Philosophy tries to make sense of human experience and reality through critical reflection and argument. The questions it treats engage and provoke all of us, and they occupy an important place in our intellectual tradition: Are there objective standards for deciding what is right and wrong, or is morality merely a subjective matter? Is capitalism morally acceptable? Do I have a will, and is it free? How do my words and thoughts come to be about the world? Does God exist? Can machines think? How are mind and body related? Students in philosophy classes will be exposed to arguments on both sides of such questions, and they will be encouraged to develop and rationally defend their own positions.
Philosophy is not an isolated discipline. It enjoys mutually beneficial exchanges with many fields of study within the humanities and sciences. Philosophers develop tools that allow them to examine critically the assumptions and implications of the social and natural sciences, religion, and law.
The study of philosophy provides several benefits. It emphasizes rigorous understanding of problems, together with careful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the available solutions. It encourages clarity in the presentation of one’s own ideas, as well as sensitivity in the consideration of the ideas of others. The study of philosophy therefore encourages one to develop skills and habits that are useful not only in philosophy, but in other areas as well. Philosophy students historically do well, for example, in law and medical schools.
However, one should not think that philosophy is only valuable in academic settings. Philosophical questions arise in many areas of family, business, and civic life. Philosophers strive to face these questions with the kind of intellectual honesty that leads to respect for the views of others, and continual reassessment of their own. In this way, the study of philosophy fosters values and attitudes that are helpful for responding to a lifetime of intellectual challenges.
The degree program in philosophy requires a minimum of 33 credits, plus the zero credit PHIL 492 course. The following courses compose the core program of the major from which 15 credits shall be chosen. Additionally, two courses at the 400 level or above (other than PHIL 490 and PHIL 492) are required.
Ethical theory: One course required.
| PHIL 330 | Ethical Theory | 3 |
| PHIL 335 | Social and Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 535 | Contemporary Political Philosophy | 3 |
History: Two courses required.
| PHIL 310 | Ancient Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 314 | 17th Century Philosophy | 3 |
| or PHIL 315 | 18th Century Philosophy | |
Metaphysics and Epistemology: One course required.
| PHIL 364 | Metaphysics: God, Minds, and Matter | 3 |
| PHIL 366 | Truth, Belief and Reason | 3 |
| PHIL 380 | Philosophy of Science | 3 |
Logic:
PHIL 207 Introduction to Symbolic Logic is required.
Philosophy, B.A.
| Freshman | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| ENGL 150 | 3 | Social Science Choice | 3 |
| LIB 160 | 1 | Philosophy Choice | 3 |
| PHIL 201 | 3 | Foreign Language/Elective | 4 |
| Foreign Language/Elective | 4 | Humanities Choice | 3 |
| Humanities Choice | 3 | Math Choice | 3 |
| Social Science Choice | 3 | ||
| 17 | 16 | ||
| Sophomore | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| PHIL 310 | 3 | History of Philosophy - 17th/18th Century Choice | 3 |
| Philosophy Choice | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Humanities Choice | 3 | Natural Science Choice | 4 |
| Natural Science Choice | 4 | Social Science Choice | 3 |
| ENGL 250 | 3 | PHIL 207 | 3 |
| 16 | 16 | ||
| Junior | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| PHIL 330 | 3 | Philosophy Choice - 300/400 Level | 3 |
| Philosphy Choice | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| PHIL 364 or PHIL 380 | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Electives | 6 | Elective | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | ||
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Senior | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Philosphy Choice - 400 Level | 3 | Philosphy Choice - 400 Level | 3 |
| Philosophy Choice - 300/400 Level | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Electives | 6 | Elective | 7.5 |
| PHIL 492 | 0 | ||
| 12 | 13.5 | ||
Students in all ISU majors must complete a three-credit course in U.S. diversity and a three-credit course in international perspectives. Check http://www.registrar.iastate.edu/courses/div-ip-guide.html for a list of approved courses. Discuss with your adviser how the two courses that you select can be applied to your graduation plan. | |
LAS majors require a minimum of 120 credits, including a minimum of 45 credits at the 300/400 level. Three of the required 45 300+ level credits must be earned in a general education group outside the group of the major. You must also complete the LAS foreign-language requirement. | |
According to the university-wide Communication Proficiency Grade Requirement, students must demonstrate their communication proficiency by earning a grade of C or better in ENGL 250. |
Minor in Philosophy
The department offers a minor in philosophy which may be earned by completing a total of 15 credits in philosophy. At least 9 credits must be in courses numbered 300 or above. Students may want to emphasize specific areas by taking 15 hours of courses chosen from the following:
Philosophy of Science:
| PHIL 201 | Introduction to Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 206 | Introduction to Logic and Scientific Reasoning | 3 |
| or PHIL 207 | Introduction to Symbolic Logic | |
| PHIL 314 | 17th Century Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 315 | 18th Century Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 380 | Philosophy of Science | 3 |
| PHIL 485 | Philosophy of Physics | 3 |
History of Philosophy:
| PHIL 201 | Introduction to Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 310 | Ancient Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 314 | 17th Century Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 315 | 18th Century Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 316 | 19th Century Continental Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 317 | 20th and 21st Century Continental Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 318 | 20th and 21st Century Anglo-American Philosophy | 3 |
Law, Social Values and Policy:
| PHIL 230 | Moral Theory and Practice | 3 |
| PHIL 235 | Ethical Issues in A Diverse Society | 3 |
| PHIL 331 | Moral Problems in Medicine | 3 |
| PHIL 332 | Philosophy of Law | 3 |
| PHIL 335 | Social and Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 336 | Bioethics and Biotechnology | 3 |
| PHIL 338 | Feminist Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 343 | Philosophy of Technology | 3 |
| PHIL 430 | Value Theory | 3 |
| PHIL 535 | Contemporary Political Philosophy | 3 |
Philosophy - Graduate Study
The department offers work for a graduate minor in philosophy. For those taking the M.A. or M.S., the minor requirement is two courses above 300 (but not PHIL 490) each taken in conjunction with PHIL 590. For those taking the Ph.D., the requirement is four courses above 300, at least one of which is above 400 (but not PHIL 490), each taken in conjunction with PHIL 590. Interested students should ask the chair to assign a minor adviser.
The department participates in the interdepartmental program in general graduate studies.
Courses
Courses primarily for undergraduates:
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.S.SS.
It has been rumored that the unexamined life is not worth living. Philosophy is an attempt to begin examining life by considering such questions as: What makes us human? What is the world ultimately like? How should we relate to other people? Is there a god? How can we know anything about these questions? Understanding questions of this kind and proposed answers to them is what this course is all about.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.S.SS.
Basic principles of critical reasoning and argument evaluation. A consideration of basic forms of argumentation in science and everyday life. Application to contemporary issues and controversies.
(Cross-listed with LING). (3-0) Cr. 3. S.
Introduction to fundamental logical concepts and logical symbolism. Development of natural deduction through first order predicate logic with identity. Applications to arguments in ordinary English and to philosophical issues. Linguistics majors should take LING/PHIL 207 as early as possible.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.S.SS.
Investigation of moral issues in the context of major ethical theories of value and obligation; e.g., punishment, abortion, economic justice, job discrimination, world hunger, and sexual morality. Emphasis on critical reasoning and argument analysis.
(3-0) Cr. 3. S.
This course will examine a range of arguments on diversity issues. Topics will include: the social status of women, the moral status of sexuality and homosexuality, the nature and role of racism in contemporary society, the relationship between biology, gender roles and social status, and various proposals for change from a variety of political perspectives.
Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement
(Cross-listed with CL ST). (3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: PHIL 201
Survey of ancient Greek philosophy, focusing on the pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle. Questions concerning being, knowledge, language, and the good life are treated in depth.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Alt. S., offered even-numbered years.
Prereq: PHIL 201
Readings from philosophers such as Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Locke. Changing conceptions of knowledge, self, and deities in response to Galileo's new science and post-reformation challenge to ecclesiastical authority.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Alt. S., offered odd-numbered years.
Prereq: PHIL 201
Readings from philosophers such as Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Development of Enlightenment thought. Issues include idealism, causation, freedom, and knowledge regarding science, ethics, and deities.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: PHIL 201
The thought of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and their contemporaries. Various perspectives on the philosophy of history, the nature of reason and subjectivity, the contrast between dialectical and nondialectical philosophy, and the relationship between philosophy and society.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Alt. F., offered even-numbered years.
Prereq: PHIL 201
Major movements of 20th and 21st century thought, such as Phenomenology, Critical Theory, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism, and Feminism. Issues include the assumptions and limits of Western metaphysics, the nature of reason, the relationship between language and power.
(3-0) Cr. 3. S.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy, including PHIL 201.
Major movements in recent and contemporary philosophy such as realism, logical positivism, ordinary language philosophy, and naturalism. Russell, Wittgenstein, Quine and other leading figures. Topics include knowledge of the material world, mind, language, values, and philosophical method.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: PHIL 201
An investigation of Existentialism and its critics in historical and cultural context. Emphasis on existential phenomenology and French existentialism, and on criticisms. Existential Marxism and Heidegger's later philosophy.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Alt. S., offered odd-numbered years.
Prereq: PHIL 230 or junior classification
In-depth study of some of the central moral problems arising in medicine, e.g., abortion, euthanasia, patients' rights, health care professionals' duties and responsibilities, allocation of medical resources. Major moral theories will be examined and applied.
(Cross-listed with CJ ST). (3-0) Cr. 3. F.S.
Prereq: PHIL 201 or PHIL 230
Extent of our obligation to obey the law; what constitutes just punishment; how much of the immoral should be made illegal? Relation of these questions to major theories of law and the state. Discussion of such concepts as coercion, equality, and responsibility.
(Cross-listed with ENV S). (3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: 3 credits in philosophy or junior classification
Thorough study of some of the central moral issues arising in connection with human impact on the environment, e.g., human overpopulation, species extinction, forest and wilderness management, pollution. Several world views of the proper relationship between human beings and nature will be explored.
(3-0) Cr. 3.
Prereq: PHIL 201 or PHIL 230 or PHIL 235
In-depth study of some central moral issues in the life sciences, e.g., genetic screening and testing, genetically engineered plants and animals, risk analysis, biotechnology patents, research ethics, biodiversity, the impact of biotechnology on society and the environment. Major moral theories will be discussed and applied. (PHIL 336 contains almost no similarities to PHIL 331.).
(Cross-listed with WGS). (3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: 3 credits in philosophy or women's studies recommended
A critical, theoretical examination of the oppression of women, especially as it relates to issues of race, class, and sexual orientation. How concepts such as sex and gender, self and other, nature and nurture, complicate our understanding of what it means to be a woman. Historical and contemporary feminist philosophers addressing topics such as violence, sexuality, pornography, political power, family structure and women's paid and unpaid labor.
Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement
(Cross-listed with CJ ST, POL S). (3-0) Cr. 3. Alt. S., offered irregularly.
Prereq: Sophomore status
Competing conceptions of liberty in American political thought. Debates about how liberty should be protected by the law, in fields such as health care, drugs, property, speech, religion, and sex.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: PHIL 201 or PHIL 230
Is liking all there is to appreciating works of art or natural beauty? We will examine our appreciative experiences, talk about such experiences (e.g., art criticism), and what makes them valuable. Do the different arts have common values? How are their differences important?.
(Cross-listed with T SC). (3-0) Cr. 3. F.S.
Prereq: 6 credits of social science or T SC 341 and 3 credits of social science
Moral and other philosophical problems related to developments in technology. Topics may include conditions under which technological innovations contribute to human emancipation, relationship of technology and democracy, utility and limits of technical rationality, and problems of ensuring that benefits of technological advance are communally shared. Topics discussed with reference to such issues as contemporary developments in microelectronics, technology transfer to the Third World, etc.
(Cross-listed with RELIG). (3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy
The value and truth of religious life and belief. Mystical experience; religious faith and language; arguments for God's existence; the problem of evil; miracles; and religion and morality. Historical and contemporary readings.
(Cross-listed with RELIG). (3-0) Cr. 3. S.
Prereq: PHIL 201 or PHIL 230.
Central Buddhist positions and arguments on topics such as personal and social ethics, moral psychology, metaphysics, and the relationship between Buddhist thought and the sciences. Differences between Buddhist and Western approaches to philosophy.
Meets International Perspectives Requirement.
(3-0) Cr. 3. S.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy, including PHIL 201.
A survey of classical and contemporary views on some basic metaphysical issues. Issues discussed include: Does God exist? Do you have a mind and, if so, how does it relate to your body? What is the nature of cause and effect? Do objects have any essential properties? How can we account for properties objects have in common?.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy including PHIL 201, or instructor permission.
This course focuses on significant topics in theory of knowledge, including the value of true beliefs, the role of sense experience in supporting our theoretical views, and the place of reason in human nature. Historical and contemporary views will be considered.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: PHIL 201 or 6 credits in a science
Introduction to the philosophy of science. A variety of basic problems common to the natural and social sciences: the nature of explanation, the structure of theories, the unity of science, and the distinction between science and nonscience.
(Cross-listed with HIST). (3-0) Cr. 3. S.
The emergence of empirical science as the authoritative methodology for production of knowledge about the natural world in the period between Copernicus and Kant. Scientific progress achieved during the period, including the work of Galileo, Descartes, and Newton. The re-shaping of epistemology in the Western intellectual tradition. Implications for philosophy and historiography.
Cr. R. F.S.SS.
Prereq: Permission of the department cooperative education coordinator; junior classification
Required of all cooperative education students. Students must register for this course prior to commencing each work period.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Repeatable, maximum of 6 credits. S.
Prereq: PHIL 230
Theoretical and normative issues in ethics, aesthetics, religious thought, or political philosophy. Topics vary each time offered.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Repeatable, maximum of 1 times. F.
Prereq: 3 credits in philosophy; PHIL 207 strongly encouraged
Personal identity, agency, free will, moral responsibility, causation, future contingents, and time will be discussed. What makes a person the same person over time? Do humans have free will? Are we not morally responsible if our actions are inevitable consequences of the past and the laws of nature? What distinguishes causes from non-causes? Are there facts about the future?.
(3-0) Cr. 3. F.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy
Examination of concepts such as computability, intelligence, programming, and free will; and of arguments about whether any human capacity is forever beyond realization in a machine.
(3-0) Cr. 3. Repeatable, maximum of 6 credits. S.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy
Topics in epistemology. Possible topics include skepticism about the external world, the extent of a priori knowledge, rival accounts of moral knowledge, feminist perspectives on the theory of knowledge, and the value of true belief. Topics vary each time offered.
(3-0) Cr. 3.
Prereq: 3 credits in Philosophy or 3 credits in Physics
S. Conceptual and philosophical issues relating to the interpretation of theories in classical and modern physics. May include one or more of the following topics: the relationship between mathematics and the physical world; Newtonian physics (determinism and predictability); thermodynamics and statistical physics (the nature of probability; entropy and the direction of time); relativistic physics (indeterminism; realism and nonlocality; consciousness and the role of the observer).
Cr. 1-4. Repeatable, maximum of 9 credits.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy; permission of instructor, approval of chair.
Guided reading and research on special topics selected to meet needs of advanced students.
No more than 9 credits of Phil 490 may be counted toward graduation.
Cr. 1-4. Repeatable, maximum of 9 credits.
Prereq: 6 credits in philosophy; permission of instructor, approval of chair.
Guided reading and research on special topics selected to meet needs of advanced students.
No more than 9 credits of Phil 490 may be counted toward graduation.
Cr. R. F.S.
Prereq: Graduating senior
Final presentation for graduation and the future. Outcomes assessment activities.
Offered on a satisfactory-fail basis only.
Courses primarily for graduate students, open to qualified undergraduates:
(Cross-listed with POL S). (3-0) Cr. 3. Alt. S., offered odd-numbered years.
Prereq: 6 credits of philosophy or political science
Examination of theories of justice proposed by contemporary political philosophers. Analysis of the philosophical foundations of perspectives such as liberalism, libertarianism, communitarianism, socialism, feminism. Normative assessments of socio-political institutions.
Cr. 2-4. Repeatable.
Prereq: Permission of instructor, 9 credits in philosophy
Cr. 2-4. Repeatable.
Prereq: Permission of instructor, 9 credits in philosophy
Cr. 2-4. Repeatable.
Prereq: Permission of instructor, 9 credits in philosophy
Cr. 2-4. Repeatable.
Prereq: Permission of instructor, 9 credits in philosophy
Cr. 2-4. Repeatable.
Prereq: Permission of instructor, 9 credits in philosophy
(2-0) Cr. 2. SS.
Topics include moral theory, pedagogical issues in teaching bioethics, and substantive current issues in bioethics.