PHI - Philosophy Courses

PHI 111 Introduction to Philosophy
3 Credits
PHI 111 introduces significant human questions and emphasizes understanding the meaning and methods of philosophy.   It includes human condition, knowledge, freedom, history, ethics, the future, and religion.                                                               

PHI 112 Ethics
3 Credits
PHI 112 examines human life, experience, and thought in order to discover and develop the principles and values for pursuing a more fulfilled existence.   Theories designed to justify ethical judgments are applied to a selection of contemporary personal and social issues.

PHI 113 Logic
3 Credits
PHI 113 studies effective thinking using language-oriented logic.   Provides tools and develops skills for creative and critical thinking. Emphasizes the development of decision-making and problem-solving.

PHI 114 Comparative Religions
3 Credits
PHI 114 introduces students to the similarities and differences among concepts predominant in the major world religions, comparing sociological, philosophical, and phenomenological similarities between major world faiths.   It is designed to transfer to any four-year college philosophy, religious studies or humanities department.

PHI 115 World Religions - West
3 credits
PHI 115 introduces the student to the common and different concepts predominant in the major world religions.   It includes sociological, political, psychological, and philosophical aspects of a variety of belief systems.   It focuses on the concept of religion as a cultural system, and a way that people make sense of a complex world.   Particular emphasis is placed on how myths, legends, and folk tales reveal religious concerns.

PHI 116 World Religions - East
3 credits
PHI 116 emphasizes the diversity and richness of Eastern Religions within a cross-cultural context.   Concepts such as fate, reincarnation, enlightenment and morality are analyzed.

PHI 117 Psychology of Religion
3 Credits
PHI 117 emphasizes the application of psychological principles and theories to religious phenomena, including religious practices, beliefs, and rituals. As an introduction to the field, this course begins with an historical appreciation of psychologists` attempts to understand religion, continues with an exploration of select theories, and concludes with an analysis of modern problems and future directions.

PHI 120 Applied Ethics
3 Credits
PHI 120 is an umbrella course which covers different applications of ethics in contemporary society and disciplines, including Business Ethics, Biomedical ethics, Genetic ethics, issues of dental ethics, and other valid applications.

PHI 123 Native American Religion
3 Credits
PHI 123 is designed to introduce the student to the primary beliefs and practices found in the Native North American tribes, and to trace the development of these religious systems from their oral beginnings through to modern religious revivals.

PHI 124 Introduction to Islam
3 Credits
PHI 124 introduces the Islamic religious tradition and considers its significance in the modern world. The course investigates the history of Islam, Islamic beliefs and practices, Islamic sects, Sufism, and contemporary issues of Islamic extremism, women in Islam, and Islam in the West.

PHI 140 Religion in American Culture
3 Credits
PHI 140 will investigate the various ways in which religion and American culture interact. Beginning with the religion of Native Americans, which existed in a pre-modern society where religion went unchallenged as the pre-eminent organizing principles our post-modern era, where religion competes with a multiplicity of other belief systems in a complex societal matrix. This course will focus on the sundry ways in which religion and American culture interface.

PHI 141 Old Testament
3 Credits
PHI 141 surveys the literature produced by ancient Israel from its inception in the 10th century BCE to its absorption into the Roman Empire. The Hebrew Scriptures along with selected Apocryphal writings will be examined. The course will focus on the interpretation of these texts in light of the historical and cultural milieu from which they arose.

PHI 142 New Testament
3 Credits
PHI 142 surveys the literature of the early Christian era, from its inception to approximately 150 C.E. The New Testament as well as selected non-canonical writings from the period are examined. The course focuses on the interpretation of these texts in light of the cultural milieu from which they arose.

PHI 201 Social and Political Philosophy
3 Credits
PHI 201 addresses a single topic among those relevant to social and political philosophy such as political rights, political freedom, social obligations, or democracy.

PHI 202 Religion and Film
3 Credits
PHI 202 introduces basic concepts to the academic study of religion and illustrates those concepts by examining the ways in which a number of contemporary films embody religious themes.   Particular attention will be paid to the challenges modernity and post modernity poses to traditional religion.  

PHI 214 Philosophy of Religion
3 Credits
PHI 214 focuses on the critical examination of the fundamental concepts, ideas, and implications of religion.   Specific topics will include: the nature of God, the varieties of religious experience, argument concerning God`s existence, the Problem of Evil, faith and reason, religion and human destiny, and the connection between religion and ethics.

PHI 275 Special Topics in Philosophy
3 Credits
PHI 275 provides students with a vehicle to pursue in depth exploration of special topics of interest.

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