Metaphysics 3 credits One begins by asking what metaphysical questions are. One then poses selected metaphysical questions, such as what becoming is, what time is, what goodness is, what it means for a thing to exist, what the transcendental properties of being area, and, as the supreme question of metaphysics, whether God exists. One gives special attention to personal being as a metaphysical category. One inquires whether it is possible for the human mind to know anything as it really is, and studies the philosophers who have affirmed, and those who have skeptically denied, this possibility. One proceeds to distinguish different kinds and degrees of knowledge, as well as different sources of error.
Attention is given throughout the course to the role of the senses in knowing.
One also studies the contemporary debate between consequentialist and deontological ethics, and the claims of ethical relativism. One gives throughout special attention to the claims of ethical personalism. This course is of special emphasis in developing the personalist emphasis of the program. It can be taken more than once, since its content will vary from semester to semester. One makes a point of approaching these issues on the basis of the philosophy of the person, and thus of developing a personalist approach to them.