Philosophy Course Offerings Fall 2010

Philosophy and the Human Being, PHIL 101

Multiple Sections & Professors

Required of all Siena students in fulfillment of the Core Disciplinary Requirement.

Required as a pre-requisite for all courses listed below (except PHIL 150)

Philosophy and the Human Being, PHIL 101 (Honors) (MW 3:40-5:00, Santilli)

This is a seminar style introduction to philosophy, centered on our own humanity. Inspired by Socrates and other great philosophers, this class assumes that dialogue and discussion are important for thinking about freedom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness. Students also confront the death of God, the holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis, the meaning of suffering, and the human capacity for evil by reading the works of contemporary philosophers. In this course, students are respected as intellectuals, who are enthusiastic about reading, independent thinking, and pursuing research. Permission required.  (ARTS, CDP, HNRS)

Basic Logic, PHIL 150 (T-Th 2:30-3:50 and 4:00-5:20, Alexander)

Philosophers are typically interested in using logic (or, rather, logics) to study argument and inference. What makes one argument acceptable and another unacceptable? What makes one inference reasonable and another unreasonable? This course will include an introduction to deductive and inductive logics, as well as to the psychology of human reasoning. Additionally, students should come away from the course with strong skills in critical reasoning that can be applied to personal, intellectual, and academic pursuits.  (ARTS, PLG)

Ethics, PHIL 210 (MWF 11:30-12:25, Williamson & T-Th 4:00-5:20, Soderback)

A philosophical study of how to live well, what is ‘good’ and ‘just,’ and what kind of person we should be.  Students will examine and learn about virtue ethics, utilitarianism, Kantianism, natural law views, and rights theories.  As is appropriate to moral reasoning, the course will be dialogically intensive.  (ARTS, CAP, HSMR, ISP)

Ethics, PHIL 210 (Honors) (MWF 10:25-11:20, Santilli)

Students have the opportunity to read wonderful books that draw on the richest ideas of the western philosophy concerning good and evil, happiness, right and wrong, and justice in an intimate, seminar style class. This course uniquely looks at ethics in unusual contexts, such as that of the Crow Nation of Montana and the Aborigines of Australia, but also wrestles with contemporary social concerns like health care and torture. The focus of this honors class is on student learning as cultivated by group discussion and independent research.  Permission required.  (ARTS, CAP, HNRS, HSMR, ISP)

Philosophy of Art, PHIL 240 (MWF 1:30-2:25, Santilli)

This course looks at what the great philosophers-- Plato, Kant, and Nietzsche—have written about art and beauty. We also examine the post-modern thought of Derrida, Badiou, and Zizek, whose recent “Guide to the Cinema” will be of special interest to us. Students receive core credit for thinking about and looking at beautiful things, strange designs, exuberant dancing, and moving architecture. Our focus is on the visual arts of the modern era. This class features a discussion of whether a brilliant documentary made by a woman in the 1930’s to glorify Hitler can qualify as great “art.” Students visit local art and performance venues to prepare site reports that draw on philosophical ideas. Appropriate for all majors.  (ARTS, CAP)

Philosophy of Religion, PHIL 260 (W 6:00-8:50, Boisvert)

Every modern theory of the political contains a theory of the religious. This is primarily a historical observation, not a philosophical one: the liberal world as we know it is the result of the spiritual crisis triggered by the Reformation and, more immediately, the traumatic experience of the wars of religion in the sixteenth century. This course will examine three attempts at redefining the divine in this turbulent context: Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise, which tried to comprehend religion on the basis of a scientific understanding of the imagination and the passions, Rousseau’s Professions of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar and sections of the Social Contract, where religion comes to satisfy deep-rooted existential and political needs, and Kant’s Religion Within the Boundaries of Reason Alone and a handful of his historical essays, where religion comes to complement morality and is linked to the pursuit of the highest good. No prior knowledge of these thinkers is required, but a commitment to engage in a serious intellectual journey through some of the most misunderstood texts in the philosophical tradition. Anyone interested in the relation between religion and politics, and eager to shed light on the reasons for the inextricable presence of religion in our primarily secular age will benefit from this course.  (ARTS, CAP)

Greek and Roman Philosophy, PHIL 290 (T-Th 1-2:20, Blanchard)

A long time ago in a civilization far, far away some Greek discovered nature, and so began philosophy.  This discovery brought forth all kinds of new questions:  What’s the source of everything?  What are things made of?  How are all things connected?  What is anything, really?  We may wonder, had anyone thought like this before?  From such beginnings the earliest pre-Socratic philosophers initiated their inquiries, and later, because of Socrates, such thinking took a new direction that included the human things.  In this course we will explore the development of Greek philosophy from its origins in myth and religion through to the thinking of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and then to its legacy in Epicureanism, Stoicism and Skepticism. (ARTS, PHY)

Special Topics: Philosophy and Psychology, PHIL 333 (T-Th 11:30-12:50, Alexander)

This is a course on experimental philosophy. Experimental philosophy uses experimental research methods from psychology and cognitive science in order to investigate both philosophical and metaphilosophical questions. It explores philosophical questions about the nature of people’s concepts of knowledge, meaning, and moral responsibility, and about the psychological processes that underlie intuitive judgments about the application of such concepts. It also explores metaphilosophical questions about the very nature of philosophical investigation and about proper philosophical methodology. The purpose of this course is to provide a detailed, accessible, and provocative introduction to experimental philosophy.  Our goal will be to carefully examine experimental philosophy’s aims, methods, and most significant claims and arguments. (ARTS)

Existentialism, PHIL 348 (MW  3:40-5:00, Burkey)

Anguish, absurdity, boredom, despair, death, radical freedom and responsibility are among the themes explored by 19th and 20th Century European philosophers and writers called 'existentialists' who plumb the depths of the human condition to grapple with its ultimate meaning or meaninglessness. Students who enroll should enjoy reading, and be open to reading strange and wonderful texts by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Heidegger, to name a few. Students enrolling can look forward to sharing the responsibility for clarifying the readings. This is not a lecture course. This course requires dependable preparation, regular participation, and periodic written presentations. (ARTS, CAP, PHY)