Department of Social Sciences

Philosophy

• PHIL 2. Introduction to Philosophy: Moral and Political Philosophy (3)
  Lec-3
  An examination of such questions as: Are value and moral judgments only the conventional prejudices of society or are there conditions under which value judgments can be rationally defended? If there are such grounds, what are they? If not, what consequences, if any, follow from ethical skepticism? Can value judgments about individuals or societies be justified on rationally acceptable grounds? CSU/UC/CAN PHIL 4

• PHIL 4. Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Its Limits (3)
  Lec-3
  The tools and techniques of philosophical reasoning: reading argumentative prose; analyzing conceptual models; writing critical essays. Problems of knowledge: the criteria of reliable knowledge; the formulation and justification of beliefs; the sources and limits of knowledge; beliefs about the physical world, the past and future, and other minds. Critical standards applied to related metaphysical issues: theism, mind and self-identity, determinism. CSU/UC/CAN PHIL 2

• PHIL 12A. Symbolic Logic (4)
  Lec-5
  Prereq.: MATH 860 or placement in MATH 90 or 2 yrs. high school algebra
  The study of logical relationships (consistency, equivalency, and entailment) by way of models and procedures in a symbolic system. The concept of proof and the demands of formal proofs. Methods of demonstrating logical relationships, including truth tables, derivations in sentence and predicate logic, and semantic interpretations. The relation between conventional languages and symbolic encodings. A selection of related theoretical topics, including proofs of soundness and consistency for the calculi, and elementary set theory. CSU/UC/CAN PHIL 6

• PHIL 12B. Symbolic Logic (3)
  Lec-3
  Prereq.: PHIL 12A
  Semantic interpretations and the predicate calculus; identity; metatheorems; proofs of completeness, consistency and soundness; axiomatics; formalized theories; the history of logic. CSU/UC

• PHIL 25A. Ancient Philosophy (3)
  Lec-3
  The origins of the philosophical-scientific tradition. Early attempts at rational explanations of the natural world. Socrates and the foundations of moral critism. Plato: his articulation of the problems of knowledge, and contributions to moral and political theory. Aristotle: his organization of scientific enquiry, formulation of ethical theory, and development of the science of logic. The philosophic tradition after Aristotle. CSU/UC/CAN PHIL 8 (CAN PHIL SEQ A = PHIL 25A+25C)

• PHIL 25C. Modern Philosophy through Kant (3)
  Lec-3
  The philosophical tradition from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Emphasis on new models of human knowledge and human nature formulated in reaction to scientific and social revolutions. Positions of thinkers such as Descartes, Hume and Kant on basic questions such as "Can anything be known with certainty?" "Are there any justifiable mora principles?", "Is there any purpose to existence?" CSU/UC/CAN PHIL 10 (CAN PHIL SEQ A = PHIL 25A+25C)

• PHIL 40. Logic: An Introduction to Critical Thinking (3)
  Lec-3 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. CR/NC avail.
  A course in practical reasoning. How to distinguish between reasons that are rational and those that are not. Methods of evaluating arguments that will lead to the truth. CSU/UC

• PHIL 51-52-53. Selected Topics in Philosophy (1-2-3)
  Lec-1,2,3
  Repeat: if no topic repeat
  Investigation of a broad range of ideas, issues, figures, and movements. CSU

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