2010-2011 Academic Catalog 
    
    May 14, 2024  
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2010-2011 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PHIL 050 - Relativism & Absolutism Across the Disciplines

Type of Course: First-Year Seminar
We explore rival claims of relativists and absolutists in ethics, religion, math and the sciences, and consider some varieties of pluralism as option to these claims. Ours is a case-study approach. We study and evaluate the ‘Asian values argument’ against the universality of human rights, a feminist criticism of empirical science, and consider the exclusivism of contemporary religious fundamentalism. We begin with experiments in color perception and some simplified examples of alternate mathematics, and then study claims of cognitive differences across cultures. These case studies prepare us for an engagement with texts from Wittgenstein, Quine, Davidson, Nietzsche, Hegel, Habermas and Tillich that help us to think about a family of issues concerning meaning, interpretation, and truth that span disciplinary divides. Fulfills the verbal expression requirement.

Instructor: C. Wesley DeMarco

When Offered: Offered periodically

Faculty: C. Wesley DeMarco, Ph.D.
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