Philosophy

Programs

Courses

PHIL 101  - Special Topics in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Topics selected by the instructor for specialized study. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title.
PHIL 102  - Introduction to Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
An introduction to the main problems of philosophy and its methods of inquiry, analysis, and criticism. Works of important philosophers will be read. Honors section offered.
PHIL 103  - Special Topics in Ethics and Values  (3 Credits)  
A study of the moral principles of conduct and the basic concepts underlying these principles, such as good, evil, right, wrong, justice, value, duty, and obligation, as they relate to specific issues or areas of life. May be repeated as content varies by title.
Carolina Core: VSR
PHIL 111  - Introduction to Logic II  (3 Credits)  
Philosophical foundations of inductive inference, including probability, statistics, and decision theory; application of the methods and results of inductive inference to philosophical problems such as the problem of rationality, epistemology, theory confirmation, social and political philosophy.
Prerequisites: At least one of the following: PSYC 227; SOCY 220; STAT 110, STAT 112, STAT 201, STAT 205, or STAT 206; MGSC 291.
Carolina Core: ARP
PHIL 114  - Introduction to Formal Logic I  (3 Credits)  
Formal logic, including foundational logical concepts, syntax and semantics of first-order logic; derivations; applications.
Carolina Core: ARP
PHIL 115  - Introduction to Formal Logic II  (3 Credits)  
Intermediate topics in predicate logic, including second-order predicate logic; meta-theory, including soundness and completeness; introduction to non-classical logic
Prerequisites: C or higher in PHIL114 or PHIL 110, or a department-approved equivalent.
Carolina Core: ARP
PHIL 210  - Philosophical Themes in Literature  (3 Credits)  
Selected philosophical problems as they are presented in imaginative and theoretical literature. Works of fiction and philosophical treatments of issues involved in them will be read and discussed.
PHIL 211  - Contemporary Moral Issues  (3 Credits)  
Moral issues confronting men and women in contemporary society. Topics will vary but may include discussion of problems related to abortion, drugs, euthanasia, war, social engineering, and punishment of criminals.
Carolina Core: VSR
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Community Service, GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 212  - Images of the Human Person  (3 Credits)  
Images of the human person in contemporary philosophy, literature, psychology, and religion, and an evaluation of these images as norms for human conduct and social policy. Particular attention may be given to images found in specific philosophical traditions, including existentialism, Marxism, behaviorism, and mysticism.
PHIL 213  - Communicating Moral Issues  (3 Credits)  
Moral issues confronting men and women in contemporary society and the challenges of communicating effectively about them. Topics will vary but may include access to health care, euthanasia, abortion, same sex marriage and the moral and environmental consequences of eating animals.
Cross-listed course: SPCH 213
Carolina Core: CMS, VSR
PHIL 214  - Science and Pseudo-Science  (3 Credits)  
Attempts to distinguish science from pseudo-science; inquiry into such cases as astrology, psychoanalysis, and parapsychology.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
PHIL 301  - Ancient Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
An introduction to the work of ancient philosophers, with special emphasis on Plato and Aristotle.
Cross-listed course: CLAS 301
PHIL 302  - Greek and Roman Philosophy after Aristotle  (3 Credits)  
Problems such as hedonism, providence, belief and evidence, and mysticism, as they appear in the writings of Epicureans, Stoics, Skeptics, and Plotinus.
Cross-listed course: CLAS 302
PHIL 303  - History of Medieval Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Major philosophical traditions in the Middle Ages.
PHIL 304  - Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
An introduction to Continental and British philosophy running roughly from Descartes through Kant.
PHIL 305  - Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
An introduction to Continental and British philosophy since Kant through study of the works of representative philosophers. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of Idealism, Marxism, Existentialism and Phenomenology, and analytic philosophy.
PHIL 310  - American Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
The principal movements of philosophical thought from Colonial times to the present, with special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.
PHIL 311  - Existentialism  (3 Credits)  
An introduction to existentialist themes in contemporary philosophy, literature, psychology, and religion. The writings of existentialists such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, Buber, May, and Binswanger will be read and discussed.
PHIL 312  - Classical Origins of Western Medical Ethics  (3 Credits)  
Examination of ancient Greek and Roman philosophical, medical, and literary works (in English) as sources for the origins of medical ethics. Priority enrollment for Medical Humanities students.
Cross-listed course: CLAS 360
PHIL 313  - Between Magic and Method: Ancient Medicine  (3 Credits)  
Introduction to ancient medicine: science and art, theory and practice, healing and predicting. Topics include Medicine before Hippocrates, Hippocratic medicine, holism, naturalism, medicine, religion and magic, medicine and scientific explanation, Hellenistic medicine and methodology, Galenic medicine.
Cross-listed course: CLAS 361
PHIL 315  - Asian Religious Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
A historical overview and critical introduction to the philosophical practices of Asian religions; an examination of the basic worldviews, thought frameworks, and foundational questions of the main schools of premodern Asian religious philosophy.
Cross-listed course: RELG 334
PHIL 320  - Ethics  (3 Credits)  
A study of the moral principles of conduct and the basic concepts underlying these principles, such as good, evil, right, wrong, justice, value, duty, and obligation. The ethical works of influential philosophers are analyzed in terms of these concepts.
Carolina Core: VSR
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 321  - Medical Ethics  (3 Credits)  
The concepts of Person and Justice as they relate to biomedical sciences and technologies.
Carolina Core: VSR
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Community Service, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 322  - Environmental Ethics  (3 Credits)  
Examination of principles and arguments surrounding moral issues involving the environment.
Cross-listed course: ENVR 322
Carolina Core: VSR
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Community Service, GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences, GLD: Research
PHIL 323  - Ethics of Science and Technology  (3 Credits)  
Role of ethical judgments in directing or curtailing scientific research; case studies from natural and social sciences.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 324  - Business Ethics  (3 Credits)  
Ethical problems in business; application to business situations of philosophical theories of individual, corporate, and governmental rights and responsibilities.
Carolina Core: VSR
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 325  - Engineering Ethics  (3 Credits)  
An investigation of ethical issues in engineering and engineering-related technology. Topics include whistleblowing, employee/employer relations, environmental issues, issues related to advances in information technology, and privacy.
Carolina Core: CMS, VSR
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Community Service, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 329  - Law and Religion  (3 Credits)  
An examination and critical assessment of the philosophical concepts, issues, and questions surrounding the relationship of church and state.
PHIL 330  - Social and Political Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
An overview of major themes in political philosophy such as the nature of politics, obligation, community, representation, freedom, equality, and justice.
Cross-listed course: POLI 300
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 331  - Crime and Justice  (3 Credits)  
The fundamental concepts of a criminal justice system and their philosophical bases. Rights, privacy, responsibility, and the problem of justification of state control of private behavior through punishment and therapy.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy
PHIL 332  - Philosophy of Education  (3 Credits)  
A critical examination of the theories of education of such philosophers as Plato, Rousseau, Dewey, Newman, and Whitehead. Emphasis is on the development of a philosophy of higher education.
PHIL 333  - Contemporary Marxism and Society  (3 Credits)  
Recent Marxist-inspired critics of politics, science, technology, art, advertising, and other aspects of cultural life, with comparison both to Marx’s philosophical and economic writings and to other types of contemporary criticisms.
PHIL 334  - Feminist Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Introduces feminist philosophy and applications to philosophical problems.
Cross-listed course: WGST 334
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 335  - Disobedience, Dissent, and Revolution  (3 Credits)  
This course explores central philosophical issues related to resisting and opposing claimed state authority. Focus will be on classic and modern texts regarding the intentional, ethically-, or politically-motivated violation of law and on the justification of revolution.
Carolina Core: VSR
PHIL 340  - Philosophy of Art  (3 Credits)  
Philosophical problems relating to the arts, the nature of artworks, artistic meaning, aesthetic experience, and artistic values.
PHIL 341  - Philosophy and Film  (3 Credits)  
Selected philosophical problems as they are presented in feature and documentary films.
PHIL 350  - Knowledge and Reality  (3 Credits)  
Examination of skeptical attacks, critical defenses, and philosophical theories of what we know and what is to be taken as ultimate reality.
PHIL 351  - Mind and Nature  (3 Credits)  
Philosophical theories about the nature of consciousness, the problem of qualia, phenomenal concepts, the explanatory gap hypothesis, higher-order consciousness, prospects for naturalistic accounts of consciousness.
PHIL 352  - Feedom and Human Action  (3 Credits)  
The principal movements of philosophical thought from Colonial times to the present, with special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy
PHIL 360  - History and Philosophy of Science  (3 Credits)  
Philosophy and history of science and their interaction from ancient Greece to the present. Emphasis on physics, astronomy, and chemistry.
PHIL 362  - Philosophy of Research Design in Science and Medicine  (3 Credits)  
A philosophical investigation of research methods used in science and medicine from systematic reviewing and randomized controlled trials to theories of sampling and causal inference.
PHIL 365  - Formal Theories of Rationality and Their Philosophical Implications  (3 Credits)  
Formal theories of rationality in the context of decision-making and games; uses of these formal theories to address traditional philosophical issues such as rationality, knowledge, choice, social welfare, cooperation, and communication.
Prerequisites: C or higher in any course that satisfies the ARP Carolina Core requirement.
PHIL 370  - Special Topics in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Topics selected by the instructor for specialized study. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title.
PHIL 371  - Writing-Intensive: Ancient Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Writing-intensive study in philosophy of the pre-modern period. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title. As a writing-intensive course, substantial time will be devoted to developing and improving the student’s ability to write clear, well-reasoned, and compelling philosophical essays.
PHIL 372  - Writing-Intensive: Modern Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Writing-intensive study in philosophy of the modern period. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title. As a writing-intensive course, substantial time will be devoted to developing and improving the student’s ability to write clear, well-reasoned, and compelling philosophical essays.
PHIL 373  - Writing-Intensive: Field of Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Writing-intensive study in one or more fields of philosophy. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title. As a writing-intensive course, substantial time will be devoted to developing and improving the student’s ability to write clear, well-reasoned, and compelling philosophical essays.
PHIL 390  - Junior Seminar in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Overview of philosophical theories and debates with attention to skills in discussion and presentation and in preparing and writing a research paper in philosophy. Topics selected by the instructor.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
PHIL 399  - Independent Study  (3-9 Credits)  
Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department chair is required for undergraduate students.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
PHIL 490  - Senior Seminar in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Review of central topics in philosophy serving as a capstone course for senior majors in philosophy.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Experiential Learning: Experiential Learning Opportunity
PHIL 495  - Senior Thesis  (3 Credits)  
Directed research resulting in a written thesis. Senior philosophy major or double major, GPA of 3.30, permission of faculty member.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
PHIL 499  - Internship in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Supervised professional experience or research outside the classroom, involving a meaningful project or activity for the employing firm or organization and a scholarly project for the student. An Undergraduate Internship Contract is required.
Prerequisites: B or higher in two PHIL courses numbered 300 or above.
PHIL 501  - British Empiricism  (3 Credits)  
A historical and critical survey of the British philosophers of experience. Principal concentration is on Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 304.
PHIL 502  - Continental Rationalism  (3 Credits)  
A critical and historical study of the 17th-century European philosophers. The works of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz are emphasized.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 304.
PHIL 503  - Analytic Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
A critical study of recent and contemporary works in philosophical analysis, and an evaluation of the purposes, methods, and results of this movement.
Prerequisites: C or better on 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 504  - Phenomenology and Existentialism  (3 Credits)  
A critical study of some fundamental themes in phenomenology and the philosophy of existence. Emphasis is placed on an intensive study of selected works of such writers as Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Husserl, and Heidegger.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 304 or PHIL 305.
PHIL 505  - Plato  (3 Credits)  
An intensive study of selected Dialogues by Plato.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 301.
PHIL 506  - Aristotle  (3 Credits)  
An intensive study of some of the more important of Aristotle's works.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 301.
PHIL 507  - Medieval Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
A historical and critical study of the works of the leading medieval philosophers.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 303.
PHIL 508  - Hume  (3 Credits)  
An intensive study of the philosophical writings of Hume, especially A Treatise of Human Nature.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 304.
PHIL 509  - Kant  (3 Credits)  
An intensive study of the work of Kant, especially the Critique of Pure Reason.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 304.
PHIL 510  - Theory of Knowledge  (3 Credits)  
An examination of some representative theories of truth, meaning, probability, and perception.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 511  - Symbolic Logic  (3 Credits)  
A presentation and philosophical examination of the fundamentals of modern symbolic logic.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 115.
PHIL 512  - Philosophy of Science  (3 Credits)  
A critical examination of methods and concepts of the sciences. Topics include scientific revolutions, the unity of science, experimentation, explanation, and evidence.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 513  - Philosophy of History  (3 Credits)  
A philosophical examination of historical inquiry. Theories of historical development. The logical problems of historical explanation.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 514  - Ethical Theory  (3 Credits)  
Survey of recent and historical developments in ethical theory with special emphasis on the meaning of ethical language and the forms of reasoning employed in discussing moral values.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 320.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 515  - Philosophy of Religion  (3 Credits)  
A critical study of selected problems in the philosophy of religion. Emphasis is placed on problems relating to the existence of God, religious knowledge, and the language of religion.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 516  - Advanced Aesthetics  (3 Credits)  
Detailed examination of the literature on aesthetics.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 517  - Philosophy of Language  (3 Credits)  
An examination of concepts and problems such as meaning, reference, analyticity, definition, and the relation between logic and philosophy.
Prerequisites: C or higher in PHIL 114 or PHIL 511.
Cross-listed course: LING 565
PHIL 518  - Philosophy of the Social Sciences  (3 Credits)  
The goals of inquiry and problems such as objectivity, reduction, value freedom, and ideology.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 519  - Metaphysics  (3 Credits)  
Major issues in classical and modern metaphysics. Topics include the idea of first philosophy, being, substance, the problem of universals, essentialism, causation, time and space, and metaphysical method.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 350 or PHIL 351 or PHIL 360.
PHIL 520  - Philosophy of Mind  (3 Credits)  
The concept of mind, the mind-body problem, emotions and cognition, the possibility of artificial minds, theories of embodied cognition.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 350 or PHIL 351 or PHIL 360.
PHIL 521  - Mathematical Logic  (3 Credits)  
Axiomatic development of logic and the set-theoretic foundations of mathematics.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 511.
PHIL 522  - Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics  (3 Credits)  
Introduction to the study of linguistic meaning, including the following topics: meaning, reference, and truth; the connections among language, thought, and reality; word meaning and sentence meaning; possible worlds and modality; thematic roles; meaning and context; presupposition and implicature; speech acts; formal semantics; and cognitive semantics.
Prerequisites: C or better in any of LING 300, LING 301, LING 600, PHIL 114, PHIL 511.
Cross-listed course: LING 627
PHIL 523  - Advanced Topics in Logic  (3 Credits)  
Philosophical problems about logic, the development of philosophical logics, and the problems surrounding them.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 511.
PHIL 524  - Philosophy of Biology  (3 Credits)  
Examination of major conceptual, theoretical, and methodological issues in biological science. Topics include reductionism, units of selection, adaptationism, relations between evolutionary and developmental biology and between biology and society.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours of Philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 526  - Hellenistic Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Survey of the major schools and trends in Hellenistic philosophy: Epicureans, Stoics, Academic Skeptics. Topics include eudaimonism, hedonism, monism, teleology, and the criterion of truth.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 301 or PHIL 302.
PHIL 527  - Virtues, Acts, and Consequences  (3 Credits)  
Recent contributions to three central strands of ethical theory: virtue theory, deontology, and utilitarianism; historical roots and recent developments.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 320.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 528  - Concepts of Evidence  (3 Credits)  
Systematic approaches to data analysis--Bayesian, Fisherian and decision theoretic--will be critically appraised. Applications of these theories to some problems of inductive logic: the paradoxes of confirmation, the role of simplicity, and the probability of inductive generalizations.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 350 or PHIL 351 or PHIL 360.
PHIL 531  - Jurisprudence  (3 Credits)  
An examination of a number of philosophical problems about the law: the nature and function of rules, the difference between legal rules and other rules, the nature of reasoning from legal rules, the concept of a legal system, and the relation of law and morals.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 320 or PHIL 330.
PHIL 532  - Social Justice  (3 Credits)  
Recent theories of distributive justice and their application to such issues as redistribution of wealth, reverse discrimination, and the conflict between liberty and equality. Authors include Rawls, Nozick, Hayek, and Popper.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 320 or PHIL 321 or PHIL 322 or PHIL 330 or PHIL 331.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Community Service, GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Global Learning
PHIL 534  - Contemporary European Social Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
An examination of European social philosophy associated with either the Frankfurt School of Social Research or contemporary French Poststructuralism.
Prerequisites: C or better in 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
PHIL 535  - Ecofeminism  (3 Credits)  
An exploration of the connections between oppression of women and oppression of nature.
Prerequisites: 3 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.
Cross-listed course: WGST 535
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
PHIL 536  - Language and Interpretation in Contemporary European Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Selected contemporary European philosophical movements, their views on language, and their approach to interpretation: hermeneutics, structuralism, poststructuralism.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 114.
PHIL 540  - Renaissance Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Humanism (e.g., Petrarca), Platonism (e.g., Pico and Ficino), Aristotelianism (e.g., Pomponazzi), philosophies of nature (e.g., Telesio, Campanella, and Bruno), and Nicholas of Cusa, Erasmus, Montaigne, and Suarez.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 301 or PHIL 302 or PHIL 303.
PHIL 550  - Health Care Ethics  (3 Credits)  
An exploration of the ethical dimensions of patient care in the clinical setting.
Prerequisites: C or better in PHIL 320 or PHIL 321 or PHIL 322 or PHIL 330 or PHIL 331.
PHIL 560  - Advanced Special Topics in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Advanced special topics in Philosophy. May be repeated as content varies by title.
PHIL 598  - Readings in Philosophy  (3 Credits)  
Prerequisite: 6 hours in philosophy beyond the 100 level.