PHIL F102X      Introduction to Philosophy      (h)
3 Credits

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

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

PHIL F108      Critical and Quantitative Thinking      (h)
3 Credits

Offered Spring

Examines the difference between quantifiable scientific thinking and unquantifiable pseudoscientific thinking, making use of the tools of formal logic, math and general critical thinking. Examples are drawn from contemporary, controversial issues.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

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

PHIL F202      Introduction to Eastern Philosophy      (h)
3 Credits

Offered Spring

Basic assumptions, problems and systems of the major philosophical traditions of the Far East.

Prerequisites: PHIL F102X.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F322X      Ethics      (h)
3 Credits

"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. Recommended but not required: Two courses in the Perspectives on the Human Condition baccalaureate core.

Prerequisites: Placement in WRTG F111X; junior standing.

Attributes: UAF GER Ethics Req

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F341      Theories of Knowledge      (O, h)
3 Credits

Offered Fall Even-numbered Years

The nature of knowledge, truth and certainty.

Prerequisites: COJO F131X or COJO F141X; PHIL F102X.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

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

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

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

PHIL F353      Survey of Buddhist Thought      (h)
3 Credits

Offered As Demand Warrants

Survey of the major themes and schools of Buddhist thought. Emphasis on the interactions with surrounding cultures and competing philosophical systems. Includes modern developments in India, China, Japan, Tibet and other parts of Asia.

Prerequisites: Upper class standing or permission of instructor.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

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

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

PHIL F363      Philosophy of Religion      (W, 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

PHIL F381      Topics in Logics      (h)
3 Credits

Offered As Demand Warrants

An advanced explanation of problems, philosophies and approaches in logics, including classical, symbolic and comparative logics.

Prerequisites: PHIL F104X or equivalent; permission of instructor.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F402      Biomedical and Research Ethics      (W, h)
3 Credits

Offered Fall

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; permission of instructor.

Recommended: A course in philosophy, science or nursing.

Cross-listed with BIOL F402.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F411      Classical Political Theory      (O, W, h)
3 Credits

Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years

Political ideas from ancient Greece, Rome and the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Theories of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine and Aquinas.

Prerequisites: COJO F131X or COJO F141X; WRTG F111X; WRTG F211X, WRTG F212X, WRTG F213X or WRTG F214X; PHIL F102X; PS F101X.

Cross-listed with PS F411.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F412      Modern Political Theory      (W, s)
3 Credits

Offered Spring Even-numbered Years

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

PHIL F414      Contemporary Political Philosophy
3 Credits

Offered Spring Even-numbered Years.

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

PHIL F421      Aesthetics      (h)
3 Credits

Offered Fall Odd-numbered Years

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

PHIL F436      Ethical Theory      (h)
3 Credits

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

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

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

PHIL F481      Philosophy of Science      (h)
3 Credits

Offered As Demand Warrants

Comparison and discussion of various contemporary methodological positions.

Prerequisites: Junior standing.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F482      Comparative Philosophy and Religions      (h)
3 Credits

Offered As Demand Warrants

Review of non-western philosophical thought, e.g., African, Jewish, Latin American, Oriental and others.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

PHIL F485      Topics in Comparative Philosophies      (h)
3 Credits

Explores, on an advanced level, modern and traditional philosophical questions, problems, and approaches to and within different cultural settings. Student should have at least an acquaintance with a second language and some multicultural experience.

Prerequisites: Nine credits in philosophy.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0

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

PHIL F499      B.A. Thesis in Philosophy      (W, h)
3 Credits

Offered As Demand Warrants

Writing the senior thesis in philosophy.

Prerequisites: ENGL F111X; ENGL F211X or ENGL F213X; or permission of instructor.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 1 + 2 + 0

PHIL F687      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 F687.

Stacked with BIOL F487; PHIL F487.

Lecture + Lab + Other: 3 + 0 + 0