PHIL 10100 Introduction to Philosophy (LA)

Introduction to philosophy that focuses on perennial philosophical problems, such as the relation of the mind to the body, the possibility of truth and objectivity, the purpose of human life, and the existence of God, utilizing classical, early modern, or contemporary works. (F,S,Y)
Attributes: HM, LMSP, LSCO, TIDE, TMBS
4 Credits

PHIL 17500-17502 Selected Topics in Philosophy (LA)

Topics to be determined according to teacher and student interest. This course may be repeated when topics vary, for a total of eight credits. (IRR)
4 Credits

PHIL 20300 Introduction to Logic (LA)

An introductory treatment of contemporary symbolic logic. Topics include argument structure, validity/invalidity, an exploration of formal propositional logic including truth-functions and formal proofs, and an exploration of elementary quantificational logic including interpretations and formal proofs. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (F,S,Y)
Attributes: ESTS, HM, LMEL, LMSP, LSCO, QL, TIII, TWOS
4 Credits

PHIL 20400 Choosing Wisely: An Introduction to Rational Choice (LA)

An introduction to rational choice theory, a theory that proposes rules that prescribe how individuals ought to behave so as to best satisfy their preferences. Special attention is paid to representing preferences numerically and using that formal representation to determine which action among a set of possible actions should be chosen. Applications include uses of probability and decision theory in epistemology, the philosophy of religion, and ethics. Some applications outside of philosophy are discussed as well, including economics, voting theory, and biology. General topics covered include probability, decision theory, game theory, and social choice. Additionally, time will be spent questioning the assumptions made by classical rational choice theory and considering alternatives. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (F,S,Y)
Attributes: QL
4 Credits

PHIL 20800 Puzzles and Paradoxes (LA)

This course provides an overview of some famous paradoxes and attempts to resolve them. We explore how some of the central historical paradoxes, like Zeno's paradoxes of motion, have brought about revolutionary advances in our thought. Central issues in philosophy of language, logic, metaphysics, decision theory, epistemology, and ethics will be introduced through the study of these paradoxes. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course; WRTG 10600 or ICSM 10800. (IRR)
Attributes: WI
4 Credits

PHIL 20900 Plato and Aristotle (LA)

Study of selected texts and ideas of the founders of classical Western philosophy. Texts include selected dialogues of Plato and selections from Aristotle's writings, including the Metaphysics and Nichomachean Ethics. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (O,S)
Attributes: CSA
4 Credits

PHIL 21200 Introduction to Ethics (LA)

Introduction to the problems and theories of ethical thinking. Is there a right thing to do, and how can we tell what it is? Competing answers to these questions are examined, such as virtue-based approaches, consequentialist approaches, and Kantian approaches. Application of these approaches to current issues related to equality, harm, and truth-telling are explored. Readings selected from both classical and modern sources. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (Y)
Attributes: HM, LMEL, LMSP, LSCO, TIDE
4 Credits

PHIL 22000 Political Philosophy (LA)

Introduction to the central questions of political philosophy. Topics include the disputed necessity of a political authority; various attempts to justify a political obligation to comply with the demands of the state; an examination of the merits and weaknesses of democracy as a legitimate form of governing; the proper scope of a right to liberty within a democratic society; and questions of distributive justice, including the justice of redistribution of wealth to rectify large social inequities. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (IRR)
Attributes: HM, LMEL, LMSP, LSCO, TPJ
4 Credits

PHIL 22300 Introduction to the Philosophy of Art (LA)

An overview of the historically significant problems and movements in the aesthetics and philosophy of art, addressing questions such as the source of value of art, its relationship to social and psychological functioning, and its cultural and historical significance. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (IRR)
Attributes: HM, TIII
4 Credits

PHIL 23000 Bioethics (LA)

This introductory course in bioethics focuses on ethical and philosophical issues that arise in today's medicine. Topics include ethical, religious, and legal aspects of abortion, end of life issues, ethical boundaries of assisted reproductive technology (for example, genetic enhancement and reproductive cloning), allocation of scarce medical resources, and ethical issues related to disability. The course aims to relate these applied issues in today's medical ethics to philosophical concepts such as 'autonomy', 'benefit, 'harm', 'justice', and 'empathy'. (S)
Attributes: ENHU, ENVE, ESHU, HM, LMEL, LMSP, LSCO, TMBS
4 Credits

PHIL 24000 Philosophy of Film (LA)

Exploration of various issues in contemporary philosophy of film. The course considers the questions and problems that arise when we consider film as both a distinctive art form and a political, social, public medium. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (IRR)
Attributes: ENHU, ESHU, MAP, SCE
4 Credits

PHIL 25200 Environmental Ethics (LA)

A critical examination of various moral problems raised when considering environmental issues. Questions regarding the moral status of animals, and the environment as a whole are explored. Also taken up are ethical issues raised by global climate change, such as our obligations to future generations, and how to resolve tensions between economic growth and environmental protection. These issues and others generate challenging and fundamental questions of moral philosophy: What is the basis of obligation? Do animals have rights? What does it mean to say something is intrinsically valuable? ENVS 25200 and PHIL 25200 are cross-listed courses; students cannot receive credit for both. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (Y)
Attributes: ABSS, AN2, AN3, HM, LMEL, LSCO, TPJ, TQSF
4 Credits

PHIL 26500 Philosophical Problems in Law (LA)

Examination and evaluation of basic practices and principles of law, focusing on such topics as the nature and extent of legal authority, the interpretation of law, and the justification of punishment, including capital punishment. Examination of prominent legal cases and their underlying principles, with applications to international law and to freedom of expression. Emphasis is placed on philosophical analysis and moral evaluation. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (Y)
Attributes: HM, TPJ
4 Credits

PHIL 27500-27502 Selected Topics in Philosophy (LA)

Topics to be determined according to teacher and student interest. This course may be repeated when topics vary, for a total of eight credits. Prerequisites: One 3-4 credit liberal arts course. (IRR)
4 Credits

PHIL 28300 Seeking the Buddha (LA)

Engages the historical evolution and lived experience of Buddhist religious traditions by exploring how people have variously attempted to search for, discover, imagine, understand, become, and even kill the Buddha. Considers how the Buddha and his teachings have been interpreted through stories, philosophies, rituals, images, and objects across Asia and beyond. Special attention is paid to the transmission and modernization of Buddhist traditions in the contemporary western world. PHIL 28300 and RLST 28300 are cross-listed courses; students may not receive credit for both. Prerequisites: One three credit liberal arts course. (E)
Attributes: DV, G, H, INBG
3 Credits

PHIL 28600 Philosophy and Literature (LA)

Explores philosophical issues related to literary fiction and focuses on philosophical questions related to literary discourse. Questions range from 'Do fictional entities exist?' and 'How is it possible to be emotionally moved by fictional events and characters?' to 'How do metaphors work?' and 'Who are the genuine authors of literary texts?' Prerequisites: WRTG 10600, ICSM 10800 or ICSM 11800. (S)
Attributes: WI
4 Credits

PHIL 30900 Plato and Aristotle (LA)

Study of selected texts and ideas of the founders of classical Western philosophy. Texts include selected dialogues of Plato (such as the Meno and the Republic) and selections from Aristotle's writings (such as the Metaphysics and Nichomachean Ethics). Emphasis on writing a research paper in history of philosophy. Prerequisites: One 200-level PHIL course. (O,S)
4 Credits

PHIL 31100 Philosophy of Religion (LA)

Study and discussion of a broad range of issues in the philosophy of religion, such as religious epistemology, the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, religion and science, and the problem of evil. Primary source readings. Prerequisites: At least one 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
Attributes: LMSP
4 Credits

PHIL 32100 Intermediate Logic (LA)

Topics include a review of propositional logic, first-order quantificational logic including relations and identity, and elementary logical metatheory for both propositional logic and basic first-order logic, including soundness and completeness proofs. The Incompleteness of higher first-order logics is presented conceptually but without formal proof techniques. Prerequisites: PHIL 20300 or MATH 27000. (IRR)
Attributes: NS
3 Credits

PHIL 32600 Seminar in Aesthetics (LA)

Examination of traditional and contemporary aesthetic concepts such as empathy, psychic distance, the beautiful and the sublime, and expressive form, with special attention to the nature of aesthetic responsiveness and judgment, and the kind of meaning to be found in art. Prerequisites: One 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
4 Credits

PHIL 33000 The Good Life (LA)

This course examines one of the oldest and most compelling questions of all time: What is a good life? We all want good lives and we all strive to achieve good lives, but despite the overriding importance of the question, we give little reflective thought to what a good life might be. Is there one particular form that a life must exemplify in order to be good, or are there many kinds of good lives? Is judging a life to be good sufficient for it to be good, or is this the sort of thing one can get wrong? The course will consider what great thinkers -- classical, modern, and contemporary -- have written on this issue. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: HU
3 Credits

PHIL 33500 Socialism, Capitalism, Justice (LA)

This course examines, from a philosophical perspective, the debate between supporters of socialism and capitalism. After examining competing definitions of both capitalism and socialism, we will examine what philosophers (past and present) have had to say for and against each system of economic production. In particular, we will compare accounts of justice that endorse a capitalist mode of production with accounts of justice that endorse a socialist mode of production. Assigned authors will include (among others) John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Friedrich Hayek, John Rawls, and Robert Nozick. Prerequisites: One 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
4 Credits

PHIL 34000 Global Ethics (LA)

The course surveys significant ethical challenges that are global in scope: Are there such things as universal human rights, or is morality ultimately relative to one's particular culture? What, if any, duties do we have to the global environment? What is the difference between a just and unjust war, and between just and unjust ways of combating terrorism? Morally speaking, what can be said in defense of economic globalization, and against it? Are global inequalities in wealth morally defensible? Prerequisites: At least one 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
Attributes: INBG, LMEL, LMSP, LSCO
4 Credits

PHIL 34800 Epistemology: Theories of Knowledge and Justified Belief (LA)

Philosophical study of knowledge and justified belief. The course will look at both classic epistemological topics including skepticism; analyses of knowledge; and the ethics of belief; and more contemporary epistemological topics including formal epistemology; disagreement; and fake news. Prerequisites: At least one 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
4 Credits

PHIL 35000 Philosophy of Science (LA)

A comprehensive survey of issues in the philosophical foundations of science. Topics include the structure and function of scientific theories; the dispute over the existence or nonexistence of theoretical entities; reductionism and antireductionism; laws of nature and models of scientific explanation; Kuhn and historicist models of science; the realism/antirealism dispute over the philosophical implications of scientific theories. Prerequisites: PHIL 20300 or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: HU
3 Credits

PHIL 35200 Moral Philosophy (LA)

Critical exploration of foundational issues in metaethics and normative ethical theory. Topics for consideration include moral relativism, moral realism, and morality and self-interest, along with utilitarian, deontological, natural law, and contractarian theories of ethics. Moral concepts such as rights, duty, and value will also be considered. Readings will be from both classical and contemporary sources. Prerequisites: At least one 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
Attributes: LMEL, LMSP, LSCO
4 Credits

PHIL 35500 Metaphysics (LA)

Metaphysics is the philosophical investigation into the ultimate nature of reality. This course examines issues and answers in traditional and contemporary metaphysics. Topics covered include some of the following: ontology, universals and particulars, issues surrounding material objects, the nature of time, persistence through time, necessity and possibility, causation, free will, and realism and anti-realism debates. Prerequisites: At least one 200-level PHIL course. (IRR)
4 Credits

PHIL 36000 Philosophy of Mind (LA)

The distinctive feature of human beings that traditionally has been held to separate us from the rest of the universe is our supposed possession of a special thing/capacity called "mind." In this course we investigate what kind of thing (or non-thing) the mind is, what relation it has to bodily behavior, and how and why the mind has the extraordinary ability to represent the world truly or falsely. Topics include such questions as, Is the mind physical or non-physical? What is a mental state? What kinds of beings can possess minds? Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: 1, HU
3 Credits

PHIL 36200 Philosophy of Language (LA)

Investigation of philosophical questions concerning linguistic representation, particularly concerning the meanings of names, definite descriptions, and sentences, and how those linguistic expressions acquire their meanings. Further topics include whether metaphors have meaning, whether meaning is subjective or public, and whether representation is the only function of language. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course or permission of instructor. (IRR)
3 Credits

PHIL 37500-37510 Selected Topics in Philosophy (LA)

Topics to be determined according to student and teacher interest, with primary focus on a problem or a person. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: HU
1-4 Credits

PHIL 38100 Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (LA)

Major philosophical movements in the 19th century. Emphasis is placed on selections from the works of Hegel, Mill, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: HU
3 Credits

PHIL 38200 Language, Mind, and Meaning: Themes in Twentieth Century Philosophy (LA)

Investigates the main trends and concerns of 20th century analytic philosophy. Readings will be from important works in logical positivism, the philosophy of the later Wittgenstein, and recent varieties of pragmatism and naturalism. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: HU
3 Credits

PHIL 38300 Tradition, Interpretation, and Authority: Themes in Twentieth Century Philosophy (LA)

Examines some of the key debates among the key figures in 20th century European philosophy concerned with the problems of intellectual and political authority, the effectiveness and limits of interpretation in preserving, re-directing, or subverting authority, as well as the historically formed nature of institutions and social practices charged with maintaining the integrity of responsible and authoritative intellectual discourse. Focuses particularly on the work of Derrida, Gadamer, and Habermas. Prerequisites: one 200-level course in philosophy, or permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: GERM, HU
3 Credits

PHIL 38400 Existentialism (LA)

In-depth philosophical analysis of concepts such as authenticity, the meaning of life, freedom of choice, responsibility, and mortality in the works of 20th-century existentialist thinkers such as Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus, and their 19th-century precursors such as Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Kierkegaard. Prerequisites: At least one 200-level course in PHIL. (F,O)
Attributes: GERM
4 Credits

PHIL 39100-39101 Independent Study: Philosophy (LA)

Study or research project of the student's own devising. Minimal consultation with professor; final projects evaluated by professor. Offered on demand only. May be repeated for credit for different projects. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course and permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: UND
1-4 Credits

PHIL 39300-39301 Tutorial in Philosophy (LA)

Work by student and teacher on a problem or project of interest to both. Prerequisites: At least one 20000-level PHIL course and permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: UND
1-4 Credits

PHIL 41000 Philosophy Capstone Seminar (LA)

Serves as the capstone for philosophy majors and minors. Synthesizes students' experience in the program by having students apply the philosophical skills they have acquired in previous classes to a faculty-guided, largely independent research project on a prominent philosophical position, movement, or debate. Facilitates student reflection on achievements in both the major/minor and the Integrative Core Curriculum, and how these relate to personal intellectual formation while at Ithaca College. Prerequisites: WRTG 10600, ICSM 10800, or ICSM 11800. (S,Y)
Attributes: CP, WI
4 Credits

PHIL 49100-49101 Independent Study: Philosophy (LA)

Study or research project of the student's own devising. Minimal consultation with professor; final projects evaluated by professor. Offered on demand only. May be repeated for credit for different projects. Prerequisites: At least one 30000-level PHIL course and permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: UND
1-4 Credits

PHIL 49300-49301 Tutorial in Philosophy (LA)

Work by student and teacher on a problem or project of interest to both. Prerequisites: At least one 30000-level PHIL course and permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: UND
1-4 Credits

PHIL 49500-49501 Philosophy Seminar (LA)

Small group study of a topic not otherwise offered in the curriculum or not offered at the same level. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: At least one 30000-level PHIL course and permission of instructor. (IRR)
Attributes: HU
1-4 Credits