Introduction to moral theory and its application to contemporary moral issues. Potential topics include nihilism, relativism, utilitarianism, Kant, legal punishment, distributive justice, terrorism, abortion, animal rights, and euthanasia.
Examination of central issues from each major branch of philosophy. Emphasis on understanding and evaluating diverse answers to philosophical questions about human knowledge, existence, and moral values.
Study of informal logic. Emphasis on methods for identifying arguments, detecting common fallacies, and applying principles of correct inductive reasoning. Designed to improve rational thinking skills as applied to both belief and action. (H)
Introduction to first-order symbolic logic. Topics include symbolizing, truth tables, truth trees, proofs for sentence and predicate logic with identity, conditional and indirect proof, and invalidating interpretations.