Curriculum

109.PHILOSOPHIES OF THE ENVIRONMENT(1 course)
This course examines the ways in which contemporary attitudes toward the environment developed as well as alternative philosophical theories of the environment. Issues include the treatment of nonhuman animals, instrumental vs. intrinsic theories of environmental value, the impact of first world environmental perspectives on third world peoples, and women's perspectives on the environment. Alternative approaches include Aldo Leopold's land ethic, deep ecology, and ecofeminism. This course counts toward fulfillment of the Environmental Studies major and the Women's Studies minor. HUMAN. Offered periodically.

201.ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY(1 course)
Philosophy began in ancient Greece, and the problems that these first philosophers raised are still profound and significant. There are characteristically Greek philosophical problems: the nature of the soul, the state, the good, and the nature of reality. However, Greek philosophy is also a distinctive way of thinking about these problems. This course will focus on Greek modes of thought by examining in some detail its two principal representatives, Plato and Aristotle. Some attention may also be given to Presocratic, Hellenistic, and Roman philosophers. HUMAN, Fall semester.

202.MODERN PHILOSOPHY(1 course)
A continuation of PHI-201, covering British Empiricism and Continental Rationalism during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Philosophers examined usually include Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. HUMAN, Spring semester.

240.PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION(1 course)
A philosophical scrutiny of some of the central concepts and doctrines of the Judeo-Christian religious tradition, seeking understanding of the peculiar logic and function of religious discourse through readings and discussions of the thought of outstanding philosophers and theologians with respect to such topics as the existence of God, religion and myth, faith and reason, the problem of evil, and life after death. HUMAN, Spring semester, odd years.

243.THE ETHICS OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT(1 course)
Peoples of the third world outnumber those of the first world by a ratio of six to one. Some of the most urgent international moral questions are those concerning relationships between these groups. Moral issues in international development include the following: Do all people have "basic rights" to safe food, clean water, adequate health care, and a healthy environment? What are the responsibilities of first world consumers to third world producers? Can the rich help the poor without reproducing relations of dependence? This course focuses in particular on the roles of women in community development, and it counts toward fulfillment of the Women's Studies minor. NWEST, Spring semester, even years.

246.ETHICAL THEORY(1 course)
A detailed examination of selected topics of central importance to ethical theory, such as freedom, responsibility, rationality, good, bad, right, wrong, duty, obligation, virtue, and happiness. Fall semester.

247.APPLIED ETHICS(1 course)
A critical examination of some of the conceptual problems associated with contemporary moral issues such as abortion, reverse discrimination, euthanasia, capital punishment, homosexuality, and sexual equality. Contemporary moral arguments devolving around some of these issues will be surveyed and critically evaluated, and objections to them will be examined. HUMAN. Fall semester, even years.

248.FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY(1 course)
An exploration of central issues in historical and contemporary feminist philosophy. The focus of the course will vary, and may be drawn from social and political philosophy, ethics, or epistemology. It will generally consider such issues as: "woman" as a socially-constructed category; the nature of women's oppression; and the relations between gender, race, and class as they function as structures of domination. This course counts toward fulfillment of the Women's Studies minor. Spring semester, odd years.

251.PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE(1 course)
An examination of the concepts, methodology, and scope of science. Topics typically studied include the positivist model of scientific theories, the observational-theoretical distinction, the underdetermination of theory, reductionism, antireductionism, supervenience, the structure of scientific explanation, historicism and revolutionary science, social constructivism, the genderization of scientific knowledge and the realism-antirealism debate. HUMAN, Fall Semester, odd years.