Students are introduced to Plato and Aristotle, and the thinkers who influenced them. Students will also read and critically examine the works of Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, More, Galileo, and Bacon. Informal logic surveys the variety of uses of ordinary language and the fallacies found in everyday reasoning.
Formal logic presents methods of recognizing and constructing valid arguments.
Credit by exam. The relevance and applicability of these theories to the solution of pressing contemporary moral problems are emphasized. The focus is on the American democratic experience, and the course covers the period from the Civil War through the Cold War. Special emphasis will be given to the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, the classical philosophical systems and the mythologies of Hinduism, and to the Buddhist traditions of South Asia. Prerequisite, completion of the Philosophical Inquiry section of the Core.