Philosophy
Chair:
Paul J. Weithman, Ph.D.
Dept. Tel.: (574) 631-6471
Course
Descriptions. The
following course descriptions give the
number
and title of each course. Lecture hours per week, laboratory and
or/tutorial
hours per week, and semester credit hours are in parentheses. The
University
reserves the right to withdraw any course without sufficient
registration.
CRNs for independent study courses may be
obtained from the department office, from the Summer Session office, or
from insideND.
PHIL 20101. Introduction to
Philosophy
3 credits, Neiman (5-0-3)
1:30–2:35 MTWR 6/17–7/31
CRN 1367;
ID # PHIL 20101 01
Last “add” date: 6/22
“Drop” dates: refund, 6/26; last, 7/10
Enrollment limit: 30
A general introduction to philosophy with
emphasis on perennial problems and key figures in the history of
philosophical
thought.
PHIL 20203. Death and Dying
3 credits, Warfield (5-0-3)
8:55–11:25 TR, 6/17–7/31
CRN 3623;
ID # PHIL 20203 01
Last “add” date: 6/22
“Drop” dates: refunds, 6/26; last, 7/10
Enrollment limit: 30
An examination of moral issues arising in
situations in which people are near death. Many of our topics will be
moral
issues arising in medical practice and discussions of medicine
including
euthanasia, withdrawals of treatment, terminal sedation, organ
transplantation,
and assisted suicide. We will also spend some time considering
arguments for
and against the permissibility of the death penalty.
PHIL 20230. Philosophy of Culture
NEW
06/17/08
3 credits, McInerny (3-0-3)
8:45-10:30 MTWRF 6/30-7/25
CRN 3881; ID # PHIL
20230 01
Last “add” date:
7/2
“Drop” dates: refund, 7/4; last, 7/12
The plurality of cultures in the modern world, along with the conflicts
that so
often occur between them, makes the question of culture central to our
experience. This course is devoted to an exploration of the meaning of
culture
within the Catholic intellectual tradition, and the relationship of
such
culture to the dominant cultures of the modern world. Texts from
Aristotle, St. Augustine,
and St. Thomas
Aquinas will help frame the discussion before we turn to readings from
modern
Christian writers who pondered the meaning of culture within the
crucible of
the 20th century. Reading: Aristotle,
selections from Metaphysics and Politics; St.
Augustine, selections from On the City of God;
St.
Thomas Aquinas, selections from Summa theologiae; Josef Pieper,
Leisure: The
Basis of Culture; T. S. Eliot, selections from Notes Toward the
Definition of
Culture; Jacques Maritain, selections from Integral Humanism;
Christopher
Dawson, selections from The Historic Reality of Christian Culture. Readings
will also be taken from the works of G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis,
Walker Percy,
and Flannery O'Connor.
PHIL 20231. Plato and Augustine NEW
06/17/08
3 credits, Lewis (3-0-3)
10:40-12:25 MTWRF 6/30-7/25
CRN 3882; ID # PHIL
20231 01
Last “add” date:
7/2
“Drop” dates: refund, 7/4; last, 7/12
Plato and Augustine are in many respects the two most informative
thinkers of
the Western tradition: in Plato we have the beginnings of the
philosophical
tradition and in Augustine we have the first great attempt to
synthesize Greek
philosophy and Biblical revelation into a coherent Christian worldview.
This
course will focus on these two thinkers through the study of some of
their
greatest writings. Plato's Republic culminates in the proposal of a
kind of
perfect city grounded in the truth and led by the wise. It considers
the
perfect city as the solution to the human problem, but also highlights
tensions
in this ambition: its most central concern is the character of human
life and
the conflicts that may exist between the natural possibilities for
genuine
fulfillment and our need to live together in political society, between
happiness and justice. Augustine's masterpiece, On the City of God,
offers a
kind of Christian answer to those problems that illuminates the
Platonic
teaching and challenges some of its premises in the light of
revelation. The
issues between the two works are at the heart of the Western
intellectual
tradition and speak to many contemporary moral, political and cultural
questions.
PHIL 20806. Philosophy of
Judaism
3 credits, Neiman (5-0-3)
2:45–4:05 MTWR, 6/17–7/31
CRN 3624;
ID #PHIL 20806 01
Last “add” date: 6/22
“Drop” dates: refund, 6/26last, 7/10
Enrollment limit: 30
This course aims at introducing students to the
quest for a philosophical understanding of Judaism, as initiated in
Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism.
Rabbi
Heschel (1907–72) was well known as a scholar of the prophets,
philosopher,
religious educator, and social activist. His version of Judaism, based
on his
own vast knowledge of the Jewish philosophical tradition and preference
for the
prophets as religious exemplars, greatly impressed Martin Luther King
Jr., who
often referred to Heschel as Rabbi Abraham. In order to provide a
useful
background for the discussion of Heschel (and the idea of Biblical
philosophy
in general), we will also be concerned with what one might refer to as
the
history of a chosen people that includes a recognition of ordinary life
and
practice throughout the ages.
PHIL 46497. Directed Readings
Variable credits, Staff (V-V-V)
CRN varies with instructor
ID # PHIL 46497
PHIL 74102. The Creation of
the Modern Humanities in German Idealism
(Cross-listed with GE 90902)
3 credits, Hösle (5-0-3)
MTWRF, 7/7–7/25
CRN 3625; ID
#PHIL 74102 01
Last “add” date:
7/8
“Drop” dates: refund,7/11; last,
7/17
Enrollment limit: 10
We will read seminal texts by Friedrich Schlegel,
Friedrich Schleiermacher, G.W.F. Hegel, and F.W.J.Schelling that led to
a
fundamental revolution in how we understand and practice the
humanities. We
will deal both with theoretical presuppositions of hermeneutics and
aesthetics
and analyze concrete interpretations of Greek and Indian myths and
literary and
philosophical texts.
The course will take place for three weeks, from
July 7 to July 25, each day from Monday to Friday for 2 hours and
fifteen
minutes. The location is uncommon: The course
will be taught at the Gregoriana
in Rome,
the
oldest and leading Jesuit university. Please contact Prof. Vittorio
Hösle for
details regarding travel and stay in Rome.
PHIL 96697. Directed Readings
Variable credits, Staff (V-V-V)
CRN varies with instructor
ID # PHIL 96697
PHIL 98699. Research and
Dissertation
Variable credits, Staff (V-V-V)
CRN varies with instructor
ID # PHIL 98699
PHIL 98700. Non Resident
Dissertation Research
1 credit, Staff (0-0-1)
CRN varies with instructor
ID
# PHIL 98700