Hope College | Philosophy

PHIL 195-01B – Philosophy of Race
MWF 3:00-3:50
MILLER 237
Prof. Mulder

(meets last half of the semester)

This course helps to fulfill the Global Learning (formerly Cultural Diversity) requirement in the General Education curriculum.

What is “race”? Biologically speaking, there isn’t much to say on this front. But race is a reality of our lives that shapes the way we think about the world and that often contributes deeply to our sense of identity. So what is race really? We will consider several theories about what race is and also ask whether the concept is worth keeping. Some philosophers of race contend that we must eliminate the very concept of race and race-thinking, while others argue that the concept is coherent and should be conserved. We will also examine some theories about what racism is and how it functions. The readings will focus somewhat more on black and African-American philosophy, but we may also consider issues of race and identity from the lenses of Latin American writers, writers of mixed race, feminist writers, and white writers. Writers to be discussed may include Frantz Fanon, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul C. Taylor, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Jorge L. A. Garcia, Naomi Zack, Linda Martín Alcoff, Charles Mills, bell hooks, Alison Bailey, and Robert Bernasconi.

Bertrand Russell, a very famous philosopher, once wrote that, “The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as to seem not worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.” In my view Russell is wrong about that. People already believe things that are crazy enough, and one of the points of philosophy is to expose the reasoning of people who have arrived at erroneous (and sometimes dangerous) conclusions. Another point of philosophy is to help us develop sane views of the world so that we and others can live good lives. Of course, sometimes the world just is strange, and that’s why philosophy can be, too. Logic is the skeleton of philosophy. If you don’t think you’re a philosopher, I beg to differ. Everyone has philosophical views; the only question is whether they’re rationally held views or whether they represent areas where one has not yet weeded out superstition and prejudice.

Most of us have a sense of what logic is. We sometimes say things like, “it’s only logical,” or, “it’s a matter of logic.” Too often these remarks should probably be punctuated with exclamation points, since frequently they are used in heated debates concerning issues about which people feel passionately. Well, in logic, we care much less about what your view is and much more about how you arrived at it. The fact is that everyone has probably gone wrong somewhere, but truth is good, and more is better. In this class, we are concerned to rigorously evaluate the arguments people employ to arrive at their conclusions. An argument just is, in the technical sense, reasoning used to arrive at or convince someone of a conclusion. Some arguments are better than others. In this course, we hope to learn what makes a bad argument, and how to make a good one.

We will finish the course with logical analyses of some famous arguments in philosophy. Although logic can and is applied everywhere you find rational thought in the world, it is particularly important for philosophers, whose business it is to evaluate claims to knowledge made on the basis of arguments.

PHIL 230 – Ancient Philosophy
TR 1:30-2:50
LUB 220
Prof. Bassett

This course is an introduction to Western philosophy from its beginning in ancient Greece to Europe during the Middle Ages. Philosophy is the “love of wisdom” or the quest for meaning. Philosophy addresses what might be called the “big questions” of human existence: Who am I and what is real? What is the source of my existence and the existence of the world? What is my purpose and how ought I live in order to achieve it? How can we achieve happiness as individuals and as a society? What is happiness and what is a just society? What is the best way to answer these questions in order to acquire knowledge? Can we acquire knowledge? What is knowledge? In this course we will look at the ways in which the greatest thinkers in our early cultural history -- Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Epicurus, Plotinus, Augustine and Aquinas -- have attempted to answer these questions and to frame a meaningful view of human existence and the world we inhabit.

One of the central characteristics of the modern age in the West has been the rise of science and technology. Developments in science and technology have transformed the material conditions of life and increased the opportunities and possibilities for many. Today science and technology play hugely influential roles in contemporary society and world affairs.

In this course, we will explore such questions as: How did modern science begin? What is distinctive about modern scientific knowledge, and how might its approaches to the natural world and human reason contribute to its extraordinary success? How do the efforts of science and technology influence our understanding of ourselves as humans and our possible relations to God?

Yet even as the successes of science and technology continue to amaze us and shape our ways of living, ethical questions about the work of science begin to arise. For example, science and technology give us considerable power over the natural world, but how are we going to use that power (e.g., nuclear energy and genetic engineering)? How might we begin to figure out “good” and “not-so-good” uses of that power? Science and technology may help us realize lives of greater convenience and comfort (e.g., an expanding number of “gadgets”), but do science and technology help us to achieve lives that are genuinely “better” and “happier”? Science and technology provide us with opportunities that previous generations did not have, but are we truly “freer” in any meaningful way? While science and technology continue to give us incredible insights into the workings of human beings and our world (e.g., evolutionary theory and the neurosciences), at the same time more questions emerge about our human “place” and “purpose” in the world and about the existence of God.

PHIL 341 – Ancient & Medieval Political Thought
T 6:30-9:20
LUB 220
Prof. Polet

We will examine such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther on such issues as: human nature, the good life, the role of government, the relation between the individual and the government, the meaning of freedom, and the need for social order. We will also investigate how modern political thought differs from ancient and medieval views.

This course is about science, but it is not a science course, nor does it presuppose that you have taken any science. (If you have, you will be able to apply your knowledge, though.) We will be looking at characteristic scientific discoveries throughout history and then trying to come to understand what science is and does. These are philosophical questions, not scientific ones. Scientists do science. Philosophers reflect on what scientists are doing and what significance it has. For example, many people argue that scientific knowledge is a “social construction,” which means (for some people) that it is decided more or less by vote; on this view, scientists don't really discover truths about the world. They invent the truth. Along these lines, some people say science is not a rational activity. Others reply that no, science is a rational activity that discovers truths about the world. We will look at different perspectives on this debate and see what truth we can find in each. A related question concerns observation: is it possible to be a neutral observer, or do our beliefs inevitably bias our observations?

Aside from these general issues about methodology, which are applicable to all science, we will address issues pertaining to particular disciplines, particularly biology. We will read from Darwin’s Origin of Species. We will ask: What is a biological species? (This is not obvious, especially if you accept evolution.) How well founded is the theory of evolution? And to what extent can human behavior (e.g., human altruism) be explained by evolution? The last of these questions moves us into the cognitive sciences, which we will examine in various ways: one question that will concern us is, Do the neurosciences give us reason to rethink whether there is human freedom?

Further, we will look at pronouncements, in the name of science or in the name of one or another field of science, about nonscientific issues. And we will look at philosophical questions that scientists’ discoveries have prompted. Thus, (1) some physicists, cosmologists, and philosophers have asked whether, so to speak, God had a choice in creating the universe as it is. (2) Many scientists, some of them famous, have recently been weighing in on a debate over whether scientific work undermines or supports theism or Christianity. There is now an industry of book production on this topic. We will be examining issues (1) and (2). With respect to (2), we will be taking a look at some interesting reflections on cosmology (fine-tuning), biology (evolution) and the social sciences.

In general, then, the course will interest people who are interested in science for a variety of reasons. It will interest folks who wonder about the impact of science on their most deep-seated beliefs. It will interest folks who do science but want to be more reflective about what exactly they are doing when they do science. It will interest many other people who are curious about the impressive body of knowledge we call “science.”

Postmodernism has been characterized more as a “mood” than a set body of doctrine, a “constellation” of concerns united by a critical reaction towards the central tenets of Enlightenment rationalism. Postmodern philosophy attempts to re-think modern conceptions of the self, knowledge, language, morality, reality, and power. In this course, we will begin by considering the “roots” of postmodern philosophy in the work of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, then go to explore the work of such late 20th century thinkers as Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, Baudrillard and Rorty. We will also examine various feminist challenges of Enlightenment rationality and how these challenges relate to postmodern concerns. The ethical and religious implications of postmodern philosophy will be one underlying theme of the course.

PHIL 450 – Philosophy of Affection & Desire
MWF 2:00-2:50
LUBBERS 222
Prof. Simon

“Caring about something is essential to our being creatures of the kind that human beings are.” So says philosopher Harry Frankfurt. Caring about something or someone encompasses a wide variety of emotions and attitudes: wanting to possess or enjoy it, her or him; wanting the object of our care to thrive and endure; delighting in contact with it or him or her; having our thoughts recur repeated to it or him or her, etc. There are also multiple evaluative questions connected with affection and desire. When should we act on a desire and when should be try to rid ourselves of it? What is worth wanting? How do we discern whether the strength of our desires is in according with the value of their objects? Can love and desire pull in opposite directions? How do we come to be people who love wisely and well? This seminar course examine these questions by looking at the general topic of what Frankfurt calls “reasons for love” and by looking at such specific topics as friendship, affection, romantic love, sexual desire, and intellectual appetite.

PHIL 490 -- INDEPENDENT STUDIES
TBD
2 to 4 credits
Prof. Dell'Olio

(written permission of professor required)

Prerequisite: Departmental approval of a student proposed project prior to enrollment in the course. Such a project might be an internship; but in any case it would include a significant piece of philosophic writing. A student intending to enroll in PHIL 490 should plan ahead to study with the professor whose expertise and interests most clearly correspond to the student’s interests and intentions.

SPRING 2012 Courses

PHIL 195-01A -- LIBERAL DEMOCRACY & ISLAM
TR 12:00-1:20
2 credits
Prof. Allis
MILLER 158

(Note: Meets first half of the semester)
(This course is cross-listed with POL 195.)

PHIL 195-01B -- LIBERAL DEMOCRACY & ISLAM
TR 12:00-1:20
2 credits
Prof. Allis
MILLER 158

(Note: Meets last half of the semester)
(This course is cross-listed with POL 195.)

Against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, questions have arisen as to whether the values of Western liberal democracy are compatible with the values of Islam. In this introductory course, we will explore the central values of freedom, equality, justice, and toleration as understood and practiced (or not practiced) in liberal democracy, and how these relate to the “Five Pillars” of Islam. We will investigate the differing conceptions of the relation between politics and religion, and ask what might be involved in “citizenship.” We will look at the Qur’an [Koran] and the Koranic conception of law as holy law (shari’a), and how this compares with a more secular understanding of law in the West. We will consider the Western doctrine of “just war” and compare it with the Islamic doctrine of “jihad,” and examine the charge that Islam in some instances seems to promote terror and violence. We’ll talk about the status of women, and the practice of “honor killings.” Throughout the course, we will be asking whether there is an inevitable “class of civilizations’ between Western liberal democracy and Islam, or whether these two civilizations can find some ways to co-exist.

PHIL 200-01A -- INFORMAL LOGIC
TR 3:30-4:50
2 credits
Prof. Bassett
LUB 120

(Note: Meets first half of the semester)

PHIL 200-01B -- INFORMAL LOGIC
TR 3:30-4:50
2 credits
Prof. Bassett
LUB 120

(Note: Meets last half of the semester)

An introduction to and examination of some of the basic forms of reasoning and argument we use in everyday life, and then an exploration of applications of these kinds of reasoning to current events and philosophical arguments.

PHIL 230-01 -- ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
TR 1:30-2:50
4 credits
Prof. Bassett
AWFCTR 250

Western philosophy from its beginning to the Middle Ages, including such figures as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and St. Augustine, through a study of primary texts.

PHIL 232-01-- MODERN PHILOSOPHY: Ethics and the Rise of Modern Science
MWF 12:00-12:50
4 credits
Prof. Allis
CHP B 11

(Note: This course counts toward fulfillment of Cultural Heritage requirements.)

One of the central characteristics of the modern age in the West has been the rise of science and technology. Developments in science and technology have transformed the material conditions of life and increased the opportunities and possibilities for many. Today science and technology play hugely influential roles in contemporary society and world affairs.

PHIL 295-01-- WHAT OR WHO IS HUMAN?
TR 1:30-2:50
4 credits
Prof. Pitstick
VNZORN 298

(Note: This course is cross-listed with REL 260-04.)

Who or what is human? Are humans just another kind of animal? Can one be a human being without being a human person? And what are humans for anyway? This class investigates these and similar questions through reflective observation and through the careful consideration of answers proposed by a variety of religious, philosophical, scientific, and artistic thinkers from ancient to contemporary times. In conversation with course materials, students will articulate how they themselves would answer the question. Assignments will include primary texts from such as authors as Heraclitus, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Hume, Darwin, Marx, Fabre, Sartre, Portmann, Pieper, John Paul II, Singer and others.

PHIL 295-02 -- WORLD PHILOSOPHIES
TR 9:30-10:50
4 credits
Prof. Dell'Olio
LUB 120

This course is an introduction to philosophy in a global context. We will consider the classical philosophical traditions of Greece and Rome, India, China, and Japan. We will be mostly concerned with the great texts of these philosophical traditions and what they have to say about humanity’s perennial questions: What is real? Who am I? What can I know? How should I live? What is the nature of the Divine? What is enlightenment and how can I achieve it? We will attempt to understand the answers offered to these questions by the great minds and texts of these traditions with some attention to each tradition’s cultural and historical context. We will also compare and contrast the answers provided by each tradition with an eye to what each one has to offer us today for our own quest for wisdom.

Satisfies Cultural Heritage I and Cultural Diversity requirements.

PHIL 325-01-- PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
TR 1:30-2:50
4 credits
Prof. Perovich
LUB 222

The nature of the human mind has long been a focus of philosophical, scientific, and popular interest: nothing is more central to our understanding of who we are than our understanding of the mind, and nothing is more central to the philosophical thought of recent years than the philosophy of mind. This course introduces the fundamental philosophical issues currently associated with the mind. It does so partly through introductory level material and partly through the reading of important articles by the leading philosophers in the area. We will treat such central topics in the philosophy of mind as the relation of mind to body, whether the mind can be understood in purely physical terms, the nature of consciousness, and whether computers provide us with the proper model for understanding the mind. We will also address the related question of free will. Class discussion of these issues will be encouraged: any lecturing will serve mainly to guarantee a shared understanding of the readings and to set the stage for conversation about them. Students will be asked to evaluate the wide variety of different views in this area and will be given the opportunity to respond to what they study by working toward their own understanding of what the mind is.

PHIL 370-01-- METAPHYSICS
TR 3:00-4:20
4 credits
Prof. LaPorte
MILLER 238

We will examine foundational philosophical issues Aristotle called “metaphysics.” The best way to get an idea what the field is about is to do some. But let me try to give an idea here. Metaphysics examines foundational philosophical issues about what sorts of things are in the world. We will have a special focus on whether we somehow form the way the world is by articulating the world with our language and conception of it, or whether the world comes pre-articulated and all we do is match our words and concepts to it.

We will take a close look at forms of necessity or apparent necessity, like physical necessity (you are on the ground because or apparently because in some sense it is necessary for you to be there -- you could not hover a foot up for a full minute if you chose) or the necessity that squares are not round. Another form of necessity has to do with essence: what a thing needs to be in order to be itself, so to speak. For example, if the world had gone differently, you could have become a waiter rather than a student. So it isn’t necessary that you are a student. But had the world gone differently, could you could have been a non-human animal? A cotton Q-tip? If you were to die and God wanted to bring you back, and not merely someone similar to you, God might ask: What would a newly fashioned thing at the Resurrection have to do to qualify as being that person I’ve created? If there is anything a thing would have to be like to be you, instead of something else merely similar to you, then you are necessarily a certain way rather than other ways because if something weren’t that way it would have to be something else instead of you. The way something would have to be in order to be you is important to what makes you you and what gives you dignity. It also has practical implications. Think of marriage or law. A judge might order the punishment of a defendant before her but is the defendant in the courtroom the same person as the one who committed a crime twenty years earlier? You might say it is the same person because it is the same body but this is complicated, since none of the atoms making up the defendant’s body are the same as those in the body of the criminal when the criminal broke the law (our bodies replace material slowly).

Topics closely related to necessity, which we will or might also discuss, include not only personal identity over time, which I’ve just mentioned, but also mind and universals. About mind, we will be asking at bottom: are thoughts purely physical? Is a pain you feel just an electrochemical phenomenon in your nervous system? Universals are properties like redness, as opposed to particular things like fire engines. Relevant questions would be whether universals exist and in what sense.

PHIL 490 -- INDEPENDENT STUDIES
TBD
2 to 4 credits
Prof. Dell'Olio
TBD

(written permission of professor required)

Prerequisite: Departmental approval of a student proposed project prior to enrollment in the course. Such a project might be an internship; but in any case it would include a significant piece of philosophic writing. A student intending to enroll in PHIL 490 should plan ahead to study with the professor whose expertise and interests most clearly correspond to the student’s interests and intentions.

Spring 2012

(1) PHIL 200 - Informal Logic or PHIL 201 - Logic
(2) At least one List II course
(3) At least one List III course
(4) At least one List IV course
(5) At least one additional course
(6) PHIL 450. Seminar in Philosophy.

Total of at least 24 credits in Philosophy (which can include 2 credit courses).

(1) PHIL 200 - Informal Logic or COMM 160 or PHIL 201 - Logic
(2) At least two of the following:
(a) A List II course
(b) A List III course
(c) A List IV course
(3) At least one additional course
Total of at least 16 credits in Philosophy (which can include 2 credit courses).

COURSE CATEGORY LIST

List II - Knowledge & Belief

PHIL 320 - Knowledge & Belief
PHIL 325 - Philosophy of Mind
PHIL 331 - Philosophy of Religion
PHIL 343 - 20th Century Political Thought
PHIL 360 - Philosophy of Science
PHIL 370 - Metaphysics

PHIL 241 - Phil of India & Tibet
PHIL 242 - Phil of China & Japan
PHIL 245 - Applied Ethics
PHIL 345 - Ethics
PHIL 373 - Aesthetics
PHIL 375 - Philosophy of Law
PHIL 380 - Existentialism
PHIL 385 - Postmodernism

List IV - History of Philosophy

PHIL 230 - Ancient Philosophy
PHIL 232 - Modern Philosophy
PHIL 341 - Ancient & Medieval Political Thought
PHIL 342 - Modern Political Thought
PHIL 395 - Philosophical Greats

Note: Only one (1) cross-listed course (4 credits) offered by another department may count towards the major and minor.

SPRING 2011 Course Descriptions

PHIL 200 Informal Logic (first and second half of semester)
2 credits
Prof. Mulder

This half-semester course will satisfy the department logic requirement for majors and minors. It also may be of some use to those who plan to take standardized tests such as the LSAT. We will look at some basic ideas in informal logic, with an eye to how those principles are applied in our everyday language. We will consider what it means to say of an argument that it is valid, or sound, or fallacious. Toward the end of the course, we will also consider some philosophical quandaries that have persisted throughout much of our history and consider how logic might aid us in solving them. These may include arguments for and against free will and determinism, arguments for and against ethical relativism and/or ethical egoism, and others. We will also learn some very basic steps in propositional logic and how to apply them to our real-world reasoning.

PHIL 230 Ancient Philosophy
4 credits
Prof. Mulder

In this course we will examine ancient western philosophy, beginning with the Greeks. Plato, a pupil of Socrates, wrote dialogues in which Socrates often appears as the main character. They are conversations like the ones that we have, but they are based on a certain question, like “what is justice?” We will read a number of Plato’s dialogues, and then consider Plato’s own student, Aristotle. Not only were these two figures enormously influential for the Greek and Roman thinkers that followed them, among them, the Stoics (of whom we will read Epictetus), but their influence extends to two towering figures in the history of theology as well as philosophy, namely St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. We will finish the course by considering the philosophical contributions made by these last two figures.

In this class, we’ll cover the ancient period of western philosophy (and some of the medieval period). We’ll ask questions like:
• Do God’s commands make something right?
• What kind of life is worth living?
• If you were imprisoned unjustly would you choose to escape?
• Can anyone be taught how to be a good person?
• Is the soul immortal? Do we even have a soul?
• What is justice?
• Do human beings really care about being good or do they just want to look good?
• Can censorship be justified?
• What is happiness?
• Is there a God? If so, what is God like?
• What is Ultimate Happiness?

We’ll even ask:
Does Philosophy help us understand how medieval thinkers could believe that the Eucharist was really Christ’s body?

PHIL 232 Modern Philosophy:
Ethics and the Rise of Modern Science
4 credits
Prof. Allis

One of the central aspects of the modern age in the West has been the rise of science and technology. Developments in science and technology have transformed the material conditions of life and increased the opportunities and possibilities for many, and today science and technology play hugely influential roles in contemporary society and world affairs.

How did modern science begin? What was distinctive about modern scientific knowledge, and how might some of its ideas about the natural world, human reason, and truth contribute to its extraordinary success? In its striving for knowledge of the world, how do the efforts of science and technology influence our understanding of ourselves as human and our possible relations to God?

Yet even as the successes of the pursuit of scientific knowledge continue to amaze us and influence our ways of living, ethical questions about the work of science begin to emerge. Science and technology give us considerable power over the natural world: how will we use that power (e.g., nuclear power and genetic engineering)? How might we begin to figure out “good” and “not-so-good” uses of that power? Science and technology may help us realize lives of greater convenience and comfort (e.g., an expanding number of “gadgets”), but do they help us achieve lives that are genuinely “better”? Science and technology provide us with material opportunities that previous generations did not have (e.g., improved medical care and greater life expectancies), but are we “freer” in any meaningful way? As science continues to give us insights into the workings of the world, questions about our “place” in the world continue to press in upon us (e.g., evolutionary theory and the role of God).

PHIL 242 Philosophies of China and Japan
4 credits
Prof. Dell'Olio

This course is an introduction to the philosophical traditions of China and Japan. While these philosophies continue to influence the worldview of contemporary East Asia, we will be mostly concerned with the classical thought of these traditions. The philosophies to be considered include Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, Shinto and Zen Buddhism. Throughout the course, we will consider comparisons to western philosophical and religious thought where appropriate.

The nature of the human mind has long been a focus of philosophical, scientific, and popular interest: nothing is more central to our understanding of who we are than our understanding of the mind, and nothing is more central to the philosophical thought of recent years than the philosophy of mind. This course introduces the fundamental philosophical issues currently associated with the mind. It does so partly through introductory level material and partly through the reading of important articles by the leading philosophers in the area. We will deal with many of the standard topics on which philosophy of mind tends to focus, such as the relation of mind to body, questions about whether the mind can be understood in purely physical terms and whether consciousness poses any special problems for such an understanding, and whether computers provide us with the proper model for understanding the mind. We will also address the related question of free will. Students will be asked to evaluate the wide variety of different views in this area and encouraged to respond to what they study by working toward their own understanding of what the mind is.

In this course we’ll have a look at some classical views of God and arguments for God’s existence, and some challenges to religious faith. Under the latter heading, we’ll consider some issues like the problem of divine foreknowledge, the problem of evil, faith and reason, miracles, and the so-called problem of religious diversity. We may read Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe, a book by one of the keynote speakers (who is himself a naturalist) in our upcoming conference of the Society of Christian Philosophers (at Hope in late February). We’ll finish by exploring some themes in philosophical theology on particular Christian doctrines like Trinity, Incarnation, whether there is a hell, and whether there is a purgatory. We may even turn our philosophical eye to liturgy and issues in sexual ethics (as they impact the philosophy of religion) if there is time and interest. This course is cross-listed with Religion 364. All students should register for Philosophy 331.

What is the right thing to do? How should we live our lives? Do we derive our values from God or reason or both or neither? Such questions make up the subject matter of ethics. This course is an introduction to ethical theory with some attention to applied ethics. We will consider the major ethical theories of yesterday and today, including the ethics of duty, utilitarianism, divine command theory, natural law theory, and virtue ethics. We will also consider the issue of moral relativism, challenges to traditional ethical theories, and different views of what it is to live a good human life. Finally, we look at attempts to apply different ethical theories to practical moral problems stemming from everyday life. Readings will come from classical and contemporary authors, religious and non-religious sources, and western and eastern traditions. (This course is cross-listed with Religion 369. All students should register for Philosophy 395.)

Current Philosophy Courses

FALL 2012 Courses

SPRING 2012 Courses

Spring 2012

COURSE CATEGORY LIST

SPRING 2011 Course Descriptions