addams, John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Bell Hooks, Maria Lugones.

The basic philosophical principles of justice and law in the Western legal traditions: morality and law; natural and positive law; Roman law and common law traditions; logic, language, and symbols of law; Marxian concept of law; legal education.

Analysis of some major topics in contemporary socio-political thought, e.g., freedom, social justice and structural violence, equality, the relation between rights and obligations, sovereignty, authority, legitimacy, and consent.

An investigation of the philosophical underpinnings of various feminist theories and their implications for philosophical inquiry from De Beauvoir to Irigaray.

This course offers an introduction to basic concepts of logic, including the nature and evaluation of arguments as well as an examination of common informal fallacies. Students will also be introduced to major systems of logic (categorical, propositional, and/or predicate logic) including ordinary-language statements into each logical system and testing arguments for validity within each system.

An analysis of fundamental concepts of science: fact, law, observation, theory, explanation, truth, discovery, progress, methods of scientific reasoning, science and pseudo-science, moral implications of scientific research, science and society.

An inquiry into current issues and debates in the field of ethics. The course will consider the relationship of ethical debates to other areas of philosophy. Investigation may focus on issues such as autonomy, internalism, moral realism, and/or the relationship between moral philosophy and problems in social and political philosophy.

An inquiry into our obligations to the non-human world and the philosophical basis of that obligation.

This course will examine ethical issues in medicine, biotechnology, and related fields. Issues to be discussed may include the concept of informed consent, stem cell research, reproductive technologies, human enhancement, end of life issues, the global AIDS epidemic, genetics, biomedical research, and justice in the distribution of healthcare.

A study of the relationship between philosophy and contemporary psychology; a critical examination of the philosophical presuppositions underlying key personality theories: e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis, Jungian analysis, Skinnerian behaviorism, phenomenological psychology, and existential psychoanalysis.

This course is devoted to an intensive study of the work of a single philosopher. Different philosophers will be featured in different semesters.

The origins of Western philosophy and its development up to Plotinus, including the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic schools (Epicureans, Stoics, Skeptics), and Neoplatonism. Taught biennially.

The major philosophers from Augustine through late scholasticism with particular attention to Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Scotus, and Ockham. Taught biennially.

Philosophical figures and topics from the Renaissance through Kant: the scientific revolution, continental rationalism (Descartes, Leibniz), British empiricism (Locke, Hume, Berkeley), and Kant's transcendental philosophy. Taught biennially.

An examination of nineteenth-century philosophy focusing upon the work of Hegel. The course traces the roots of Hegelianism in German idealism, the British Economists, and romanticism, and its influences on subsequent involvements including Marxism, existentialism, and American pragmatism. Taught biennially.

This course is a survey of some major philosophical tradition of the 20th century. Versions of the course could include Analytic Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Contemporary Catholic Thought, or Classical American Philosophy.

A survey of existential philosophers including Sartre, De Beauvoir, Marcel, and Merleau-Ponty; a critical study of their reflections on the nature and meaning of human existence, freedom, and authenticity.

Credit arranged.

Research, study, or original work under the direction of a faculty mentor, leading to a scholarly thesis document with a public presentation of results. Requires approval of thesis director and department chair.