Philosophy
Philosophy is an activity – an effort to ask and attempt to answer all the great questions of life: Does God exist? What kind of person should I be? What makes anything right or wrong? What is the meaning of life?
As one philosopher put it, “Philosophy is primarily concerned with what there is in the world, and with what we ought to do about it.”
Philosophical training will improve your ability to think clearly and to analyze and evaluate arguments of all kinds. ASU does not offer a major in philosophy, but students can earn a minor in this area of study. Philosophy courses can be taken to fulfill the humanities requirement in all College of Liberal and Fine Arts programs, except history, and as non-advanced electives in any program.
Courses in Philosophy (PHIL)
2301/1301 Introduction to Philosophy
This course offers a general overview of some main philosophical issues. We explore questions such as: Why is philosophy relevant? How do we do philosophy? Can we prove the existence of God by means of rational argument? Can we be certain of what we know? Who are we? Our mind? Our body? Both? If so, how are mind and body related? Can we be held responsible for our actions? Could we have done otherwise given our background, our biological and psychological constitution? And finally, What is “the good life”? Who decides what the good life is? Is a good life meaningful?
2311/2306 Ethics
The goal of this course is to get a better philosophical understanding of some important notions in the field of ethics. The questions we deal with include: Are we moral beings? Do we have to be good? Why? How do we know what is good? How can we justify our actions? What is the role of reason, of emotions, of society and of environment in our moral life? Should all human beings have the same moral values? Is there any connection between being happy and being good?
2321 Critical Reasoning and Logic
Why do we find people convincing? Why do we prefer certain arguments? What does it mean to say that an idea follows from another? Can we learn to think better? By learning logic we learn the tools for good thinking since we become aware of the rules governing the structure of our thought. This course provides the means to distinguish good from bad arguments, to evaluate problems and the solutions to them, and to identify fallacies and non-reasonable conclusions. The goal of this course is to help you improve your thinking (and, therefore, writing) skills. No prior knowledge in logic is required.
3310 History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
This course covers the development of philosophy from its beginning in the sixth century B. C. to the 14th century. In this manner, it covers two main philosophical periods in the History of Philosophy usually referred to as Ancient and Medieval philosophy. We let some of the great philosophers lead us into fundamental notions and issues. Through their writings we learn to think and rethink about those issues. Learning about the history of philosophy is not just learning what philosophers said in the past, but understanding their concerns in what they said and rethinking their ideas in contemporary terms.
4360 History of Contemporary Philosophy
Contemporary philosophy covers the 20th and 21st centuries. It includes a great variety of strands sometimes divided between analytic philosophy, such as logical atomism and ordinary language philosophers, on one hand, and continental philosophy, such as phenomenalism or existentialism, on the other. The course lets some fundamental figures in the history of philosophy lead us into fundamental notions and issues. Through their writings we learn to think and rethink about those issues.
3311 History of Modern Philosophy
This course covers the development of philosophical thought from the 15th century to the present. In the Modern period we witness the abandonment of medieval Scholastic philosophy, the lay out of the philosophical foundations for the new science (17th c.), the Enlightenment’s attempt to extend those foundations to the moral, social and political spheres (18th c.), and the developments and reactions to the Enlightenment during the 19th century. The course lets some fundamental figures in the history of philosophy lead us into fundamental notions and issues. Through their writings we learn to think and rethink about those issues in contemporary terms.
USTD 3381 Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of science explores the scientific enterprise in a philosophical manner. Its goal is to gain understanding in how science works, in its method, in the values governing it, and in the logic of scientific discovery. The types of question we will be dealing with in this class are such as: What is science? What is the difference between science and magic or superstition? Is there “a” scientific method? Can any explanation become scientific? Is there any difference between a scientific prediction and a scientific guess? What values are at work in the logic of scientific discovery? Is science objective? Can we choose to believe a scientific theory?
Given our dependence on the advances of science and technology, it seems particularly relevant to reflect on these issues. This class will help to understand the impact that science has on the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. (It is suited for science majors and for non-science majors. This course is not offered every semester.)
