Philosophy
Department of Philosophy and Humanities
B.A., Philosophy
The courses in philosophy are designed to confront students with foundational problems related to the human experience and to introduce students to the critical assessment of those problems, thus broadening students' perspectives and critical thinking skills for various areas of specialization in science, social science and humanities.
Minimum Requirements for Philosophy Bachelor's Degree: 120 credits
Learn more about the bachelor’s degree in philosophy, including an overview of the program, career opportunities and more.
Courses
Humanities (HUM)
HUM F201X Unity in the Arts (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring
Concentration on the interdependence of the visual arts, the performing arts, and literature, as set against a specific social, political and cultural background of selected eras.
Attributes: UAF GER Arts Req
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
HUM F492 Senior Seminar (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Consideration of the humanities at the University of Alaska and on alternate approaches elsewhere. Student project paper required with oral presentation and defense.
Prerequisites: Open requirements.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
HUM F492P Senior Seminar
3 Credits
Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Consideration of the humanities at the University of Alaska and on alternate approaches elsewhere. Student project paper required with oral presentation and defense.
Prerequisites: Open requirements.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Pass/Fail Grades
Philosophy (PHIL)
PHIL F102X Introduction to Philosophy (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall, Spring and Summer
Survey of philosophers and problems in the Western tradition beginning with the ancient Greeks (Plato, Aristotle) and continuing with medieval (Anselm, Augustine, Aquinas) and modern European thinkers (Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche). Themes and topics may vary.
Attributes: UAF GER Humanities Req
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F104X Logic and Reasoning (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall
Principles of deductive and inductive logic and application of the principles to critical thinking in logic and its application.
Attributes: UAF GER Humanities Req
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F108 Symbolic Logic (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring
This course provides a thorough and in-depth introduction into the structures that underlie critical, quantitative thinking. Students will learn the language, concepts, and system of formal first-order logic and natural deduction.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F110 Introduction to Political Philosophy (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years
Introduction to historical and contemporary issues in political thought. Topics and themes vary, but include questions such as: Should we consent to be governed? What is civil society? What does it mean to be a citizen? What are the basic forms of government?
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F202 Introduction to Eastern Philosophy (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Basic assumptions, problems and systems of the major philosophical traditions of the Far East.
Prerequisites: PHIL F102X.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F322X Ethics (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall, Spring and Summer
"Ethic,"--from the Greek "ethos" meaning character, custom, usage--is the study of value distinctions. Examination of the nature of value judgments--their historical origins and philosophical assumptions--and exploration of the application of value distinctions to contemporary social, religious and scientific/technical.
Prerequisites: Placement in WRTG F111X; junior standing.
Attributes: UAF GER Ethics Req
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F341 Theories of Knowledge (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
The nature of knowledge, truth and certainty.
Prerequisites: COM F131X or COM F141X; PHIL F102X.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F342 Theories of Reality (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Theories of reality and their relationship to science, philosophy and religion.
Prerequisites: PHIL F102X.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F351 History of Ancient Greek Philosophy (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall
Review of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle; minor attention to Presocratics.
Prerequisites: PHIL F102X.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F352 History of Modern Philosophy: Descartes to Kant (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring
Review of continental rationalist and British empiricist thought, 17th-19th centuries.
Prerequisites: PHIL F102X.
Recommended: PHIL F351.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F361 Philosophy in Literature (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Examination of philosophical issues in literary works. Topics include the nature of free will, the effects of choice in building a character, the desirable (and undesirable) ways of confronting morality, and the nature of evil. Topics and readings vary.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F362 Feminist Philosophy (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Examination of contemporary feminist philosophical positions. Emphasis on feminist ethics, social and political philosophy, and epistemology.
Cross-listed with WGS F362.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F363 Philosophy of Religion (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Introduction to topics such as arguments for the existence and nature of God, the problem of evil, the relation of faith and reason, religious language and the connection of religion to the meaning of life.
Prerequisites: WRTG F111X; WRTG F211X, WRTG F212X, WRTG F213X or WRTG F214X.
Recommended: PHIL F102X; upper-division status.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F402 Biomedical and Research Ethics (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Issues in biomedical ethics. Topics will vary but include discussion of moral principles and problems of research ethics and medical ethics, such as: animal and human experimentation; data management; informed consent; therapeutic and non-therapeutic research; physician/patient relationship; autonomy; assisted reproductive technologies; euthanasia; organ transplantation; and allocation of scarce medical resources.
Prerequisites: WRTG F111X; WRTG F211X, WRTG F212X, WRTG F213X or WRTG F214X; junior or senior standing; a course in philosophy, science, or nursing.
Cross-listed with BIOL F402.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F411 Classical Political Theory (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Political ideas from ancient Greece, Rome and the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Theories of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine and Aquinas.
Prerequisites: COM F131X or COM F141X; PHIL F102X; PS F101X; WRTG F111X; WRTG F211X, WRTG F212X, WRTG F213X or WRTG F214X.
Cross-listed with PS F411.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F412 Modern Political Theory (s)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Political ideas from the Renaissance to the modern world. Theories of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Marx and Lenin.
Prerequisites: WRTG F111X; WRTG F211X, WRTG F212X, WRTG F213X or WRTG F214X; PHIL F102X; PS F101X.
Cross-listed with PS F412.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F414 Contemporary Political Philosophy
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
This course takes stock of recent currents in contemporary political thought, including readings from Carl Schmitt, Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, John Rawls, Leo Strauss, Michel Foucault, and Theodor Adorno. We ask how these canonical thinkers influence feminist, environmental, postcolonial, anti-essentialist, democratic and post-human political theory today.
Prerequisites: PS F101X, upper division standing.
Cross-listed with PS F414.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F421 Aesthetics (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
The nature of aesthetic experience in poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts; studies in relation to artistic production and the role of art in society.
Prerequisites: Junior/senior standing.
Recommended: PHIL F102X or HUM F201X.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F436 Ethical Theory (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Major ethical theories. Includes virtue theory, social contract theory, deontology and utilitarianism with major arguments for and against.
Prerequisites: Junior standing.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F471 Contemporary Philosophical Problems (h)
3 Credits
Offered Fall Even-numbered Years
Ideological issues facing the modern world.
Prerequisites: PHIL F351; PHIL F352.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F472 Ethics in International Affairs (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring Odd-numbered Years
Examination of questions including: What is in the interest of the nation-state according to the logic of statecraft? How does the national interest relate to broader human interest? How does morality relate to the international legal order? Examination is through theory and case studies.
Prerequisites: PHIL F322X or PS F221X.
Cross-listed with PS F472.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F481 Philosophy of Science (h)
3 Credits
Offered Spring Even-numbered Years
Comparison and discussion of various contemporary methodological positions.
Prerequisites: Junior standing.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F487 Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology
3 Credits
Offered Spring Odd-numbered Years
Analysis of some of the main models which explain evolutionary change, followed by consideration of the practical implications these models have on the study of biological phenomena in general.
Cross-listed with BIOL F487.
Stacked with BIOL F687; PHIL F687.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F499 B.A. Thesis in Philosophy (h)
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Writing the senior thesis in philosophy.
Prerequisites: WRTG F111X; WRTG F211X or WRTG F213X.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 1 + 2 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus
PHIL F687 Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology
3 Credits
Offered As Demand Warrants
Analysis of some of the main models which explain evolutionary change followed by consideration of the practical implications these models have on the study of biological phenomena in general.
Cross-listed with BIOL F687.
Stacked with BIOL F487; PHIL F487.
Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0
Grading System: Letter Grades with option of Plus/Minus