A lot of the late-night
discussions you've been involved in as a Calvin student have dealt with
puzzles and questions which philosophers have wrestled with - and learned
quite a bit about - over many years. And some of the issues you've often
thought about in connection with your worldview and your faith have also
been topics of concern to philosophers over the centuries - things that
some of the best philosophers both historically and at present have had
some real insights into. The Philosophy Department offers a wide array
of courses covering many parts of this territory. The courses available
this Spring include the following, dealing with religious belief, right
and wrong, gender, different cultures, knowledge, history, minds, brains
and persons and who knows what else.
Also consider the new Internship Opportunities listed below.
Core: Philosophical Foundations: open to everyone
Phil 153: Fundamental Questions in Philosophy (Introduction
to Philosophy)
A one-semester introduction to philosophy which aims to give the student
a Christian philosophical framework, along with some awareness of important
alternative philosophical perspectives.
Special section: Phil 153 (M). Fundamental Questions in Philosophy (for science majors). (Wykstra) This special section of Philosophy 153 is designed for students interested in physics. Utilizing the perspectives of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), the course will by examining theories about the nature of science and scientific method. We will then look historically at how science, philosophy, and religious worldviews have influenced each other in the human search for understanding the nature of reality and the place of humans in the cosmos. We will study readings by both philosophers and scientists in seventeenth-century debates about matter, space, and gravity . We will then look at philosophical issues involved in the rise of later theories about fields, energy, space-time, and quanta. Enrolling students are expected to be taking or to have completed Physics 235 (Electricity and Magnetism) or higher, or to have permission of the instructor.
Logic:
Open to everyone
Phil 171 Introduction to Logic (Ratzsch).
In this course, we look at some general categories of arguments, focusing
particularly on recognizing argument structure, on evaluating common types
of reasoning (e.g., analogical arguments, identifying cause/effect relationships),
and on spotting bogus reasoning (especially useful in an election year).
The course is intended for non-majors and majors not intending to continue
on in philosophy after graduation.
Intermediate topical courses
Open to anyone having had an Intro Philosophy (153) course
Many of the following fulfill Integrative Studies requirements, and
several fulfill Global and Historical, Persons in Community, or Cross
Cultural Engagement (CCE) requirements.
Integrative Studies Core
Phil 203 Understanding Natural Science: its nature, status and limits (Wykstra)
An investigation of the nature of science (its structure, methods, and status), and its place in human life, by looking at the historical development of science, including its interactions with other human activities, especially religion. The course will encourage students to develop their own views on major issues regarding the nature of science and its appropriate relations to worldviews and faith. It will use history of science both to place these issues in context and to test rival pictures of what science is, how it works, and how it has been - and should be - related to Christian faith. Special emphasis will be given to the diverse ways these issues have been approached within the Reformed tradition. Students taking this course to fulfill the integrative studies requirement of the core must have the following prerequisites in addition to Philosophy 153: Two courses in the Natural Sciences.
Phil 205 Ethics (Van Dyke)
Is everything you do aimed at your own happiness? So Aristotle would have you believe. John Mill agrees that happiness is the goal of human life--but he thinks that what's important is working for the greatest amount of happiness for society as a whole. Kant, in contrast, claims that duty rather than happiness should be what motivates human actions. Why should anyone care today what these philosophers thought? Because, in short, their theories about how human beings ought to behave--what makes certain actions right and other actions wrong--are still alive and kicking today...and you probably hold one of these three views yourself, even if you don't yet know it. In this class, we'll examine each of these three theories in some detail, and then we'll look at the specific topic of the ethical treatment of non-human animals to see how these theories are put into practice.
Phil 207 Justice and the Common Good (Hoekema)
What is fair? What should be the standards of justice in society? What is included in the common good, and how ought we to seek it? In this course we explore issues of political justice and how they relate to broader theories of the good, the relationship between Christian duty and political justice, and what justice demands of us in contemporary social life. One of our sources will be Nicholas Wolterstorff's 2008 book arguing for a rights-based Christian theory of justice; other sources will set out some case studies on justice, race, and violence as they affect life in American cities and in southern Africa.
Phil 215 Business Ethics (Mellema)
An examination of ethical concepts as they pertain to business conduct.
The course is designed to be of interest to all students who are concerned
about justice and fairness in the marketplace. This course fulfils an
integrative studies requirement.
Persons in Community Core
Phil 211: Philosophy of Gender (Groenhout)
Have you ever found yourself wondering why men are so weird, or why women
make no sense? Come and take this course and explore the various explanations
of our experiences of gender. We'll study biological, social construction,
and existential accounts of sex and gender, and think together about how
they might fit with Christian beliefs.
Phil 218 Minds, Brains, and Persons (Corcoran)
What is the relationship between a human person--a thinking, feeling,
relational, moral being--and a brain--a roughly three pound mass of wrinkly,
pinkish-grey matter? As a person, I have certain beliefs. How is my belief
that winters in Grand Rapids are depressing related to neural goings on
between my ears? There are no beliefs - or sensations of taste, etc. -
without a subject that has the belief or experiences the taste. So what
is the nature of the owner of mental states? Are we immaterial souls,
material bodies, brains, what? And what about memory, phantom limb experiences,
divided consciousness, and blind-spot phenomena? What do these have to
say about the relation of minds, brains and persons? These are the sorts
odd-ball questions addressed in the course.
Global and Historical Core and Cross Cultural
Engagement Core
Phil 226: African Thought and Culture (Hoekema).
Philosophies and worldviews of Africa, including traditional cosmologies
and moral systems, philosophical responses to the legacy of transatlantic
slavery, and political ideologies of the era of African independence.
The role of Christianity in African thought, and the issue of race and
African identity, are also examined. Sources include selected writings
of philosophers and other scholars; literature, art and music; and collaborative
activities with Africans residing in West Michigan.
Intermediate historical courses:
Open to anyone having had an Introductory Philosophy course
Phil 251 History of Western Philosophy I (Van Dyke)
This course seeks to answer two main questions: (1) What ideas in the
history of philosophy shape our ideas about human nature and the good
life today? (2) How did the Christian thinkers from Augustine through
Aquinas appropriate (or reject) ideas from Greek philosophy when developing
their Christian conception of God, human nature, and the world? And was
this a good thing for Christianity? As a bonus, we also learn from Aristotle
answers to profound philosophical matters like what came first, the chicken
or the egg, and whether, if a tree falls in a forest when no one is around,
it makes a sound. Finally, we offer history’s finest arguments for
why philosophers are the best lovers and the happiest people on earth.
Phil 252 History of Western Philosophy II (Hardy)
This course is a survey of Western philosophy from the seventeenth century
to the nineteenth century. More precisely, it is a chronological examination
of major European philosophers from Descartes (and his empiricist contemporaries)
to Nietzsche, with an emphasis on the issues of epistemology, metaphysics,
and philosophical methodology. We will examine the ways that the philosophers
of this period understood their own work as philosophers and the relation
of that work to issues of science and religion. We will see the ways that
ideas and attitudes developed and changed over the course of this period.
Finally, we will consider the significance of these movements for philosophy
today.
Upper
level Philosophy courses
Open to those having had at least two Philosophy courses,
or to Juniors and Seniors having had at least one Philosophy course.
Phil 334 Marx and Marxism (Billings)
The writings of Karl Marx have inspired a wide range of philosophical reflection. Perhaps no other philosopher has been more uncritically admired or uncritically despised. In this class, however, we will attempt to critically evaluate the contributions of Marx to philosophy. We will spend the first part of this class examining the thought and writings of Marx himself (including his philosophical roots in British political economy and German idealism). The second part of the course will trace the development of one major strand of Marxism in the twentieth century: Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. The third part of the course will examine several writers that adapt and critique Marx’s ideas for the twenty-first century.
Phil 341 Contemporary Anglo-American Philosophy (Clark)
A guided tour through the cities of Frege, Wittgenstein, Russell, Moore, Quine, and Rorty in the lands of language and cognition, knowledge and skepticism, science and metaphysics, and realism and anti-realism. Our tour ends in the city of Plantinga in the land of reason and faith.
Phil 375 Philosophical Anthropology (Groenhout)
A seminar-style examination of four philosophical accounts of human nature: Liberal, Existential, Evolutionary, and Relational. We will focus on selected topics such as gender, culture, nature, rationality and embodiment as we work through these varying accounts of what human existence is (and should be).
Phil 378 Philosophy of Language and Interpretation (Smith)
This course will explore key issues in philosophy of language and issues of interpretation through engagement with key primary texts across the history of philosophy, including Augustine’s semiotics, Husserl’s theory of signs, Derrida’s critique of Husserl, Wittgenstein’s pragmatic account of language, and Robert Brandom’s contemporary ‘extension’ of Wittgenstein (with perhaps a dash of Davidson thrown into the mix). A final unit of the course will then consider issues of language and interpretation as they “hit the ground,” so to speak, in politics and science.
The following course has a prerequisite of three philosophy courses
Phil 395 Philosophy Senior Seminar (Mellema)
The senior seminar will deal with the topic of complicity in wrongdoing. The law has a great deal to say about those who are involved in aiding or abetting others engaged in wrongdoing, but the focus here will be upon the ethical issues involved when one is complicit in the wrongdoing of another.
INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: The Philosophy Department encourages its students, both majors and non-majors, to consider arranging an internship in the department. This involves either paid or unpaid work in a business, church, or community organization under the supervision of a faculty member, who helps the student reflect on issues of moral and political philosophy, philosophy of gender, philosophy of art, and other areas of philosophy. The college has created a new program, Comenius Scholars, specifically to assist students in the humanities disciplines with internship arrangements; and the Office of Career Services maintains a list of local organizations that are eager to arrange internship placements. For more information, contact the departmental internship coordinator, Prof. David Hoekema (526-6750, dhoekema@calvin.edu), or review the information on the Career Services web page, at: http://www.calvin.edu/admin/career/internships.htm
For your future schedule planning, the following courses are tentatively projected for Spring 2009:
Phil 171 Intro to Logic (Ratzsch)
Phil 173 Intro to Symbolic Logic (Wykstra)
Phil 201 Phil of Social Science (Smith)
Phil 204 God and Philosophy (Clark)
Phil 205 Ethics (Van Dyke)
Phil 208 Phil of the Arts and Culture (Hoekema)
Phil 211 Phil of Gender (Van Dyke)
Phil 215 Business Ethics (Mellema)
Phil 225 Chinese Thought and Culture (Clark)
Phil 251 History of Western Phil I (DeYoung)
Phil 252 History of Western Phil II (Hardy)
Phil 312 Plato and Aristotle (DeYoung)
Phil 331 Kant (Hardy)
Phil 336 Studies in Modern Phil (Wykstra)
Phil 340 Contemporary Continental Phil (Halteman)
Phil 365 Ethical Theory (Groenhout)
Phil 383 Metaphysics (Corcoran)
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