Course Descriptions
Philosophy (PHIL)

To view the complete schedule of courses for
each semester, go to Cardinal Students.

PHIL 202: The Modern Mind: Philosophy from Descartes to the Present
3 Credits

An introduction to modern philosophy focusing on texts from selected modern and recent thinkers; traces the development of Western philosophical thought from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The intent of this course and its prerequisite is to utilize history and the texts of great philosophers to establish the structure and methodology of philosophical thinking. Offered both semesters. Prerequisite: 201, 211 or equivalent.

PHIL 211: The Classical Mind (Honors)
3 Credits

An introduction to philosophy, using the original writings of several philosophers from the ancient and medieval periods, with a more general consideration of the history of philosophy. Offered for Honors program students only. Offered both semesters.

PHIL 212: The Modern Mind (UH)
3 Credits

An introduction to modern philosophy focusing upon texts from selected modern and recent thinkers, traces the development of Western philosophical thought from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The intent of the course and its prerequisite is to utilize history and the texts of great philosophers to establish the structure and methodology of philosophical thinking. Offered in the spring semester for Honors program students only. Prerequisite: 211 or equivalent.

PHIL 301: Reasoning and Argumentation
3 Credits

An introduction to deductive logic. Topics include rhetoric, dialectic, types of definition, informal fallacies, deductive validity, syllogistic logic, and legal reasoning. Simple inductive procedures also considered. Area I. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 303: Biomedical Ethics
3 Credits

An introduction to bioethics which examines human nature, moral action, and moral reasoning within the context of medicine and health care. Topics investigated may include reproductive technologies, abortion, experimentation on human subjects, genetic therapy, euthanasia, brain death, doctor-patient relationships, and the just allocation of health care. Area I. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 305: Metaphysics
3 Credits

An introduction to the philosophy of being for non-majors. Typical topics include the following: the nature of metaphysical inquiry; the basic categories of being; properties common to all beings; the analogy of being; the problem of universals; substance, accident, essence, and existence; God. Area II. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 308: Philosophy of God
3 Credits

A critical examination of the traditional arguments for the existence of God and of their scientific, epistemological, and logical requirements; a discussion of the philosophy of God as conceived by the principal representatives of modern philosophy. Area II. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 309: Theories of Ethics
3 Credits

A study of classical and contemporary theories of moral conduct. Special emphasis on problems of moral judgment, justification, and ideas. Area I. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 310: Philosophy of Art
3 Credits

Philosophical treatment of a range of art forms that focuses on the nature of creativity, beauty, and representation. Major arts compared and contrasted. Area I. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 311: Contemporary Moral Issues
3 Credits

A study of ethical principles and their application to selected moral issues from various fields of contemporary human action. Area I. Offered both semesters. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 313: Philosophy of Human Nature
3 Credits

Comparison and contrast of texts from Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Nietzsche and others on such themes as: nature and convention, freedom, solitude, and community. Offered both semesters. Area II. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 315: Philosophy of Language
3 Credits

A philosophical inquiry into the nature and function of language. Studies classical, medieval, and modern philosophers; discusses topics such as meaning, reference, and truth. Area II. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 317: Philosophy of Religion
3 Credits

An examination of philosophical questions that have arisen in the Western tradition regarding such fundamental issues as the relationship between faith and reason; the nature of religious language; rational arguments for and against the existence of God; the problem of evil; the nature and attributes of God; the relationships between God and human freedom, and between morality and religion; the problem of miracles; and the prospect of life after death. Area II. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 323: Logic
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 328: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
3 Credits

Philosophical issues arising in the theory and practices of the social sciences. Special emphasis on the epistemic status of theoretical laws in the social sciences and the role and function of models. Area II. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 329: Philosophy of Science
3 Credits

Logic of inquiry in the sciences (primarily natural); explanation, prediction, causality, scientific law, induction, and other concepts involved in understanding the scientific enterprise. Offered both semesters. Area II. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent. .

PHIL 331: Philosophy of Knowledge
3 Credits

A study of knowledge in the context of belief, ignorance, and error, with attention to truth and falsity, justification, explanation, desirability of knowledge, the distinction between useful and liberal knowledge, and relativism. Area II. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 332: Political Philosophy
3 Credits

A philosophical examination of action and political life; work, labor, and technology; friendship; privacy and publicness; justice and other virtues; cities, states, and nations; nature and convention; the moral and the legal. Area I. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 333: Philosophy of Natural Right and Natural Law
3 Credits

The discovery of natural right as the origin of political philosophy. Topics include classic natural right in its Socratic-Platonic, Aristotelian, and Thomistic forms,as well as natural right and natural law. Machiavelli and modern natural law and right in Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, the attack on natural right in the name of ¿history.¿ Area I. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 351: Introduction to Symbolic Logic
3 Credits

Treatment of the general nature of deductive argument, language, and logic; syllogistic (Aristotelian) logic; propositional and predicate logic (first-order). Major emphasis on modern symbolic techniques. Offered both semesters. Area I. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or 211 and 212, or equivalent.

PHIL 353: History of Ancient Philosophy
3 Credits

The beginning of philosophy from the pre-Socratics to Plotinus. Emphasis is placed on nature and language as the origin of philosophical problems in Heraclitus, Parmenides and Plato. Key elements of Aristotle¿s philosophy are presented with an emphasis on categories and the background for metaphysics. Skepticism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism are explored in relation to materialism, fate, and natural law. Concentrators only.

PHIL 354: History of Medieval Philosophy
3 Credits

The history of philosophy from the Fathers of the Church until the end of Scholasticism. Emphasis is placed upon texts by Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. Topics covered include the nature of being, the existence and attributes of God, the human person, and the problem of faith and reason. The course builds upon the study of ancient philosophy and provides essential background for the study of early modern philosophy. Concentrators only.

PHIL 355: Metaphysics I
3 Credits

Historical and theoretical analysis of the nature of metaphysical thinking; being; essence-existence; matter-form; substance-accident; person and supposit; efficient and final causality, transcendentals and the problem of evil. Concentrators only.

PHIL 356: Metaphysics II
3 Credits

Historical and theoretical analysis of the nature of metaphysical thinking; being; essence-existence; matter-form; substance-accident; person and supposit; efficient and final causality, transcendentals and the problem of evil. Concentrators only. Prerequisite: 355.

PHIL 362: Professional Ethics in Engineering
3 Credits

An examination of professional activity as essentially related to human fulfillment, both personal and social. Also treats, using case studies, standards for good judgment in matters specific to engineering, including risk assessment, whistleblowing, and environmental protection. Offered only for juniors and seniors in the School of Engineering.

PHIL 374: Ritual Language and Action
3 Credits

A survey of basic speech techniques and drama skills applied to the language and action of the liturgy. Students learn through lecture, classroom discussion, and ongoing development of skills and group critique. Leading prayer in the seminary community also serves as a practicum. For seminarians only.

PHIL 375: Liturgical Readings
3 Credits

Through classroom discussion and ongoing practicum, students learn the foundations for and the skills of proclaiming the Word of God in the liturgical setting. Theological and practical skills learned in this course in the seminary community and as readers at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. For seminarians only.

PHIL 403: Morality and Law
3 Credits

A study of the relation between law and morality and its consequences for the resolution of human conflict. Emphasis on the issues between natural law/right theory and its diverse critics. Topical problems deal with the legal enforcement of morals, punishment, discrimination. Area I. Prerequisites: 201 and 202, or equivalent.

PHIL 422: Hist of Contemp Phil
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 453: History of Modern Philosophy
3 Credits

A treatment of the main philosophers of the rationalist, empiricist, and Kantian traditions, from Descartes through the nineteenth century. Concentrators only. Junior standing required.

PHIL 454: Contemporary Philosophy
3 Credits

Beginning with the nineteenth century, a treatment of the roots of contemporary philosophical movements such as analytic philosophy, on the one hand, and phenomenology and existentialism, on the other. Explores the implications of these movements in twentieth century philosophy. Authors treated may include Frege, Husserl, Nietzsche, Peirce, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Quine.. Concentrators only. Junior standing required.

PHIL 505: Moral Issues in Health Care
3 Credits

Study of ethical principles and their application to such issues as the right to health care, abortion, eugenics, reproductive technologies, human experimentation, behavior control, and euthanasia. For nursing students only.

PHIL 510: Freedom and the Human Person
3 Credits

Investigation of the meaning and fate of freedom, through study of great thinkers of the Western tradition. Topics include the relation between political freedom and the good life, the individual¿s exercise of freedom, the relation between freedom and the natural order, and challenges to freedom from historicism and scientific reductionism. Emphasis placed on the relation of freedom to nature within the human person.

PHIL 557: Senior Seminar I
3 Credits

Seniors coordinate their previous philosophical experience through a study of ancient and modern writers in philosophy. The topics for the Seminar are chosen according to the special interests of the faculty member teaching it. Texts are chosen because they are revealing of key philosophical issues. The faculty member teaching the seminar elicits the active participation of the students in analyzing the texts read and relating the underlying philosophical issues to material covered in the regular philosophy curriculum. For concentrators only.

PHIL 558: Senior Seminar II
3 Credits

Continuation of the aims of Senior Seminar I with a second faculty member. Both seminars assist the students in preparing for the comprehensive examination in philosophy. For concentrators only.

PHIL 561: Functions of Philosophy in Theology
3 Credits

Covers themes such as kinds of discourse involved with Christian faith and the place of philosophy in the theological discourse; the relationship between natural reason and faith as reflected in early Church councils, the work of Anselm and Aquinas, and modern philosophy; hermeneutics and Christian experience; natural ethics and the theological virtues; philosophy as the exploration of natural necessities and theology as the thought about faith and revelation.

PHIL 601: Philosophy of Science
3 Credits

A study of what it means to be scientific according to the current consensus, and of the difficulties in attempting to be scientific in dealing with human beings. Nursing students only. Others by permission of the School.

PHIL 602: History of Medieval Philosophy
3 Credits

Surveys selected major figures in the history of Western philosophical thought, from Augustine to William of Ockham. Concentrates on primary sources. Primarily for students in the Program in Medieval and Byzantine Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences.

PHIL 607: Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
3 Credits

A close reading of Hegel¿s first mature statement of his philosophic system, a work he called his ¿voyage of discovery.¿ Among points to be considered: What does Hegel mean by ¿science of the experience of consciousness¿ as the history of the ¿shapes and forms¿ of consciousness itself? How does this science contain a probing criticism of modern philosophy, one which proceeds ¿as the path of doubt, or, more authentically, as the path of despair¿ toward an affirmation of reason? How does this path of thought arise out of problems in Kantian and post-Kantian philosophy? How does it attempt to reconcile modern thought and institutions with Christianity?

PHIL 609: Virtue and Human Action
3 Credits

Discusses the role of action, character, and virtue in ethics. Reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics; writings of Aquinas, Kant, and Mill; and a book by Yves R. Simon.

PHIL 612: Wittgenstein's Tractatus
3 Credits

An introduction to the text, beginning with its roots in Frege and focusing on basic conceptions like the difference between atomic facts and states of affairs, the picture theory of meaning, logic as tautology.

PHIL 621: Bioethics
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 623: Moral Issues in Aquinas
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 627: Issues in Post-Heideggerian Philosophy
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 628: Thomistic Principles in Political Philosophy Today
3 Credits

Lord Acton in one of his Essays in the history of liberty praises Aquinas as ¿the First Whig.¿ To test the limits of this title we will examine how 20th-century Thomists have drawn upon such concepts as person, liberty, community, practical wisdom (prudence), common good, civitas, common sense, the division of powers, sin, epistemological realism, `secular,¿ and others, from the works of Aquinas.

PHIL 698: Faith and Reason in Modern German Philosophy
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 699: Contemporary Philosophies of Culture
3 Credits

The course concentrates on some key 20th century theories of the philosophy of culture. Background and contextual materials to these philosophical constructs will also be discussed, as well the distinctions between the philosophy of history and the philosophy of culture.

PHIL 700: J.L. Austin and Ordinary Language Philosophy
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 701: Theories of Aesthetics: From Aristotle to Balthasar
3 Credits

This is a survey of the field meant as a graduate introduction. Short samples from some main aesthetic philosophers and critics of art and literature will be read and discussed. The course is meant as a foundation for future (more detailed) studies of the field. At the same time, an argument will be made for the beautiful as a legitimate object of examination over the centuries, along with the true and the good.

PHIL 710: Spinoza's Ethica
3 Credits

The aim of this course is a close reading of Spinoza's "Ethica", one of the most discussed philosophical books of modern philosophy. Besides a careful analysis of Spinoza's arguments, which are presented "more geometrico," i.e., in the manner of Euclid's Elements, the course will offer a reconstruction of the sources from ancient (especially the Stoics) and modern philosophy (especially Descartes) as well as a discussion of issues regarding determinism, pantheism, and nihilism. Particular attention will be given to the role played by the Ethica in shaping Kant's third antinomy of pure reason, Fichte's ethical monism, Schelling's system of transcendental idealism, and Hegel's dialectical logic.

PHIL 711: Starting Point of Metaphysics
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 716: Theoretical Approaches to Bioethics
3 Credits

An investigation of the various contemporary approaches to the field of bioethics, such as principlism, casuistry, consensus building, and so on, including consideration of the role of theological principles in addressing bioethical problems.

PHIL 717: Plato's Timaeus
3 Credits

The Timaeus, which was a rather neglected dialogue, has recently become a focus for scholarship. The class will begin with a careful reading of this dialogue as well as an assessment of secondary literature.

PHIL 718: Hume's Inquiries
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 719: Plato's Symposium
3 Credits

An inquiry into what we really desire and whether our place in the universe supports satisfaction.

PHIL 721: Philosophy of Language
3 Credits

Examines key themes in the philosophy of language. Topics will include some or all of the following: the relationship between language and thought; meaning; supposition and signification; sense and reference; theories of naming; referential opacity; speech acts; semantics and pragmatics. Texts from various periods of the history of philosophy will be examined.

PHIL 722: Philosophy of Science: Current Problems
3 Credits

A critical survey of current literature in the philosophy of science, with special attention to the "received view" of the movement and the "new consensus" that is developing within it; selected problems in the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of biology.

PHIL 724: Aristotle's Categories and On Interpretation
3 Credits

The elements of Aristotle's material logic, and their interpretation by late antique and twentieth century commentators. Includes reference to Plato's Cratylus and Sophist.

PHIL 726: Plato's Meno
3 Credits

A careful reading of Plato¿s dialogue on virtue and learning. Particular attention is given to the account of learning as recollection, the relationship between knowledge and virtue, and the overall unity of the dialogue. Additionally, the place of recollection in the Platonic corpus and the Aristotlean response to this account of how knowledge is acquired will be examined.

PHIL 729: Aristotle's Posterior Analytics
3 Credits

The Posterior Analytics is one of the most important texts for the medieval development of Aristotelian philosophy. This course is a close study of the text in its ancient context. Topics include theory of science, explanation through causes, induction and deduction, definition and signification.

PHIL 730: The Metaphysics of Creation in Aquinas's De Potentia
3 Credits

A consideration of Aquinas's metaphysical doctrine of creation as it is presented in his work Quaestiones disputatae De potentia. In addition to addressing what Aquinas means by 'creation', this course will examine such topics as how a multiplicity of things can be caused by one first principle, whether God creates freely or of necessity, and whether God alone can create. Some familiarity with both Latin and Aquinas's metaphysics is recommended for this course, although neither is required.

PHIL 731: Topics in the Philosophy of Nature
3 Credits

This course will focus first on Kurt Riezler's Physics and Reality: Lectures of Aristotle to a Conference of Atomic Physicists at Cambridge 1940. To this end, we will read prerequisite material from Aristotle's Physics. Should time remain, we will consider the development of modern symbolic mathematics and its impact on physics, classical and quantum. To this end, we would read material from Jacob Klein and other relevant sources.

PHIL 736: Opinion in Plato & Aristotle
3 Credits

A comparative study of the role of opinion in the thought of Plato and Aristotle with emphasis on ethical reasoning.

PHIL 738: Early Greek Philosophy
3 Credits

A study of the extant writings of selected pre-Socratic philosophers. This course will be coordinated with the Fall 2007 Lecture Series entitled ¿Early Greek Philosophy: Reason at the Beginning of Philosophy.¿ Attendance at the lecture series, while recommended, will not be required for participation in the course.

PHIL 739: John Henry Newman, Ex Umbris et Imaginibus in Veritatem
3 Credits

A seminar which considers John Henry Newman  as a philosophical thinker, and also as a thinker who contributes to our understanding of what philosophy.  The aim of the seminar will be to cover the principal writings of Newman from a philosophical point of view.  Topics include: Newman's philosophical debt to Joseph Butler; faith and reason in the University Sermons; "intellectual virtue" and the ideal of education as presented in Idea of a University; Newman's transcending of the British empiricist tradition in Grammar of Assent; and his late philosophical reflections as found in his unpublished Philosophical Notebook.

PHIL 740: Aristotle's Philosophy of Logic
3 Credits

A survey of the Categories, On Interpretation, and Analytics, drawing upon late antique, medieval, and contemporary views of logic.

PHIL 746: St. Thomas's Metaphysics and the Existence of God
3 Credits

This course will consist in a reading of the "Five Ways" of proving the existence of a God, presented in Summa theologiae 1.2.3. Knowledge of the highest cause is the goal of metaphysics, and outline of metaphysics. The seminar will inquire into the philosophy of the Ways, particularly as they are given content and justification by other texts, both in later parts of the Summa theologiae and elsewhere in St. Thomas. We will discuss Thomas's doctrine of pre-philosophic knowledge of God, as well as how he differs from St. Anselm. Students will thus become better acquainted with key philosophical texts in St. Thomas's writing. Knowledge of Latin is not necessary, but is obviously most desirable.

PHIL 747: Plotinus
3 Credits

Careful reading of extensive selections from the Enneads, with a view to developing a synthetic understanding of Plotinus' philosophy. Emphasis on metaphysical issues, but attention also given to ethical, aesthetic, and spiritual dimensions of Plotinus' thought.

PHIL 749: Plato's Theory of Forms
3 Credits

Examines the theory in its metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical dimensions, from its appearance in the early dialogues to its full presentation in the middle dialogues, and its critical discussion in the later dialogues.

PHIL 750: Kant's Critique of Practical Reason
3 Credits

An examination of Kant's account of how pure reason is practical and of freedom as the keystone of "a system of pure reason, even of speculative reason." Continues the cycle of courses dedicated to Kant's three Critiques.

PHIL 751: Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom
3 Credits

Considers the major positions taken on the problem of the reconciliation of divine foreknowledge and human freedom. Begins with Aristotle's De interpretatione IX, then considers the development of the issue by Augustine, Boethius, Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Molina. Also considers the contemporary discussion of this issue and these figures by analytic philosophers of religion.

PHIL 754: The Problem of Evil in Neoplatonic Philosophy
3 Credits

Plotinus¿ conception of evil as mere privation of the good resolved the problem of dualism which Plato seemed to have accepted in his dialogues. However, his interpretation did not remain unchallenged. Proclus defended the existence of evil against Plotinus and claimed that although absolute evil does not exist, evils, which are not just privations of the good but contraries to it, do. The course will focus primarily on Plotinus, Ennead I, 8 (Where Do Evils Come From?) and on Proclus, On the Existence of Evils, but cover relevant texts from Plato¿s dialogues and from other Platonic thinkers too. Some knowledge of Greek and Latin is welcome, but not required.

PHIL 759: Medieval and Contemporary Theories of Free Choice
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 764: Divine Providence: Book 3 of the Summa contra Gentiles
3 Credits

The purpose of the first three books of the Summa contra gentiles is to articulate the ways in which Aristotelianism coheres with the truths of the Christian faith. The purpose of this course is to engage in a close reading of Book III of the Summa contra gentiles. In accord with the internal division of the text, the course will consider three main issues. The first is God as the end and good of all things. The main focus in this section, and indeed of the course, will be on the question of human happiness: How does Aristotelian eudaimonism cohere with the Christian faith? What is the end of man? Is there a natural end or a supernatural end? The very possibility of a Thomistic "ethic" depends upon how that question is answered. The second main issue is God's general governance of things: How does God govern things in a way that allows for genuine creaturely causality and autonomy? The third main issue is God's governance of rational creatures by law: How do divine and natural law function in God's providence?

PHIL 765: Metaphysical Themes in Thomas Aquinas I
3 Credits

Based on a close reading of qq. 5 and 6 of Thomas Aquinas¿s Commentary on the De Trinitate of Boethius and other texts, this course will consider his views concerning the nature and subject of metaphysics, our discovery of being as being, analogical predication of being, participation and the problem of the one and the many, and the distinction and composition of essence and esse in finite beings.

PHIL 766: Metaphysical Themes in Thomas Aquinas II
3 Credits

This course presupposes the completion of Metaphysical Themes in Thomas Aquinas, Part I, or the previously offered one-semester course by the same title. This course will concentrate on Aquinas's view on the essential structure of finite being. Topics will include his views on the nature of substance and accident, the derivation of the predicaments, the relationship between the individual subject and the act of being (esse), the issue of a distinctive esse for accidents, the causal relation between substance and accidents, the relationship between the soul and its powers, the nature of prime matter and substantial form, unicity of substantial form and the problem of the individuation of material substances.

PHIL 767: Aquinas on Infused and Acquired Virtue
3 Credits

A study of Aquinas's theory of virtue as it is presented in the Summa Theologiae and in his Quaestiones disputatae De virtutibus. This course will (a) examine the differences between the infused and acquired moral virtue and (b) consider the role that each type of virtue plays in Aquinas' broader moral theory.

PHIL 769: Aquinas and His Contemporaries on Conscience and Prudence
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 770: Kant's Moral and Political Philosophy
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 771: Nietzsche's Beyond Good & Evil
3 Credits

A close reading of Nietzsche¿s most refined composition in the context of (i) his other major works; (ii) 19th century pre-Nietzschean and (iii) 20th century post-Nietzschean philosophy.

PHIL 772: Topics in Modern German Philosophy from Leibniz to Dilthey
3 Credits

This course provides an introduction to important themes in modern German philosophy from Leibniz to Dilthey. It focuses on key texts of this period and examines them in their philosophical and historical context.

PHIL 774: Plato's Phaedo
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 776: Plato's Laws
3 Credits

A careful reading of Plato's other great dialogue about politics. Particular scrutiny of the following issues: the Laws's relationship to the Republic, the unity of the work, the nature of law, the relationship of natural right and natural theology, similarities with the moral and political philosophy of Aristotle.

PHIL 777: The Problem of Public Reason
3 Credits

The notion of "public reason" has in the last decade become a central topic of dispute in political philosophy. It refers to the problem of securing agreement on basic political arrangements in social conditions of deep pluralism. This course will explore the problem through study first of its background in classical liberalism; second, of the recent work of John Rawls, especially his 1993 book, Political Liberalism; and third, of the most important criticisms and alternative proposals by, e.g., Joseph Raz, Jurgen Habermas, Kent Greenawalt, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Jeremy Waldron, and William Galston.

PHIL 779: The Philosophy of Schelling
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 780: Issues in Twentieth Century Catholic Metaphysics
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 781: Descartes' Science
3 Credits

Regulae, Le Monde, Discourse, Principles. Mathematization of nature: what is gained, what is lost? Traditional cosmology of natural goodness vs. Descartes's cosmogony of natural indifference (eidetic vs. genetic accounts). Method and mastery vs. theoria and wonder. The problem of judgment and causality.

PHIL 787: Averroes and Aquinas on the Intellect
3 Credits

In his On There Being Only One Intellect (De unitate intellectus) written against the Averroists, Aquinas claims that Averroes cannot explain a simple fact, i.e., ¿this human being understands.¿ This critique seems devastating. Yet, in a famous article, Deborah L. Black argued that, pace Aquinas, Averroes can give an account of this basic fact of human life. In order to determine whether Aquinas¿s critique of Averroes was really on target, we will first carefully read the De unitate intellectus and then delve into passages of Averroes¿ Long Commentary on the De anima, the text Aquinas had at hand in a Latin translation (the Arabic is lost). For Averroes text we will use the manuscript of the translation (by Richard C. Taylor with Thérèse-Anne Druart) forthcoming from Yale University Press.

PHIL 789: Thomas Aquinas, Radical Aristotelianism, and the Paris Condemnations of 1270 and 1277
3 Credits

Selected texts will be examined from Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant, and Boethius of Dacia concerning unicity of the human intellect, eternity of the world, and the nature of the philosophical life. The course will conclude with a study of the contents and intended targets of the Paris Condemnations of 1270 and 1277.

PHIL 793: Heidegger's Being and Time
3 Credits

A careful reading of this seminal work. Themes include the unity of the book, the nature of the analytic of Dasein, the connection to the scholastic doctrine of actus exercitus and actus signatus. Consideration of related texts from ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary philosophy.

PHIL 794: Augustinian Themes in St. Bonaventure and Early Franciscan Philosophy
3 Credits

Focuses on Augustinian themes in the thought of St. Bonaventure (1217 - 1274) and his Franciscan predecessors and contemporaries. Chief themes: the composition of body and soul in man; the doctrine of illumination; the notion of creation; the human person as an imago Dei, and the nature of God. Considers the same themes in other Franciscan authors of the period. Knowledge of Latin not required, but desirable.

PHIL 797: Metaphysics of John Duns Scotus
3 Credits

This course focuses on the metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophical theology of the late thirteenth-century Franciscan philosopher-theologian John Duns Scotus (1265-1308). Advocating a metaphysical position largely inspired by Avicenna, Scotus was one of the pivotal figures in the development of medieval philosophy, while conceptualism and nominalism, the subsequent critical reactions to his theory of knowledge, provided the immediate background for Renaissance and early modern epistemology. Chief themes considered are: the nature of metaphysical knowledge, being and its properties, the ontology of universals and individuals, the sources and extent of human knowledge, and the existence and nature of God. Texts include selections in English translation from Scotus¿ Lectura, Ordinatio, Quaestiones in libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis, excerpts from the logical writings, and recently edited Quaestiones super secundum et tertium De anima. Although most of the Latin texts will be available in English translation, a reading knowledge of Medieval Latin is recommended.

PHIL 802: Socrates and the City
3 Credits

An inquiry into the problem of Socrates with special reference to the relationship of philosophy and politics. Most of the course is devoted to careful consideration of Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, Aristophanes's Clouds, and Xenophon's Memorabilia.

PHIL 808: Hegel's Science of Logic
3 Credits

Examines Hegel's masterpiece, one of his most difficult works, with the aim of a full understanding of the nature of dialectic. Establishes connections with ancient, Kantian, and contemporary philosophy.

PHIL 811: Averroes' Long Commentary on the de Anima
3 Credits

The interpretation of the De Anima III, V has always been disputed. Averroes' famous interpretation which caused an upheaval during the 13th century is much disputed too. Photocopies of an unpublished English translation by Richard Taylor with Therese-Anne Druart will be used.

PHIL 813: Plato's Theaetetus
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 814: Aristotle's Metaphysics
3 Credits

Close reading of the text, with special emphasis on books 1-7. Discussion of Aristotle¿s understanding of being, substance, identity, and first philosophy.

PHIL 815: Medieval Philosophers Speak of God
3 Credits

Examines the argumentation for God's existence in the writings of Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. Attention to their discussions of God's relationship to created entities including freely acting agents.

PHIL 818: Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy
3 Credits

Treatment of the central issues in Wittgenstein's philosophy after the Tractatus, including language games, following a rule, private language, family resemblances. Emphasis is placed on the Philosophical Investigations. Different interpretations of the later Wittgenstein will be examined.

PHIL 821: Aquinas's Commentaries on the Parva Naturalia
3 Credits

Begins with a general introduction to Aquinas's twelve Aristotelian commentaries, followed by a study of Aquinas's commentaries on De sensu et sensato and De memoria et reminiscentia, with particular attention to the latter. Reading knowledge of Greek and Latin recommended but not required.

PHIL 822: Philosophies of Culture: From Augustine to Dawson
3 Credits

Basically a graduate survey of the main approaches to the philosophy of history, with heavy emphasis on high-cultural, stylistic, and intellectual accomplishments. Most classes will be lectures, but room for class discussions and oral or written presentations. Begins with St. Augustine and his ancient (Greek and Roman) predecessors; extends to some twentieth-century authors such as Toynbee and Gellner. The general theme: the dialectic between Neoplatonism and Hegelianism. Ample attention to Catholic authors of the eighteenth through twentieth centuries.

PHIL 823: Kant's Critique of Judgment
3 Credits

Kant's final critique examines how humans dwell in the universe as a species open to the disclosure of contingent order. The "reflective" modes of judging nature and art aesthetically and teleologically are related to freedom, moral culture, history and the highest good. The place of this work in Kant's entire project and its relation to the philosophic tradition will be central concerns. Reading knowledge of German is recommended.

PHIL 826: Anthropology of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II
3 Credits

Considers the philosophical anthropology of Karol Wojtyla, beginning with a consideration of the dramas and selected poetry. Continues with an analysis of his philosophical writings, especially the Lublin Lectures, The Acting Person, and several articles. Formerly offered as 815.

PHIL 831: Husserl's Cartesian Meditations
3 Credits

Basic principles of Husserl's later philosophy as expressed in his Cartesian Meditations. Treats such themes as philosophy as science, the epoche, apodicticity, and adequacy of reflective experience, temporality, genetic and static constitution, and intersubjectivity.

PHIL 836: Thomas Aquinas on the Divine Nature (Summa contra Gentiles I)
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 837: Topics in 19th Century German Philosophy
3 Credits

Each time it is offered, this course selects a focus from three philosophies: those of post-Kantian Idealism, Marx and Nietzsche. The central themes are human consciousness as self-productive and its expressions in culture, history, and politics. Reading knowledge of German recommended.

PHIL 839: Phaedo, Epicureans & Stoics
3 Credits

Recent research has highlighted the importance of Philosophy as Medicine of the Soul. In the Phaedo Plato attempts to cure the fear of death as well as to show how we should live by arguing for the immateriality and immortality of the soul. The Epicureans too desired to dispel this fear, but by means of arguments for the materiality and mortality of the soul. As for the Stoic Epictetus he claims that "death is nothing terrible;...what is terrible is the judgment that death is terrible" and that soul is material. A careful reading of the Phaedo and of Lucretius' On the Nature of the Universe followed by some reading of the Stoics will help us to understand the various philosophical underpinnings for curing the fear of death as well as the nature of passions and their relation to mind.

PHIL 841: Heidegger's Late Philosophy
3 Credits

The course examines principal concerns of what is often called "the turn" (die Kehre) in Heidegger's thought, through reading works published after Being and Time (1927).

PHIL 842: Thomas Aquinas Speaks of God
3 Credits

An examination of major texts in Aquinas concerning the possibility of demonstrating God¿s existence, Anselm¿s argumentation in the Proslogion, Aquinas¿s arguments for God¿s existence in his earlier writings, the Five Ways, the possibility of quidditative knowledge of God, and analogical predication of the divine names.

PHIL 847: Universal & Particulars in Analytic Metaphysics Universal and Particulars in Analytic Metaphysics
3 Credits

This course is an in-depth look at the metaphysical issues surrounding universals and particulars. We will mostly (although not exclusively) be grappling with investigations of these topics carried out within analytic philosophy. Topics to be discussed will include: what the "problem of universals" is in the first place; various competing solutions; distinctions among kinds of universals; the difference between universals and particulars; the principle of individuation; the nature of particular substances. This course should be of special interest to students interested in metaphysics and to students who want to learn more about the way philosophy is carried out by the majority of English-speaking philosophers today.

PHIL 848: Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature
3 Credits

A close reading of this seminal work. Themes include the unity of the book, what it means to be "a treatise," Hume on the nature of human "nature," Humean "epistemology," psychology and political philosophy as profiled against his critique of the first phase of modern philosophy.

PHIL 849: Medical Ethics Seminar
3 Credits

This course aims to provide an introduction to prominent ethical issues arising in the context of scientific medicine. The course is designed to develop appreciation of the philosophical distinctions that permit us to appraise the moral character of decisions people make in regard to such matters as fertility therapies, physician assisted suicide, organ transplantation, and so on. The course is practical in the sense that it focuses on how decisions made in health care establish or reflect how bodily health is related to the complete human good.

PHIL 850: Hegel's Philosophy of Right
3 Credits

A close study of Hegel's classic work in political philosophy. The course will examine Hegel's account of the roles of the family and property in moral life; the critique of liberal contractarianism; the relation of civil society to the state; the modern state as the fulfillment of the history of spirit.

PHIL 852: Descartes' Meditations
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 853: Augustine on Free Choice of the Will
3 Credits

Offers a careful reading of Augustine's De libero arbitrio with special emphasis on the problem of evil and the nature of human freedom. Compares the doctrines of the De libero arbitrio with later works of Augustine, especially concerning the freedom of the will.

PHIL 854: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
3 Credits

The course includes reading and analysis of the entire Nicomachean Ethics with emphasis on its overall structure and argument as well as its relationships to other major works by Aristotle, especially De Anima and the Metaphysics. Comparisons and contrasts with modern theories of ethics will be drawn where appropriate.

PHIL 855: Christian Personalism
3 Credits

An examination of the modern concept of person with attention to such philosophers as Jacques Maritain and Gabriel Marcel. Background reading considers the idea of person and provides a general overview of the personalist philosophies. Formerly 791.

PHIL 858: Friendship in Plato and Aristotle
3 Credits

Reading and analysis of Plato's Lysis and Books 8 and 9 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.

PHIL 860: Major Themes in Analytic Philosophy
3 Credits

The course will cover topics in analytic philosophy associated with such figures as G. Frege, B. Russell, G. Ryle, P.F. Strawson, W.V.O. Quine, M. Dummett, S. Kripke, R. Rorty and H. Putnam. An effort will be made to discuss each topic in its historical context.

PHIL 863: The Genesis of German Idealism
3 Credits

The course will consider both Kant's Critique of Judgement (1790) and Hegel's Science of Logic (1812). Its goal is to focus on the concepts and the arguments that are at the origin of German idealism. Passages from Spinoza, Fichte and Schelling will also be considered.

PHIL 864: Aquinas on the Goodness and Malice of Human Acts
3 Credits

There is controversy over the question to what degree we find a moral philosophy in Aquinas's thought. This course will work mainly with the Commentary on Aristotle's Ethics to investigate this problem.

PHIL 865: Essence and Necessity in Analytic Metaphysics
3 Credits

A study of how essence and necessity have been understood in analytic metaphysics, including a look at connections with language and logic. Authors to be studied will include Kripke, Plantinga, and D. Lewis. Comparisons with non-analytic approaches will be made.

PHIL 867: Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences
3 Credits

A close reading of the text, with development of concepts such as the life-world, modern mathematical science, the person as the agent of science, history, psychology, and philosophical discourse.

PHIL 869: Aquinas's Commentary on Aristotle's De interpretatione
3 Credits

A study of the Greek text and Latin commentary, with consideration of the commentary's place in Aquinas's work. Themes include the nature of language, kinds of predication, necessity, and future contingents.

PHIL 870: Avicenna's Metaphysics
3 Credits

Avicenna is one of the greatest metaphysicians and had much influence on Aquinas and Duns Scotus. A close analysis of selected passages of the metaphysical part of the Shifa', known in both Arabic and Medieval Latin, will introduce his ontology.

PHIL 871: Thomas Aquinas on Free Choice
3 Credits

For Aquinas, the will is essentially ordered toward the known good. The fundamental problem of morality consists in appropriately knowing the good, so that the will can adhere to it. Accordingly, liberum arbitrium (free choice or free decision) is a "power of reason and will." The course will consist in the close reading of selected texts from the Prima pars and Prima secundae of the Summa theologiae and from De malo. Besides a general study of the nature of the will and of free choice, special attention will be given to the question of how, though the will adheres to the known good, it is possible to choose evil.

PHIL 874: Leibniz and Vico
3 Credits

A detailed reading of Vico's "New Science" and of Leibniz's "Monadology" and "Theodicy." Our purpose is (on the basis of these texts) to examine the spiritual/religious roots of the Enlightenment/Modernist project, the way in which the latter erroneously separated itself from the former, and the inescapable connections between the two.

PHIL 875: Plato's Early Dialogues
3 Credits

A close analysis of some of the early and transitional dialogues, such as Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Laches, Meno, and Protagoras. We shall examine the theme of Socratic ignorance and irony, the claim that virtue is knowledge and the unity of virtue, as well as why Socrates uses patently fallacious arguments and is so fond of craft analogies.

PHIL 876: Hobbes Leviathan
3 Credits

Study of the entire work, with intention to show the differences between the ancient city and the modern state. Topics include Hobbes' anthropology and epistemology as a setting for his political theory, the nature of rule and the sovereign according to Hobbes, his definition and derivation of the passions, his concept of representation, his understanding of religion, and his concepts of philosophy and science.

PHIL 877: Aquinas Questions on the Soul
3 Credits

A study of the themes of soul and power in Quaestiones disputatae De anima, with reference to the sources, particularly Aristotle's De anima, and to parallel texts in Aquinas's work. Some reading knowledge of Latin is desired but not required.

PHIL 878: Philosophy of Law
3 Credits

This course will focus on the contemporary debate between advocates of natural law theory and legal positivism. The core readings will be taken from H.L.A. Hart¿s The Concept of Law (1961), Joseph Raz¿s Practical Reason and Norms (1975), John Finnis¿s Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980) and Ronald Dworkin¿s Law¿s Empire (1986). We will be concerned with questions about the nature and validity of legal norms and legal systems, the relationship of legal reasoning to practical reason more generally (as related especially to the practice of interpretation, but also to the political context of law), as well as to some methodological questions about philosophical jurisprudence.

PHIL 879: Philosophy, Politics and the Event of Being: Heidegger's Later Thought
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 881: Aquinas on Divine Ideas
3 Credits

A consideration of Aquinas¿s doctrine of the divine ideas, with a focus on their role as causal principles. This course will examine how, for Aquinas, the divine ideas play an integral role in accounting for the existence and order of the created universe. After looking at the historical influences on his doctrine, the course will consider his arguments for the existence of the divine ideas, his defense of their multiplicity, and his view of their role as exemplar causes. Some familiarity both with Latin and with Aquinas¿s metaphysics is recommended for this course, although neither is required.

PHIL 885: Plato's Gorgias
3 Credits

The course will consist of a close reading of Plato¿s Gorgias, with special reference to the problem of natural right.

PHIL 886: The Philosophy of John Locke
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 888: Aristotle's Politics
3 Credits

Reading of the entire work, with treatment of such topics as the nature of political life, contrasts between city and household, between civic and despotic rule, between the republic on one hand and oligarchy and democracy on the other; nature and kinds of political society, relation between political and theoretical life, and the role of education in politics. Complemented by a study of Hobbes's Leviathan in the next semester.

PHIL 889: Husserl's Formal and Transcendental Logic
3 Credits

Usually considered Husserl's most elegant work, this book represents his later philosophical analysis of language, logic, and thinking. The course treats such topics as formal and material dimensions of logic, consistency and coherence, vagueness as a matrix for thinking and logic, difference between logic and mathematics, nature and philosophical analysis, and the place of phenomenology in modern philosophy.

PHIL 890: Causality and the Retrieval of Interiority
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 891: Introduction to Phenomenology
3 Credits

After a brief historical survey of phenomenology in the twentieth century, the course will examine themes such as perception and its derivatives (memory and imagination), the differences among perception, symbolism and picturing, the relation between perception and categorical thinking, the role of presence and absence in human experience, temporality and personal identity, the life-world and science, the concepts of evidence and truth, the nature of philosophical analysis, and the place of phenomenology in modern philosophy.

PHIL 895: Aquinas on Categories of Being
3 Credits

This course will focus on Aquinas's metaphysical views regarding the ten categories of being that were first identified by Aristotle. After a brief overview of Aristotle's treatment of these categories, the course will examine Aquinas's account of their derivation and of their status as analogous modes of being. It will then proceed to consider, to varying degrees, his treatment of each of the ten categories. Some familiarity both with Latin and with Aquinas's metaphysics is recommended but not required.

PHIL 897: Aquinas on Pleasure
3 Credits

no description available

PHIL 995: Thesis - Masters
0 Credits

Fall semester.

PHIL 996: Thesis - Masters
0 Credits

Spring semester.

PHIL 997: Dissertation - Doctoral
0 Credits

Fall semester.

PHIL 998: Dissertation - Doctoral
0 Credits

Spring semester.