DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

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1 DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE PHILOSOPHY UNDERGRADUATE COURSES COURSES FALL INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY (DPHY 1100) MONDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM This course will initiate students into the universe of philosophers and philosophy through the study of fundamental texts of the Western philosophical traditions. The emphasis will be on the study of the nature, scope and necessity of philosophical inquiry as an intellectual endeavour, distinct from other disciplines, namely theology and science. We will also discuss some philosophical problems, such as human knowledge and freedom. ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY (DPHY 1210) TUESDAY & FRIDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM This course is divided into four parts. (1) The Pre-Socratics: a discussion beginning with the Ionians, moving to Parmenides and Heraclitus, and touching upon the Atomists, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Pythagoreans, and the Sophists. (2) Socrates and Plato. (3) Aristotle (and touching upon the Stoics, Cynics, Epicureans). (4) Neo-Platonism. Most attention is paid to Plato and Aristotle.

2 DESCARTES (DPHY 2332) TUESDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM After a presentation of relevant elements from the historical, scientific, philosophical and theological contexts, the course offers an analysis and an interpretation of major works of Descartes: Discourse on the Method and Meditations. INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED ETHICS (DPHY 3660) TUESDAY, 5:30-8:30 PM (EVENING COURSE) This course will familiarize students with the newest trends in biomedical ethics, military ethics, eco-feminism, ethics of care, and relational theory. HISTORY OF IDEAS I. ANCIENT CIVILIZATION (DPHY 1111) WEDNESDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM From Prehistory to History. Ancient Egypt: monarchy and social structures. The immortality of the soul. The kingdoms of Mesopotamia: Sumerians and Amorites. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Code of Hammurabi. The universal empire of Persia. The Zoroastrianism. Ancient Greece: the political structures of the Mycenaean Society. The Iliad and the Odyssey. The notion of Polis. Athens: democracy and social knowledge. The Sophists. Politics in Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The educative ideas of Isocrates. Rome: the idea of a universal empire. Rome and the laws. The philosophical ideas of Cicero and Seneca. LOGIC I (DPHY 1103) WEDNESDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM This course is an introduction to symbolic logic. By means of truth tables, consistency trees and derivations, we will study the two fundamental tools for logical calculus: propositional calculus and first order predicate calculus.

3 MAIN DOCTRINAL CURRENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES (DPHY 1211) THURSDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM This course will study: the transformations of the ancient heritage (Saint Augustine, the pseudo-dionysius, Boethius); the leading thinkers and schools of the XIth and XIIth centuries; the translations of Aristotelian, Arab and Jewish works; the high points of Scholasticism in the XIIIth century (Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus); and Ockham s nominalism, in the XIVth century. ANCIENT AND MODERN DIALECTICS (DPHY 3822) THURSDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM This course will attempt to understand how the immense contrariety between the ancient Greek confidence in reason and the modern assurance that such confidence is futile can be overcome. The class will read various texts, ancient and modern, in the context of this effort at a systematic reconciliation. EPISTEMOLOGY (DPHY 2750) FRIDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM Knowledge its nature, status, conditions and limits has always been a fundamental issue in Philosophy. Considering the problem as stated in ancient Philosophy, this course explores some of the main views of knowledge in modern and contemporary traditions. Special attention will be paid to Hume s sceptical position and to the ensuing responses, notably in Kant and in analytical Philosophy. COURSES WINTER ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY (DPHY 2442) MONDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM This course will survey the Analytic tradition in Philosophy. From the linguistic turn of Frege, Russel, Moore and Wittgenstein, it will explore the development of this tradition, notably through logical positivism (Carnap, Ayer) and ordinary language Philosophy (Ryle, Austin). We will also consider important figures in epistemology (Quine) and ethics (Rawls).

4 CURRENT ISSUES IN ETHICS (DPHY 2664) MONDAY, 5:30-8:30 PM (EVENING COURSE) This course serves as a general introduction to the problems of applied ethics. It will propose readings addressing a variety of ethical issues, in society at large, as well as in specialized sectors. Students will survey various issues in ethics, which will enrich their research and understanding in applied ethics. PHILOSOPHY OF GOD (DPHY 3641) TUESDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM The course uses as its basis the Five Ways (of proving the existence of God), proposed by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa theologiae. A discussion of these ways puts before the students the hierarchical character of reality, and the causal relationships involved. In this way, such topics as creation, providence, and the problems of evil all find their place in the course. SCIENCE AND ETHICS (DPHY 2690) TUESDAY, 5:30-8:30 PM (EVENING COURSE) The morality of science has been a debated topic at least since the emergence of modern science. This course examines scientific discourse and practice as presented by philosophy of science. After a survey of some of the main approaches to the justification of scientific theories, such as confirmationism and falsificationism, Thomas Kuhn s model of scientific revolution, and Paul Feyerabend s anarchistic position, we will look at the history of scientific ideas, notably through the study of Michel Foucault s, The Order of Things. We will then explore the intersection of values and ethics to consider the old cliché that science is fundamentally a-moral through the study of various cases provided by the professor and the students, such as human experimentation, animal experimentation, stem-cell research, pharmaco-centrism, environmental responsibility and many others. Finally, we will explore research ethics and research ethics bodies in Canada.

5 HISTORY OF IDEAS II. THE MIDDLE AGES: MORE THAN DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS (DPHY 1112) WEDNESDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM The notion of Middle Ages. The decadence of Rome and the Christianization of social and political order. A theological-metaphysical perspective. The Augustinian vision of the world. Political and ecclesiastical power Social and educational ideas in the Carolingian Empire. The schools. The religious orders. The polemic about investitures and the conflicts between temporal and spiritual powers. Knowledge and science: the creation of the university. Thomas Aquinas and his theory about social order. Towards a modern state: William of Ockham and Marsiglio of Padua. Individualism and laicization. EMPIRICISM IN THE 17 TH AND 18 TH CENTURY (DPHY 2322) WEDNESDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM A study of the most important ontological and epistemological doctrines of empiricism, as developed within the English-language tradition, mainly through the study of John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume. KANT (DPHY 2334) THURSDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM Kant s intention was to limit the claims of metaphysics in order to make room for faith. He saw his philosophical efforts as a revolution akin to that of Copernicus. The course will consider Kant s claim that his critique was a call to reason to undertake anew the most difficult of all its tasks, namely, that of self-knowledge. A close reading of parts of Kant s Critique of Pure Reason and of other major texts will be used as a basis for this consideration. INTRODUCTION TO TEXT READING (DPHY 1107) FRIDAY, 8:30-11:30 AM The objective of this course is to encourage close textual examination of actual writings of ancient and medieval authors, to develop skills in historical exegesis, and to enhance the ability to think independently of secondary sources of opinion.

6 CRITICAL THINKING AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (DPHY 1104) FRIDAY, 1:30-4:30 PM The course aims to develop fundamental skills in reasoning and critical thinking through the study of argument types, logical structures, criteria used in the evaluation of arguments, and forms of fallacious reasoning. Students will also be introduced to the basic elements involved in conducting philosophical and theological research, and will learn about the various phases and major components of a research project.

7 CONTACT US DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE 96 EMPRESS AVENUE OTTAWA, ON K1R 7G3

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