Apr 21, 2026  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Academic Catalog-June 
    
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2024-2025 Undergraduate Academic Catalog-June [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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PHL 3201 - Introduction to Philosophy

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits

Course Description

The central objective of this course is to introduce and engage critically with a set of questions about knowledge, reality, mind, and ethics that have puzzled philosophers both in the past and today. We will explore how philosophy plays a crucial and even fundamental role in helping us make sense of the world and our place in it as both thinkers and actors. Major elements of this course include close and critical reading of challenging philosophical texts, reconstruction and evaluation of philosophical arguments, and independent reflection and reasoning on philosophical topics and positions.


Prereq: None
Note: None
This course meets the following Raider Core CLO Requirement: Exhibit Curiosity
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  • Demonstrate knowledge of some of the key themes in the history of philosophy
  • Exhibit familiarity with core areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, mind, and ethics
  • Articulate philosophical questions and positions clearly and precisely, explaining their significance, context, and further implications
  • Reconstruct and analyze philosophical arguments in a way that displays evidence of clear, critical, and precise thinking
  • Engage in comparative analysis and evaluation of different philosophical perspectives on key topics in metaphysics, epistemology, mind, and ethics (among other areas)
  • Engage in independent philosophical inquiry, dialogue, and argument through both discussion and written work
Prerequisites by Topic
  • None
Course Topics
  • Cartesian skepticism and the problem of the external world
  • Empiricism vs. rationalism
  • Mind-body dualism vs. materialism
  • Arguments for the existence of God
  • The problem of evil and responses to it
  • Theories of free will and moral responsibility
  • Moral luck
  • Consciousness and intentionality
  • The nature of rational and moral agency
  • Ethical reasoning and its application to applied moral problems
  • The ethics of belief
Coordinator
Dr. Andrew McAninch


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