PHILOSOPHY ELECTIVES
Dr. Chris Herrera: Ethics
Dr. Benfield: Philosophy of Religion
Dr. Garrett: Modern Philosophy
Dr. Garrett: Existence and Reality
Dr. McDermid: Knowledge Belief & Truth
Dr. Chang:: Ethics and Business
RELIGION
ELECTIVES
Prof. Lee: Women in Religion
Dr. Ibrahim: Islam in the Modern World
Dr. Johnson: Religion and Social Change
Dr. Johnson:
Religion & Culture
Dr. Kogan: Old Testament: Joshua to Daniel
Dr. Kogan: Judaism and Christianity
Dr. Vail: Taoism
Philosophy
Electives
PHIL 262
– Philosophy of Religion
In The God Delusion Richard Dawkins, the
world's best known atheist and famous evolutionary biologist, offers
us many reasons to reject religion. We will focus our
attention on Chapter 4 "Why there is almost certainly no God" and on
Chapter 9 "Childhood, Abuse, the Escape from Religion."
Balancing Dawkins will be philosophical arguments drawn primarily
from Western Analytical Philosophy sources supplemented by excerpts
from Dr. Michael S. Kogan's new book from Oxford University Press,
Opening the Covenant.
We will also read selections by experts on the religious
dimensions of science (John Haught, S..J. noted Roman Catholic
Theologian and Dr. Francis Collins, Human Genome Project Director). If
you are interested in attacking these issues 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 use Blackboard but will meet f2f. The requirements will be:
weekly journal entries; a class-presentation interview project; a mid-term
take-home exam; and a final examination.
PHIL
210 -- Ethics
The course introduces major themes and ideas in the branch of
philosophy known as Ethics. Topics include those related to questions about right and wrong
behavior, and our assessment of events and policies along these
lines. Example topics of discussion would be whether abortion is
ethical, whether drugs should be legalized, or whether ethical
claims (e.g., "that is a bad way to treat others!") can ever be true
or false. This
course is required for philosophy majors; minors and interested
non-majors are welcome.
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?
This course is required
for philosophy majors; minors and interested non-majors are welcome.
PHIL 312 - Existence and Reality
Metaphysics is the most general study of the nature of reality.
What are the basic different types of things that exist? Do all the
things that exist in fact have anything in common with one another?
Are some types of things more fundamental than others? What general
concepts are needed in order to understand the nature of reality as
a whole? Among the topics to be considered in this course will be
the nature and reality of events, material bodies, colors and other
properties, numbers, relations, possibilities, space, time, and
causation. Readings will come from some of the great thinkers who
have contributed to metaphysics over the centuries, including the
first systematic formulation of the discipline in Aristotle's
Metaphysics and some notable work of the twentieth century.
This course is required
for philosophy majors; minors and interested non-majors are welcome.
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 202 Ethics and Business
This course will study the meaning of morality
in the modern world of business. The course will contain a balance
of theory and practice as it examines the behavior of business against a
background of conflicting ethical theory. There will be special
emphasis placed on the influence of East Asian philosophical traditions
on the conduct of business in China, Japan, & Korea..
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 350-01 - ST: Islam in the
Contemporary World
The
course will examine contemporary issues facing Muslim communities,
especially how Islam is portrayed in the Western media. We will
study currents of thought such as Fundamentalism and Reform.
All students are welcome and no prior knowledge of Islam is necessary.
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 225 –
Religion and Social Change
When and how did early
Christian fellowship become The Religion of the Roman Empire?
How did secular power change Roman Catholicism, and
vice-versa?
What about the really different Irish Celtic Christians from 400s
till 1100s?
These are the big early
questions to be explored in RELG 225, “Religion and Social Change.”
The intense semester-long study will move from Roman Catholicism’s
becoming increasingly papal (= “Vaticanized”) to its responses to
the 16th-century Protestant Reformation(s), Europe’s 18th-century
Enlightenment, and then the French Revolution. If Vatican Council I
summarized papal Reaction against such “forces of modernism,” a
hundred years later came the 1960s Vatican Council II – hailed by
many Catholics as the modernizing of their church, derided by others
as bringing in “cafeteria Catholicism.”
Would/should Vatican II lead to
decentralizing? What were to be the effects of post-counciliar
turmoil and dissent on spirituality and faith? The world was
becoming post-modern, and John Paul II would reign for a
quarter-century, and . . . ? There always were more forms of “Roman
Catholic” than usually realized, but recent decades have seemed to
multiply the diversity. We’ll explore as much as we can, including
likely possibilities for near and long-term future.
No prerequisites, but lots of
serious reading and writing, stiff mid-term and final exams, and
required-attendance policy.
RELG 202 – Old Test II
Joshua-Daniel
An
examination of the history and theology of Israelite religion as
recorded in the Biblical books covering the middle and late periods
(1200 - 165 B.C.) of ancient Israel. A close reading of the historical
and prophetic books with analysis from a variety of scholarly schools of
interpretation and criticism. The course will cover the “Deuteronomic
History” that runs through the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and
Kings, Prophetic books including Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel and later biblical writings.
Recommended for students with an
interest in literature, history, philosophy and anthropology.
RELG 352 01 - Judaism & Christianity / RELG 46201 & HONP 301-02
The most exciting and revolutionary development in religion over
the past forty years has been the flourishing new relationship
between Judaism and Christianity. Antagonists for centuries,
these two faiths are discovering each other in new and creative
ways. This class will examine the basic beliefs of both
faiths, the causes of their separation in the first century, their
history of mutual misunderstanding, and their unprecedented mutually
affirming dialogue since 1965. We will consider the nature of
"truth" in religion; religious exclusivism, inclusivism, and
pluralism; and the possibility of religions learning from each other
and even affirming each other's claims. Must religion divide
people or can they be re-visioned so as to build bridges between
communities long separated by convictions believed to be mutually
exclusive? Upon the answer to this question may depend the
future peace of the world.
Special Recommendations: This course can be taken as a seminar for the Religious Studies
Major requirement.
RELG 217 – Taoism
This course explores Taoism,
the most mystical of the religions that originated in China. While
Confucian-oriented governments came and went, Taoism developed in
remarkable ways at the grassroots level of the population--in village
life and especially through the teachings of fascinating sages who
lived somewhat apart from society, reverencing the powers of the Tao
that reveal themselves in Nature. We will be exploring scriptures such
as the Tao te Ching, Chuang-Tzu, the I-Ching, and many others dealing
with a great variety of topics. These include yin-yang, natural
symbols expressive of Tao, Taoist physiology--connecting the human
body with the divine powers in the natural world, defining
"natural action" and "unity with Tao," Taoist uses
of external and internal Alchemy, the development of Chinese medicine
through the search for immortality, various meditation practices,
Taoist deities and the Immortals, who are thought to help society and
the poor, Taoist ethics, various rituals and priests, sectarian groups
and their leaders, systems of exercise and the practice of martial
arts, and geomancy (aligning one's external environment with natural
principles).
We will also examine the connections
between Confucian and Taoist values and organization, and the
relationship between Buddhism and Taoism. Buddhism was at first
interpreted as "Taoist," and we find that joint
Taoist-Buddhist groups developed in the later periods. This course is suitable for both introductory
and advanced students.
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