Degree Programs:

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy

History, Political Science, and Philosophy Courses Undergraduate
History
  • HIST-A 100 Issues in United States History (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Study and analysis of selected historical issues and problems of general import. Topics will vary from semester to semester but will usually be broad subjects that cut across fields, regions, and periods.
  • HIST-A 307 United States Cultural History (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Course considers cultural transformations in modern United States history, including such topics as gender, race, ethnicity, social reform, and popular culture. 
  • HIST-A 314 United States History (3 cr.) Political, demographic, economic, and intellectual transformations. 1919-1945: World War I, the Twenties, the Depression, New Deal.
  • HIST-A 315 United States Since World War Two (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Alternate years. Political, demographic, economic, and intellectual transformations. 1945-present: the cold war, problems of contemporary America.
  • HIST-A 333 History of Indiana I (3 cr.) I: The course deals with the development of a midwestern state, with emphasis on the French and British periods; the West in the American Revolution; the transition from territory to state; political, economic, and cultural patterns; and the sectional crisis.
  • HIST-A 334 History of Indiana II (3 cr.) The period since 1865, tracing the development of a modern industrial commonwealth—agriculture, industry, politics, society, education, and the arts.
  • HIST-A 346 The Crusades and Religious Violence in Medieval European History (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended This course will explore the history of the European crusading movement from the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries, examining the familiar expeditions to Palestine and also lesser known campaigns in Spain and northeastern Europe. This course examines how the Medieval Catholic Church battled heretics and political opponents, as well as the experiences of non-Crusaders including Jews, Muslims, and invaders from the Far East. 
  • HIST-A 363 Hoosier Nation: Indiana in American History (3 cr.) Indiana history and life, from early human interactions to our own time.  Emphasis on the relationship of distinctive regional traits and challenges to broader transformations in American and global culture.
  • HIST-A 375 Crime and Punishment in American History (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Alternate years. This course focuses on the history of crime and punishment in the 20th-century United States.
  • HIST-A 382 The Sixties (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Alternate years. This course focuses on the history of the United States during the 1960s and the political change and dissent; rights movements; United States foreign policy and the conflict in Vietnam; gender, exploitation, and legal change that occurred. It addresses a variety of topics, including; and the increasing diversity of expression in social values and cultural practices.
  • HIST-B 351 Barbarian Europe, ca. 200-1100 (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended This course will examine the collapse of Roman authority in the West, the rise of the Germanic monarchies; the growth of the Western Catholic Church, and the development of Germany, Greek (Byzantine) and Moslem empires. It will also examine the Viking invasions, the development of feudalism and manorialism. 
  • HIST-B 352 Western Europe in the High and Later Middle Ages (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended This course will examine the expansion of European culture and institutions during the High and Later Middle Ages (roughly 1000-1500). Topics covered include: chivalry and elite culture, the Crusades and religious violence, rise of towns and diversification of the European economy, the founding of universities and the changing nature of education, the development of architectural styles, social change and unrest, the revival of Roman Law and the development of common law, and the centralization of governments in a variety of forms. 
  • HIST-B 353 The Renaissance (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended This course examines the Italian Renaissance as a political and cultural phase in the history of Western Civilization. It examines its roots in antiquity and the Middle Ages; its characteristic expression in literature, art, learning, social transformation, manners, and customs. Finally, it explores the expansion of the Renaissance into France, Germany, and England.
  • HIST-B 361 Europe in the Twentieth Century I (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Economic, social, political, and military-diplomatic developments, 1900 to present. I: 1900-1930: origins, impact, and consequences of World War I; peacemaking; postwar problems; international communism and fascism; the Great Depression.
  • HIST-B 362 Europe in the Twentieth Century II (3 cr.) 1930-present: Depression politics; crisis of democracy; German national socialism; World War II; Cold War; postwar reconstruction and recovery.
  • HIST-C 388 Roman History (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended This course examines the history of the Roman Empire from its earliest days as a kingdom to the glory days of the Republic and early Empire, and the eventual fall of the Roman West. Finally, we will consider the Eastern continuation of the Roman state in the form of the Byzantine Empire.
  • HIST-D 410 Russian Revolutions and Soviet Regime (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Alternate years. Causes and development of Russian revolutions and civil war; Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin; purges, terror, economic development, society, and arts under Stalin; struggle against Hitler; scope and limits of de-Stalinization under Khrushchev; minorities; dissent, and life in the former Soviet Union today.
  • HIST-E 100 Introduction to African History (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Study and analysis of selected historical issues and problems of general import. Topics will vary from semester to semester but will usually be broad subjects that cut across fields, regions, and periods.
  • HIST-F 100 Issues in Latin America (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Study and analysis of selected historical issues and problems of general import. Topics will vary from semester to semester but will usually be broad subjects that cut across fields, regions, and periods.
  • HIST-G 100 Issues in Asian History (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Study and analysis of selected historical issues and problems of general import. Topics will vary from semester to semester but will usually be broad subjects that cut across fields, regions, and periods.
  • HIST-H 101 The World in the Twentieth Century I (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Principal world developments in the twentieth century, stressing Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe; global and regional problems; political revolutions; social and cultural diversity.
  • HIST-H 105 American History I (3 cr.) Every semester. I: colonial period, revolution, confederation and constitution, national period to 1865.
  • HIST-H 106 American History II (3 cr.) Every semester. 1865 to present. Evolution of American society: political, economic, social structure; racial and ethnic groups; sex roles; Indian, inter- American, and world diplomacy of United States; evolution of ideology, war, territorial expansion, industrialization, urbanization, international events and their impact on American history.
  • HIST-H 108 Perspectives on the World to 1800 (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Survey of major global developments to the 18th century; European voyages of discovery, colonization of western hemisphere, penetration of Mughal India, Ming China, and sub-Saharan Africa. Role of revolutions, i.e. Scientific, industrial, social and political (American and French) in establishment of European hegemony in western hemisphere and Asia.
  • HIST-H 109 Title (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Survey of major global developments from the 19th century to the present: European imperial rule in India, China, Japan, Middle-East, and Africa. Chinese revolution (1912), Mexican revolutions (1911), World War I and II, end of European hegemony. Emergence of new nations in Asia, Africa, and Middle-East. Global inter-dependence as basic theme of 20th century.
  • HIST-H 113 History of Western Civilization I (3 cr.) Every semester. I: Rise and fall of ancient civilizations; barbarian invasions; rise, flowering, and disruption of medieval church; feudalism; and national monarchies.
  • HIST-H 114 History of Western Civilization II (3 cr.) Every semester. Rise of middle class; parliamentary institutions, liberalism, political democracy; industrial revolution, capitalism, and socialist movements; nationalism, imperialism, international rivalries, and world wars.
  • HIST-H 207 Modern East Asian Civilizations (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Contrasting patterns of indigenous change and response to Western imperialism in East Asia during the 19th and 20th centuries. China and Japan receive primary consideration; Korea and Vietnam, secondary. Emphasis on the rise of nationalism and other movements directed toward revolutionary change.
  • HIST-H 216 The Wild West and American Identity (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. This course examines conceptions of the "American West" and the complicated ways it informed the creation of a persistent American identity. From the Log Cabin political campaigns of the antebellum nineteenth century to modern simulations of the past like Disney's Frontierland, the iconography of western expansion and its tentative connection to democratic individualism has enthralled and perplexed artists, writers, filmmakers, and historians for generations. Using historical monographs and popular culture artifacts like paintings, comics, films, short stories, and songs, we will interrogate and deconstruct "the American West" with an eye towards larger themes of place/process, environmental concern, multi-ethnic inclusion/exclusions, and United States governmental and capitalist development. By the end of the course the students will be tasked to use the conventions of "the western," apply them a historical event or individual, and create their own "western" narratives through the use of fumetti, or photographic comic-strips.
  • HIST-H 232 The World in the Twentieth Century (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Shaping of the contemporary world, with an emphasis on the reaction of non-Western peoples to Western imperialism. 
  • HIST-H 405 Global History of Modern Sport (3 cr.) Alternate Years. Origins and development of sport in the modern world. From British public schools and ideals of fair play, through the Olympic movement, international soccer, holliganism and fandom, sport's role in identity creation and nationalism, and mass culture.
  • HIST-H 421 Topics: Asia, Africa, Latin America (3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Intensive study and analysis of selected historical issues and/or problems in African, Asian, or Latin American history. Topics will vary from semester to semester.
  • HIST-H 425 Topics in History (1-3 cr.) P: advanced writing skills recommended. Intensive study and analysis of selected historical issues and problems of limited scope. Topics will vary; but will ordinarily cut across fields, regions, and periods. May be repeated once for credit.
  • HIST-H 495 Individual Readings in History (arr. cr.) Every semester (undergraduate). P: consent of instructor.
  • HIST-H 496 Internship in History (arr. cr.) Every semester (undergraduate). P: consent of instructor.
  • HIST-J 216 Sophomore History Seminar (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. The Sophomore Seminar in History introduces students to the basic methodological skills necessary for historical research and provides them with an overview of major historiographical fields in the discipline. Students apply this knowledge by engaging in their own original research project that culminates in a paper and presentation.
  • HIST-J 495 Senior Seminar for History Majors (3 cr.) P: Permission of instructor required. Alternate years, Spring Semester. Senior Seminar for History/Political Science majors.
  • HIST-J 496 Preseminar in History, Capstone (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course.
Graduate History Courses
  • HIST-T 590 Research Seminar in History (3 cr.) This course serves an intensive historical research and writing seminar that seeks to provide graduate students with the structure and support develop a substantial piece of scholarship. Students will also develop and practice other scholarly skills such oral and written presentations and offering effective and collegial critiques of scholarship.
  • HIST-T 510 Historical Methodology (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. This course covers an intensive, multi-media investigation of what artifacts comprise history and how historians now devise various methods of inquiry driven by incisive research questions to explain and interconnect those artifacts. This course will look at surveys of current research methods and problems, especially in U.S. history, to illuminate the development of history as a rigorous discipline of inquiry.
  • HIST-T 520 Teaching College History (3 cr.) On' This course prepares high-school teachers to teach college-level history. It contains three aspects: What to teach, how to teach, and how to assess both teaching and learning. The course will contain three aspects: content knowledge of history, the concept and skills of historical thinking, and development of an assessment plan.
  • HIST-T 560 US and the World - Comparative History (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. History T560 considers themes from the American past connecting it to the wider world. If slavery, for example, is a principal element of our history, how does it compare with the history of other regions? To understand such topics, this course will examine studies in comparative and transnational history.
  • HIST-T 590 Historical Seminar (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. This course serves an intensive historical research and writing seminar that seeks to provide graduate students with the structure and support develop a substantial piece of scholarship. Students will also develop and practice other scholarly skills such oral and written presentations and offering effective and collegial critiques of scholarship.
Philosophy
  • PHIL-P 100 Introduction to Philosophy (3 cr.) Perennial problems of philosophy, including problems in ethics in epistemology and metaphysics, and in philosophy of religion. Major emphases appear in the Schedule of Classes.
  • PHIL-P 105 Critical Thinking (3 cr.) Development of critical tools for the evaluations of arguments through informal logic, with special attention to logical fallacies and the distinction between inductive and deductive arguments.
  • PHIL-P 140 Elementary Ethics (3 cr.) Philosophers' answers to ethical problems (e.g., the nature of good and evil, the relation of duty to self-interest, the objectivity of moral judgments), and the applications of ethical theory to contemporary problems.
  • PHIL-P 150 Elementary Logic (3 cr.) Development of critical tools for the evaluation of arguments through formal logic. A focus on translation from and from English into sentence and predicate logic, and derivations.
  • PHIL-P 201 Ancient Greek Philosophy (3 cr.) Selective survey of ancient Greek philosophy (pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle). 
  • PHIL-P 211 Modern Philosophy: Descartes through Kant (3 cr.) Selective survey of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy, including some or all of the following: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant.
  • PHIL-P 310 Topics in Metaphysics (3 cr.) Topics such as existence, individuation, contingency, universals and particulars, causality, determinism, space, time, events and change, relation of mental and physical.
  • PHIL-P 306 Business Ethics (3 cr.) A philosophical examination of ethical issues which arise in the context of business.  Moral theory will be applied to such problems as the ethical evaluation of corporations, what constitutes fair profit, and truth in advertising.l
  • PHIL-P 312 Topics in the Theory of Knowledge (3 cr.) Topics such as various theories of perceptual realism, sense-datum theories, theories of appearing, phenomenalism, the nature of knowledge, the relation between knowledge and belief, relation between knowledge and evidence, and the problem of skepticism.
  • PHIL-P 342 Problems in Ethics (3 cr.) May concentrate on a single large problem (e.g., whether utilitarianism is an adequate ethical theory), or several more or less independent problems (e.g., the nature of goodness, the relation of good to ought, the objectivity of moral judgments).
  • PHIL-P 345 Problems in Social and Political Philosophy (3 cr.) Problems of contemporary relevance: civil disobedience, participatory democracy, conscience and authority, law and morality.
  • PHIL-P 346 Classics in Philosophy of Art (3 cr.) P: 3 cr. of Philosophy. Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Nietzsche and Dewey. Topics include the definition of art, the nature of beauty, and art and society.
  • PHIL-P 347 Contemporary Controversies in Philosophy of Art (3 cr.) Topics include the intersection of art, art criticism, philosophy, modernism and post-modernism, and the relation of aesthetic and cognitive judgment.
  • PHIL-P 360 Introduction to Philosophy of Mind (3 cr.) Selected topics from among the following: the nature of mental phenomena (e.g., thinking, volition, perception, emotion); the mind-body problem (e.g., dualism, behaviorism, functionalism); connections to cognitive science issues in psychology, linguistics, and artificial intelligence; computational theories of mind.
  • PHIL-P 371 Philosophy of Religion (3 cr.) Topics include the nature of religion, religious experience, the status of claims of religious knowledge, the nature and existence of God.
  • PHIL-P 375 Philosophy of Law (3 cr.) Selective survey of philosophical problems concerning law and the legal system. Topics include nature and validity of law, morality and law, legal obligation, judicial decision, rights, justice, responsibility, and punishment.
  • PHIL-P 383 Topics in Philosophy (3 cr.) A variable topic course focusing on a specific area or figure of philosophy. 
  • PHIL-P 393 Biomedical Ethics (3 cr.) A philosophical consideration of ethical problems that arise in current biomedical practice, e.g., with regard to abortion, euthanasia, determination of death, consent to treatment, and professional responsibilities in connection with research, experimentation, and health care delivery.
Political Science
  • POLS-Y 103 Introduction to American Politics (3 cr.) Every semester. Introduction to the nature of government and the dynamics of American politics. Origin and nature of the American federal system and its political party base.
  • POLS-Y 215 Introduction to Political Theory (3 cr.) Every three semesters. An introduction to major ideas and theories in Western political thought, including theories of democracy and the analysis of conflict and cooperation. The course also addresses the attempts made by prominent political philosophers – from Aristotle and Plato to Locke, Marx, and Rawls – to understand and describe the nature of politics.
  • POLS-Y 217 Introduction to Comparative Politics (3 cr.) Every three semesters. A course that introduces students to the major political systems of the world. Students will study systems within Western and non-Western countries. Comparisons will include executive and legislative structures, elections, political parties, interest groups and key areas of public policy. Not open to students who have completed POLS-Y 107.
  • POLS-Y 219 Introduction to International Relations (3 cr.) An introduction to the global political system, and issues that shape relations among countries. The course looks at problems of conflict resolution, the role of international law and organizations, the challenges of poverty and development, and the other major policy issues over which nations cooperate, argue, or go to war. Not open to students who have completed POLS-Y 109.
  • POLS-Y 301 Political Parties and Interest Groups (3 cr.) Theories of American party activity; behavior of political parties, interest groups, and social movements; membership in groups; organization and structure; evaluation and relationship to the process of representation.
  • POLS-Y 304 Constitutional Law (3 cr.) Nature and function of law and judicial process; selected Supreme Court decisions interpreting the American constitutional system.
  • POLS-Y 311 Democracy and National Security (3 cr.) Exploration of a basic dilemma in a democratic polity: How can demands for national security be reconciled with democratic practices and values? Concepts of civil-military relations, national security structure, professional and political commitments of the military, human resource utilization, popular control of policy, and the nature of individual liberty.
  • POLS-Y 338 African Politics (3 cr.) Politics in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Topics include processes of nation building, dependency and underdevelopment; role of political parties, leadership, ideology, and military rule; continuing relevance of colonial heritage and traditional culture; network of international relations; and special situation of South Africa.
  • POLS-Y 360 United States Foreign Policy (3 cr.) Analysis of institutions and processes involved in the formation and implementation of United States foreign policy. Emphasis is on post-World War II policies.
  • POLS-Y 480 Undergraduate Readings in Political Science (arr cr.) Every semester. Individual readings and research. May be taken only with consent of the instructor.
  • POLS-Y 481 Field Experience in Political Science (arr cr.) P: junior or senior standing and approval of instructor. Faculty-directed study of aspects of the political process through internship experience in local, state, or national government.
  • POLS-Y 490 Senior Seminar in Political Science (3 cr.) P: Permission of instructor required. Alternate years, Spring Semester. Senior Seminar for History/Political Science majors. 
Graduate Political Science Courses
  • POLS-P 570 Introduction to the Study of Politics (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. This course is an introductory overview of the discipline of political science and its place in the social sciences.  It covers the major subfields of Political Science and the central questions that each subfield addresses.
  • POLS-Y 567 Public Opinion: Approaches and Issues (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. This course is an exploration of the role, application, and measurement of public opinion. Special attention is given to measurement of opinion as it impacts decision-making by both the public and various elements of societal leadership.
  • POLS-Y 580 Research Methods in Political Science (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Foundations of political research; alternative research strategies; problems of measuring political variables; design of research to test hypotheses.
  • POLS-Y 657 Comparative Politics (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. (The focus may be on one or more political systems within regions indicated.) Illustrative topics: political elites and social stratification, comparative administration and public policy, cross-national analysis, West Europe, East Europe, comparative Communist systems, Russia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, East Asia, comparative development strategies.
  • POLS-Y 661 American Politics (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Illustrative topics: the Presidency, legislative process, political behavior, political parties and representation, political socialization, comparative state politics, urban politics, interest group politics.
  • POLS-Y 675 Political Philosophy (3 cr.) Online Collaborative Course. Illustrative topics: analysis of political concepts; political theory of the Enlightenment; 19th century political thought; welfare state; theory and practice; Marxist theory.
Religion
  • REL-R 152 Introduction to Religions of the West (3 cr.) Origins, development, institutions, beliefs, and current status.
  • REL-R 153 Introduction to Religions of the East (3 cr.) Human ideas and value systems in the religions of India, China, and Japan.
  • REL-R 212 Comparative Religions (3 cr.) Approaches to the comparison of recurrent themes, religious attitudes, and practices found in selected Eastern and Western traditions.
  • REL-R 233 Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) (3 cr.) A critical examination of the literary, political, cultural, and religious history of Israel from the period of the Patriarchs to the Restoration, with emphasis on the growth and formation of the major traditions contained in the Hebrew Bible.
  • REL-R 243 Introduction to the New Testament (3 cr.) An examination of the history, culture, and literature of the New Testament period, with special emphasis on the emergence of early Christian beliefs.

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