Academic Bulletin 2023-2024
Course Search
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To search for a course satisfying the Distribution Requirements in effect for students who entered Allegheny College in Fall 2016 or after please do the following:
- In the “Keyword or Phrase” box below, enter one of the eight Distribution Requirement abbreviations as a search term in quotation marks: “CL”, “HE”, “IP”, “ME”, “PD”, “QR”, “SB”, or “SP”.
- To search within a specific department or program, select the desired department from the “Rubric” drop down menu and enter the Distribution Requirement abbreviation in quotation marks in the “Keyword or Phrase” box (i.e., “HE”).
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Philosophy |
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PHIL 120 - Learning from Arguments
Credits: 4
A study of how we gain knowledge about a subject when we engage with arguments. Students learn the difference between disagreements and arguments, practice recognizing and critiquing the assumptions or premises of an argument, and experience entertaining a perspective different from their own. These skills are gained through engagement with controversies such as whether we have free will; whether taxation, abortion, or eating animals is ethical; how what’s ethical is determined; whether death is something to be feared; and whether knowledge is possible.
Distribution Requirements: ME, SB.
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PHIL 130 - Values and Knowledge
Credits: 4
An introduction to the connections between the values and the ways of knowing that are characteristic of modern western culture. The course focuses upon the pursuit and justification of knowledge and scientific understanding and the ethical and political values that are implicit in those endeavors.
Distribution Requirements: CL, SP.
Not open to seniors.
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PHIL 140 - Ethics and Community
Credits: 4
An examination of contemporary challenges facing democracy as an ideal for the moral life and the moral community.
Distribution Requirements: CL, PD.
Not open to seniors.
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PHIL 165 - The Examined Life: Philosophy Through the Ages
Credits: 4
An introduction to western philosophy through discussion of questions that have challenged thinkers from ancient Greece to the 21st century: questions about human knowledge, the relation of mind and body, the nature of reality, free will, the existence of God, social justice, ethics, and the meaning of life.
Distribution Requirements: CL, HE.
Not open to seniors.
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PHIL 205 - Literature, Film and Medicine: Ethical Perspectives
Credits: 4
A philosophical and interdisciplinary study of how narrative forms- literature, cinema, and memoir-may be applied in medical contexts. Through critical discussion of a diversity of works ranging over individual experiences of disease, disability, and end-of-life, students learn how engagement with fictional and autobiographical narratives can enhance the study of healthcare ethics. Topics include dimensions of the healing relationship, questions of meaning in the face of suffering and disease, crossing cultural boundaries, and extending our knowledge of the human experience of mortality.
Distribution Requirements: HE.
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PHIL 210 - Oppression and Liberation
Credits: 4
An overview of analyses of oppression and theories of liberation generated by groups traditionally marginalized in the United States.
Distribution Requirements: CL, PD.
Not open to first-year students.
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PHIL 215 - Democracy As a Way of Life
Credits: 4
A study of U.S. philosopher John Dewey’s idea that democracy is a way of life and of current conditions that undermine this way of living. Among the conditions examined are race relations and white supremacy, oppression of LGBTQ people, neoliberalism and empire, and education.
Distribution Requirements: CL, PD.
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PHIL 220 - Epistemology: The Theory of Knowledge
Credits: 4
What do you really know, and how can you justify your claims to know? This course examines the ways in which philosophers have attempted to answer these questions. It considers skepticism about the possibility of any certain knowledge, presents analysis of reasonable and unreasonable uses and interpretations of the term “truth,” and explores recent failed attempts to provide foundations for knowledge in empirical evidence.
Distribution Requirements: HE.
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PHIL 230 - Science in Its Cultural Setting
Credits: 4
A study of the structure and justification of scientific theory and of the activities of scientists engaged in theory development. A theoretical component of the course concerns the logical processes of theory acceptance and rejection. That component is fleshed out in historical study of theory development in one or two notable episodes in the history of science, such as the Copernican revolution in astronomy or the development of Darwinian theory in biology.
Prerequisite: One course in Philosophy, or one course in natural science, or permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: CL, SP.
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PHIL 240 - Mind and Brain
Credits: 4
A philosophical exploration of historical and current attempts to understand and to model human thought. A study of episodes in the long tradition of the study of mind and brain in philosophy is connected to current work within the disciplines of neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. Students read the writings of past and contemporary philosophers and practitioners within the other disciplines mentioned.
Prerequisite: One course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor.
Distribution Requirements: HE, SP.
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PHIL 250 - Philosophy and the Arts
Credits: 4
An introduction to a wide range of issues arising in connection with the arts. Students consider the nature of art, aesthetic perception and experience, aesthetic value, expression, representation, interpretation and criticism of the arts, morality and art, and the influence of postmodernism on art and aesthetics. The main ideas of such figures as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Freud are discussed alongside those of contemporary philosophers and artists.
Distribution Requirements: HE.
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PHIL 260 - Ancient Greek Philosophy
Credits: 4
A comprehensive introduction to ancient Greek philosophy covering the pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Through close study and discussion of a range of original texts (in translation), students engage the main ideas of these philosophers on such themes as the nature of reality, the soul, knowledge, virtue, and the good life for humans.
Distribution Requirements: CL, HE.
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PHIL 270 - Early Modern Philosophy: Science and Knowledge
Credits: 4
A study of translated writings from European thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries on epistemology, the description of the human mind, and the justification of scientific understanding. Authors may include Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Hume and Kant. The authors present positions relevant to a number of philosophical movements, including the Mechanical Philosophy, Rationalism, Empiricism and Transcendental Philosophy.
Prerequisite: One course in Philosophy.
Distribution Requirements: HE.
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PHIL 275 - Black American Thinkers
Credits: 4
An examination of selected works from the rich and complex tapestry of black American thought from David Walker (1830) to the present. Authors articulate conceptions of blackness, justice, and fair political order that stand in contrast to current conditions in the United States as well as recommending methods for resisting these conditions. Reponses to, and examination of, slavery and/or subsequent efforts to marginalize and control black women, men and youth are the primary focus of the course.
Distribution Requirements: PD.
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PHIL 285 - Business and Management Ethics
Credits: 4
A consideration of ethical practice within the activities of management professionals. Case studies are considered in the light of philosophical theories of the good, of ethical action, and of individual and social purposes. Examples include the development, sale, and marketing of dangerous or damaging products such as tobacco; the responsibilities borne by management toward various stakeholder groups; and the roles of political influence and bribery at home and in other nations. Discussion is cast in the language of business ethics and is also relevant to management activity in governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Distribution Requirements: HE, SB.
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PHIL 310 - Global Justice
Credits: 4
An examination of the difficulties facing the ideals of democracy, international aid and development as global and multicultural movements. We consider the justice of such institutions from the perspectives of international responsibilities and local self-determination.
Prerequisite: PHIL 140 or PHIL 210 or permission of the instructor.
Distribution Requirements: CL, IP.
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PHIL 340 - Freedom, Addiction and the Opioid Crisis
Credits: 4
A study of what happens to human agency and choice in cases of addiction. This course explores how addiction, agency, and choice are framed by philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, sociology, and anthropology. Students read and discuss journal articles as well as ethnographic narratives of addiction. Topics include the opioid epidemic, moral responsibility, the role of social policies, social stigma, and comparisons between the US and other cultures. Listening to guest speakers, including recovering addicts, is among one of the learning tools.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.
Distribution Requirements: CL, SB.
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PHIL 385 - Medical Ethics
Credits: 4
A study of the principles of medical ethics as applied to case studies. After studying the nature and foundations of the principles of medical ethics, students present oral and written analyses of medical cases that pose significant ethical issues.
Distribution Requirements: CL, SP.
Not open to first-year students.
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PHIL 529 - Internship: Philosophy
Credits: 1-4
Academic study completed in support of an internship experience with a partner institution. An Allegheny faculty member assigns and evaluates the academic work done by the student. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: none.
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PHIL 580 - Philosophy Seminar
Credits: 4
An advanced study of a problem or central figure in philosophy. Course content changes substantially from year to year; consequently, seminars offered under this number may be taken more than once. See department members to discuss, and perhaps to suggest, upcoming offerings. May be repeated for credit. Must be taken on the letter-grade basis.
Prerequisite: At least one course in Philosophy and permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: none.
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PHIL 590 - Independent Study
Credits: 1-4
May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: none.
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PHIL 600 - Senior Project Tutorial
Credits: 2
Preparation for the Senior Project; preliminary research and project proposal including a discussion of how work done outside the department for the major will be integrated into the project. Must be taken Credit/No Credit.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: none.
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PHIL 610 - Senior Project
Credits: 4
Final research, presentation and defense of the Senior Project. Must be taken on the letter-grade basis.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Distribution Requirements: none.
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