Mar 29, 2024  
2017-2018 Undergraduate Academic Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Undergraduate Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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HU 433 - Philosophy

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits
Course Description
This course introduces the nature of philosophical enterprise in both an historical and thematic way. The Socratic idea of the value of the examined life and its role in our search for better understanding of who we are and what genuinely matters is a guiding theme in the course. Some topics discussed are the nature of human beings, knowledge, free choice, friendship/love, questions of meaning and value of life, and the human search for sense of belonging and home in the world. As these topics are discussed, the student will develop his/her own philosophical positions regarding these questions. (prereq: none) 
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  • Critically examine, question, and utilize the philosophical method of inquiry
  • View their knowledge of the sciences as part of a totality of human knowledge and experience and relate the sciences to other areas of human experience
  • Develop and evaluate a philosophy of their own, including criteria for solving particular personal problems of living

Prerequisites by Topic
  • None 

Course Topics
  • The value of philosophy and the philosophical enterprise (2 classes)
  • Socrates and Plato on the quest for meaning and the examined life (7 classes)
  • Aristotle on friendship and happiness (2 classes)
  • Other perspectives: Epicurus (hedonism) and Epictetus (2 classes)
  • Medieval philosophy: the bridge between ancient and modern philosophy (1 class)
  • Nietzsche: The search for meaning and place (3 classes)
  • Camus: Questions of absurdity, meaning, and life direction (3 classes)
  • Satire, Barnes, and Tolstoy (2 classes)
  • Jonathon Livingston Seagull (2 classes)

Coordinator
Jon Borowicz



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