Philosophy 111.  Basic Problems of Philosophy.  (3h)  An examination of the basic concepts of several representative philosophers, including their accounts of the nature of knowledge, persons, God, mind, and matter.

All sections of Philosophy 111 should conform reasonably well to the description above (quoted from the college bulletin), though there are important differences from section to section. Please click the links below to see how individual professors describe the sections of Philosophy 111 they will be teaching this semester.

Adrian Bardon
MWF 12-12:50pm & 2-2:50pm - Tribble Hall A309 & A306
Philosophy is best described not so much as a body of knowledge as an activity: it is the activity of thinking critically about issues fundamental to human existence, aided by techniques developed by rigorous thinkers over the last 2500+ years. Any field of human endeavor can be the subject of philosophical investigation: mathematics, biology, psychology, art, medicine, etc. Some inquiries, however, have come to be seen as particular to the discipline of philosophy itself, and these are often considered the “core” areas of philosophy. In this course we shall sample several core issues in ancient, early modern, and contemporary Western philosophy through reading, writing, and discussion. Topics we shall focus on include: moral obligation; skepticism concerning knowledge and science; reason and religion; freedom of the will; consciousness, intelligence, and personal identity.

Stavroula Glezakos
MWF 11-11:50am – Tribble C316
In this class, we will consider various philosophical issues, including the existence of God, the problem of evil, personal identity, the relationship between minds and bodies, free will, and why we should be moral. Students will develop their ability to discern sound reasoning in argumentation, improve the clarity of their writing, and gain a better understanding of their own views and commitments.

Adriano Palma
TR 12-1:15pm & 3-4:15 – Greene 308 & Tribble 306
The course will be an introduction to philosophy as it is practiced today. We shall concentrate far more on the areas of metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, mind and language (as opposed to the areas of concentration on politics and morality, generally dealt with as “ethics” in philosophy.)
The approach is based on problems, rather than specific theories held by some particular thinker. None the less the course is intended to be intensive in terms of reading as well as writing.
Among the chief subjects we’ll treat are, e.g., the relationship of bodies and minds, the relationship between science and common sense, the impact of artificial intelligence on our notion of person, the nature of the self or its lack thereof, the impact of determinism on certain ideas of free action.
There will be one and only one official textbook Thinking it through, by Kwame A. Appiah (Oxford, 2004)
There will be assigned readings every week together with and in addition to the textbook. Those will be selected and put on reserve (either physically or on blackboard ‑‑see below) by the instructor. Most readings will be chosen from two well known collection of philosophical texts (one ed.ited by J. Feinberg and one edited by J. Perry & M. Bratman.)
Students will be required to post a reaction,more or less once a week, to the “theme of the week” related to the topics and readings currently discussed in class. Some of the reactions will be commented upon by the instructor, though they are mainly meant as an aid to discussion among students and among students and instructor.
Requirements: both a midterm and a final paper (max 10 pages), whose subject & specifics will be agreed upon with the instructor.
It is a requirement that all students enrolled be familiar with BLACKBOARD (available to all enrolled students automatically.) We shall make constant use of blackboard for posting and discussions.

Ralph Kennedy
TR 9:30-10:45am – Tribble A306
This course will be an introduction to philosophy through a consideration of historically influential texts and contemporary philosophical writings. Topics studied will include ethics, philosophy of religion (Is there a God? Can religious belief be justified? How strongly does the evil in the world count against the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, creator?), freedom (does the scientific world picture have a place in it for beings who can make free choices?), the nature of mind and conscious experience, personal identity, and the limits of what we can know.

Win-chiat Lee
MWF 3-3:50pm – Tribble A306
Students will be introduced to the subject of philosophy through the careful study of representative writings from three different periods: ancient Greek (Plato), early modern European (Descartes and Hume), and contemporary American (Frankfurt, Nagel and Searle). The goal is not only to study what some great philosophers of the past or influential philosophers of the present think about certain subjects, but also to help students, through the examination of these philosophers’ work, develop skills to philosophize and think critically for themselves. The topics discussed will include the existence of God, the relation between the mind and the world, skepticism and the nature of knowledge, free will and determinism, responsibility, the nature of moral and value judgments, the mind-body problem, and the nature of the self.

Charles Lewis
MWF 12-12:50 p.m. – Tribble A306
This course, after examining the common sense and religious background of the first scientific thinkers or philosophers, turns to the study of Plato and Aristotle, the major shapers of pre-modern scientific, theological, and philosophical thought. Then the course turns to Descartes, the first great architect of the modern scientific and philosophical ways of thinking. The study of this momentous departure from pre-modern belief in the purposive natures of all things--and thus from classical moral and political philosophy--is followed by the study of Hume, one of Descartes' major critics who takes modern skepticism to a new level. Twentieth-century existential nihilism is introduced along the way in order to consider its place in modern thought and its radical critique of conventional assumptions about the meaning or purpose of human existence. Attention is given throughout to how an examination of modern and pre-modern ways of thinking can help us to understand contemporary conceptions of self and world.

Christian Miller
MWF 11-11:50am & 1-1:50pm – Tribble A306
This course will be concerned with some of the most challenging and interesting questions in all of human experience. For example, we will consider whether there are any good arguments for the existence of God, whether God would allow evil to exist, whether faith is compatible with reason, whether we have genuine freedom, whether there is an objective morality, whether we should be moral, whether the death penalty is morally permissible, and whether animals have rights. In each case, we will examine particular questions not only with an aim at arriving at the truth, but also with an aim at determining what relevance these questions have to our ordinary lives. The text will be Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau, Reason and Responsibility (Wadsworth Press, 2005) and our readings will be drawn from both classic and contemporary sources.

Clark Thompson
TR 12-1:15pm & 1:30-2:45pm – Tribble A306
We shall study the following questions. Do we have an obligation to obey the law? What is the extent of the legitimate authority of government when it comes to religion? Have the advances in the arts and sciences promoted liberty, virtue, and happiness, or have the advances had the opposite effect? Is it reasonable to believe someone who says he witnessed a miracle? Can God's existence and attributes be established by an appeal to the existence of design in nature? Is the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and benevolent God consistent with the existence of suffering and moral evil? We shall read works by Plato, Locke, Rousseau, and Hume.

Patrick Toner
MWF 10-10:50am – Tribble A306