2020-2021 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Courses
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MUSC 172 - Concert Band
Concert Band consists of 25 members performing two major concerts a year.
Prerequisites: Audition required
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 173 - Chamber Music Ensembles
Small Chamber Music groups, vary in instrumentation, depending on auditions/enrollment at the beginning of each semester are coached by music faculty instructors of Clark University. These groups have extending opportunities to work on amazing chamber music repertoire and perform it on/off campus in recitals.
Prerequisites: Audition required.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 174 - Jazz Workshop and Combo
Includes ensemble performance practice with weekly rehearsals throughout the year.
Prerequisites: Audition required
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 175 - Clark Sinfonia
The Clark Sinfonia is a string orchestra, which expands to include wind players for some repertoire. It offers two major concerts a year.
Prerequisites: Audition required
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 176 - A Capella Singing & Performance
Designed for students who sing, or are interested in singing, in an a capella group or a choir, this course introduces the fundamental aspects of a capella singing and conducting. Topics covered will include the anatomy of the voice and classical vocal technique; alternative vocal techniques including beat box, scat, overtone singing and yodeling; basic conducting and expressiveness through gesture; effective rehearsal practices; lyric diction; basic harmony, intonation and blend; and how musical structure affects performance practices. The format of the class will alternate between seminar and lab. All students are expected to sing.
Course Designation/Attribute: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: bi-annually
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MUSC 180 - Individual Instruction
Private Instruction in Instruments and Voice Areas offered include: piano, jazz piano, voice, jazz vocal, clarinet, saxophone, flute, classical guitar, jazz guitar, violin, viola French horn, trumpet, bassoon, trombone and low brass, cello, percussion, string bass, and conducting. In areas not currently offered at Clark, the music program will find a qualified instructor. Music 180 is covered by tuition and receives course credit (two semesters of MUSC180 is one full course unit). Students enrolled in MUSC180 meet weekly with an instructor, participate in two music workshops, and fulfill a concert attendance requirement. Only declared music majors and minors are eligible to take MUSC180.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 201 - Music, Media & Public Spheres
Much of studying music at school focuses on the acquisition of skills, techniques and technological proficiencies for performance & composition, the development of an historical, formal and critical understanding of musical styles, and the presentation of this knowledge to the University community. “Music–making, Media & Public Spheres” presumes this background, but shifts the focus toward the world off-campus. This course is primarily intended as a platform to provide support to students as they design and complete their capstone projects that involve music. The presumption is that these projects will contain a significant component that is directed to off-campus constituencies (audiences, other music professionals, businesses, entrepreneurial enterprises). A project might consist of preparing, planning and executing an off-campus concert or recital, or designing and mounting a netLabel (a record label that distributes its music primarily through digital audio formats), which publicly presents recordings of student–produced music. This seminar will provide a context and support for these endeavors both academically and as a community of practice. This community will include both student musicians (composers, performers, critics, technologist) as well as Communication & Culture students interested the production of musical media. This course will begin with a through study of how musical media structures public spheres, as well as how people use musical media to participate in the public sphere. Subsequent units will address issues related to contemporary contexts for musical creation, professional and commercial musical industries and institutions, the Internet as a determining site for music–making and consumption, and music as a live event.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year.
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MUSC 210 - Topics in Music History and Criticism
The Music History Seminar takes up specific topics and themes in music history that open onto larger cultural contexts and interdisciplinary lines of inquiry. The seminar is based on active discussion and student research with a depth and a focus not possible in a survey course, and will develop the student’s critical skills, as well as the ability to write and talk about music in meaningful ways. Seminar topics change each year. The course welcomes music majors and minors, as well as interested students from other disciplines. May be taken more than once for credit. MUSC 102 and/or MUSC 104 are recommended, but not required.
Spring 2020 Topic Reflections and Repertoire
Reflections and Repertoire presents students with a broad survey of concert music repertoire, inciting them to discern both the obvious and subtle features of a score when rendered for performance. Students will practice the skills of critical and analytical listening, and reflect frequently about what they perceive aurally and pair these reflections with research into historical context and theoretical analysis, in order to build their own ideas about interpretation and performance.
The bulk of the academic work of this course leans on independent listening and theoretical analysis, which can be done individually, or collaboratively in study groups. Class lectures will provide overarching context and prompts for classwork, and class discussions facilitate group exploration of concepts and comparison of notes. Reflections and Repertoire incites students to synthesize the knowledge and skills learned through their broader musical and non-musical studies and use these to become more learned interpreters of music as a living, developing art.”
May be repeated for credit.
Course Designation/Attribute: HP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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MUSC 219 - From Wagnerism to Nazism: the grandeur and catastrophe of German music
This seminar addresses the rise and catastrophic fall of music in the context of German culture and politics from the late nineteenth century to 1945, with a focus on those strains of Germanic musical culture that contributed, directly and indirectly, to the rise of Nazism. The seminar will start by surveying the complicated roles played by music, especially Wagner and Wagnerism, in German culture in the later nineteenth century, before critically examining musical life in the Third Reich, fascist aesthetics, the exploitation of music in Nazi culture, the persecution of Jewish musicians-as well as resistance and creative responses, and finally reflecting on issues related to the lingering impacts of these developments. We will engage with the conceptual as well as musical and historical dimensions of these topics, which include important issues of mass aesthetics and media theory.
Prerequisites: Any MUSC course, MCA 101, HIST 165 or 175, or permission of the instructor
Course Designation/Attribute: HP
Anticipated Terms Offered: biannually
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MUSC 220 - Composition Seminar
Rotating topics include composition, film music (Soundtracks), musical analysis, orchestration and contemporary performance practice.
Prerequisites: MUSC 121 and MUSC 122
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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MUSC 225 - Jazz and Popular Music Composition and Performance
This course provides students the opportunity to collaborate in the composition and performance of their own jazz and popular music. Students take the course either as composers, performers or critics, and each choice has its own specific set of course requirements, creating a thoroughly integrated community of practice. Each week students workshop their original compositions, constructively critique other student works and discuss important and influential repertoire in jazz and popular music. Fulfills an Aesthetic Perspective.
Prerequisites: Pre-requisite, MUSC 121 or interview/audition
Course Designation/Attribute: AP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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MUSC 230 - Senior Tutorial in Music History
Develops work (e.g., a paper, composition or performance) in consultation with the instructor. For majors only.
Prerequisites: Instructor permission.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 235 - Community Music and Social Action
How can artists and arts managers/administrators contribute as citizens of a democracy? In what ways can people committed to the arts serve the wider world through their work? In this course, we will explore arts education and policy as it relates to positive social change, and examine artistic initiatives that have been focused on positive social impact.
In this course we will develop a response to these questions, and we will explore the notion that the classical musician, the artist, is an important public figure with a critical role to play in society. The course will include inquiry into a set of ideas in philosophy of aesthetics; a discussion about freedom, civil society, and ways that art can play a role in readying people for democracy; discussion on philosophy of education as it relates to the question of positive social change; and an exploration of musical and artistic initiatives that have been particularly focused on a positive social impact.
We will examine these questions from the perspective of theorists, educators, teachers, administrators and artists. All participants will have hands-on opportunities to engage with the community as part of the course, including working with youth in Neighborhood Strings, a free music program for the at-risk population of Main South, and/or interning with the Worcester Chamber Music Society or other prominent local arts organizations.
Course Designation/Attribute: AP & DI, POP
Anticipated Terms Offered: biannually
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MUSC 240 - Senior Tutorial in Composition
Develops work (e.g., a paper, composition or performance) in consultation with the instructor. For majors only.
Prerequisites: Instructor permission.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 242 - Soundtracks
How do sounds and music work in conjunction with (and against) moving images? This class will address this question, both on a practical, do-it-yourself level with a variety of exercises and projects, as well as through a critical and analytical approach with screenings, readings and discussion. The course is organized into three sections. First, we will examine the elements of narrative sound and introduce the practice of audiovisual analysis. In the middle section of the class, we will focus on post-production techniques. This constellation of practices found in classic narrative films through contemporary ones (that is, the body of films with which most of us are most familiar) will be the subject of scrutiny and emulation through a series of exercises dealing with dialogue, music, and sound effects. Third, we will look at a variety of historical conventions‹sound and music in silent and transitional/early sound films as well as experimental cinema‹and concentrate on live performance of music and sound effects to accompany silent film.
Prerequisites: MUSC 141 or MCA 101 or SCRN 101
Anticipated Terms Offered: offered periodically
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MUSC 250 - Tutorial in Jazz Composition
Student writes original scores for performance by a workshop ensemble.
Prerequisites: MUSC 151 and permission of program director.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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MUSC 260 - Senior Tutorial in Theory
Student develops work (e.g., a paper, composition or performance) in consultation with the instructor. For majors only.
Prerequisites: Instructor permission.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 270 - Senior Tutorial in Computer Music
Develops work (e.g., a paper, composition or performance) in consultation with the instructor. For majors only.
Prerequisites: Instructor permission
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 280 - Private Instruction in Instruments and Voice (Honors Level)
Areas offered: same as MUSC 180 above. Students enroll in MUSC 280 for the final two semesters of the honors track, and a fell recital is required as the culminating project for those two semesters.
Prerequisites: Four semesters of MUSC 180 .
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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MUSC 290 - Capstone Project
This course provides the student with faculty supervision, advising, and mentoring as s/he prepares an independent senior-year project. The course is only open to seniors
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MUSC 291 - Portfolio Masterclass
Portfolio Masterclass is a course designed for third- and fourth-year music students to pursue independent studies and capstone projects in a collaborative environment. The course will bring together a collaborative group of students working on either capstone projects, junior or senior recitals, honors projects and other independent studies. By combining this diverse array of student work into one integrated workshop, the course will create an environment of critical self-reflection and shared learning through active involvement with the diverse disciplines encompassed by the music curriculum. May be repeatable for credit.
Prerequisites: MUSC 100 , MUSC 121 , MUSC 141
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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OM 4600 - Operations and Supply Chain Management
Operations management involves the efficient use of resources to create goods or services that satisfy the needs of customers and clients. In both the profit and nonprofit sectors, successful management requires economically rational decisions regarding the design and operation of processes that transform such resources into goods or services. The course develops students’ abilities to identify and structure operating problems and to identify appropriate techniques for resolving them. Examples of topics covered include: operations strategy, process analysis, location selection, capacity management and utilization, inventory management, quality management/assurance, project and supply chain management.
Prerequisites: BAN 4500
Anticipated Terms Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
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OM 5910 - Directed Research
For a directed research course, a student and professor design a self-study course based around a common research interest shared by both. A directed research must be approved by the professor and the Associate Dean of GSOM. It can be designed as either a 0.5 unit or 1 unit course. For questions or additional information, contact your academic advisor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Every Semester
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PA 1100 - Introduction to Nonprofit Management
This course provides a broad introduction to not-for-profit organizations-traditionally dedicated to providing a common service, furthering a particular social cause, or advocating a shared point of view-in the US. The focus will be on the history of non-profits, their structure, and identifying effective strategic, governance, and management approaches.
Anticipated Terms Offered: winter, summer
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PECO 101 - Introduction to Peace Studies
The 21st century has seen the proliferation of terrorism, war, and increasing economic and ecological precarity throughout much of the world. In these uncertain times, human and non-human exposure to vulnerably and violence has intensified. In a moment where coalescing fundamentalisms and right-wing populisms expand globally, what does it mean to be a ‘chisel of peace’? What does it mean, in other words, to resist mechanisms of violence without reproducing their terms, at home or abroad? What are the institutions, ethical codes, and moral principals of non-violent resistance? And when is violence justified? Offering an introductory survey of the interdisciplinary field of Peace and Conflict Studies, this course addresses these and other important questions.
Formerly PSTD 101
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Spring
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PHIL 100 - The Good Life
Healthy human beings want to be happy. We want to live good lives. But what can a person do to live a good life? What makes one life good and another not so good? What makes one person happy and another not? Are there significant connections between health, well-being, social involvement, ethical endeavor, worldly achievement, felt satisfaction, and living a good life? In this seminar we will use philosophical, psychological, religious, and literary works to explore some of the ways that human beings organize their lives, set fundamental goals and standards, and try to assess these. Our seminar will examine a range of possible life aims including the search for pleasure, cultivating personal excellence, the pursuit of wealth and power, contributing to the public good, ecological attunement, spiritual fulfillment, and having no aim at all.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 102 - Introduction to Philosophy
Introductory study of typical problems drawn from philosophy’s main branches. Topics vary and may include God’s existence, the nature of morality, skepticism, the nature of the mind, freedom vs. determinism, immortality and political theory. Readings are taken from both classic and contemporary sources.
Course Designation/Attribute: VE
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHIL 103 - Analytic Reasoning
This is a hands-on course, designed to help students improve a very important set of life skills, collectively referred to as “critical thinking.” While this is considered an informal logic course (because it analyzes reasoning within the natural language context), it goes beyond the principles of basic logic, encouraging students to ask thoughtful questions in their ongoing process of establishing a set of beliefs that can serve as a reliable roadmap of experience. Fulfills Formal Analysis (FA) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: FA
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every Fall
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PHIL 105 - Personal Values
A philosophical study of some fundamental human value concerns. Students learn some important moral theories and methods used to reason philosophically about moral questions. Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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PHIL 106 - Science, Religion and Reality
The seminar will address some basic issues in the philosphy of science and the philosophy of religion: What is science? What is reality? How do science and religion differ with regard to the relative roles played by faith and evidence in establishing knowledge claims about reality? Does science provide better explanations than theology or literature? How do religious arguments for the existence of God differ from scientific arguments for the existence of dark matter? Special attention will be given to developing students’ abilitites to read complex texts, write logically, think analytically and argue cogently. Fulfills the Verbal Expression requirement.
Prerequisites: You must be placed at the Verbal Expression level to be admitted into this seminar.
Course Designation/Attribute: VE
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 110 - Introduction to Symbolic Logic
An introduction to symbolic logic with attention to proofs within the formal system of first-order logic and translations from sentences in this formal language into sentences in ordinary English. (The department recommends that students not take this course as their introductory course to the major. The course material is mathematical in nature and is not representative of the topics and reading material typically found in other philosophy courses.) Fulfills the Formal Analysis (FA) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: FA
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every Fall semester
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PHIL 112 - Art and Morality
Can art be immoral? If so, what makes a work immoral? Can art be morally subversive or positivey influence our actions and character? If a work is immoral, does that diminish its aesthetic value, that isdoes the moral defect make it a lesser work of art? What makes a piece manipulative? What is propaganda art and how is it different from other works of art? Are there circumstances in which at should be censored? We will draw on both historical sources (from Ancient Greece to the Modern Period) and contemporary-texts. In discussing different theories we will continuously apply them to particular examples from thearts, the media, and the political sphere. I encourage you to bring in your own examples. This class fulfills the Value Perpective PLS requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Bi-annually
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PHIL 123 - Socrates and Athens
Why did the Athenians execute Socrates, one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity and, indeed, of human history? This course will explore that question from a variety of perspectives. We’ll begin with the writings of ancient historians to set the context, and then we’ll explore the complicated cross-currents of Athenian political and moral attitudes through political pamphlets, coutroom oratory, comic plays, model speeches by ancient “sophists”, and tragic theater. In the process, we’ll take a deep look at some of the main representations of Socrates by the writers Plato and Xenophon; and we’ll pay special attention to his trial, trying to assess just how his intellectual views may have led to his conviction.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually
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PHIL 124 - Philosophy of Death
Is death a big nothing? Can any part of us survive it? (Materials only? Worldly influences? Patterns exportable to other brains or a hard drive? Personal information in the memory bank of the universe? A soul? Karmic traces?) When is death? (Irreversible loss of cognitive function? Whole brain expiry? Decease of the organism? Separation of mind from body? Dissolution of the ‘aggregates’?) Must we first agree about human nature and personal identity before we can know what a human death is? Is “death” a social construction, then? (Conceptions and experiences of death do vary, and yet mustn’t there be a fact of the matter?) Why is death? Does death evolve? (Yes.) Is death something bad? Is there anything good about it? What is it to die a good death? Can a suicide ever be a good death? What is it to die an ‘authentic’ death? What is it to live toward death? To live mindful of death? What if anything is gained by pondering unanswered and perhaps unanswerable questions about death? Focusing Western thought, with occasional forays into Asian traditions, we ponder human death as a social relationship and as an irreducibly individual event, the death of species, the death of ecosystems, the possible death of nature, and the vivid gift of living.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: every three years
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PHIL 126 - Race, Racism, and Racialized Harms
This course is an interdisciplinary investigation of the concept of race and racialized harm in our society. These concepts have played an immense role in shaping our world historically and currently. But what exactly is a race? What does it mean to be racist? What does it mean to discriminate on the basis of race? This course investigates these questions from philosophical, historical, psychological, and political perspectives. In addition, some of our course will be devoted to developing skills for discussing sensitive topics in critical, constructive, and inclusive ways
Course Designation/Attribute: VP, DI
Anticipated Terms Offered: Bi-annually
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PHIL 130 - Medical Ethics
Investigates contemporary issues in medical ethics: informed consent, definitions of death, treatment termination and euthanasia, abortion, confidentiality and truth telling, genetic screening and counseling, research on human subjects, resource allocation, reproductive technologies, conflicts of interest and national health policy. Not open to first-year students. Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHIL 131 - Environmental Ethics
What principles should guide human interaction with the environment? This course considers a range of moral perspectives, including anthropocentrism, animal-rights theory, biocentrism, social ecology, ecocentrism, deep ecology, ecofeminism and the land ethic. It also considers a range of environmental issues, such as global warming, species preservation, population policy, pollution, nuclear power, animal experimentation and sustainable development. Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHIL 132 - Social and Political Ethics
Topics in social and political theory, such as equality, liberty and justifications for political authority, as well as issues such as: What is affirmative action and can it be morally justified? Should governments censor pornography? Is capital punishment acceptable? Can war be justified? Should morality be legislated? Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHIL 133 - Reason and Political Disagreement
In this course, we will investigate the role that reason and rational argument play in the fractious and diverse debates typical of so much of contemporary politics, and we will do so by examining one particular debate in detail. This is a Problems of Practice course and, as such, we will not only study the relevant, highly regarded arguments, but we will also engage with real world participants and stakeholders in the debate, seeing first hand the real-world impact of abstract arguments and theorizing. We pay particular attention to how rational argument functions and whether or not such argument provides promise for healing these divides.
Course Designation/Attribute: POP
Anticipated Terms Offered: periodicaaly
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PHIL 134 - Business Ethics
This is business ethics for all of us who deal with businesses as well as those in the business sector. We consider business in relation to social justice, labor issues, problems of discrimination in the workplace, tax policy, affirmative action, the moral limits of deception and manipulation in marketing, ethical consumerism, and the environment. Using readings from ethicians, business leaders, economists, and activists, we shall talk about conducting business ethically and engaging with business ethically. Useful to current and future entrepreneurs, managers, marketers, accountants, and bankers, this course focuses issues of importance to consumers and workers and ordinary citizens.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually
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PHIL 135 - Existentialism in Philosophy and Literature
Explores central existential themes-such as the meaning of life, freedom and responsibility; the role of the irrational in human thought, action and expression; and the death of God in their historical, cultural and thematic context. Existentialism is treated both as a postwar cultural event and as a view of life’s meaning and possibilities. Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester
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PHIL 141 - History of Ancient Philosophy
A survey of the early history of Western thought. Some possible readings and topics include the Presocratic philosophers, the dialogues of Plato, selections from Aristotle, and the Hellenistic philosophers. Fulfills Historical Perspective (HP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: HP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year, typically Fall
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PHIL 143 - History of Early Modern Philosophy
Surveys principal movements of European philosophy in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Readings include works from authors such as the following: Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant. Fulfills Historical Perspective (HP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: HP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year, typically Spring
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PHIL 150 - Philosophy of Religion
Studies religion as a form of world view and a perennial dimension of human experience. Fulfills Global Perspective (GP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 165 - Asian Philosophy
In Asian Philosophy, we shall explore the wisdom traditions of Asia from a philosophical point of view, focusing Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Vedanta, and the Satyagraha movement. What can we learn from such traditions? How are they best understood? What are their fundamental ideas, claims, assumptions, and implications? What truths do they offer? We shall look particularly to their conceptions of nature and community, the ideal person and the final reality, and the consequences of these conceptions for our common moral life.
Course Designation/Attribute: GP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Bi-annually
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PHIL 169 - Aesthetics
Explores questions concerning the value and nature of the arts, including the visual arts, music, performance, and literature. Course topics may include: Can art in general be neatly defined? fine art? particular arts? What distinguishes “good” art from “bad” art? Are there objective standards for aesthetic judgment? What is the point of artwork? What is creativity? Are appreciation and criticism creative acts? Are there ‘aesthetic experiences’ special to the arts? What is the role of taste and sensibility? What is the relationship between the artist and the work of art? between artworks and audiences? between art and history? between art and nature?
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically.
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PHIL 213 - The Ideal of the Educated Person
This course explores the suggestion that in ideal circumstances there is a close relationship between being educated and living a happy or “good” life. Looking to Socrates and Plato for inspiration, we explore questions concerning the impact of acquiring knowledge on ethical behavior and moral character, as well as the impact of morality on happiness. Topics include: (1) the nature of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom; and the way in which formal education contributes to these states, (2) the nature of virtue and moral value, and (3) what it means to flourish in our culture. Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically.
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PHIL 220 - Theories of Ethics
Examines the principal ethical theories from the history of Western philosophy, including such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Hume, Kant, Mill, Ross and Rawls. Topics include: What is “the Good”? Are there fundamental standards of right conduct? Are moral judgments objective? Why should we be moral? Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Prerequisites: One courses in philosophy.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHIL 222 - Political Philosophy
In Political Philosophy, we consider political power, authority, legitimacy, community, and political agency, in relation to purposes such as prosperity, community, harmony with nature, and the securing of human rights to freedom, well-being, and justice. We probe standard and nonstandard concepts and projects, their presuppositions and possibilities. Focusing 20th and 21st century thinkers, we examine the range of justifiable political forms, the nature and limits of democracy, the state and other political structures, political reason and public dialogue, problems of nationalism and fundamentalism, domination and oppression, the challenges of militarism and imperialism. We read conservatives, liberals, libertarians, anarchists, Marxists, and others - including the likes of Strauss, Oakeshott, Simon, Hayek, Scruton, Schmitt, Arendt, MacIntyre, Rawls, Dewey, Gewirth, Habermas, Walzer, Gramsci, Magdoff, Kristeva, Young, Jagger, Foucault, and Deleuze.
Prerequisites: One (1) course in Philosophy
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually
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PHIL 224 - The Ethics and the Aesthetics of the Sublime in Art and Society
Why do some artworks and experiences overwhelm us, yet also move us so deeply? In the18th century philosophers, critics, and artists gave such experiences a name: “the sublime.”When we experience the sublime we experience something as great, as physically massive, as cognitively difficult to grasp, or even as posing a danger. The sublime draws us in as it pushes us away, and is both uplifting and terrifying. From the 18th century onward fascination with the sublime has been translated through the arts, often with distinctly political resonances. In the twentieth century, under the impact of historical events, technological developments and the later post-modernism, the sublime found new realms of expression. This class builds on a critical study of theories of the sublime to explore how artworks, especially those involving music, from different eras have engaged this extraordinary aesthetic.
Prerequisites: One PHIL course or MCA 101
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: bi-annually
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PHIL 234 - Metaphysics
An advanced study of the fundamental problems and issues concerning the nature of reality. The course may focus on historical or contemporary issues. A historical approach may involve an in-depth study of the metaphysical views of an historical figure or school of thought, including (but not limited to) Plato, Aristotle, and the Early Modern Philosophers. A contemporary approach may include one or more of the following topics: properties, substance, identity and persistence, free will, space and time, and mathematical objects.
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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PHIL 240 - Epistemology
An examination of the nature of rationality and knowledge. Possible topics include (1) the problem of skepticism, (2) analyses of knowledge, (3) theories of justification, and (4) the central works in epistemology by significant figures – for example, Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Russell.
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 241 - Philosophy of Science
Examines such questions as: What is a scientific explanation? Can induction be justified? What could justify the claim that one theory is better than another? Are there such things as objective facts? Do scientific theories disclose the ultimate constituents of the universe? What is the difference between science and pseudoscience?
Prerequisites: One course in Philosophy or permission of instructor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year
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PHIL 242 - Philosophy of Language
A philosophical examination of topics concerning the character and meaning of referring expressions and propositions. We focus on the nature of reference and meaning in the case of names, indexicals, and natural kind terms. Representative readings include works by Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Strawson, Quine, Putnam, Kaplan, and Kripke (namely, Naming and Necessity). Some background in logic is very helpful though not strictly necessary.
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 243 - Philosophy of Psychology
A philosophical treatment of the possibility that the mind is a machine that can be studied scientifically. We examine questions concerning (1) the relationship between the mind and the brain, (2) the twin ideas that the human mind is a computer and that an artificial machine is capable of genuine cognition, (3) the nature of mental representation, and (4) various proposals for how the mind is structured, including connectionist architectures.
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 244 - Hume
This class is dedicated to central questions and texts in the philosophy of David Hume. His philosophical proposals earned him labels like “rebel,” “sceptic,” “infidel,” and “heretic.” But at the same time his successors showed great interest in his views. Questions discussed might include the following: Can science give us certainty? Is suicide moral? Do we have a right to political rebellion? Can religion be rational? Can we argue about beauty? For the exact texts and questions on the schedule for a given semester please see the philosophy department website and/or the instructor’s website and feel free to get in touch with questions.
Prerequisites: P= two (2) in Philosophy including PHIL143 (early modern european philosophy) or perm
Anticipated Terms Offered: bi-annually
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PHIL 250 - Plato
An advanced study of the philosophical thought of Plato. The seminar involves careful reading and discussion of one or more of the major dialogues, such as the Gorgias, Protagoras, Republic, Parmenides, Sophist or Theaetetus.
Prerequisites: PHIL 141 .
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 254 - Women Philosophers in the Early Modern Period
Why are there no women in my textbook on early modern European philosophy? Descartes, Leibniz, Kant… it is likely that somebody pointing us to an example of an early modern philosopher will point us to a man. In this class we will read texts by female writers of the period and discuss their answers to some of the following questions: what makes something a law of nature? is space absolute or relative? how does the mind relate to the body? how should women be educated? and what are women’s rights? We will think about the role these women’s positions and arguments played in the philosophical debate of the time.
Besides engaging with these writers in detail, we will also step back to ask background questions about practices in teaching and research. We will think about how it is that a work becomes part of a canon of works that is taught in college classes and/or discussed in the scholarship. And we will reflect on the reasons for why women have been largely absent from what is regarded as the standard early modern canon.
Course Designation/Attribute: DI
Anticipated Terms Offered: Fall or Spring
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PHIL 256 - Kant
A study of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, regarded by many as the most important philosophical text of the last several hundred years.
Prerequisites: Two courses in philosophy, including PHIL 143
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 262 - Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche remains one of the most controversial figures in the Western intellectual tradition. He is famous for his attacks on religion (especially Christianity) and for his rejection of the humanistic values that he sees as associated with the mainstream of Europe’s religious and intellectual culture. Those values include equal respect for all people, tolerance of diverse viewpoints, and a sense of the central importance of pity and compassion. What might lead a thinker to reject the values we hold so dear? And what does Nietzsche offer in their place? The course will be devoted to exploring the question by looking at several of Nietzsche’s core works and by tracing the development of his thought in core areas like ethics, aesthetics, and epistemology.
Anticipated Terms Offered: every other year
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PHIL 263 - Philosophy of Mind
A critical examination of the nature and concept of mind. We consider the following questions: What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? What is the nature of consciousness and does the existence of conscious experience argue against a physicalist conception of the mind? Possible readings include works by Smart, Fodor, Jackson, Lewis, and Loar.
Prerequisites: One courses in philosophy. Sophomore, Juniors, and Seniors only. (First year students must receive permission.)
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically
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PHIL 270 - Philosophy of Law
Examines fundamental questions in philosophy of law, such as: What is the source and purpose of law? What is the nature of judicial reasoning, and is it subjective or governed by some set of principles? How do alternative theories of law explain rights, duties, liability, responsibility and so forth? What is the relationship between liberty, privacy and justice? Readings include selections from legal theory and a variety of contemporary court decisions. Fulfills Values Perspective (VP) requirement.
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy or permission of instructor.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHIL 295 - Senior Thesis
Students may opt to write a senior thesis. Completing a senior thesis does, by itself, meet the requirements for Honors in philosophy. For more information, please see the ‘Honors Program’ entry in the online academic catalog for the philosophy department.
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PHIL 297 - Honors
For information about Honors in philosophy, please see the ‘Honors Program’ entry in the online academic catalog for the philosophy department.
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PHIL 299 - Directed Study
For significant independent academic work, the department offers individual Directed Study. Students interested in these possibilities should consult with individual members of the philosophy faculty.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every semester.
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PHIL 1000 - Introduction to Philosophy
Utilizing primary sources and commentary, the course introduces the student to the major schools of philosophy –idealism, realism, naturalism–through examining problems and theories in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, social philosophy and anesthetics. Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, Mill and Rawls are reviewed.
Anticipated Terms Offered: varies
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PHIL 1100 - Introduction to Logic
Introduces students to logic as a branch of philosophy, as well as a practical skill. Students learn to recognize and symbolize different patterns of reasoning. This is a hands-on course, with much class time spent doing exercises and solving problems.
Course Designation/Attribute: FA (summer only)
Anticipated Terms Offered: -
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PHIL 1310 - Professional Ethics
Investigates moral problems that arise in-and-about-the world of business. The class discusses ethical issues in advertising, the moral status of affirmative action programs and the responsibilities of business toward the environment. Each student is expected to articulate the different sides of the issues and to defend his/her own views in discussion and in writing.
Anticipated Terms Offered: varies
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PHIL 1320 - Social and Political Philosophy
Why do we live in a society and what kind of reasons can justify the existence of states? What is the most ideal form of government? What obligations, fundamental rights and liberties do we have? Is statehood necessarily immoral? What moral constraints should any form of government satisfy? Should wealth be distributed over the members of the society or should property right be sacred and unquestionable? These are some of the most fundamental questions of social and political philosophy. We will consider a wide range of historical and contemporary political theories that attempt to answer these questions. This course is designed to help you form your own political views and understand their historical roots and the arguments for and against them.
Anticipated Terms Offered: varies
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PHIL 1330 - Business Ethics
In this course we will see how the qualities that make a company ethical are also those which can lead to the company’s success: the virtues of integrity, good management, and well established procedures of internal and external regulation. We will learn how successful enterprise balances its profit-making and risk-taking with regard to its employees,its share holders, its consumers and the environment. We will consider the issues of social justice inherent in business ethics: rights and responsibilities on personal, corporate, and international levels, and the issues of equity, fairness, discrimination and harassment.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP (summer only)
Anticipated Terms Offered: -
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PHIL 1340 - Philosophy and Politics
Politicians like to reference political theories (Locke’s or Mill’s, or the Australian economists’, e.g.) to frame their vision and they label their opponents (as socialists, liberals, etc.). We will look beyond the labels and discuss these theories themselves. We will consider a wide range of historical and contemporary political theories that attempt to answer these and similar questions: What is the most ideal form of government? What obligations, fundamental rights and liberties do we have? Should wealth be distributed over the members of the society or should property right be sacred and unquestionable? This course is designed to help you form your own political views and understand their historical roots and the arguments for and against them.
Course Designation/Attribute: VP (summer only)
Anticipated Terms Offered: varies
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PHIL 2000 - Bioethical Issues in Biotechnology
This course examines the ethical implications of daily decisions made in biotechnology as well as the responsibilities of life scientists in their communities. Topics include ethical issues in new genomic technology, global governmental guidance, cultural acceptance or creation of new organisms and biological products. Real-world cases are used to stimulate the students’ reasoning and understanding of ethical issues.
Prerequisites: BIOT 1000 - Introduction to Biotechnology
Anticipated Terms Offered: spring
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PHIL 2010 - The Meaning of Life
Questions about the meaning of life arise in literature, films and other art forms as well as in our own personal experience. In this course we will consider philosophical approaches to these questions. And consider what sort of question is being asked about life’s meaning and why. Are we asking questions about an individual’s own life or about human life generally? Why should we care whether human life has meaning or not? What facts about human existence raise the question in the first place? We will consider what type of answers can be given to questions about the meaning of life and will also consider whether we have a reason to regret our death, and the role of atheism, religion and morality in raising and responding to questions about the purpose of life.
Anticipated Terms Offered: various
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PHYS 020 - Discovering Physics
This course emphasizes hands-on experience and the learning of science using approaches paralleling the ways scientists gain new knowledge. Open to all undergraduates. No background in mathematics and science is assumed. Topics include wave and particle phenomena, with an emphasis on the properties of light. Two laboratories and group discussions per week. Discovering Physics uses teaching approaches that may be of interest to students with a concentration in Education. Graduate students in education who enroll in Discovering Physics must complete a science-education research project. Fulfills the Scientific Perspective.
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHYS 110 - Introductory Physics - Part I
Introductory level course stressing both conceptual understanding and problem solving. This is a survey course for both science majors and others. Stresses the simplicity and self-consistency of physical models in explaining a variety of physical phenomena, with special attention to applications in the life sciences. Topics include Newtonian mechanics and an introduction to the thermal properties of matter. Calculus is not required, but elements of algebra and trigonometry are reviewed and utilized. PHYS 110, with PHYS 111 , fulfills the usual entrance requirements for medical and dental schools. This course comprises of lectures, associated laboratories, and discussion sections. Fulfills the Scientific Perspective or Formal Analysis requirement.
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every fall
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PHYS 111 - Introductory Physics - Part II
A continuation of PHYS 110 . Topics include wave motion, electricity, magnetism, optics, and a survey of modern physics. This course comprises of lectures, associated laboratories, and discussion sections. The PHYS 110 -111 sequence is designed to fulfill the usual entrance requirements for medical and dental schools. Fulfills the Scientific Perspective.
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every spring
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PHYS 120 - Introductory Physics - Part I, with Calculus
Problem-oriented course intended for science majors; coverage is more in-depth than PHYS 110 . Topics include Newtonian mechanics and laboratory methods. Course should be taken with MATH 124 so the elements of calculus and its applications to physics can be treated at the same time. This course comprises of lectures, associated laboratories, and discussion sections.
Corequisites: MATH 120 or MATH 124 .
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every fall.
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PHYS 121 - Introductory Physics - Part II, with Calculus
A problem-oriented course based on electricity and magnetism for science majors. This course includes hands-on activities, computer-rich laboratories, group problem-solving and an interactive environment. This course comprises of lectures, associated laboratories, and discussion sections. Coverage is more in-depth than PHYS 111 .
Corequisites: MATH 121 or MATH 125 .
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every spring
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PHYS 123 - Methods of Physics
This course covers the mathematical techniques needed for the study of physics at the intermediate and advanced level. Ordinary differential equations, vector calculus, partial differential equations, matrices, Fourier series, and complex variables.
Prerequisites: MATH 120 or MATH 124 AND MATH 121 or MATH 125 . Physics majors are strongly encouraged to take this course during their sophomore year. This is a required course for the Physics major.
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every fall
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PHYS 127 - Computer Simulation Laboratory
Introduces object oriented programming and methods of computer simulation and its diverse applications. The course is project oriented, with students proceeding at their own pace. Projects include planetary motion, chaotic systems, random systems, complex systems, and thermal systems. Methods include the numerical solution of differential equations, molecular dynamics, and Monte Carlo techniques. Two laboratory sections and two discussion periods per week.
Prerequisites: PHYS 120 , MATH 120 or MATH 124 , or instructor permission.
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year
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PHYS 130 - Oscillations, Waves and Optics
The third of a four-semester introductory survey of physics. The seminar meets for three hours per week plus an afternoon laboratory. Oscillations and harmonic motion, wave phenomena such as interference, diffraction and standing waves, plus ray and wave optics are some of the topics covered. Key experiments include studies of mechanical, acoustic and optical waves, wave resonance in oscillating systems, construction of optical instruments, and measurement of the speed of light. Prepares the student for the study of quantum systems in PHYS 131 . Fulfills the Scientific Perspective.
Prerequisites: PHYS 121
Corequisites: MATH 130
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every fall
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PHYS 131 - Quantum Physics and Relativity
The last in a four-semester survey of physics; intended to follow PHYS 130. After an introduction to relativity theory, the course emphasizes the experimental basis of atomic and nuclear structure leading to the development of wave mechanics. The laboratory uses modern research instrumentation to investigate contributions by Einstein, Rutherford, Compton, Moseley, Chadwick and others. Fulfills the Scientific Perspective.
Prerequisites: PHYS 130
Corequisites: MATH 131
Course Designation/Attribute: SP
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every spring
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PHYS 150 - Thermodynamics
Introduces the concepts of thermal physics with the goal of understanding the behavior of macroscopic systems on the basis of the Laws of Thermodynamics. Topics include temperature, heat and work, efficiencies of simple engines, entropy, the chemical potential, thermodynamic potentials, and phase transitions.
Prerequisites: PHYS 130 .
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every spring
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PHYS 160 - Classical Mechanics
PHYS 160 and PHYS 161 constitute an introduction to the concepts of classical physics at the intermediate level. Topics include particle and rigid body dynamics in inertial and noninertial reference frames. The necessary mathematical methods are introduced and applied.
Prerequisites: MATH 131 and PHYS 111 or PHYS 121 .
Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year.
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