Undergraduate Catalog 2018-2019

PHIL 1101 Introduction to World Philosophy

A survey of central philosophical issues and problems. Consideration is given to the nature, sources, and validity of knowledge; the relationship of philosophy to science; the nature of mind and its place in the universe; and the meaning of moral and aesthetic values. A survey of representative schools of philosophy is included.

Credits

3

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate the following outcome-based learning skills:

  1. Understand something about the discipline of philosophy and the important terms, positions, arguments, and people that are part of it.
  2. Begin the personal journey away from cocksure, vague, and self-contradictory ways of thinking and speaking and toward more tentative, precise, and self-consistent ways of thinking and speaking. (Compare this with the description of philosophy by Bertrand Russell.)
  3. Learn the skill of independent and critical thinking: i.e., you should learn to philosophize!