An analysis of philosophical problems about science. Such central concepts as law, causation, induction, hypothesis, theory, verification, and models are studied. Presuppositions and methodologies of different sciences may be examined. The relation of scientific views to moral, social, and metaphysical problems is considered.

A critical examination of classical and current problems in theories of knowledge. Attention is given to such problems as meaning, truth, the knowing situation, universals, knowledge of the external world and of other minds, and validation of knowledge claims. The contributions of recent movements such as logical empiricism, linguistic analysis, phenomenology may be studied.

The history and development of philosophy from 250 to 1400 A.D. Some of the major philosophers studied include Augustine, Boethius, John Scotus Erigena, Anselm, Abelard, Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. Special emphasis will be placed on the significance of pre-Enlightenment thinkers to the development of the Enlightenment and Modernity.

A critical study of historical and contemporary approaches to primary issues in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law, including tort law, criminal law, and Constitutional law.

A philosophical inquiry into such topics as the existence and nature of God, religious experience, immortality, the problem of evil, the relationship between reason and faith, the meaning of religious language and symbols, and the validity of religious knowledge claims. Methods of contemporary philosophical analysis are used in clarifying religious concepts.

A critical analysis of classical and contemporary metaphysical systems and problems. These include the world views found in the philosophies of naturalism, idealism, personalism, positivism, pragmatism, organicism, and existentialism. Problem areas considered are mind-body relations, cosmology, ontology, philosophical anthropology, universals, determinism, and freedom. Basic categories such substance, cause, time, space, matter, and form are critically examined. Attention also is focused upon methods and criteria employed in metaphysical study.

A critical study of philosophical material in literature, that is, a study of the philosophy to be found in essays, novels, poems, and plays. Among the authors usually studied are Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Lucretius, Voltaire, Goethe, Ibsen, Nietzsche, Kafka, Camus, Sartre, Malraux, Hesse and selected contemporary novelists.

Philosophical and intellectual movements in Latin America from the colonial times to the present. These movements include scholasticism, eclecticism, utilitarianism, romanticism, positivism, vitalism, phenomenology, and existentialism and philosophies of liberation. Works of major representatives of these movements (including such men as Bello, Mora, Sierra, Varona, Deustua, Caso, Korn, Vasconcelos, Farias Brito, Vaz Ferreira, and Romero) are studied.

An historical and critical survey of the major movements in Chinese, Indian, or Japanese philosophy. Course may be repeated once with different area of concentration.

A critical study of philosophical movements in Europe during the past one hundred and fifty years. Some of the major philosophers studied include Nietzsche, Husserl, Adorno, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Wittgenstein, Russell, Carnap, Gadamer, Habermas, Lyotard, Foucault, and Derrida. Movements studied include phenomenology, positivism, naturalism, critical theory, existentialism, structuralism, deconstructionism, and post modernism. Course may be repeated once with a different area of concentration.

A critical study of philosophical movements in the United States during the past one hundred years. Some of the philosophers whose works are studied include Pierce, James, Royce, Dewey, Mead, Lewis, Santayana, Whitehead, and Quine. Recent movements such as critical realism, naturalism, humanism, personalism, logical positivism, and linguistic analysis are also studied.

The language of first-order logic as a formal deductive system.

Critical examination of the basic problems in general semantics and philosophy of language, giving special attention to the major authors in these fields.

Major issues in contemporary ethical writings. Course may be repeated once for credit if topic varies.

A critical survey of the fundamental concepts and theories used in justifying social institutions. Problems such as authority, law, freedom, rights, equality, responsibility, power, justice, the state, and justification of open societies are considered.

Jewish philosophy in the twentieth century, with emphasis on the relation between mortality and morality, justice and totalitarianism, faith after the Holocaust, and individualism and revolution.

Examines the evolution of political philosophy and institutions in Muslim culture.

Faculty-directed individual, group, or class research project. Course may be taken up to three times with a different topic for a maximum of 9 credit hours.