Philosophy
Faculty
Dr. Minerva San Juan, Associate Professor of Philosophy (program chair)
Dr. Steven Gable, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Description
Philosophy explores the ideas, values, principles, and arguments through which we shape our lives and our learning. The study of philosophy engages students in living the examined life and in developing intellectual abilities important for life as a whole beyond the knowledge and skills required for any particular profession. It supports graduate studies in philosophy as well as certain professions, like law, the ministry, and government service; and it complements other interests, such as literature, political science, sociology, and education. It develops analytical, critical, and interpretive capacities needed to pursue other disciplines and to engage with life in general. It develops discipline and motivation to confront problems for which there are no easy answers. A strong education in philosophy thus enhances the human capacity to respond wisely and prudently to the challenges of personal, professional, and public life.
Trinity’s mission as a Catholic university committed to the empowerment of women and to the advancement of social justice calls for an in-depth analysis of the ways in which philosophical ideas both contribute to and militate against the human flourishing of people of all genders, races, classes, and ethnic groups. The Program offers the opportunity for such analysis.
The Program in Philosophy supports Trinity’s general education curriculum by its emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of human knowledge. The courses offered all emphasize the foundational assumptions of the traditional disciplines and examine the ways in which these assumptions are interrelated. The program also offers internships and practica that range from experiential learning opportunities with migrant workers in Apopka, advocacy for patient autonomy at St. Elizabeth’s, implementation of subject-protection guidelines at the National Institutes of Health, and work with various area hospitals’ ethics committee.
The Philosophy Program offers a minor in the College of Arts and Sciences; students interested in pursuing an individualized minor in bioethics should consult the Program Chair. The Program also supports all the College’s majors and allows for students to construct an individualized or interdisciplinary major.
Minor Requirements
The minor requirement in philosophy requires the completion of 21 credits selected from program offerings in consultation with the Philosophy Program Chair and the student’s faculty advisor. In addition to a minor in philosophy, students may select program offerings to construct minors in areas of individual interest; possible minors include bioethics.
Required Courses (21 credits)
ONE course chosen from between:
PHIL 103 Reasoning and ArgumentationPresents examples of analysis and argumentation in order to examine what constitutes either a deductive and an inductive argument, the notions of validity and truth, the justificatory power of evidence as well as common informal fallacies. The course provides practice in various techniques of argumentation and critical analysis. Formerly PHI 103 Reasoning and Argumentation.
3 credits
General Education Curriculum: Foundational Skills Area
FLC Area III
Prerequisite CRS 101
PHIL 105 Introduction to Propositional LogicIntroduces students to the fundamental concepts of propositional logic as they apply to the assessment of arguments, particularly the concepts of validity, inference, truth-functional schema, material implication, and material equivalence. The construction of truth tables as a method of assessment and the process of natural deduction as demonstration and proof will be emphasized. Formerly PHI 102 Introduction to Symbolic Logic.
3 credits
TWO courses chosen from:
PHIL 211 Ancient PhilosophyIntroduces the students to the beginning of philosophical reflection through the writings of Plato and Aristotle, paying particular attention to the problems that have engaged philosophers from the start. The primary objective of the course is to generate in the student an appreciation of why the questions philosophers perennially raise are problematic for the human being. Formerly PHI 201 History of Philosophy: Ancient.
3 credits
FLC Area III - Philosophy Cluster
PHIL 215 Modern PhilosophyExamines readings from Descartes to Kant in the context of the Rationalist-Empiricist debate and of the early modern scientists to whom the philosophers are responding with their proposals about a theory of ideas as an account of knowledge and reality. Formerly PHI 203 History of Philosophy: Modern.
3 credits
FLC Area III - Philosophy Cluster
PHIL 225 Islamic PhilosophyExamines the implications for metaphysics of the fundamental beliefs of Islamic thought. Formerly PHI 275 Islamic Philosophy.
3 credits
ONE course chosen from :
PHIL 241 Introduction to Theoretical EthicsExamines Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals in order to see how these texts expose the influence and direction of our consciousness of obligation on our actions. The focus is on what kind of agency human beings must have in order to be in a moral domain and on what the influence of socialization and biology might be on our understanding of this domain. Formerly PHI 210 Introduction to Theoretical Ethics.
3 credits
General Education Curriculum: Values and Beliefs Area
FLC Area III - Philosophy Cluster
PHIL 245 Ethics IIntroduces the student to social ethics and the concepts of person and community by examining the moral traditions that inform our understanding of the individual. The course traces the focus of ethics from a concern about what kind of person to be to the more modern and narrow concern in how to act in both the public and private domains, acknowledging the ways in which our cultural and historical practices help shape our vision. Formerly PHI 212 The Moral Dimension: Persons and Community.
3 credits
General Education Curriculum: Values and Beliefs Area
FLC Area III: Philosophy Cluster
Core Area III: Ethics and Moral Reasoning
ONE course:
PHIL 341 Moral PsychologyAddresses the relation between obligation and motivation. The traditional analysis raises two questions: What kind of answer is it appropriate to give an agent when she asks why she should do what she is obliged to do? And, how does this answer make the action psychologically possible? Formerly PHI 315 Moral Psychology.
3 credits
ONE course chosen from:
PHIL 361 Readings in the Theory of KnowledgeFocuses on the discussion of the basic problems concerning the nature of knowledge and studies the relation of knowledge to perception, belief, and language. In particular the course will examine the traditional representative phenomenalist and idealist theories of perception and the nature of perceptual experience. It will also present the feminist critique of traditional Western accounts of knowledge. Formerly PHI 301 Readings in the Theory of Knowledge.
3 credits
PHIL 365 Readings in the Philosophy of ScienceAddresses the structure of scientific knowledge, the nature of explanation, the nature of the standards for acquiring knowledge of the physical world, and especially the problems raised by biology. Formerly PHI 303 Readings in the Philosophy of Science.
3 credits
ONE seminar chosen from:
PHIL 345 Ethics IIExplores the nature of central concepts in ethics like personal integrity, respect, and self-respect in particular as these are related to our notions of community and to our social institutions. The course examines the social origins and social dimension of a central principle in ethics, the principle of respect and self-respect and traces the effects of social and economic inequalities, and of the policies that attempt to redress such inequalities, on self-respect and on the possibility of mutual respect among members of a community. The course readings reflect the perspectives of marginalized social groups. Formerly PHIL 325
3 credits
PHIL 465 Seminar on DissentExamines the kinds of processes that persons engage in when deciding when and how to dissent, the ways in which mainstream cultural institutions deal with dissenters and the kinds of strategies that individuals and groups have available in carrying out their dissent. The course will make use of the paired example analytic methodology developed by Noam Chomsky and bell hooks as well as the powerful critique of practices developed by recent American pragmatist philosophers. Considered a Senior Seminar for philosophy majors or minors. Formerly HUM 321 Seminar on Dissent.
3 credits
FLC Seminar II
PHIL 455 Seminar in ExistentialismInvestigates the historical and contemporary significance of the tensions characterizing human existence in the 20th century. The readings include French, Spanish, and other continental philosophers. Students take a central role in conducting the seminar and each will undertake and present an independent research project. Considered a Senior Seminar for philosophy majors or minors. Formerly HUM 455 Seminar in Existentialism
3 credits
FLC Seminar II
PHIL 449 Seminar in EthicsExamines current readings in ethical theory and applications. Students take a central role in conducting the seminar and each will undertake and present an independent research project. Considered as a Senior Seminar for philosophy majors or minors. Formerly HUM 450 Seminar in Ethics.
3 credits
FLC Seminar II
Recommended Courses
POLS 201 Civil Rights and LibertiesProvides an introduction to legal opinions that focus on the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The cases and the societal issues surrounding them are presented in their historical context. Some specific topics examined in the course are Supreme Court decisions that affect the civil rights movement, free speech, and privacy issues involving Internet communications. Formerly PSC 216 Civil Rights and Liberties.
3 credits
FLC Area V
General Education Requirements: Knowledge and Inquiry
POLS 353 Modern Political ThoughtConsiders political thought from Rousseau to the present, focusing on theories of change including violence and revolution and alternatives, and the forms of socialism from the 18th century through its contemporary expression, as well as the views of its opponents. Also examines the methods and the significance of political thinking and the relations between political thought and modern life. Formerly PSC 363 Modern Political Thought.
3 credits
SOCY 421 Sociological TheoryInvestigates the origin and development of classical sociological theory and how it is used in contemporary sociology. Formerly SOC 486 Sociological Theory.
3 credits
HIS 326 History of Science: Mapping the Known UniverseExamines the relationship between Europeans' sense of self-identity and the way they depicted the larger world around them, focusing attention on geography, cosmology and astronomy, and physiology. Topics include reality and fantasy in medieval and early modern maps; the religious, philosophical, and social significance of the Copernican revolution; the "magical" view of the universe and the human body; and the mechanization of the world picture.
3 credits
HIS 328 Darwin and Darwinism: Race, Gender, and PowerExamines the intellectual, cultural and social factors in the development of Darwin's theory of evolution and its acceptance or rejection by members of the scientific community; explores the impact of Darwin's theory on non-scientific aspects of society, both in the 19th century and today.
3 credits
FLC Seminar II
HIS 363 Enlightenment and the French RevolutionExamines the sources of Enlightenment thought, the influence of the Enlightenment on the French Revolution, the course of the Revolution in documents and eye-witness accounts, the role of peasants and artisans in the French Revolution, and Napoleon, the man and the legend.
3 credits
HIS 390 Close Encounters: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the /Middle AgesExplores the relationships among Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in the Middle Ages. Topics include Arab and Christian experiences of the Crusades and the concepts of jihad/holy war; Christian-Jewish relationships in medieval towns and the roots of anti-Semitism; dissent, diversity, and repression in the medieval Church; tolerance and diversity in medieval Spain; and the misrepresentation of "the other" in Christian, Muslim, and Jewish literature.
3 credits
Program Policies
Advanced Placement:
Three credits granted for a score of 4 or 5 on the AP examination in logic in fulfillment of the 100-level minor requirement.
CLEP Policy:
Credits earned through CLEP examinations do not fulfill requirements of the philosophy minor.
Grades in Minor Courses:
Students are required to earn a grade of “C” (2.0) or better in all courses counted to fulfill requirements for the minor.
Pass/No Pass:
With the exception of practica and internships, courses fulfilling minor requirements may not be taken pass/no pass.
Senior Assessment:
All students in any of the minors offered in the Philosophy Program are required to take a capstone seminar that will include a comprehensive assessment.
Study Abroad:
Students may meet minor requirements with courses taken during their study abroad.
TELL Policy:
The Philosophy Program supports and encourages the College’s TELL Policy. Students applying for experiential learning credits should consult with the program faculty.
Transfer Credits:
Transfer credit from appropriately accredited institutions of higher learning may be counted for minor requirements, dependent on program review and approval. Associations recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEA) confer appropriate accreditation; these associations include but are not limited to regional accreditors.
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