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Critical Thinking (PHIL 1110)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course focuses on developing skills and dispositions for integrating critical thought into your everyday lives. You will understand the essential principles involved in the theory and practice of reasoning and decision-making, and you will develop critical thinking skills that are transferable to all academic disciplines, career and technical programs, the work place, and later life.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
Goal 2
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Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 1115)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course is an introduction to the works and ideas of Western and non-Western philosophers, which emphasizes how philosophical questions and their answers have been dealt with by different thinkers in different contexts. Your development of familiarity with the ideas examined, as well as critical thinking and rhetorical skills essential for functioning effectively in philosophical argument are the basis of evaluation.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
Goal 6
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African American Philosophy (PHIL 1130)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course investigates, interprets and criticizes how Black philosophers understand and contribute to the questions of being, knowing and doing. You will examine the Black intellectual tradition on the meaning of race, identity, knowledge and justice. Particular attention will be given to the American experiment in democracy, the paradox of slavery, the problem of the color line and the predicament of prejudice and racial oppression. You will analyze the political ideologies of liberalism, feminism and nationalism, as well as political movements such as integration, black power and black liberation theology. You will develop skills of critical reflection and expository analysis.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
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Ethics (PHIL 1171)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course teaches you to apply a range of multicultural ethical theories: Western, African, Asian, Native American, feminist, and ecological. You will learn to think critically about ethical questions and apply ethical theories to practical issues. You will be required to demonstrate increasing knowledge of these topics through writing and dialogue. You will be encouraged to integrate the course material with your current academic and personal interests.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
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Topics in Contemporary Philosophy (PHIL 1172)
Total Credits:
0
Lecture Credits:
1 -3 Variable Credit
Description:
This course examines particular sets of issues relevant to contemporary debates in philosophy, undertaking further investigation of themes left undeveloped in Introduction to Philosophy. Topics for the course change from year to year. You will study primary texts as a basis for seminar-style discussions.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
Goal 6
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American Philosophy (PHIL 1175)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course offers an inclusive and critical survey of American philosophies. The focus will be upon the interrelation of African American, Asian American, European American, Latino American, and Native American voices, and how all contribute to the complex intellectual, social, and political landscape in the United States and in the Americas more generally. Through studying these philosophies, you will address the open-ended question of an “American identity,” and what such an identity could mean for building equitable communities. In considering this question, you will analyze and address problems in American social life such as racism, nationalism, classism, colonialism, religious intolerance, and sexism.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
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Logic (PHIL 2110)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course is an introduction to the formal analysis of deductive reasoning using symbolic language. You will learn how to translate various types of written arguments into logical notation and how to evaluate the validity of these arguments using a variety of methods (e.g. truth tables, natural deduction, truth trees). The skills learned in this class will strengthen your analytic reasoning ability, which is applicable in fields such as law, mathematics, computer science, and philosophy. These skills are also transferable to the analytic reasoning portions of graduate and professional school entrance examinations.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
Goal 4
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Asian Philosophy (PHIL 2115)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course explores Asian philosophies including Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, Buddhist and Islamic. You will analyze philosophical themes including metaphysics, epistemology, religion, political philosophy and self-identity in a historical fashion and engage major philosophers, traditions and texts within their historical contexts. You will also interact with the contemporary landscape of Asian philosophy as it relates to global issues and ideas. Through reading, writing and dialogue, you will demonstrate knowledge of Asian philosophy and analyze in depth a philosopher or text of your choice.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
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Medical Ethics (PHIL 2121)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course explores contemporary ethical issues surrounding medicine as a whole, the medical industry, medical professionals, those affiliated with the medical field, health policy and patients. You will examine topics such as abortion and reproductive issues, allocation of medical resources, end-of-life care, informed consent and patient rights, medical research ethics, and genetic engineering. You will learn and apply moral theories to these topics, develop practical and critical thinking skills and cultivate a sensitivity towards the complexity of the issues that impact patients, health care, medical professionals and consumers and producers of medical information.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
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Environmental Ethics (PHIL 2171)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course applies a range of multicultural ethical theories to contemporary issues affecting ecosystems: climate change, wilderness preservation, animal rights, food, energy, green initiatives and sustainable growth, among others. You will learn to think critically about the relationship between human beings and the environment, including the place of urban centers in the natural environment and essence of our moral obligations to the land. You will be encouraged to think about these issues from a global perspective and to gain awareness of global and local connections.
Prerequisites:
ENGL 1110 or
ENGA 1110
MnTC:
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Social Ethics (PHIL 2181)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course is an integration of applied ethics and service learning. You will engage the historical, theoretical, and contemporary landscape of social issues, such as social and economic justice, global hunger and poverty, terrorism, human rights, civil liberties, drug control and addiction, abortion, sexuality and marriage, and the environment. You will think critically about these social issues while integrating your service-learning experiences with a local nonprofit organization of your choice, working on one or more of these social issues. You will be required to fulfill your on-site service-learning hours (approximately 20-30 hours total) by the end of the semester. Must be taken A-F.
Prerequisites:
ENGL 1110 or
ENGA 1110
MnTC:
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Feminist Philosophy (PHIL 2215)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course introduces you to major areas of contemporary feminist philosophy, including the emergence of Latin American, Asian and African feminism. You will investigate the relationship between the mind and the body, the public and the private, and the individual and the collective. Particular attention will be drawn to theories absent in conventional philosophy including the interaction between multiple forms of oppression, specifically racism, classism, sexism and homophobia.
Prerequisites:
ENGL 1110 or
ENGA 1110
MnTC:
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African Philosophy (PHIL 2315)
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Credits:
3
Description:
This course explores African philosophies and their relationships with African lands, people and power. You will analyze philosophical themes including knowledge, religion, political philosophy, gender, race and the environment in a historical and contextual manner. While centering on African philosophers and their diverse indigenous, colonial, postcolonial and decolonial intellectual traditions, you will also learn how African philosophers interact with American, European and Asian philosophies. Through reading, writing and oral dialogues, you will demonstrate a critical awareness of the major themes, debates and relevance of African philosophies today and apply these to at least one contemporary debate within environmental studies.
Prerequisites:
Placement into
READ 1300 or completion of
READ 0200 or
ESOL 0052
MnTC:
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