Philosophy

PHI 100 - Streaming Philosophy: Philosophy Through Popular Culture

Description: This course serves to introduce students to the field of philosophy. Through an exploration of readings, television, movies, and other media, students will survey a range of philosophical topics. In particular, the course pairs contemporary readings on philosophical topics such as the nature of morality, justice, freedom, existence, truth, knowledge, and meaning with television shows, movies, and other media that illustrate core philosophical views on those topics. In addition, the course investigates a number of philosophical questions raised by our interactions with popular media. SUNY GE-SDES, SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED n/a NCC GEN ED-HUM and WESH Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 101 - Introduction to Philosophy

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course.

Description: This course serves to introduce students to the field of philosophy. Through an exploration of classic and contemporary texts, students will survey a range of philosophical topics. These topics include the nature of morality, justice, freedom, existence, truth, knowledge, meaning, and the mind. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT, SDES; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Winterim, Spring, Summer

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 102 - Contemporary Philosophy

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course introduces students to philosophy through contemporary texts that explore analytic and continental philosophy. Topics include the nature of meaning, language, identity, the self, social consciousness, and political action. Philosophers studied include Sartre, Wittgenstein, Arendt, Cassirer, Dewey, Russell and others. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT, SDES; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 103 - Critical Thinking

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course introduces students to the elements of logical reasoning and aims to develop students’ analytical and critical thinking abilities. Students will develop reasoning skills to rigorously analyze, identify, and evaluate different types of arguments found in ordinary language. Basic concepts include deduction, induction, soundness, validity, invalidity, formal and informal fallacies, clarifying meaning, assumption identification, and causal inferences. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 104 - Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course explores major philosophers from the ancient and medieval world. It begins with the transition from a mythological consciousness to philosophical reasoning in the thought of the Presocratics, and then moves on to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Topics include the nature of morality, justice, freedom, existence, truth, belief, and knowledge. The tension between reason and faith in the Medieval period is examined in the works of representative thinkers of the three major monotheistic traditions. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 105 - Renaissance and Modern Philosophy

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course explores central philosophical views during the Renaissance and the period following the Scientific Revolution. Topics discussed include Renaissance Humanism, the Enlightenment, God, the rise of modern science, skepticism, human rights, and the place of human beings in the universe. Representative philosophers studied are Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Locke, Cavendish, Hume, and Kant. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 106 - Introduction to Ethics

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course introduces students to problems in moral philosophy. The class focuses on the theoretical foundations for judgments about right and wrong, good and evil, and justice and injustice. Philosophers studied will include Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and others. Special attention will be paid to how philosophy can help us to address issues such as free speech, affirmative action, poverty, the use of technology, and environmental concerns. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-n/a; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 107 - The Philosophy of Sex & Gender

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: (Dual listed with WST 107) Many people distinguish males and females along two different dimensions: biological endowment and social role. The first dimension is labeled 'sex', the second 'gender'. This course examines the nature and development of the sex-gender distinction, its application to issues surrounding sexual equality, as well as contemporary challenges to the distinction that arise within conversations regarding intersexuality and transgender identity. The course also explores the possible connections between sex, gender, and sexual desire. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT, SDES; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, PLDI Offered: Fall and Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 108 - Black Social Philosophy

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG remediation requirements prior to starting the course.

Description: (Dual listed with AFR 170). An examination of the social philosophy of thinkers such as Du Bois, Garvey, King and Fanon. Particular attention is paid to oppression and the struggle for self-identity. The ideals of freedom, equality, justice and community are carefully considered. SUNY GE-SDES, SHUM; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, PLDI Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 110 - Biomedical Ethics

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course examines ethical issues that arise in the field of medicine and related areas of biomedical research. Several traditional ethical theories are introduced, theories which establish the foundations needed for later thoughtful analysis and evaluation of specific issues. Issues analyzed typically include: truth-telling, informed consent, research on human subjects, euthanasia, disability and healthcare policy. SUNY GE-SDES, SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM Offered: Fall, Winterim, Spring, Summer

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 111 - Business Ethics in the Digital Age

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: This course explores the ethical challenges that the digital revolution poses for businesses and the larger society, as well as ethical issues related to business in general. Attention will be given to the ways in which technological advances, especially in computing and information technology, have reshaped the relationships between businesses, workers, customers, regulators, and citizens. Some of the issues studied include: the nature of property ownership, the tension between consumer convenience, public security, and individual privacy; the potential for the pursuit of profit to undermine social and environmental well-being; the adverse effects of targeted advertising; the concern that programmers unwittingly encode discriminatory social practices; the social, political, and moral dimensions of the internet of things and 'share'/'gig' economy; the nature of corporate agency; the moral implications of corporate mergers; the moral problems with insider trading. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM Offered: Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 201 - Ethics and Law Enforcement

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: Recommended for all students, and especially pertinent for pre-Law and Criminal Justice students, the course examines our legal tradition. Emphasis is placed upon the analysis of key concepts of legal and philosophical importance such as justice, freedom, civil disobedience, equality, rights, duties, and property. The relation of law to questions of race and gender will also be examined. The course readings draw from the Constitution and Supreme Court decisions as well as classical and contemporary works. SUNY GE-SDES, SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 203 - Philosophy of Art

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: A philosophical examination of the nature and value of the visual, musical and literary arts. Taking as examples primarily works from the contemporary period, we explore the intersections between art and related notions such as craft, decoration, beauty, entertainment, self-expression, pictorial representation and politics. SUNY GE-SDES, SHUM; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM, WESH Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 204 - Philosophy of Religion

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: A critical examination of the nature of religion and of religious doctrine. Topics discussed include the concept of religion, various arguments for the existence of God, the problem of evil, the rationality of faith, the nature of religious experience, and the compatibility of religion and science. Readings are drawn from philosophical, scientific, and theological sources. SUNY GE-SHUM; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-HUM Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 208 - Asian Philosophy and Religion

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: Recommended for all students interested in non-Western philosophical traditions. The course examines central themes in classical Indian and Chinese systems of thought (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) as developed in texts such as The Upanishads, The Bhagavad-Gita, the Buddhist scriptures, the Analects of Confucius, and the Daodejing. Topics to be discussed include: the nature of virtue, the reality of the self, and the possibility of enlightenment. SUNY GE-SHUM, SCRT; SUNY GEN ED-GHUM; NCC GEN ED-GLNW, HUM, PLDI Offered: Fall, Spring

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art

PHI 295 - Independent Study-Philosophy

Prerequisites: Students must have satisfied all ENG and RDG developmental requirements prior to starting the course. Please note that PHI 101 is not a prerequisite.

Description: Formerly PHI 699. Students who have completed PHI 699 will not receive credit for PHI 295.

Credit Hours: 3
Department: Art