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.

Stavroula Glezakos
MWF 11-11:50 & 1-1:50 - Tribble Hall A306
Though you may have yet to take a philosophy class, you have almost certainly engaged in philosophical activity. If you have considered whether you can know anything for certain, whether your will is free, whether God exists, or whether morality is relative, then you have already begun to grapple with philosophical questions.

In this class, we will read and discuss how various authors (contemporary and long-dead) have addressed these and other questions. Students will: develop their ability to discern sound reasoning in argumentation, improve the clarity of their writing, and gain a better understanding of important philosophical issues and of their own views and commitments.

George Graham
TR 9:30-10:45, 1:30-2:45 & 4:30-5:45, - Tribble Hall A306
This course is an introduction to some of the main problems of philosophy -- God, freedom, knowledge, and ethics among others. It is intended for students with no or little prior familarity with the subject. We begin with some reflections on Socrates, the world's first famous philosopher and then go on to discuss whether it is possible for us to have objective knowledge in ethics. This leads naturally to the other problems examined in the course. Class format includes lecture and open discussion. Students will be given informal (ungraded) opportunity to develop and state their own personal philosophies if they wish.

Hannah Hardgrave
TR 3-4:15 & MW 4:30-5:45 - Tribble Hall A306
It has been said that the history of philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. In this course Plato’s Republic will introduce students to many of the basic problems of philosophy as well as early steps in the Critical Tradition of Western thought. Responses to Plato’s ideas by classical philosophers including Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and Mill will be included as readings as will the ideas of selected contemporary philosophers. Contemporary films will also be used to illustrate some of the philosophical problems and will be the subject of paper assignments. Through student-led discussions the class will participate in the tradition of critical

Charles Lewis
MWF 10-10:50 & 12-12:50 - Tribble Hall 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.

Clark Thompson
TR 12-1:15 & 1:30-2:45 - Tribble A306 & Greene 145
We will study the following questions in political, social, and religious thought: Do we have an obligation to obey the law? What is the extent of the legitimate authority of government in matters of religion? Have the arts and sciences promoted moral progress, or have they contributed to moral decline? Can God’s existence and attributes be established by 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, Hume, and Rousseau.