St. F. X.  Department of Philosophy
Courses

Philosophy 100 is normally a prerequisite for advanced courses. Exceptions are (i) PHIL 210 (no prerequisite); (ii) PHIL 331 and 336, to which students are admitted with either PHIL 100 or third-year standing or permission of the department; and (iii) other courses at the discretion of the department.

Students planning the advanced major or honours degree in this field are required to consult the department chair about their program of study. See chapter 4 for degree regulations. The department also offers an honours degree with a subsidiary subject see chapter 4.

100 Introductory Philosophy     
An introduction to the study of philosophy which looks at major thinkers in the history of western philosophy as well as the fundamental and enduring questions they raised. Among the philosophers considered are Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, and Hume. The questions raised by these thinkers include: what is it to think rationally and critically? Can we demonstrate the existence and nature of God? Can we discover any ethical principles that should guide our actions? What are the limits of human knowledge? Six credits.

210 Philosophy of Science [AR]
Examines the methodology of the positive sciences, including the logic of scientific discovery and experimental testing, the confirmation of hypotheses, and the nature of scientific explanation. Six credits.

230 Philosophy of Human Nature     
A philosophical examination of what it means to be human. Topics may include: whether we possess free will; how the mind and the body are related; the nature of death and the possibility of survival/immortality; the nature of personal identity; skepticism and the reliability of our cognitive faculties; the limits of human knowledge; the function of art and its relation to human existence; egoism and the possibility of altruism; and the ‘meaning of life.’ Six credits.

240 Philosophy of Religion
Explores the philosophy of religion, including different concepts of God with emphasis on the Judeo-Christian tradition; grounds for belief and disbelief in God; and issues such as human destiny, religious language, evil, faith, revelation, and verification.  Prerequisite: Philosophy 100 or Religious Studies 100 or RELS 110 or permission of the instructor? Six credits.

251 Critical Thinking          
What is an argument?  How do arguments work?  What makes some arguments better than others?  This course will equip students to recognize and analyze arguments as they occur in a variety of contexts such as media editorials, speeches, textbooks, argumentative essays, and philosophical texts.  To accomplish this, we will study the components of good arguments, different types of arguments, common ways in which arguments can go wrong, and techniques of criticizing and constructing arguments.  Prerequisites: Students will normally have at least 1 semester of successful university study. Three credits.

271 Philosophy and Literature     
Examines selected philosophical themes as they occur in world literature. The course will explore issues such as the nature of tragedy, the conflict of existence and meaning, and the relation of the unconscious to philosophy and literature. May not be taken by students who have credit for PHIL 270, Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of the instructor. Six credits.

281 Aesthetics                                
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Is it necessary or possible to define art? What is the nature of aesthetic experience? This course will examine several classical and modern theories of art and beauty selected from such writers as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Maritain, Dewey, Goodman, Danto, Foucault. It will also draw on a variety of examples of art, including literature, visual arts, music, poetry, theatre, architecture, and artistic handiwork. Three credits.

331 Introduction to Ethics
This course introduces students to several major ethical theories, including utilitarianism, virtue-based ethics, natural law theory and deontology. It addresses such questions as: Is there an objective moral standard? Is there a common good? Do we have duties to others? What does morality have to do with personal happiness? Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or third-year standing or permission of the department. Three credits.

332 Contemporary Moral and Social Issues     
Building on PHIL 331, this course examines contemporary moral and social issues such as freedom of speech and censorship; equality and affirmative action; legalization of non-medical drug use; the duty to alleviate suffering; assisted suicide and euthanasia; justifications for punishment and capital punishment. Prerequisite: PHIL 331. Three credits

333 Environmental Ethics [AR]
This course examines the ethical relationship between humans and the natural environment. It begins with the theoretical principles that help determine human conduct within the natural world. Once these beliefs about nature have been examined, it assesses different normative models that might govern our behaviour regarding the environment. Prerequisite: PHIL 331. Three credits

334 Ethics Applied to the Professions
Applying theories studied in PHIL 331, students will explore such ethical issues as the rights of clients, patients, and consumers; affirmative action; the social responsibilities of professionals and corporations; behaviour in the workspace; economic and social justice; conflict between professional obligations and personal values. Recommended for students in professional schools, and for those planning careers in law, medicine, education or government. Prerequisite: PHIL 331 May not be taken by students who have credits for PHIL 332. . Three credits.

336 Ethics in Health and Medicine     
This course introduces students to ethical theories and values, and to the critical examination of contemporary issues arising in health care and medicine. Issues to be discussed may include: the concept of health; the ethical responsibilities of professionals and professional integrity; freedom, autonomy, and consent; death, dying, and euthanasia; abortion; infanticide; research involving human subjects; the allocation of scarce medical resources; confidentiality and privacy; reproductive technologies and rights; medical and non-medical drug use. Prerequisite: junior standing or PHIL 100 or permission of the instructor. Cross-listed as NURS 336. Six credits.

342 Logic
A course in formal logic. Presupposing a familiarity with propositional logic, it focuses on first order predicate logic (with identity) and metalogic. Topics to be covered include translating sentences from English into symbolic notation, the semantics of predicate logic, deductions, soundness and completeness.  Prerequisite: PHIL 251 or permission of the instructor.. Three credits.

351 Socrates and Plato     
Topics include the nature of Socratic dialectic, Socrates’ responses to the pre-Socratic philosophers, and Plato’s contributions to ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, and epistemology. Three credits.

352 Aristotle
Topics include Aristotle’s contributions to metaphysics, natural philosophy, and epistemology; his response to Plato and the pre-Socratic philosophers; and the development of Greek philosophy in the subsequent Stoic, Epicurean, and Neo-Platonic schools. Three credits.

361 Early Medieval Philosophy     
A study of the Christian and Neo-Platonic influence on philosophy from the 4th to the 12th centuries. Principal thinkers: Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, and Abelard. Principal problems: faith and reason; knowledge; evil; providence; free will; immortality of the soul; universals; ethical principles. The course ends with an introduction to important medieval Islamic and Jewish thinkers: Avicenna, Averröes, Maimonides. Prerequisites: PHIL 100. Three credits.

362 Philosophy in the High Middle Ages            
A study of the influence of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy on thinkers of the 13th and 14th centuries. Principal figures: Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham. Principal problems: faith and reason: knowledge; evil; providence; free will; immortality of the soul; universals; and ethical principles. Prerequisites: PHIL 100. Three credits.

365 Modern Philosophy I: The Rationalists          
A review of the intellectual developments of the Renaissance relevant to philosophy is followed by a study of René Descartes and his rationalist successors, such as Spinoza and Leibniz. Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of the instructor. Three credits.

366 Modern Philosophy II: The Empiricists
British philosophy of the late 17th and 18th century is traced through a study of the writings of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Prerequisites: PHIL 365 or permission of the instructor. Three credits.

367  Philosophy from Kant to Hegel 
In the 19th century, German philosophy found expression in the idealist movement. Major figures such as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel were united in the belief that reality and the categories we use to understand it had a common origin and development. Out of this belief came new conceptions of science, history, theology, and politics. Prerequisites: PHIL 100 or permission of the Instructor. Three credits.

368 Philosophy in the 19th Century
This course surveys responses to idealism in Germany, as well as the development of positivism in France and empiricism and idealism in Britain and America. Authors to be discussed may include: Schopenhauer, Marx, Nietzsche, Comte, Bentham, J.S Mill, Bergson, James, Dewey, Bosanquet and Bradley. Prerequisites: Philosophy 367, 321 or permission of the Instructor.  Three credits. .

371 Social and Political Philosophy     
Examines fundamental issues in social and political philosophy through a discussion of such questions as: What would an ideal society be like? Should there be limits on human freedom? Do human beings have rights that everyone should respect? Is it ever morally acceptable to disobey or rebel against the state? Texts will be selected from the classical, medieval, modern, and contemporary periods, but topics will focus on issues of current interest. Prerequisite: PHIL 100. Three credits.

372 Philosophy of Law
Examines fundamental issues in legal philosophy through a discussion of such questions as: What is the nature and function of law? What is the relation between law and morality? What is the character of legal reasoning and judicial decision-making? What are the justifications and aims of punishment? Texts will be selected from the classical, medieval, modern, and contemporary periods, including works on liberal, libertarian, Marxist, and feminist thought. Three credits.

381 Existentialism and Phenomenology           
Examines 19th- and early 20th-century philosophical ideas in continental Europe. A look at the philosophical antecedents of existentialism and phenomenology will be followed by an discussion of the writings of some of the major figures in these movements: Kierkegaard, Sartre, Beauvoir, Marcel, Merleau-Ponty, Husserl, Arendt, and Heidegger. Prerequisites: PHIL100 or permission of the Instructor. Three credits.

382 Contemporary Continental Philosophy   
Examines late 20th- and early 21st century philosophical ideas in continental Europe. A discussion of the writings of some of the major figures in contemporary philosophical movements, particularly in France and Germany: Derrida, Foucault, Deleuse, Kristeva, Cixous, Gadamer, Habermas, and Horneth. Prerequisites: PHIL381 or permission of the Instructor. Three credits.

391 Anglo-American Philosophy to 1950            
Presents some of the major currents of philosophy in the English-speaking world in the 20th century, up to 1950. The course includes a brief account of 19th-century empiricism, pragmatism, and idealism, before turning to ‘common sense analysis’ (e.g., G.E. Moore), early discussions of logical positivism and the place of metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics (e.g., Bertrand Russell, A.N. Whitehead, Ludwig Wittgenstein, A.J. Ayer, and Karl Popper), and the beginnings of ‘ordinary language’ philosophy. Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or permission of the instructor; junior standing strongly recommended. Three credits.

392 Anglo-American Philosophy, 1950 to Present     
Reviews recent Anglo-American philosophy, beginning with Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophical investigations, and continuing with major texts in ‘ordinary language philosophy’ (e.g., Ryle, Strawson, Austin) and reactions to it (e.g., Quine). Debates on meaning and truth (e.g., Donald Davidson and Hilary Putnam), on knowledge and justification (e.g., Edmund Gettier and Alvin Plantinga), and on contemporary pragmatism (e.g., Richard Rorty) and contemporary metaphysics (e.g., Charles Taylor, Crispin Wright, David Chalmers) will also be presented. Prerequisite: PHIL 391 or permission of the instructor. Three credits.

451  Seminar in Ethics, Political Philosophy, and the Philosophy of
           Law I
A seminar course that focuses on questions of ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. Topics to be addressed may include: the state and society, rights and duties, justice and equality, freedom and punishment, the moral basis of political obligation, and the concept of law.  Prerequisites: Junior standing in philosophy or permission of the Instructor. Three credits

452  Seminar in Ethics, Political Philosophy, and the Philosophy of
            Law II
A seminar course that focuses on questions of ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law, not discussed in Philosophy 451. Content varies from year to year. The course will include both classical and contemporary authors. Prerequisites: Junior standing in philosophy or permission of the Instructor. Three credits.

461 Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology I             
A seminar course that focuses on issues in classical and contemporary epistemology and metaphysics. Topics to be considered may include: an investigation of the ultimate structure of reality as a whole: the nature of material things; the existence of the immaterial; the meaning of being; what can and cannot be known of reality; whether there is a First Cause.  Prerequisites: Junior standing in philosophy or permission of the Instructor. Three credits.

462 Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology II
A seminar course that focuses on issues in metaphysics and epistemology, not discussed in Philosophy 461. Content varies from year to year. The course will include both classical and contemporary authors.  Prerequisites: Junior standing in philosophy or permission of the Instructor. Three credits.

489 Thesis     
Each student works under the supervision of a professor who guides the selection of a thesis topic, the use of resources, the methodological component, and the quality of analysis. Restricted to honours students. Three credits.