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Philosophy | PHIL

Pictured | Karrie Jean | Mathematics / Philosophy | Member of Theta Phi Alpha, Honors Program, Pi Mu Epsilon National Honorary Mathematics Society | Awarded Philosophy Student Excellence Award (May 2015), Dean's List | South Bend, Indiana (hometown)


Philosophy | PHIL

P Prerequisite | C Co-requisite | R Recommended
I Fall Semester | II Spring Semester | S Summer Session/s


  • PHIL-P 100 Introduction to Philosophy (3 cr.) Perennial problems of philosophy, including problems in ethics, in epistemology and metaphysics, in philosophy of religion. Major emphases appear in the Schedule of Classes.
  • PHIL-P 101 Philosophy in the Public Sphere (3 cr.) An introduction to philosophy through discussion of one or more major topics of pressing public concern, such as the economy, religion, healthcare, etc.  At IU South Bend, has a special focus on critical thinking.
  • PHIL-P 102 Critical Thinking and Applied Ethics (3 cr.) This course is an introduction to ethics and is approved as meeting the IU South Bend campus-wide General Education Critical Thinking requirement.  This course integrates an introduction to ethics with instruction in basic techniques of critical thinking.
  • PHIL-P 105 Critical Thinking (3 cr.) We spend a good part of our waking hours thinking and/or critiquing the thoughts and beliefs of ourselves and others. This course is designed to help you develop a toolbox of techniques and skills that will help you become a skilled evaluator and creator of arguments.
  • PHIL-P 110 Introduction to Philosophy (3 cr.) An introduction to the methods and problems of philosophy and to important figures in the history of philosophy.  Concerns such topics as the nature of reality, the meaning of life, and the existence of God. Readings from classical and contemporary sources. e.g., Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche, and Sartre.
  • PHIL-P 135 Introduction to Existentialism (3 cr.) Philosophical themes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century existentialism. Topics may include free choice and human responsibility, the nature of values, the influence of phenomenology on existentialism, and existentialism as illustrated in literature. Readings from some or all of: Buber, Camus, Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Marcel, Nietzsche, Beauvoir, and Sartre. No prior knowledge of philosophy is presupposed.
  • PHIL-P 140 Introduction to 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 200 Problems of Philosophy (1-3 cr.) Selected writings of philosophers concerning important philosophical problems. May be repeated for credit under new subtitle.
  • PHIL-P 201 Ancient Greek Philosophy (3 cr.) Selective survey of ancient Greek philosophy (Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle).
  • PHIL-P 202 Medieval to Modern Philosphy (3 cr.) Selective survey of such philosophers as Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz.
  • PHIL-P 207 Information and Computer Ethics (3 cr.) P: CSCI-A 106 or equivalent. Examines the ethical implications of computer and information technology for society.
  • PHIL-P 214 Modern Philosophy (3 cr.) A study of Western philosophy from the rise of modern science through Enlightenment.  Covers such philosophers as Bacon, Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Leibniz, and Kant.
  • PHIL-P 250 Introductory Symbolic Logic (3 cr.) P: MATH-A 100 or ALEKS assessment score of 36 or higher. Propositional logic and first-order quantificational logic.
  • PHIL-P 283 Non-Western Philosophy (3 cr.) A study in contrasts between selected non-Western philosophies and classic Western philosophies in relation to environmental, social-political and psychological issues.
  • PHIL-P 303 The British Empiricists and Kant (3 cr.) Selective survey of the writings of some or all of the following: Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant.
  • PHIL-P 304 Nineteenth Century Philosophy (3 cr.) Selective survey of Post-Kantian philosophy. Readings from some or all of: Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Mill, and Nietzsche.
  • 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.
  • 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 312 Topics in Theory of Knowledge (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. 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, of knowledge and evidence, and the problem of skepticism.
  • PHIL-P 313 Theories of Knowledge (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Topics such as the nature of knowledge, the relation of knowledge and belief, knowledge and evidence, knowledge and certainty, the problem of skepticism.
  • PHIL-P 320 Philosophy of Language (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. A study of selected philosophical problems concerning language and their bearing on traditional problems in philosophy.
  • PHIL-P 325 Social Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Concentrated study of one or more topics in social philosophy - e.g. human rights, political violence, civil disobedience, and legal paternalism. May be repeated for credit.
  • PHIL-P 335 Phenomenology and Existentialism (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Selected readings from Buber, Camus, Heidegger, Husserl, Jaspers, Kierkegaard, Marcel, Nietzsche, Sartre, and others as announced in the Schedule of Classes.
  • PHIL-P 340 Classics in Ethics (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche. Topics include virtue and human nature, pleasure and the good, the role of reason in ethics, the objectivity of moral principles, and the relation of religion to ethics.
  • PHIL-P 341 Ethical Classics 2 (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Topics such as the role of reason in ethics, the role of the emotions in ethics, the objectivity of moral principles, the relation of religion to ethics. Readings include Spinoza, Hume, Butler, Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche.
  • PHIL-P 342 Problems of Ethics (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor.

    Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, and Marx.  Topics include the ideal state, the nature and proper ends of the state, natural law and natural right, the social contract theory, and the notion of community.

  • PHIL-P 343 Classics in Social and Political Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Readings from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, and Marx. Topics include the ideal state, the nature and proper ends of the state, natural law and natural right, the social contract theory, and the notion of community.
  • PHIL-P 344 Classics in Social and Political Philosophy 2 (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Topics such as those mentioned in P343, the social contract theory of the state, and the notion of community. Readings include 16th- to 19th-century sources Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, and Mill.
  • PHIL-P 345 Problems in Social and Political Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Problems of contemporary relevance: justice and economic distribution, participatory democracy, conscience and authority, law and morality.
  • PHIL-P 346 Classics in Philosophy of Art (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. 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 358 American Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. A study of the philosophical tradition in the United States, emphasizing major thinkers such as Peirce, Royce, James, Dewey, and Whitehead.
  • PHIL-P 360 Introduction to Philosophy of Mind (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. 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 366 Philosophy of Action (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. The nature of human and rational action; the structure of intentions and practical consciousness; the role of the self in action; volitions; the connections of desires, needs, and purposes to intentions and doings; causation and motivation; freedom; the structure of deliberation; rational actions and duties, whether moral or institutional.
  • PHIL-P 371 Philosophy of Religion (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Topics such as the nature of religion, of religious experience, the status of claims of religious knowledge, the nature and existence of God.
  • PHIL-P 374 Early Chinese Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Origins of Chinese philosophical traditions in the classical schools of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. Explores contrasting agendas of early Chinese and Western traditions.
  • PHIL-P 381 Religion and Human Experience (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. An attempt to understand 'religious experience' in the light of interpretations made possible by the insights of such disciplines as anthropology, psychology, sociology of knowledge and value theory.
  • PHIL-P 383 Topics in Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. Advanced treatment of a special topics. May be repeated for credit under new subtitle.
  • PHIL-P 393 Biomedical Ethics (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. 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.
  • PHIL-P 394 Feminist Philosophy (3 cr.) P: Three credit hours of philosophy or consent of instructor. A study of one or more philosophical topics in feminist thought. Examples: Feminist ethics; feminist critiques of science; and feminist perspectives on motherhood, sexuality, and reproductive technology.
  • PHIL-P 495 Senior Proseminar in Philosophy (1-4 cr.) For Philosophy majors in their senior year of study. The pro-seminar will concentrate on issue(s) and figure(s) selected by students with faculty involved. The emphasis will be on the preparation, presentation and formal discussion of papers. May be repeated for a maximum of 4 credit hours.
  • PHIL-T 190 Literary and Intellectual Traditions (3 cr.) Explores, in an interdisciplinary way, one of the great humanistic traditions of inquiry regarding one of the following themes: ideas of self, ideas of truth, ideas of beauty, ideas of community, ideas of nature, ideas of conflict. Writing-intensive, discussion-focused.
  • PHIL-T 390 Literary and Intellectual Traditions (3 cr.) Interdisciplinary exploration of a humanistic tradition of inquiry regarding one of the following themes:  ideas of self, truth, beauty, community, nature and conflict.  Course is writing intensive and discussion focused with attention paid to primary texts and research materials.

Academic Bulletins

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2017-2018 Campus Bulletin
2016-2017 Campus Bulletin
2015-2016 Campus Bulletin
2014-2015 Campus Bulletin

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