Course Descriptions

Undergraduate - Lower Division Courses

Undergrad Courses | Upper Division | Graduate Courses

SPRING 2010

1013/001 Introduction to Philosophy   MWF, 9:30-10:20   Patwardhan
The purpose of this course is to learn how to think critically and responsibly about some important human questions.  Rather than studying the history of philosophy, and learning who the major philosophers are, this course will look at the major issues both classical and contemporary philosophers have wrestled with.  This course is structured broadly and topically to deal with issues comprising the fields of Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Religion, and Philosophy of Mind. Consequently, we will think analytically about the following questions: What is knowledge and is it obtainable? What does it mean for something to exist? Is the mind identical to the brain? Are human actions free or unfree? Does God exist?  In addition, this class will provide the basic tools for how to evaluate a philosophical argument. [IV-WC]

1013/002 Introduction to Philosophy   TR, 9:00-10:15   Feldt
This course is a thematic survey of some of the central questions in the different branches of philosophy.  During the course of the semester, we will tackle fundamental questions about ourselves and the world around us: What is knowledge and can we know anything?  Does God exist?  What is the nature of a person?  What is morally right and wrong?  How ought a society be structured?  What is the nature of art?  In addressing these topics, there is no assumption of any previous experience with philosophy.  We will be using primary sources, both historical and contemporary.  In addition to providing students with a basic understanding of some key issues in philosophy, this course will help sharpen students’ analytic and argumentative skills as well as provide an arena for critical reflection on their own beliefs and ideas.  Grades will be determined by four exams, occasional writing assignments, and periodic quizzes.  All quizzes will be announced the class period prior to the quiz. [IV-WC]

1013/003 Introduction to Philosophy   TR, 10:30–11:45   Chance
Philosophy uses reason to analyze beliefs about life’s most fundamental questions. It is a kind of self-examination in which you explore what you think and reflect on whether you have good reasons for your opinions. In this course you will examine beliefs about fundamentally important issues, such as the nature of reality, the nature of the mind, the existence of God, what can be known about the world, and what makes actions moral. [IV-WC]

1013/004 Intro to Philosophy (Honors)   TR, 10:30–11:45   Swoyer
This section requires permission from the Honor’s College
We will read several works by major Western philosophers. Although we will devote some time to each of the main areas of philosophy, the field is much too vast for us to probe all its nooks and crannies. We will have to concentrate on just a few sub areas, and we will focus on the questions:

  • What sorts of human lives–what ways of living–are best?
  • What sorts of social and political institutions are most suited to making such lives possible, particularly in the modern, global world?
  • What is the relationship between mind and body? Are they one and the same, or are they somehow separate?
  • What methods (if any) are best calculated to help us gain knowledge?
  • What is rationality, and what is it good for?
  • Does God exist?
  • How can we justify our answers to questions like these?

We will read Plato, Descartes, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, and perhaps one or two others. [IV-WC]

1013/900 Introduction to Philosophy   W, 6:30–9:20   Byer
Philosophy uses reason to analyze various beliefs about life’s most fundamental questions. It is a kind of self-examination in which you explore what you think and reflect on whether you have good reasons for your opinions. It is also an attempt to develop genuine understanding of systems of belief quite different from one's own.  In this course you will examine beliefs about fundamentally important issues, such as the nature of reality, the nature of the self, the existence of God, what can be known about the world, and what makes actions moral, among other things.  Students will be expected to be critical of their own viewpoint and entertain opposing viewpoints with an open mind. [IV-WC]

1013/995 Introduction to Philosophy   Online   Trachtenberg
Philosophy, like other disciplines in the Humanities, explores some of life's most fundamental questions.  What is distinctive about Philosophy is its effort to address these questions through the human capacity to reason: philosophical answers are based on reasoned arguments, which analyze and seek to justify beliefs.  Thus, Philosophy is a kind of self-examination, in which you will explore what you think, and then reflect on whether those opinions are really worth holding.  This is the essence of the life of reason: to look critically at your own ideas.
In this course, therefore, you will examine your views on several core philosophical topics: the existence of God, the possibility of knowing about the world, what makes actions moral, and the justifications for governmental authority.  The class begins with crash course in elementary logic.  Each topic will be covered in a three-week unit.
During the course you will read philosophical texts, in order to analyze traditional arguments and evaluate some classic answers to the questions explored in the units.  As appropriate, you will consider how philosophical concepts can help in understanding practical dilemmas, in particular in moral and political life.  And you will practice expressing ideas through arguments which present and justify your reasons for holding your beliefs.
Course work will include:

  • a series of short exercises, which will lead you through the ideas in each unit
  • posts to the course discussion board, including answers to assigned questions, and responses to other students’ answers
  • tests on each unit (the final grade will be based on the best three of five unit tests)
  • a comprehensive final exam

All work will be submitted on-line, through learn@OU.  The website will include readings, exercises, discussions of the issues raised by the exercises, detailed outlines of the ideas presented in the course, and study-guides for the exams.
The textbook for the course is The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy (8th ed), by Robert Solomon & Kathleen Higgins (previous editions are acceptable).  It is possible to purchase on-line access to just the assigned chapters of the textbook (as well as of the book as a whole); information on this option will be made available prior to the beginning of the semester. [IV-WC]

1103/001 Critical Reasoning   TR, 9:00-10:15   Schurtz
Occasionally, in life, one is called upon to think.  When this painful and difficult circumstance cannot be avoided, it's best to be well prepared.  Critical Reasoning can do that for you!  Speaking seriously, though, this course isn't about content in the same way as a history or a biology course, it's about how to approach and evaluate content, so it does more than fulfill a General Education requirement - it will help you fulfill your general educational goals (note the contrast achieved through clever use of capitalization).  We'll be talking about how ideas and arguments are structured, using real world examples, to help you develop a sharper, more incisive approach to, well, basically everything, from politics to Political Science.  Students who study philosophy do better, in general, on all the grad-school admissions tests (including the LSAT) and in higher education just overall.  Do yourself a favor and sign up today. [ III-SS ]

1103/002 Critical Reasoning    MWF, 10:30–11:20   Cook
This is not a typical philosophy class. It has the purely practical goal of developing thinking skills that you will apply outside of this particular class. Accordingly, we won’t stress facts or complicated formulas that you might quickly forget. (The facts we will discuss are fascinating and hard-to-forget discoveries about how people reason badly.) We will stress techniques that you can use in other classes and in everyday life (and on tests like the Law School Admission Test and the Graduate Management Admission Test). Coursework: three one-hour examinations, quizzes, and short homework assignments. Text: Swoyer, The Critical Reasoning Course Manual, available at King Kopy Shop. [ III-SS ]

1113/001 Introduction to Logic   MWF, 10:30–11:20   Dhanens
Prerequisite: Math 0123 or satisfactory score on Math Placement Test                 
What does it mean to be logical? At least in part it means to reason clearly and have the ability to provide good arguments in support of your claims. Logic is the study of basic rules of clear reasoning and argument. This course will introduce you to the central concepts of deductive logic – the logic by which premises may provide infallible support for conclusions. It will teach you techniques for assessing such important logical properties as consistency among statements and the validity of arguments. [ I-Math ]

1113/002 Introduction to Logic   MWF, 2:30 – 3:20   Russo
Prerequisite: Math 0123 or satisfactory score on Math Placement Test
Deductive logics are systems of reasonings that include certain inferences.  In other words, the premises of a valid deductive argument guarantee the truth of the conclusion just in case those premises are true.  In contrast, inductive logics are systems of reasonings that extend these inferences to those that are less than certain.  The premises of cogent inductive arguments do not guarantee the truth of the conclusion but rather provide some degree of support for the conclusion.    In this course we will be mainly concerned with two systems of deductive logic: propositional and predicate logics.  We will cover some of the basic concepts of these deductive systems and develop a fundamental understanding of:

  • Translation from natural language into the language of logic
  • Deduction of conclusions from premises
  • The evaluation of arguments in accordance with these logics 

By the end of the course, students should have a basic proficiency in these skills, which play an indispensable role in both the hard and social sciences as well as in mathematics.  Logic, therefore, is not only important for philosophy but for all areas of inquiry.  Grades will be based on attendance, quizzes, homework assignments, and exams.  Text: A Concise Introduction to Logic, 10th ed. authored by Patrick Hurley (ISBN: 0495504041). [ I-Math ]       

1213/001 Introduction to Ethics   MWF, 9:30–10:20   Purinton
This course is an introductory survey of moral philosophy. There are two required textbooks: Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy (6th ed) and Mappes and Zembaty, Social Ethics: Morality and Social Policy (7th ed). The former offers an overview of the major ethical theories. The latter is a collection of readings on ethical problems like abortion and euthanasia. Classes will be a mixture of lecture and discussion. Grades will be determined by exams and daily quizzes. [IV-WC]

1213/002 Introduction to Ethics   TR, 3:00-4:15   Smith
How should we live? What is the nature of a just society? Can the diverse moral values of different cultures be reconciled? What is the ultimate foundation of morality? This course introduces you to the tools you need to think critically about such questions and surveys some of the answers philosophers have offered. It also applies philosophical theories to specific moral issues such as poverty and famine, the environment, business transactions, euthanasia, abortion, and whether animals have rights. [IV-WC]

1213/900 Introduction to Ethics   R, 6:30–9:20   Tallman
In this class, we will study moral theories as well as contemporary ethical issues. The first part of the course will be devoted to the study of major ethical theories. Students will examine the theories with an eye to developing and defending their own, reasoned moral framework. This will give us the groundwork needed for the remainder of the course, in which we will study various applied ethical issues. Possible topics include: capital punishment, pornography, environmental issues, homosexuality, poverty, feminism/gender equality, animal rights, family obligations, war, business ethics, abortion, drugs and addiction, stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia/assisted suicide, mental illness. Class meetings will be largely discussion-based. Students will be asked to critically examine their own beliefs, and should be willing to consider contradictory viewpoints with an open mind. Text: Peter Singer, editor. Ethics. Oxford University Press, 1994, and a coursepack from King Kopy. [IV-WC]
                 
1223/001 Introduction to Asian Philosophy   TR, 10:30-11:4   Wang
This course consists of a three-way comparison of classic texts of India, China and the West on two topics: first, the nature of reality, and then social ethics. We have two primary objectives. First, we shall develop an understanding of some of the fundamental and abiding elements of eastern philosophy as well as western philosophy. Second, we will develop and exercise skills essential for thinking, reading, or writing critically about any issue whatsoever.  Students will be expected to complete tests with short answer and essay questions as well as a short paper. [ IV-NWC ]

2900/950 Ethics in America Telecourse (http://tvi.ou.edu/) Spears