Courses
PHIL-100C SQ Basic Logic (3)
A study of the principles of correct reasoning, with emphasis on the analysis of everyday arguments. Topics usually include the common fallacies, definitions, deduction, induction, and argument by analogy.
Attributes: HHSM HHUM SQ YLIBPHIL-123C P2 Intro to Philosophy (3)
A course designed to acquaint the beginner with a range of philosophical issues and to help him or her appreciate the distinctive character and value of philosophical reflection and argument.
Typically offered:
Attributes: P2 YLIB
Fall, Spring & SummerPHIL-124C P2 Introductory Ethics (3)
Problems faced by contemporary human beings and in contemporary society are examined through the lens of various ethical theories with a view to discovering whether there are any fundamental principles whereby all people may and ought to direct their lives.
Typically offered:
Attributes: P2 YLIB
Fall, Spring & SummerPHIL-201C P1 Philosophy through Film (3)
This course introduces students to Philosophy through an examination both of thoughtful films and of relevant writings by noted philosophers. It covers major areas of philosophy such as theories of knowledge (epistemology); the study of ultimate reality (metaphysics); the evaluation of life-purpose, conduct, and character (ethics); theories concerning what is a legitimate and/or ideal state (political philosophy); and theories of beauty and art (aesthetics).
Attributes: P1 YLIBPHIL-203 Renaissance Thinking (3)
Course exploring contributions of Galileo on the heavenly bodies (Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Johannes Kepler), Vesalius on human anatomy, Brunelleschi on linear perspective, and Leonardo da Vinci on mathematics, illustrating the Neoplatonist view that the underlying reality of the world we perceive is essentially mathematical, while Machiavelli’s contributions relate to a model of power.
Attributes: YLIBPHIL-211C P2 Ancient Philosophy (3)
A study of how philosophy began in ancient Greece and came to maturity in the work of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and subsequent “schools” of thought such as the Stoic, Skeptic, and Epicurean.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-215C P2 American Philosophy (3)
A study of some prominent strands of American thought from colonial and revolutionary times through the pragmatists to the present, including authors such as Edwards, Madison, Emerson, Thoreau, Peirce, William James, and Dewey.
Attributes: AMHU P2 YLIBPHIL-221C P2 Metaphysics (3)
Basic questions on such topics as the nature of existence, universals and particulars, material objects, knowledge, truth, causality, infinity, existence of God, and the freedom of the will are raised as part of an effort to develop a philosophy of being.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-222P P2 Philosophy of Religion (3)
A philosophical study of God and faith. Topics usually include arguments for God’s existence, the attributes of God, the nature of religious belief, miracles, the problem of evil, religious experience, and religious language.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-223C P1 Philosophy of Art (3)
Introduces students to thinking philosophically about the nature of art and its relation to other human experiences. Among the topics considered are the aesthetic experience, the relation between morality and art, ugliness in art, and truth in art.
Attributes: P1 YLIBPHIL-228C P2 Philosophy Through Lit (3)
A course based on the conviction that novels, plays, short stories, and other types of literature frequently have a philosophical dimension that profoundly repays closely reasoned attention. Notable literary works are typically juxtaposed with philosophical works dealing with similar themes.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-230D CC Philosophy of Education (3)
The course examines modern approaches to the philosophy of education, with emphasis on the work of thinkers such as Plato, Rousseau, Maritain, Whitehead, and Dewey. Topics include educational theory, the role of the school in society, the philosophical assumptions of curriculum development, and the problems of teacher accountability.
Attributes: CC YLIBPHIL-235 P2 Environmental Ethics (3)
Environmental ethics applies moral thinking to the natural world and the relationship between humans and the earth. Moral reasoning is not a substitute for science, but it provides a powerful complement to scientific knowledge about the earth. Science and economics provide data, information, and knowledge. Environmental ethics turns to this information and asks: how then, should we live? Why should we care? Environmental ethics builds on scientific understanding by bringing human values, moral principles, and improved decision-making into conversation with science.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-240C P4 Symbolic Logic (3)
The formal study of validity, of deductive systems and their properties, and of some aspects of the philosophy of logic. Topics covered include some or all of the following: propositional calculus, predicate logic, paradoxes of logic, and meta-logic. The completion of PHIL 100C Basic Logic prior to enrollment in this course is desirable but not essential.
Attributes: P4 YLIBPHIL-250C P2 Bioethics (3)
A course in applied ethics that concentrates on moral problems in the medical and biological professions. Topics include physician/patient interactions, nursing ethics, human genome research, environmental concerns, euthanasia, informed consent, human experimentation, allocation of limited medical resources, and whether there is a right to healthcare. The emphasis is on reasoned decision-making. A variety of specific case studies is examined.
Typically offered:
Attributes: HHUM P2 YLIB
Fall, Spring & SummerPHIL-260C P3 Philosophy of Law (3)
An examination of the fundamental principles and approaches to American law and legal practice. Topics usually include critical analysis of the legislative and judicial power of government, natural law, legal positivism, disobedience and punishment, criminal and civil procedures, and justice.
Attributes: P3 YLIBPHIL-270C P2 Political Philosophy (3)
An examination of such issues as the justification of civil authority, the nature and purpose of law, the existence of natural rights, private interest versus the public good, and nation-states as bearers of moral responsibility.
Typically offered:
Attributes: P2 YLIB
SpringPHIL-273C Business Ethics (3)
A study of philosophical issues connected with contemporary business practices. Topics covered normally include economic justice, corporate social responsibility, the profit motive, government regulation, private ownership, conflict of interest, investment and production, advertising, environmental responsibility, and reverse discrimination.
Typically offered:
Attributes: YLIB
Fall & SpringPHIL-312C P2 Medieval Philosophy (3)
A study of the development of philosophy in the period from St. Augustine to William of Ockham. Special attention is paid to the collision between Greek philosophical ideas and Christian revelation and to the emergence of distinctively Christian philosophies such as the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Sometimes the course attempts a broad survey of the entire period; more often, it provides detailed probing of the thought of a few major thinkers. The emphasis for a particular year is regularly announced at course registration time. This course may be repeated with change of content as PHIL 412 (chair’s permission required).
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-313C P2 Modern Philosophy (3)
A study of selected philosophers in the 17th and 18th centuries, typically ranging from Descartes to Kant, with special attention to the classical idealists and empiricists. This course may be repeated with change of content as PHIL 413 (chair’s permission required).
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-314C P2 Topics in Contemp Phil (3)
A study of some major philosophical developments from circa 1900 to the present, typically selected from among pragmatism, logical positivism, phenomenology, linguistic analysis, process philosophy, dialectical materialism, neo-Thomism, and existentialism. This course may be repeated with change of content as PHIL 414 and the department chair’s permission.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-316C P2 19th Cent Philosophy (3)
A critical study of works by such philosophers as the German thinkers Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Feuerbach and Marx. We will also look at the writings of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, the French philosopher Auguste Comte, the British philosopher John Stuart Mill, and the American philosophers Charles Peirce, William James, W.E.B. Du Bois and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-324C SQ Philosophy of Science (3)
An attempt to appreciate the ways and parameters of knowing and demonstrating proper methods in natural science, social science, and philosophy. In addition, the course may also examine the bearing of discoveries in the sciences on longstanding philosophical questions.
Attributes: HHSM HHUM SQ YLIBPHIL-330C P2 Theories of Knowledge (3)
Epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, examines how we come to know what we know. This course covers historical and contemporary approaches to the question of what knowledge is, what makes a belief true, and how beliefs are justified. Philosophical skepticism, the position that we actually know nothing at all, will also be discussed, as will possible responses. Other topics include feminist epistemology, naturalism, induction, the ethics of belief, and the nature of the scientific method.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-340 Phil and Jurisprudence (3)
This seminar will explore key contemporary issues and texts in jurisprudence in a rigorous and critical manner. Topics covered will include the meaning of legal justice, the interpretation of legal texts, the relation of judicial decisions to legislative practices and others.
Attributes: LEST YLIBPHIL-350C P2 Renaissance Seminar (3)
The focus is typically on postmedieval, premodern thinkers such as Montaigne, Machiavelli, More and Erasmus. The course is open to students who have previously had at least three and preferably six hours of Philosophy.
Attributes: P2 YLIBPHIL-496 Independent Research (1 TO 4)
Investigation of the work of a major philosopher or philosophical movement, under the direction of one of the Philosophy Department staff. Registration is normally restricted to philosophy majors in their junior or senior year. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required.
Typically offered:
Attributes: YLIB
Fall, Spring & SummerPHIL-1022 Practical Philosophy (3)
This course explores various philosophical concepts and theories, applying these to subjects and situations relevant to the particular theme of the affiliated Learning Community.
Typically offered:
Attributes: LC YLIB
Fall
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-1023 Peace & Conflict Transform (3)
Conflicts are part of human relationships, and they may arise between individuals, groups of people, institutions, or nations. The challenge is to understand conflicts as an opportunity for better relationships and how to transform them to create sustained peace. This course examines injustice, violence, and conflict mostly through the lens of circle processes, conflict transformation, restorative justice, and the idea of sustained peace. The aim of the class is to help students understand and analyze injustice, violence, and conflict – while assisting them in thinking about ethical solutions that may bring more peace to the world through healthier, enduring relationships.
Attributes: LC YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-1024 Roch Indigenous Traditions (3)
This class will focus on Indigenous philosophies, with a special emphasis on the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois), whose traditional territory encompasses most of what we now call “New York State.” Readings will set a foundation for thinking ecologically and for reconsidering the place of human beings within the many relations that constitute our home (Mother Earth). This reorientation will lead to sustained examinations of what it means to be living our lives in Rochester, NY. The underlying question is this: How does learning about Indigenous philosophies and traditions from the Rochester area lead us to a new and deeper sense of who we are as human beings?
Typically offered:
Attributes: LC YLIB
Fall
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-1025 Prin of Ethical Leadership (3)
Ethics involves considerations of right and wrong (good and bad) and how to relate to each other in ways that avoid or minimize harms while bringing benefits to the world. This course will combine ethics with leadership to consider how ethical leaders can interact with others to make the world a better place. We will look at various forms of leadership, but we will focus primarily on the transformational leadership model. Course content will link leadership and ethics with social justice issues, such as racism, sexism, and ecological degradation.
Typically offered:
Attributes: LC YLIB
Fall
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-1026 Philosophy of Happiness (3)
Everyone wants to be happy but just what is “happiness”? In this course, we will examine the rich philosophical exploration of this topic, from the Ancient Greeks, Medieval clerics, Renaissance essayists, and Modern thinkers, to present day “Happiness Studies.” We’ll explore such topics as “Is happiness a virtue?” “What is the relationship between friendship and happiness?” “Is happiness an emotion, a rational concept, or a combination of both?” and “Is it possible to help others to be happy?”
Attributes: LC YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-1027 Philosophy of Nonviolence (3)
This course explores the role that philosophy plays in dealing with conflict in society. We will discuss the nature and roots of conflict, the morality of violence, the principles of civil discourse, the methods of nonviolent resistance to injustice, the dynamics of social change, and the prospects for perpetual peace. We will also use this material to analyze historic and recent case studies, and develop action plans to address ongoing social conflicts.
Attributes: LC YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-1299 Research-based Writing (3)
Students study and practice skills central to academic and professional research through the development of independent, inquiry-based projects. In their projects, student assert, support, and integrate their own positions into scholarly conversation based in research. Students develop competency in the location, evaluation, analysis and documentation of sources that represent a range of different perspectives on important issues.
Typically offered:
Attributes: RW YLIB ZRES
Spring
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman, Sophomore -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-2101 Critical Citizenship (3)
Students will gain the knowledge, skills, and perspectives they need to become contributing citizens in a diverse and complex society. These experiences help ensure a commitment to collaboratively working across and within community contexts and structures to achieve civic aims in a democracy.
Typically offered:
Attributes: CCE YLIB
Spring
Restrictions: Excluding: -Class: Freshman, Senior -Attribute: New Core 20-21PHIL-2201 No Fooling (3)
This course takes its inspiration from Richard Feynman’s famous quote: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.” We’ll examine some of the many ways humans might be fooling themselves (and others) on a wide variety of topics: e.g., scams, hoaxes, urban legends, phenomena like ESP and UFOs. We’ll look at techniques and tools – from logic, psychology, and science – which can help prevent us from being fooled. Along the way, we will touch on some ethical issues as well, such as the importance of intellectual autonomy, integrity, and honesty in arriving at our conclusions.
Attributes: CIA YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Attribute: New Core 20-21; Excluding: -Class: Freshman, SeniorPHIL-2301 Indigenous Issues Today (3)
Indigenous Issues Today will explore the challenges Indigenous nations and peoples continue to face in North America and around the world. Because of St. John Fisher University’s placement in traditional Seneca Nation territory, special emphasis will be given to the topics of New York State and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Students will be exposed to Indigenous philosophies, histories and cultures, the disrupting legacies of colonization, and considerations of working with different people.
Typically offered:
Attributes: DEI YLIB
SpringPHIL-2401 The Ethics of War and Peace (3)
Students are introduced to the various moral dilemmas which war poses, such as: how should noncombatants be treated?; should terrorists be given the right to trial?’ would the use of chemical or biological weapons ever be morally justified?; and is obedience to authority a moral obligation even if one feels that to follow the order would be a human rights violation? Particular emphasis is placed throughout the course on the role pacifism has played over the years in addressing such dilemmas.
Typically offered:
Attributes: ER YLIB
Spring
Restrictions: Including: -Attribute: New Core 20-21; Excluding: -Class: Freshman, SeniorPHIL-2402 Ethics Goes to the Movies (3)
This course introduces students to ethical theory through examining thoughtful films and through selected writings
of noted philosophers. It will cover the major theories of ethics, including natural law, deontology, utilitarianism,
existentialism, and the ethics of care by carefully analyzing moral positions found in motion pictures.Typically offered:
Attributes: ER YLIB
Fall & Spring
Restrictions: Excluding: -Class: Freshman, SeniorPHIL-2403 US Debate-Buddhist Eth Per (3)
Courses and textbooks on ethics often neglect non-Western ethical perspectives, such as those found in Buddhist philosophies. This course, however, will examine values, ethical principles, contemporary ethical debates, and the good life through the lens of Buddhist ethics. While Buddhist approaches to ethics, philosophy, and reasoning and debate will form the foundation of this course, they will be studied in conversation with Western theories on ethics, critical thinking, and debate. Through class dialogues, group discussions and critical analyses, short writing assignments, and debates, students will practice applying ethical theories and argumentation skills to real-life ethical issues throughout the semester. In the end, students will gain ethical reasoning and problems-solving skills that will be of use in their personal, professional, and civic lives.
Attributes: ER YLIB
Restrictions: Excluding: -Class: Freshman, SeniorPHIL-2404 The Good Life (3)
Socrates famously said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” In this course, we will heed Socrates’s advice and consider what it means to live a good life. Together we will examine what values and priorities guide our individual and collective lives and think about whether these are consistent with a good life. Our thinking will be informed by various philosophical frameworks, which will include some or all of the following: Buddhism, Virtue Ethics, Utilitarianism, Rights-Based Ethics, Care-Based Ethics, and Pragmatism. Drawing on examples from popular culture, the news, literature, film, and our own experience, we will ask questions such as, “What is happiness?”, “Can one think one is happy but be mistaken?”, “Is living a good life connected or dependent on others?”, “What role does wealth play in being able to lead a good life?”, “Can one be truly happy if one lives a life in isolation?“, “Is work essential to living well?”, and “Must we connect with nature to live well?”
Typically offered:
Attributes: ER YLIB
Fall & Spring
Restrictions: Excluding: -Class: Freshman, SeniorPHIL-2405 Who Cares?Care-BasedEthics (3)
From the moment we are born, caring is an essential part of living. We thrive in this world only when we are cared for well and only when we care for others. Most obviously, caring is involved in child-rearing, family life, friendships, intimate relationships, education, and health care. Less obviously, but equally important, caring is also involved (or sometimes problematically absent) in other social institutions such as business, politics, law, and entertainment. This course will explore what it means to care ethically and will consider what caring well would mean when applied to specific contexts and institutions. Students taking this course will engage in not only philosophical examination of what it means to care ethically but will also consider what it might mean for them, as individuals, to live a care-focused lives and what it would mean, as a society, for our institutions to place caring at their center. Case-based and problem-based learning will be a central focus of the course.
Attributes: ER YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Attribute: New Core 20-21; Excluding: -Class: Freshman, SeniorPHIL-3990 Adv Research-Based Writing (3)
Students develop an inquiry-based project by conducting in-depth research using discipline-specific practices that result in transferable research and writing. Students build on the critical thinking and writing competencies they have previously acquired to engage topics and ideas in the field. Students formulate important questions or problems, identify and examine appropriate sources, and use evidence in order to substantiate their own claims. They acknowledge and address alternative explanations in scholarly conversations and revise their work accordingly. Outcomes of the project are communicated in both written and oral form or on other media platforms.
Typically offered:
Attributes: AWC YLIB
Spring
Restrictions: Including: -Attribute: New Core 20-21; Excluding: -Class: Freshman, Sophomore
CLST-200C P5 Worlds Greece & Rome (3)
Focusing primarily on Athens in the age of Pericles and on Rome in its “golden age,” this is a look at and an appreciation of civilizations and individuals, worlds and world views, primarily through the medium of translated texts of notable Greek and Roman authors.
Attributes: P5 YLIBCLST-210C P5 Love in Ancient World (3)
A look at love in ancient Greece and Rome, primarily through the lens of literature but also with reference to philosophy, history (including love-magic), and art. Authors include ancient novelists, plus poets such as Ovid, Catullus, Homer, and Anacreon.
Attributes: P5 WGST YLIBCLST-225D P5 Sport & Spectacle (3)
This course surveys the origin and development of competitive athletics and various types of public spectacle throughout the ancient world, beginning with the funeral games of classical epic and concluding with the banning of the Olympics in 394 A.D. by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II. Although the principle focus of this course is on ancient sport, we also examine such institutions as hunting, political and military pageantry, gladiatorial combat in its multiple varieties, popular street entertainments, and public execution.
Attributes: P5 YLIBCLST-230D P5 Ancient GRK Historians (3)
This course endeavors to look at the Ancient Greeks through their own eyes as well as our own via the study of their most notable historians. Authors usually covered include Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Arrian and Plutarch. Their themes range in time from the Greeks’ wars for their freedom, waged against the Persian Empire, to the conquests of Alexander the Great.
Attributes: P5 YLIB
GREK-101C P5 Beginning Greek I (3)
Based on ancient authors, the courses in classical Greek are designed to foster a reading knowledge of the language while also developing an appreciation of the culture and achievements of ancient Greece and Rome. Attention is paid to Greek’s influence on English as well as to the sound of ancient Greek.
Attributes: P5 YLIBGREK-102C P5 Beginning Greek II (3)
Based on ancient authors, the courses in classical Greek are designed to foster a reading knowledge of the language while also developing an appreciation of the culture and achievements of ancient Greece and Rome. Attention is paid to Greek’s influence on English as well as to the sound of ancient Greek.
Attributes: P5 YLIB
Pre-requisites: GREK-101C C
LATN-101C P5 Beginning Latin I (3)
Based on ancient authors, the courses in Latin are designed to foster a reading knowledge of classical Latin while developing an appreciation of the culture and achievements of ancient Rome. Attention is paid to Latin’s influence on English as well as to the sound of Latin.
Attributes: P5 YLIBLATN-102C P5 Beginning Latin II (3)
Based on ancient authors, the courses in Latin are designed to foster a reading knowledge of classical Latin while developing an appreciation of the culture and achievements of ancient Rome. Attention is paid to Latin’s influence on English as well as to the sound of Latin.
Attributes: P5 YLIB
Pre-requisites: LATN-101C C