Dr. Benfield: Philosophy of Religion
Dr. Garrett: Modern Philosophy
Dr. Garrett: Philosophy of Art
Dr. Herrera: Existence and Reality
Dr. McDermid: Knowledge Belief & Truth
Dr. Patrone: ST: Issues in Social
Political Philosophy: Pluralism
Dr. Townsend: Intro to Cognitive Science
Dr. Eller: Women in Religion
Dr. Ibrahim: Islamic Religious Traditions
Dr. Johnson: Myth Meaning and Self
Dr. Johnson:
Religion & Culture
Dr. Johnson: Religion &
Culture
Dr. Kogan: New Testament Paul& The Early Church
Dr. Kogan: Heidegger
Dr. Vail: Buddhism
Philosophy
Electives
PHIL 262
– Philosophy of Religion
“Is Science right when it tells us
that we humans are ALONE and a cosmic ACCIDENT?”; “If we are not
alone and God does indeed exist, what are God’s powers?”;
“After our bodies die, can we exist as
individual persons?”; and “Can any one religion claim to have the
CORRECT answers to these questions?
Using the latest (copyright 2007)
edition of William Rowe’s Philosophy
of Religion: An Introduction, we will examine in some
detail what philosophers think about these topics.
We will also read selections by experts on the religious
dimensions of science (Haught and Collins) and by influential public
atheists such as Dennett, Dawkins, and Sagan. If
you are interested in attacking these and related questions using
reason and the tools of analytic philosophy, this is the course for
you.
The course has no prerequisites;
however, an open and tolerant attitude toward all religions will be
essential. The course will meet f2f and the requirements will be:
weekly journal entries; a class-presentation project; a mid-term
take-home exam; and a final examination.
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 333 –
History of Philosophy : Modern Philosophy
An introduction to
European philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, which defined
modern thought. Readings will be from the central works of Descartes,
Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. The main themes
will be the nature of knowledge, reality, and the human mind. Some of
the specific issues to be considered are the following: Is it possible
to prove that I really exist, or that the physical world exists? Do
these questions even make sense? Is perception the basis of human
knowledge, or can we learn things about the physical world just by
logical thought (like mathematical deductions in theoretical physics)?
Is the world a vast, unified structure in which each event is linked
to other events by natural laws? Or is the world instead a
miscellaneous collection of unconnected events that we simply think of
more usefully in some ways rather than other ways? Can knowledge of
the material world be as reliable as the direct knowledge I have of my
own thoughts? What mental structures or capacities are needed to make
either sort of knowledge possible?
In
this course, we will focus on a few of the more important metaphysical issues from the beginnings of philosophy to the present.
These issues will include the notion of truth, self/personal identity,
god, events/actions, time, meaning, and of course, the overall nature
of reality. We will also address practical issues raised by these
topics. We will draw on this course from the thoughts and writing of
classical authors, such as Plato, Kant, and Wittgenstein. Our goal
will be to relate the metaphysical speculations of the great thinkers
to the problems that we encounter every day, including our need to
accommodate each other, and understand our place in nature.
PHIL 310 – Knowledge,
Belief & Truth / HONP 301 01
This course will survey
questions about the nature and possibility of knowledge (the study
of epistemology.) It’s easiest to explain what the course is about,
by saying it’s about a collection of questions like these:
What is knowledge? Where do we get
knowledge? How do we know we know something? What is truth?
These are, obviously, pretty
abstract questions – the sort philosophy is famous for. We will be
spending time thinking about these issues in the classical philosophical
way, but not always: we will also be trying to answer more practical
questions, such as “why should I care what knowledge is?” (We’ll deal
with this one first, so you don’t drop the course.) In addition, we’ll
be looking at humanity’s most efficient and productive generator of
knowledge: science. Does science obtain knowledge? Of what? How does
it do this? Does science have privileged access to the truth? A
monopoly on the truth?
This course is required for
philosophy majors; minors and interested non-majors are welcome.
PHIL 290 –
ST/Issues in Social Political Philosophy: Pluralism
This course will serve as both an introduction to
contemporary political philosophy and as an examination of the idea
of value pluralism with its implications to political philosophy.
We will start out with discussing the main thesis of value pluralism
– the thesis that there is a plurality of values in general and of
reasonable conceptions of a good life in particular and that these
values and conceptions are both incompatible and incommensurable.
In light of the main thesis of value pluralism, we shall ask the
following questions: Should democracies be committed to
accommodating as many values, preferences, and conceptions of a good
life as possible? If so, on what grounds should they do this?
In particular, are liberal political theories consistent with the
main thesis of value pluralism? What policies and procedures
should a democracy adopt in order to accommodate different values,
preferences, and conceptions of a good life? Time permitting,
we shall attempt to relate the results of our theoretical inquiry to
topics such as feminism and international justice. Among our
primary sources will be the works of Isaiah Berlin, John Stuart
Mill, John Rawls, Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel, Martha Nussbaum,
Michael Walzer, and Joshua Cohen.
PHIL 288 – Intro to
Cognitive Science
Using the latest (copyright 2005)
edition of Paul Thagard’s excellent text Mind: Introduction to
Cognitive Science, the course will examine the Computational
Representational Understanding of the Mind, affectionately known as
CRUM. The six basic approaches to mental
representations are Logic, Rules, Concepts, Analogies, Images, and
Connections. Each of these will be scrutinized
and tested for its representational and computational powers.
Numerous applications to practical affairs are discussed and as
a side effect, students will find themselves thinking more clearly
and effectively. The latter part of the course
will be devoted to an exploration of possible extensions to, and
limitations of, the CRUM approach.
Philosophy majors who are interested in
the Philosophy of Mind will find this course especially enjoyable
because it surveys the state of the art in the scientific study of the
mental. The course has no prerequisites; however,
students will be expected to take a scientific approach to the material.
The examinations will be in-class and closed book.
Assignments will be posted on BlackBoard but the course will meet
f2f.
Religion
Electives
RELG 267 –
Women in Religion
This course investigates women's religious practices and beliefs in
a number of established and alternative religions. It focuses in
particular on gendered patterns that are observable across a wide
range of religious traditions, ancient and modern. It is concerned
both with the description of women's religious experiences, and with
the development of theoretical models to assist in understanding the
gendered structure of various religions and the nature and functions
of women's beliefs and practices within them.
RELG 216 01- Islamic Religious
Traditions
The
course will start by examining the rise of Islam through
the eyes of two fundamental Islamic texts, the Qur’an and the biography
of Prophet Muhammad.
It will then
explore the history of Islam’s classical and formative period (632-1258
CE) in terms of theology, philosophy, jurisprudence, and mysticism, while emphasizing diversity of
perspectives.
The heart of
Islam
will be approached through the teachings of the Qur’an,
hadith, and the Islamic intellectual tradition,
and the encounter between Islam and other religious
traditions will be traced briefly.
Major trends in
contemporary Islam (traditionalism, liberalism,
revivalism, etc.) will be identified and discussed
through the writings of their major proponents.
RELG 221 01, 221
02 - Religion and Culture
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 332 –
Myth, Meaning and Self
No prerequisites. Valuable
and rewarding for anyone interested in humanities, social studies,
fine and performing arts. Doubly so for all majors in mythology,
literature, psychology, history, political science, humanities, and
religion studies.
Religious and other
myth and symbols have long shaped humans’ sense of what’s real. But
how?
How much and how (in
what ways) do shared story and imagery create our sense of our
selves and of each other? . . . of what we may be or might become, of
meaning and possibility? How can we discern what’s really impacting us
today (individually and collectively, and in what directions?!?). . . .
driving us through endless data-bytes, streams of sights, and pounding
sounds of today’s world and culture(s)?
We begin our explorations
with Joseph Campbell, whose Power of Myth and televised
interviews still help old and young discover world-wide variations of
fertile mythic themes – closer and more potent in our daily lives than
usually realized. Soon we’re interweaving his insights into mythic
studies with contemporary ritual practices. Here we use Amanda
Porterfield’s Power of Religion for short visits inside such
religious practices as Navajo sand-painting, Hindu puja to the goddess
Devi, and Islamic jihad, as well as vibrant experiences of traditional
Judaism and Christianity. Her stress on religious experience helps
readers discover the kinds of living meaning mediated by myth and
ritual, but too often lost or buried by institutionalized religion’s
managers and routine.
After mid-term, we focus
ever more sharply on more explosive issues. This late semester’s
special emphasis will be on the mythological, symbolic, and ritual
powers of religious and national fundamentalism(s). Malise Ruthven’s
text (Fundamentalism, Oxford, 2004) provides a world-wide spread
of examples, from pre-Enlightenment to today, from Northern Ireland to
Israel/Palestine to India. Dr. Johnson’s own background and involvement
in the history and issues of American “civil religion” and civic faith(s)
bring all the preceding sharply and challengingly “back home.”
A “free
elective” that’s lots of work, has proven lastingly valuable, and is fun
in the process. Heavy lecture and readings, some video and discussion,
weekly written works, and strict attendance policy. A course to share
and remember. . . .
RELG 206 – New Testament:
Paul and the Early Church
A close study of
Luke-Acts, John, selected letters of Paul and other later Epistles.
The course explores the development of the theology and institutions
of the early Church as revealed in the New Testament documents of
the first and early second centuries.
RELG 352 01 - Heidegger / HONP 301-02
This class will read together Heidegger's great work, Being and Time. Emphasis will be placed on his existential theory of
human being-in-the-world, the meaning of human life, the nature of truth and the
experience of dying and death. Students will find Heidegger's work to be a powerful tool for self-understanding which speaks to real-life
human beings in their day-to-day existential situation.
Special Recommendations: This course can be taken as a seminar for the Religious Studies
Major requirement.
RELG 213 01- Buddhism
The Buddha was born
in the 6th century BCE, during a period of intense religious and intellectual ferment
unparalleled in the history of India. Like many of his contemporaries, he renounced
wealth, home, and society in search of a Truth that would liberate all beings. The truths
he discovered and the religion he founded profoundly influenced the history of the entire
Asian continent.
In this course we will explore the
Buddha's enigmatic teachings, and trace the varieties of Buddhist doctrine and practice
that developed out of his original inspiration. We will cover both Hinayana and Mahayana
schools, the Buddhist monastic order, and how this religion has developed differently in
India, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Tibet. We will also look at emerging Western
interpretations of Buddhism. Topics covered include eccentric Buddhist masters, meditative
and devotional practices, depth psychology, popular moral tales, Zen training in the arts
and martial arts, and Buddhist encounters with communism and other faiths.
This course is suitable both as an
introduction to Buddhism, and also for more advanced students.
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