Philosophy and Religion Department 

Fall, 2003 Elective Course Offerings

PHILOSOPHY

RELIGION 

PHILOSOPHY ELECTIVES

PHIL 290 – Philosophy of Sport

     Sport enjoys near-sacred status. We devote much of our lives, sometimes our professions, to becoming better players and spectators. But how often do we stop to analyze the philosophical side of sport? Just what is a sport, for example, and what is a game? Ballroom dancing is in the Olympics, but is it sport the way that soccer is? What does it mean to "foul"? Sport also raises ethical and justice issues. Do steroids and other "enhancements" belong in sport? If girls can try out for the boys' teams, why not vice-versa? Should colleges emphasize sport? Philosophy of sport has challenged thinkers since the time of Plato (a champion wrestler before he took up philosophy). 

     This course will address some of these questions, unpacking the details that the so-called sports "commentary" of the media ignores. This course is geared towards students who can seriously reflect on sport of any kind, from tennis to running to basketball, etc. It is especially for students interested in reading and writing about sport, at a higher level than we usually reach in our casual conversation.

PHIL 260- Philosophies of Art 

    This course is an introduction to the philosophy of art. It will survey major issues in this field, such as the nature of art, the relation of art to reality and society, and the nature of aesthetic experience. Among the questions to be considered are the following: How is art defined? What makes a human activity an art? Are some artistic media better or more effective than others in fulfilling the purposes of art? Does every art involve the expression of emotion? What does it mean to call a work of art beautiful? Are there other standards, in addition to beauty, by which works of art should be judged? Is it reasonable to expect that people should agree regarding which works of art are great and  which are not? Reading for this course will include the thought of classical writers like Plato and Aristotle, modern philosophers such as Kant and Hegel, and twentieth-century thinkers like Dewey and Heidegger.

PHIL 331 –  Ancient Philosophy 

      An introduction to the major figures of classical philosophy in the ancient world. The course will focus on the writings of Plato and Aristotle, the two greatest and most influential thinkers in ancient philosophy, whose writings are still a goldmine of creativity and conceptual subtlety. The course will include also the beginnings of philosophy in the fragmentary thought of the Pre-Socratics in the sixth century B.C. Classical philosophy first defined the central issues and ideas that came to shape Western culture, including the ideas of truth, beauty, and goodness; democracy and freedom; knowledge, reason, and experience; and reality, time, space, infinity, and God. Modern thought can be understood only through its relationship to classical thought and culture. This course will provide an introductory overview of this early, formative period in philosophy.

PHIL 310 – Knowledge, Belief, and Truth

     An examination of the nature and limits of human knowledge. Questions to be addressed include:  Is guessing a form of pretending to believe? Can we know anything at all or are humans condemned to (blessed with) skepticism?  Is it possible to have knowledge of God or of what is ethical or unethical? Is a priori knowledge (that which philosophy allegedly provides) either possible or actual?   And, what is the nature of truth, especially when a fictional object is involved?  The last few sessions of the course will be devoted to student projects involving collaboration through the use of electronic resources and culminating in the production of in-class  presentations.  Projects in the areas of fictional or religious knowledge, ethical knowledge, and feminist epistemology will be strongly encouraged. 
          The course is required for Philosophy majors; minors and interested non-majors are welcome.

RELIGION ELECTIVES

Currently listed as- 

RELG 107 - Death & Dying 

Will be officially changed to- 

RELG 218 - Death, Dying and Afterlife 

This course is designed to give students the opportunity to study cross-cultural religious practices and attitudes toward death, dying, and the afterlife. It will cover the grieving process, rituals of death, and various cultural attitudes toward death, including symbolic ‘deaths’ (initiations) and belief in limbo states, soul-survival, ghosts, heaven, hell, and reincarnation. From the standpoint of varied religious traditions, we will explore such philosophical issues as does death really exist? What dies and what lives on? Is death simply the next stage of a long moral and spiritual journey, or is it the end? Why do people so often fear death, yet enjoy watching frightening films? Specifically, we will cover such varied religious/cultural topics as Egyptian mummies, early Christian martyrdom and the catacombs, biblical angels, the Tibetan Book of the Dead and six Buddhist rebirth-realms, religious interpretations of the Plague in medieval Europe, Hindu and Buddhist karma and samsara (the cycle of rebirth), psychic communication beyond the grave, and the modern meaning of holidays that refer to death or spirits, such as Halloween and Mardi Gras.

Dr. Steve Johnson 

Section 01

Section 02

MW  10-11:15am Room: DI 276 Call #13274

MW 1-2:15pm Room:   DI 276 Call #13256

 This course takes an historical approach in studying the interactions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam with the broader cultures they impact and inhabit. Students will learn amazing amounts of religious and secular history (especially Western) in the first half of the course. In the second half of the course, students will be immersed in fascinating (sometimes terrifying) topics/foci. They will thereby gain insight into dynamics still very much driving us (and driving us crazy) in these first years of a new century and millennium. 

Students must attend the classes, survive two tough tests, and faithfully work at weekly written assignments (thought questions, analyses, long summaries of videos viewed during class, etc.) 

RELG 273 – The Holocaust:Religious Perspective

A study of Nazi extermination of 6,000,000 Jews during World War II and the moral and religious issues raised by this event.

 (A more detailed description of the course is coming)

RELG 300 - Classics/ Western Religious Thought

Selected works of significant religious thinkers of the western tradition on issues such as mystical knowledge of God, religious ethics, symbolic and literal reading of the Bible, religious existentialism, and inter-religious dialogue.  

RELG 352 - SS: The Quran

The Qur’an is the Islamic sacred scripture, the primary source of law, ethics, theology, meditation, and devotion—the very center of religious life, thought, and practice.  Muslims regard the Qur’an as pure and uncorrupted Divine Speech; to recite or listen to the Qur’an, therefore, is to stand in the presence of God.  “Along with the Bible,” writes Charles Adams, “the Qur’an must be reckoned as one of the most widely read, most studied, most revered, and most influential books in all of human history.”  This course will guide the students through an exciting and thought-provoking journey of discovering the Qur’an; for some, this might become a journey of self-discovery.  Through both classical and contemporary scholarship, students will learn about the text of the Qur’an, its language, style, arrangement, subdivisions, history, context, and collection.  They will learn about the role of the Qur’an in the rise of Islam, its relationship with the Bible, the development of Muslim exegetical tradition and its numerous transformations over the centuries, contemporary Muslim and non-Muslim approaches to the Qur’an, Western attitudes toward the Qur’an from the medieval to the modern age, as well as various aspects of its legal, ethical, theological, and mystical teachings.  Through detailed study of selected sections of the Qur’anic text as well as the Muslim exegetical tradition, students will critically engage with controversial questions such as the origin and nature of the Qur’an, the authenticity of its text, its teachings about violence, gender, and authority, its attitude towards non-Muslims, and its changing role and relevance in a pluralistic, postmodern, and globalized  world.

A survey introduction to Ireland's religious history and experiences, from the earliest people and Queen   Medb, through Padraig and Brigid, the Vikings and Cromwell, and much much more, toward the 20th-century and America. Heavy readings and wide-ranging lectures will travel the following syllabus: 

Celtic Irish paganism: complete with goddesses, druids, and dynamic shape-shifting. 

Celtic Christianity: the original real deal, unique in the world for centuries, its monks helping save Europe. 

Christian Ireland Roman-Catholicized: recognizably Irish but "regularized" under Norman English absorption. 

Irish Catholicism under the gun -- victimized and distorted by four centuries of Protestant English brutalities and persecution. 

No pre-requisites, but good note-taking, class attendance, and in-class participation are required. Short weekly writing assignments and serious tests.