Philosophy

Philosophy is the endeavour to understand the basic questions that arise for us in our world, and to formulate this understanding in a critical manner. Traditionally, these questions have touched upon what can be known, what can be valued, what our own position is socially and individually- above all, how we can know what we think we know.

The Department believes that careful study of the great works of the past and present provides the best access to philosophical questions. Thus many of our courses concentrate the student on developments in the history of philosophy, from the sixth century B.C. to the twentieth century. Courses in logic, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind examine special issues in these developments and are compared to the formulation of these same issues in Asian philosophy.

The study of philosophy invites critical and imaginative consideration of the questions themselves.

Only thereby can the student learn to appreciate their force, and the variety of responses to them. Since philosophical questions are deeply imbedded in the development of western civilization, one can study philosophy in conjunction with a wide range of other disciplines. Moreover, our students have found it a useful background for subsequent endeavours in fields such as law, civil service, medicine, theology, and further graduate study.

Disciplinary B.A. Programmes

MINOR in Philosophy is 24 credits, earned as follows:

6	from the Humanities 1600 Series
6 to 12	from Philosophy at the 2000 level
6 to 12	from Philosophy at the 3/4000 level, chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor

MAJOR AREA OF STUDY in Philosophy is 60 credits earned as follows:

6	from the Humanities 1600 Series
6 to 12	from Philosophy at the 2000 level
24 to 30	from Philosophy at the 3/4000 level, including 6 from the 4000 level
18	credits from complementary courses in Arts and Letters and Humanities, chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor

HONOURS in Philosophy is 66 credits earned as follows:

42	credits as in the first three lines of the Major, plus:
6	from Philosophy 4990
18	from Philosophy at the 3/4000 level, chosen in consultation with the Programme Advisor

BASIC COURSES

The Humanities 1600-series is intended to provide an introduction to Humanities disciplines. These three-credit courses offered by the participating disciplines of Classics, History, Philosophy and Religious Studies are designed to acquaint beginning students with the methodologies typical of these disciplines and to familiarize them with the approaches taken, as well as the sorts of themes pursued and questions raised in these disciplines.

Note: The listing of a course in the calendar is not a guarantee that the course is offered every year.

Note: Students must obtain a grade of at least C- in all courses used to fulfill prerequisite requirements. Otherwise, written permission of the appropriate Department or Programme Coordinator must be obtained.

PHIL 1601 (3CR)
PLATO'S REPUBLIC

A study of Plato's The Republic can serve as an introduction to almost all the issues that are central to our western philosophical tradition. The problems of virtue (temperance, courage, wisdom), justice, order (social, political and cosmological), knowledge, the nature of the psyche, beauty, and of reality in general will all arise in the study of this text, providing a good basis for discussion.

PHIL 1611 (3CR)
SELF, SOCIETY AND FREEDOM

This course will examine various accounts given of 'the self' in the history of ideas. What values can be accorded to human beings are dependent upon our accounts of the nature of the self, especially in relations: social, political, intellectual, emotional. The main theme to be explored will revolve around the issue of whether freedom is anything more than an illusion formulated to control the population.

PHIL 1651 (3CR)
THE CHANGING IMAGE OF NATURE

Our intellectual heritage is laced with shifting and conflicting attitudes towards "Nature" which impact everything from how we can come to know about nature, scientifically, to ethical implications for how human beings relate to other natural beings. This course will use readings from the history of western philosophy, especially from the early modern era, to assess the extent to which we have inherited these convictions or developed alternatives to them.

PHIL 2401 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY AESTHETICS

An introduction to the idea of beauty in such thinkers as Plato, Aquinas, Kant, and Heidegger. Topics to be discussed include the relationship of beauty to truth, the experience of the sublime, and the philosophy of art.

Prereq: Three credits from the Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department

PHIL 2511 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Successful science claims to give us knowledge of what exists in the universe, and it claims to explain why what happens in a given localized system happens. The italicized words in the last sentence indicate philosophical assumptions within science which this course will explore. Based on historical cases, philosophical interpretations will be compared from logical positivism to Kuhnian paradigms, and the most recent critiques from social constructivism and feminism.

Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department

PHIL 2611 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY LOGIC I

A study of and exercise in the elementary forms of focussed thinking. Specific topics include the nature of categorical formulation, the techniques for distinguishing valid from invalid reasoning (deductive inference), and the principles violated in typical varieties of fallacious reasoning.

Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of Department

PHIL 2621 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY LOGIC II

A study of and exercise in more advanced forms of focused thinking. Specific topics include the Greek understanding of the basis and goal of learning (inductive inference) and the modern logical reinterpretation of deductive, inductive, and fallacious reasoning.

Prereq: PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department

PHIL 2701 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY ETHICS

An introduction to the history and philosophical problems of ethics in the western tradition. This will acquaint the student with a number of received traditions based on metaphysical, religious, rational, and pragmatic grounds, as well as introduce certain fundamental perennial problems of moral decision-making.

Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department

PHIL 2801 (3CR)
INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS

An introduction to the study of metaphysics understood broadly as the study of the fundamental nature of reality. This will include the study of various themes including the nature of substance, divinity, causation, appearance and reality, the one and the many, mind and matter, as they appear in the discussions of the world's great philosophers from Lao Tzu to Shankara, and from Aristotle to Bertrand Russell.

Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3000 (6CR)
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

The issues which develop before and with Plato establish the framework for all subsequent philosophic reflection. This course will examine some of these issues as they appeared prior to Plato and will employ these "pre-Socratics" as an entry into Plato's philosophy. Subsequently, aspects of Aristotle's thought will be explored as alternatives to and developments of Plato's philosophy.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3221 (3CR)
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: THE RATIONALIST TRADITION

An investigation of the leading seventeenth century continental thinkers who formulated the great a priori systems. The capacity and function of human reason fully to understand the world is a theme common to these thinkers, and constitutes one of the major concerns of the course, a concern balanced by investigation of why these systems have reached such diverse answers to the substantive issues of how the world is to be understood.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3231 (3CR)
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: THE EMPIRICIST TRADITION

An investigation of the thought of the English language thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These authors, among whom are to be counted Locke, Berkeley and Hume, in part may be understood as reacting to the a priori tradition examined by Philosophy 3111. But they also make claims that are not merely reactive, and the extent to which one or more of them proposes a coherent interpretation of the extent and the limitations of human understanding will be investigated.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3331 (3CR)
MODERN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

An investigation of the early foundations of modern political liberalism with a special concentration on the concepts of the state of nature, autonomy, and social contract. Authors considered will include: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Hume, Spinoza, Locke, Mill and Rousseau.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3421 (3CR)
NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY

A study of the principles of the American spirit as early formulated in the works of such authors as Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman, H.D. Thoreau and R.W. Emerson. Central to the American spirit is the concern for individuality and practicality.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000 level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3451 (3CR)
TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY

A study of selected American thinkers from Henry Adams to the present, including William Faulkner and John Dewey.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3511 (3CR)
PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES

In recent decades the philosophical assumptions underlying the life sciences have been seen increasingly as distinct from the physical sciences. This course will examine this difference as well as the linkage between them, then turn to the philosophical issues within evolutionary theory, the notion of species and problems of classification, persistent controversies surrounding sociobiology, genetic control, use of animals in research, and the application of bioethics.

Prereq: Normally Philosophy 2511 is expected. However B.Sc. students already doing 3/4000 level work in their own field, and students in either the Environmental Science or Environmental Studies programs, will be admitted; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3631 (3CR)
SYMBOLIC LOGIC I

This is a basic course in Symbolic Logic, concentrating on the nature of logic, methods of deduction, quantification theory, and the logic of relational statements.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3641 (3CR)
SYMBOLIC LOGIC II

Building upon the work of Philosophy 3631, this course considers axiomatic systems (mainly Russell's), metalogical induction (regarding consistency, completeness, independence, and the like), axiomatic set formation (mainly Zermelo's), and theory of logic.

Prereq: PHIL 3631; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3711 (3CR)
BIOMEDICAL ETHICS

This course will consist of the examination of a number of contemporary issues, such as gene therapy, abortion, reproductive technologies, euthanasia, HIV testing and confidentiality, organ retrieval, and advanced directives. In a framework of health, we will discuss larger philosophical questions such as: the possibility of assigning and comparing values, the nature of the human self, the possibilities of agency and responsibility, duties to society, gender and health, the meanings of technology, and social justice. While the focus of this course is not on ethical theory, we will make use of classical moral theories and principles to frame our analyses.

Prereq: Philosophy 2701; or permission of the Department

PHIL 3721 (3CR)
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

After reviewing traditional attitudes toward the environment, this course will explore recent attempts to "apply" ethical analysis to such problems as pollution and conservation. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which problems of preservation challenge us to extend our traditional norms and values. To what extent, for example, does growing sensitivity to our natural environment require of us a new "environmental ethic" and oblige us to recognize "animal rights"?

Prereq: PHIL 2701; or permission of the Department

PHIL/RELG 3891 (3CR)
ASIAN PHILOSOPHY

A study of the ancient trends of Oriental literature in the light of western philosophical concerns. Readings include the Hindu Bhagavadgita, the Chinese Tao Te Ching, and selected Buddhist writings.

Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department

PHIL 4101 (3CR)
ADVANCED ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

Advanced study of one or more of the main philosophers of these periods, or one or more philosophic questions they address.