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Philosophy examines such topics as consciousness, knowledge, justice, free will, good and evil, and the nature of religious experience and belief. Engagement with the central questions of philosophy is valuable in itself; it is also valuable as a means of developing analytical, critical, and imaginative skills useful in the study of most other subjects, in the pursuit of careers as varied as law, business, medicine, science, education, and the arts, and in effective participation in civic life. A liberal arts education should introduce students to rigorous thinking and writing about philosophical issues and to the reading of great philosophical texts. We help to realize this goal through the courses we offer, through one-on-one discussion with students, and by presenting lectures, colloquia, and debates open to the University and the public.
The major in philosophy requires twenty-seven hours. These must include three hours in Ancient Greek philosophy (232, 331, or 332), three hours in Modern philosophy (241, 341, or 342), three hours chosen from 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, or 366 and three hours chosen from 370, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, or 379. Only one of 220 and 221 (Logic and Symbolic Logic) may be counted towards the major. No more than six hours of 100-level courses may be counted towards the major. No senior philosophy major may take a 100-level philosophy course. No more than three hours of independent study may be counted towards satisfaction of the major requirements, and at least twenty-one hours of the major must be completed at Wake Forest; exceptions require approval by the department chair.
Majors intending to do graduate study in philosophy are strongly advised to take the following courses: Ethics (360), Symbolic Logic (221), and at least one of Epistemology (376) or Metaphysics (377). Such majors should work closely with their major adviser as they consider their additional course choices.
The minor in philosophy requires fifteen hours. At least nine of these hours must be earned in courses taken at Wake Forest at the 200-level or higher. Only one of 220 and 221 (Logic and Symbolic Logic) may be counted towards the minor. Students interested in minoring in philosophy should consult with the department about choosing an appropriate sequence of courses.
Honors. Majors with a grade point average of at least 3.3 overall and at least 3.5 in philosophy are eligible to apply for entrance into the Honors Program in Philosophy. Majors interested in applying should consult with the department chair in the second semester of their junior year. The departmental honors committee will consider all applications and notify successful candidates during the summer prior to their senior year. Completion of fifteen hours in philosophy courses is prerequisite to beginning work in the honors program. Graduation with “Honors in Philosophy” requires successful completion of Honors I and II (391 and 392), a grade point average at the time of graduation of at least 3.5 in philosophy and 3.3 overall, and completion and successful defense of an honors thesis in an oral examination conducted by at least two members of the department. The hours earned in 391 and 392 do not count towards the twenty-seven hours required of all majors.
Any three-hour philosophy course numbered 221 or lower counts towards satisfying the Division I requirement. Courses taken elsewhere after a student has enrolled at Wake Forest University will not count towards satisfying the Division I requirement in philosophy.
111. Basic Problems of Philosophy. (3h) Examination of the basic concepts of several representative philosophers, including their accounts of the nature of knowledge, persons, God, mind, and matter. (D)
112. Introduction to Philosophical Ideas. (3h) Introduction to Philosophical Ideas. (3h) How and why does philosophy engage religious belief and common sense? Why is the purposive world of pre-modern life abandoned by modern naturalism, skepticism, and existentialism? How are our contemporary ideas of self and world expressions of these opposing conceptions of life, love, and meaning? (D)
113. Knowledge and Reality. (3h) Examination of three interconnected philosophic problems: the nature of existence; the distinction between truth and falsity; and the question of what it means to know. (D)
114. Philosophy of Human Nature. (3h) A study of selected topics bearing on human nature, such as free will and determinism, the relation of mind and body, personal identity and personhood, and immortality. (D)
115. Introduction to Philosophy of Religion. (3h) A study of some central issues in the philosophy of religion, such as arguments for and against the existence of God; faith and reason; the divine attributes; the nature and existence of the soul; the possibility of immortality; and religious diversity. (D)
160. Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy. (3h) Examination of basic concepts and problems in moral and political thought, including questions of right and wrong, virtue, equality, justice, individual rights, and the common good. (D)
161. Medical Ethics. (3h) Study of moral problems in the practice of medicine, including informed consent, experimentation on human subjects, truthtelling, confidentiality, abortion, and the allocation of scarce medical resources. (D)
163. Environmental Ethics. (3h) Examination of ethical issues concerning the environment as they arise in individual lives and public policy. (D)
164. Contemporary Moral Problems. (3h) A study of pressing ethical issues in contemporary life, such as abortion, euthanasia, animal rights, affirmative action, marriage, cloning, pornography, and capital punishment.(D)
220. Logic. (3h) Elementary study of the laws of valid inference, recognition of fallacies, and logical analysis. (D)
221. Symbolic Logic. (3h) Introduction to propositional and predicate logic, including identity and functions. Construction of proofs. Use of models to demonstrate consistency and invalidity. Application of these techniques to the assessment of arguments expressed in ordinary language. (D)
232. Ancient Greek Philosophy. (3h) A study of the central figures in early Greek philosophy, beginning with the Presocratics, focusing primarily on Plato and Aristotle, and concluding with a brief survey of some Hellenistic philosophers. P—One PHI course or POI.
237. Medieval Philosophy. (3h) A survey of some major philosophers from Augustine to Suarez, including Anselm, Averroes, Maimonides, Avicenna, Aquinas, Scotus and Ockham. P—One PHI course or POI.
241. Modern Philosophy. (3h) A study of the works of influential 17th and 18th century European philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, and Hume, with a concentration on theories of knowledge and metaphysics. P—One PHI course or POI.
331. Plato. (3h) Detailed analysis of selected dialogues, covering Plato’s most important contributions to moral and political philosophy, theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and theology. P—One PHI course or POI.
332. Aristotle. (3h) Study of the major texts, with emphasis on metaphysics, ethics, and theory of knowledge. P—One PHI course (232 or 331 strongly recommended) or POI.
341. Kant. (3h) A study of Kant’s principal contributions to metaphysics and the theory of knowledge. P—One PHI course (241 strongly recommended) or POI.
342. Topics in Modern Philosophy. (3h) Treatment of selected figures and/or themes in seventeenth and eighteenth century European philosophy. P—One PHI course (241 strongly recommended) or POI.
350. The Main Streams of Chinese Philosophy and Religion. (3h) Introduction to the most important traditions in Chinese philosophy and religion: Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), and Chinese Buddhism or Chinese Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Also listed as REL 380.
352. Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. (3h) Examination of selected sources embodying the basic concepts of Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, especially as they relate to each other in terms of influence, development, and opposition. P—One PHI course (241 strongly recommended) or POI.
354. Wittgenstein. (3h) A study of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein on such topics as the picture theory of meaning, truth, skepticism, private languages, thinking, feeling, the mystical, and the ethical. P—One PHI course (221 strongly recommended) or POI.
355. Contemporary Philosophy. (3h) Study of the principal works of several representative twentieth century philosophers. P—One PHI course (221 strongly recommended) or POI.
360. Ethics. (3h) Systematic examination of central ethical theories in the Western philosophical tradition. Such theories include Kantian deontology, utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and divine command theory. P—One PHI course or POI.
361. Topics in Ethics. (1.5h, 3h) P—One PHI course or POI.
362. Social and Political Philosophy. (3h) A systematic examination of the work of selected contemporary and traditional philosophers on topics such as the state, the family, distributive justice, property, liberty, and the common good. P—One PHI course or POI.
363. Philosophy of Law. (3h) Inquiry into the nature of law and its relation to morality. Classroom discussions of readings from the works of classical and modern authors focus on issues of contemporary concern involving questions of legal principle, personal liberty, human rights, responsibility, justice, and punishment. P—One PHI course or POI.
364. Freedom, Action, and Responsibility. (3h) Study of the nature of human freedom and related matters in the philosophy of action, metaphysics, and moral philosophy. P—One PHI course or POI.
365. Philosophy, Mental Health, and Mental Disorder. (3h) Examination of a wide range of philosophical problems associated with the distinction between mental health and illness, such as: personal responsibility, self identity, and rationality. Special attention is given to moral dilemmas posed by psychiatric classification and treatment and to clinical cases. P—One PHI course or POI.
370. Philosophy and Christianity. (3h) Examination of the philosophical foundations of Christian thought and belief. Christian concepts of God and life everlasting, trinity, incarnation, atonement, prayer, sin, evil and obligation. P—One PHI course or POI.
372. Philosophy of Religion. (3h) Analysis of the logic of religious language and belief, including an examination of religious experience, mysticism, revelation, and arguments for the nature and existence of God. P—One PHI course or POI.
373. Philosophy of Science. (3h) Systematic and critical examination of major views concerning the methods of scientific inquiry, and the bases, goals, and implications of the scientific conclusions which result from such inquiry. P—One PHI course or POI.
374. Philosophy of Mind. (3h) Selection from the following topics: the mind-body problem; personal identity; the unity of consciousness; minds and machines; the nature of experience; action, intention, and the will. P—One PHI course or POI.
375. Philosophy of Language. (3h) Study of such philosophical issues about language as truth and meaning, reference and description, proper names, indexicals, modality, tense, the semantical paradoxes, and the differences between languages and other sorts of sign systems. Also listed as LIN 375. P—One PHI course (221 strongly recommended) or POI.
376. Epistemology. (3h) The sources, scope and structure of human knowledge. Topics include: skepticism; perception, memory, and reason; the definition of knowledge; the nature of justification; theories of truth. P—One PHI course or POI.
377. Metaphysics. (3h) A survey of such issues as the nature and existence of properties, possibility and necessity, time and persistence, causation, freedom and determinism, and dualism versus materialism about the human person. P—One PHI course or POI.
385. Seminar. (1.5h, 3h) Offered by members of the faculty on specialized topics of their choice. With permission, may be repeated for credit. P—POI.
391. Honors I. (1.5h) Directed study and research in preparation for writing an honors thesis. P—Admission to the honors program in philosophy.
392. Honors II. (1.5h) Completion of the honors thesis begun in PHI 391. Graduation with honors in philosophy requires successful defense of the honors thesis in an oral examination conducted by at least two members of the department. P—PHI 391.
395. Independent Study. (1.5h, 3h)
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