Philosophy & Religious Studies Minor

PHIL 110. Introduction to Logic. 3 Credits.

A theoretical and practical introduction to the principles of reasoning--formal and informal, deductive and inductive. Students will study language and patterns of reasoning as vehicles for and obstacles to critical thinking. The central characteristics of deduction and validity; the role of hypotheses, inductive reasoning, probability estimates in scientific and quasi-scientific investigations and other models of critical thinking and their limits will be covered. F.

PHIL 120. Introduction to Ethics. 3 Credits.

This course investigates the nature of the Good Life, of moral principles, and the application of moral systems to contemporary debate. These may include questions about the morality of war, capital punishment, sexual behavior, welfare, and so forth. F,S.

PHIL 300. History of Philosophy. 3 Credits.

An overview of the history of philosophy focusing primarily on the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the Medieval age, the 19th century, and modern philosophy. On demand.

PHIL 334. Judaism. 3 Credits.

Comparative Jewish thought in cultural context and as manifest in Jewish literature. Topics to be studied include the sacred, the human community, the role of Israel, ethics, the Holocaust. On demand.

PHIL 338. Christianity. 3 Credits.

A systematic and comparative investigation of the many varieties of Christianity that have occurred in the past and that exist in the contemporary world. On demand.

PHIL 356. Islam. 3 Credits.

Beginning with pre-Islamic Arabian culture, this course provides an academic survey of the genesis of Islam, including the life of the prophet Muhammad and formative events in the early Islamic community, Qur'an and Hadith, common beliefs, rituals, and practices, the development of schools of Islamic jurisprudence and theology, Sufism, and Islamic art and literature. On demand.