Philosophy

For a complete list of courses and course descriptions please see the University Catalog.  For further questions please contact the department.

PHI 100(0990-LEC) Class #25747, Contemporary Moral Problems, Web Online Only, 3 cr.
PHI 100(0991-LEC) Class #25748, Contemporary Moral Problems, Web Online Only – EIGHT WK 10/16/23 – 12/08/23, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40 (each section), Instructor: Joe Arel
Course Description: Examines a variety of moral problems causing controversy in contemporary society.  Focuses on evaluating arguments for and against competing solutions to these problems.  Also discusses different philosophical strategies for thinking about moral obligations and relationships.  Topics surveyed may include abortion, affirmative action, euthanasia, feminism, the environment, capital punishment, welfare and aid to the needy, technology, war and racism, among others.  Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad, and Social Context & Inst.   

PHI 102(0001-LEC) Class # 25749, Introduction to Philosophy, TTH, 12:30-1:45pm, Stevens Hall 365, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Hao Hong
Course Description: This course is intended to introduce undergraduate students to the study of Western Philosophy.  Students should come away from the course with some familiarity with problems and individuals who have influenced the developments of Western philosophical thought.  The course will offer opportunities for students to engage with these problems and with the texts of important philosophers as a means to developing their own skills as thinkers.  While it is not possible even to summarize over 2500 years of Western philosophy, students will develop an understanding of the kinds of questions and ideas that concern philosophers and begin to cultivate their own relationship to those questions and ideas. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad 

PHI 102(0002-LEC) Class # 25750, Introduction to Philosophy, MWF, 1:00-1:50pm, Stevens Hall 365, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Jessica Miller
Course Description: Introduction to Philosophy is an introduction to the academic discipline of Philosophy. This course introduces students to major questions and methods of inquiry in Philosophy. Methods of inquiry include clear and concise articulation, logical argument, critical analysis, and synthesis.  In addition to basic logic, topics include epistemology (what is knowledge), metaphysics (what is reality), and practical philosophy (how should we live our lives?).    Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad. 

PHI 102(0003-LEC) Class # 25751, Introduction to Philosophy, M, 9:00-11:50am, Hitchner Hall 203, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Don Beith
Course Description: This course is an introduction to philosophy through field philosophy. We will study classic and contemporary writings and discussions about the nature of human existence through experiential learning and engaged activities. In addition to reading and discussing texts, we will engage in outdoor activities, campus visits and field trips, have visiting speakers, and develop self-directed engaged learning activities. Students will be encouraged to cultivate their own relationship to philosophical questions, resources and ways of life. The class will involve outdoor and campus activities, and accommodations and alternative assignments will be available.  Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad. 

PHI 102(0500-LEC) Class # 25754, Introduction to Philosophy, TTH 2:00-3:15pm, Winslow Hall 201, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Andy Mallory
Course Description: This course is intended to introduce undergraduate students to the study of Western Philosophy.  Students should come away from the course with some familiarity with problems and individuals who have influenced the developments of Western philosophical thought.  The course will offer opportunities for students to engage with these problems and with the texts of important philosophers as a means to developing their own skills as thinkers.  While it is not possible even to summarize over 2500 years of Western philosophy, students will develop an understanding of the kinds of questions and ideas that concern philosophers and begin to cultivate their own relationship to those questions and ideas. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad.  

PHI 102(0990-LEC) Class # 25752, Introduction to Philosophy, Web Online Only, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Joe Arel
Course Description: This course is intended to introduce undergraduate students to the study of Western Philosophy.  Students should come away from the course with some familiarity with problems and individuals who have influenced the developments of Western philosophical thought.  The course will offer opportunities for students to engage with these problems and with the texts of important philosophers as a means to developing their own skills as thinkers.  While it is not possible even to summarize over 2500 years of Western philosophy, students will develop an understanding of the kinds of questions and ideas that concern philosophers and begin to cultivate their own relationship to those questions and ideas. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad.

PHI 102(0991-LEC) Class # 25753, Introduction to Philosophy, Web Online Only – EIGHT WK 10/16/23 – 12/08/23, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Jessica Miller
Course Description: Introduction to Philosophy is an introduction to the academic discipline of Philosophy. This course introduces students to major questions and methods of inquiry in Philosophy. Methods of inquiry include clear and concise articulation, logical argument, critical analysis, and synthesis.  In addition to basic logic, topics include epistemology (what is knowledge), metaphysics (what is reality), and practical philosophy (how should we live our lives?).    Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad.  

PHI 103(0001-LEC) Class # 24032, Methods of Reasoning, MWF, 11:00-11:50am, Rogers Hall 206, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 45, Instructor: Derek A Michaud
Course Description: A study of principles used to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning including the nature of thought, uses of language, recognition of arguments, informal fallacies, purposes and types of definition, deduction and induction.  Emphasis on understanding and mastering through practice some fundamental techniques for testing the soundness of many different kinds of reasoning.  Gen Ed: West Cult Trad.  
PHI 104(0001-LEC) Class # 25287, Existentialism and Literature, TTH, 9:30-10:45am, Deering Hall 113, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Susan Bredlau
Course Description: Existentialism is a revolutionary movement in 20th century philosophy that studies the ways in which it is up to us to make our lives and our world meaningful. The texts we will read in this course will offer insightful and perspective-shifting studies of human nature in addition to challenging us to reflect personally on the values by which we live and, indeed, to ask ourselves whether we are honest with respect to how we live our lives. We will also consider works of contemporary literature that help to bring out these existentialist themes in particularly vivid and intimate ways through their content as well as their form of expression.  Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad, Artistic and Creative Expression. 

PHI 105(0001LEC) Class # 24033, Introduction to Religious Studies, MWF 9:30-9:50am, Stevens Hall 355, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 35, Instructor: Derek A Michaud
Course Description: An analysis of religion as an expression of human culture past and present. Considers institutional and non-institutional manifestations of religion as conveyed through myth and symbol, religious experience, struggle for societal change, mysticism, and quests for the articulation of human values. Inquiry by various disciplines will be considered, e.g., anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, philosophy, and theology. Gen Ed: West Cult Trad, and Social Context & Inst. 

PHI 201(0001-LEC) Class # 26956, Becoming a Philosopher, Topic: Perspective and Points of View, MW, 2:00-3:15pm, Hitchner Hall 157, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 25, Instructor: Kirsten Jacobson
Course Description:  Philosophy is a pluralistic discipline—a field with many positions and many approaches. Indeed, the question “What is philosophy?” is itself a pressing question of the field, and one that can spark significantly different opinions. Recognizing this plurality, PHI 201 is designed to encourage flexible, generous, and responsive thinking and communication. Together, we will work on developing: (i) the knowledge to identify, articulate, and implement different approaches to philosophical inquiry (modeled in part through class visits from Philosophy faculty members); (ii) philosophical skills, such as interpreting texts; identifying arguments; critically evaluating philosophical positions; speaking about abstract ideas clearly and precisely, and engaging in productive discussion; (iii) awareness of applications of philosophy to practical problems and its connections with other disciplines, and (iv) proficiency in writing to express all of the above in a clear and precise philosophical style. In FA23, the course will pay special attention to perspective and points of view; while these aren’t philosophical areas of study or specialization in themselves, they are vital for situating philosophical thoughts and works as well as for examining one’s own positions with respect to these. This course can serve either as an alternative to a 100-level philosophy course for students who want to jumpstart a possible major or minor in philosophy or as a means of developing and broadening philosophical and writing skills for those with previous exposure to philosophy. Gen Ed: West Cult Trad, and Writing Intensive. 

PHI 210(0001-LEC) Class # 24528, History of Ancient Philosophy, MWF, 1:00-1:50pm, The Maples 110, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 25, Instructor: Robby Finley
Course Description:  This course offers a survey of ancient Greek (and Roman) philosophy with the goals of (i) introducing students to central questions in ancient philosophy, (ii) connecting those questions to debates in philosophy that continue to be of interest today, and (iii) developing general philosophical skills, such as how to analyze philosophical texts, how to reconstruct arguments, and how to discuss and criticize arguments. We focus on a few major figures and schools of thought: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and the Stoics and Skeptics (with Presocratics interspersed where appropriate and a brief look at Neoplatonism at the end). Topics range from questions in metaphysics and epistemology (What is the nature of reality? What are the most fundamental entities that make up the world? How do I even approach such questions?) to questions in ethics and political philosophy (What is the good? What is the best sort of life for a human to live? How should groups of humans be structured?) to questions about action and agency (How could I fail to act in accordance with what I think is best? In what sense can my will be said to be free?).   Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad.   

PHI 221(0001-LEC) Class # 26826, Classical Chinese Philosophy, TTH 2:00-3:15pm, Steven Hall 155, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 30, Instructor: Hao Hong
Course Description: This course provides an introduction to major philosophical schools in the “classical” period of (pre-Qin) China, including Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism.  We will concentrate on early debates over human nature and the best practices of self-cultivation, the general nature of the cosmos and the human role in it, and the proper ordering of society.  We will read not only the original texts by early Chinese philosophers, but also contemporary discussions and developments of their views.  These different philosophical positions greatly influenced later Chinese intellectual and social history, including the development of Buddhism, and shaped cultures and religions in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia as well. Thus, understanding these early debates is an important stepping-stone for understanding East Asian thought and culture generally. Gen Ed: Ethics, Cultural Div & Intl Perspect. 

PHI 230(0001-LEC) Class # 24529, Ethics, TTH 12:30-1:45pm, The Maples 217, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 25, Instructor: Derek A Michaud
Course Description: Readings and discussions of works by Aristotle, Mill, Kant, Nietzsche, and other moral philosophers.  In each case, the nature of the system, its summum bonum and defense is examined, criticized, and tested for its applicability to personal and public ethical predicaments. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad, and Social Context & Inst.  

PHI 232(0900-LEC), Class # 24899, Environmental Ethics, Web Online Only, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Joe Arel
Course Description: A critical survey of major contemporary discussions of human relationships to nature and the causes of the environmental crisis. Special attention will be given to building an ethical vocabulary for interpreting the place of humans in relation to the non-human. Gen Ed: Ethics, Population & the Environment, and Social Context & Inst. . 

PHI 235(0001-LEC), Class # 24530, Biomedical Ethics, TTH, 11:00am-12:15pm, Deering Hall 113, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 43, Instructor: Susan Bredlau
Course Description: We will investigate the ways we are always engaged in ethical decision making and how it is often those practices that we assume are helpful or good that most require ethical consideration. We will focus on experiences of illness, disability, and dying to consider how these experiences challenge common understandings of our bodies, health, and what it means to care for others. We will also examine how interactions between individuals are always situations within broader social and political contexts and reflect on how our understanding of disease, mental illness, and scientific research impedes or supports communal, as well as individual, well-being. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad, and Social Context & Inst.  

PHI 242(0001-LEC) Class # 26732, Ethics in Professional Life, MWF 11:00-11:50am, Steven Hall 375, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 40, Instructor: Jessica Miller
Course Description: Examines what it means to be a good professional. Explores roles and responsibilities of professionals as viewed through different ethical frameworks. Emphasizes interprofessional relationships and effective teamwork in settings of interagency/interorganization collaboration. Encourages reflection and articulation of personal values and goals, and includes strategies for cultivating key professional virtues while integrating professional ethics with personal moral convictions. Gen Ed: Ethics 

PHI 244(0001-LEC) Class # 25197, Philosophy of Law, TTH 9:30-10:45am, The Maples 217, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 25, Instructor: Don Beith
Course Description: This course is an introduction to the basic concepts of jurisprudence. We begin by reflecting upon what law is and how it functions through a study of natural law theory, legal positivism, as well as normative and interpretive theories of law. Our next task will be to compare and contrast various constitutional systems, with a focus on the merits and limits of judicial review. In conclusion, we will address themes from critical legal studies, including theories of punishment and injustice in the penal system, evidence of race and gender based discrimination in courtroom procedures and testimony, reflections upon restorative justice in colonial legal systems and indigenous treaty rights, as well as issues in international law such as intellectual property and environmental treaties. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad, and Social Context & Inst. 

PHI 250(0001-LEC), Class # 24553, Formal Logic, MWF, 10:00-10:50am, Stevens Hall 155, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 30, Instructor: Robby Finley
Course Description: This course is designed as an introduction to the study of deductive reasoning from a formal perspective. It is composed of two intermixed parts: In the first, we develop theories that allow us to represent everyday arguments in a symbolic language and then evaluate whether the corresponding arguments are valid. This is the technical part of the course where you will learn new symbolic languages and associated syntactic and semantic analyses, along with a variety of interesting mathematical results about those languages, their uses, and their abilities. The second part of the course is more philosophical, and we will address questions like: what makes a formal language and rule system a good representation of valid arguments in natural language? Are there natural language arguments these formal systems fail to capture? Can we fix that? What are the uses and limitations of these formal systems? What alternatives are open? These sorts of questions will be in the background as we progress, and we will take some time each week to think about a particular philosophical aspect of the symbolic logic we are learning.  Gen Ed: Quantitative Literacy, West Cult Trad. 

PHI 317(0001-SEM) Class # 25353, Existentialism & Phenomenology, TTH 4:30-4:50pm, The Maples 217, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 20, Instructor: Susan Bredlau
Course Description: Phenomenology is a distinctive philosophical method that proceeds by describing our experience in the form in which we live it. Existential philosophy asks that we attend to our role in shaping the nature of meaning and reality. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception will be our core text for pursuing investigations of our experience, the nature of human consciousness, the nature of the human body, and the significance of our relations with other people. Gen Ed: Ethics, West Cult Trad. 

PHI 332(0001-LEC) Class # 26827, Environmental Philosophy, TTH 11:00am-12:15pm, The Maples 217, 3 cr.
Max Enrollment: 20, Instructor: Don Beith
Course Description: Before we can adequately address issues about the environment and climate change, our philosophical task is to more carefully formulate what we mean when we use concepts like the environment, nature and climate. Similarly, we might think through ideas like change, action and humanity in order to more carefully think through our ethical decisions and interventions in environmental issues. To this end, we will study texts from ancient to contemporary world philosophical traditions, focusing on indigenous philosophical views, philosophies of nature, and critical theories of social constructivism, marxism, eco-feminsim and more. Students should expect to form precise theoretical ideas about environmental ideas, and cultivate their own relationship to these concepts through writing, presentations and group activities. 

For questions or permission, please contact The Philosophy Department at 207-581-3866 or email Jen Bowen at jennifer.bowen@maine.edu