Content Outline and Competencies:

I. The Nature of Philosophy
   A. Defining philosophy and its areas of inquiry
      1. Explain the Socratic understanding of wisdom.
      2. Define metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and logic.
   B. The Critical Tradition
      1. Explain the Socratic model of inquiry.
      2. Explain the search for meaning.

II. Reality
   A. The natural world
      1. Explain the mind/body problem.
      2. Identify and explain the philosophical significance of classical
and modern theories of space and time.
      3. Identify and explain the philosophical problems associated with
matter and causality.
   B. Transcendent reality
      1. Explain the classical philosophical arguments for and against the
existence of God.
      2. Identify and explain the philosophical issues surrounding theism
and atheism.
   C. Consciousness
      1. Explain the problem of free will.
      2. Explain the problem of personal identity.
      3. Identify and explain the philosophical problems associated with
death.

III. Knowledge
   A. Skepticism
      1. Explain sophism.
      2. Explain Cartesian skepticism.
   B. The Rational Tradition
      1. Explain classical rationalism.
      2. Explain Cartesian rationalism.
   C. The Empirical Tradition
      1. Explain classical empiricism.
      2. Explain the modern empiricism of Locke and Hume.

IV. Values
   A. Problems of ethics
      1. Explain egoism.
      2. Explain moral relativism.
   B. Theories of duty and value
      1. Explain deontology.
      2. Explain utilitarianism.
      3. Explain virtue ethics.
      4. Explain existentialism’s critique of modern moral theory.

NOTE:  Individual instructors may vary the order of the outline as it
appears here and may emphasize some subtopics of the outline to the
exclusion of others.  What is assured is that this list of major topics
represents the topics that will be covered in the course.

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Argument Structure
   A. Traditional logic
      1. Identify the relevant  indicator words” which are
linguistically associated with premises and conclusions.
      2. Identify both premises and conclusions in selected arguments and
write the selected arguments into standard form argument structure.
      3. Distinguish between a logical analysis of an argument structure
and a "critical thinking" evaluation of an argument structure.
      4. Distinguish between concepts of  truth and validity and describe
the importance of this distinction in relation to argument analysis.
      5. Distinguish between argument structures and statements which
express causal connections between events but not inferential
connections.
   B. Critical thinking
      1. Describe how premises present evidence for conclusions and
distinguish between the claim-to-truth property of premises and the
emotive properties of premises.
      2. Describe and explain the relevant criteria for judging whether or
not a premise is true.

II. Linguistic Considerations in Argument Analysis
   A. Definitions
      1. Identify and describe the following types of intentional
definitions:
         a. Lexical
         b. Stipulative
         c. Precising
         d. Persuasive
         e. Theoretical
      2. Distinguish intentional definitions from operational, ostensive,
and syntactic definitions and describe the differences between each.
      3. Describe the differences between extensional and intentional
definitions of  given words.
      4. Distinguish between vague language and ambiguous language in the
context of arguments.

III. Techniques of Deception and Manipulation
   A. Fallacies
      1.  Distinguish between fallacies of relevance and fallacies of
credibility.
      2.  Describe and identify each of the following types of fallacies: 
amphiboly, equivocation, false dilemma,  appeal to force, appeal to pity,
false authority, ad hominem, biased statistics, circular reasoning, false
analogy, hasty generalization, incomplete evidence, slippery slope, post
hoc, ignoring common cause, confusing cause and effect, and genetic
fallacy.
   B. Advertising and media
      1. Distinguish promise ads from identification ads and describe the
psychological dynamics of each.
      2. Identify in advertising contexts each of the following
techniques:  plays to patriotism and loyalty, manipulative rhetoric, 
slogans, and plays to weaknesses and fears.
      3. Describe the distinctions between qualitatively researched
marketing techniques which focus on unconscious motivations and
quantitative marketing techniques which focus on a personal and specific
audience.
      4. Identify those specific fallacies which advertisements are
designed to help us make.

IV. Inductive Reasoning
   A. Distinguish between the concepts of induction and deduction.
      1. Classify supplied argument structures as instances of induction
or deduction.
      2. Describe the salient features of  inductive argument structures
and deductive argument structures.
   B. Analogical reasoning
      1. Describe the standard form for an analogical argument.
      2. Identify the standards applicable to evaluating the strength of
analogical arguments, including comparing the number of resemblances
between the analogs, clarifying the number of things compared, describing
the diversity among the things compared, and describing the relevance of
the attributes ascribed to the analogs to the conclusion.
      3. Apply the provided analogical evaluative standards to selected
analogical arguments and assess these arguments’ strength.
   C. Generalizations
      1. Distinguish between statistical generalizations and categorical
generalizations and identify each in selected texts.
      2. Explain the concept of a  fair sample.”
      3. Describe the relationship between size and diversity in a fair
sample.
      4. Describe and identify those fallacies which are particularly
associated with inductive generalizations, including hasty generalization,
anecdotal evidence, misleading vividness, and biased statistics.

V. Causal Inferences
   A. Describe each of the following methods of John Stuart Mill for
identifying causal relationships between events:  the method of agreement,
the method of difference, the joint method of agreement and difference, and
the method of concomitant variation.
   B. Apply the above methods of Mill to supplied empirical data in order
to identify which events may be characterized as causes and which events
may be characterized as effects.
   C. Define necessary causal conditions, probable necessary causal
conditions, sufficient causal conditions, and probable sufficient causal
conditions.
   D. Differentiate between Mill’s methods with regard to each
method’s capacity, necessary causal conditions, probable necessary
causal conditions, sufficient causal conditions, and probable sufficient
causal conditions.
   E. Explain the identifying properties of a controlled experiment.
   F. Describe David Hume’s analysis of causal agency and distinguish
Hume’s analysis from the classical conception of causality which Hume
attacked.
   G. Explain the conceptual relationship between Hume’s analysis of
causal agency and Mill’s methods of causal analysis.
   H. Identify those fallacies most frequently committed in causal
reasoning.

VI. Probability and Inductive Logic
   A. Distinguish between empirical probability and a priori probability.
   B. Describe the rules of elementary probability and apply these rules
to events selected by the instructor.
   C. Calculate the expected utility of events specified by your
instructor.
        
VII. Specific Forms of Deductive Reasoning
   A. Conditional arguments
      1. Describe the structure of conditional sentences and distinguish
material conditionals from other types of conditionals.
      2. Define antecedent condition and  consequent condition and
describe the truth-functional relations between these conditions in
material conditional sentences.
      3. Correctly translate English sentences supplied by your instructor
into material conditional form.
      4. Evaluate assigned conditional arguments with regard to validity.
      5. Identify those fallacies which are specifically associated with
conditional argument structures.
   B. Relations among categorical propositions
      1.  Define:  categorical proposition, distribution, quality, and
quantity.
      2.  Identify the four types of standard form categorical
propositions and the relations which exist between these propositions,
including contrary, subcontrary, contradictory, subalternate, and
superalternate relations.
      4.  Translate given English sentences into standard categorical
propositions.
      5. Describe the concept of  existential import and its effect on the
traditional square of opposition.
      6. Test the validity of supplied categorical syllogisms by Venn
diagrams and syllogistic rules of validity.
   C. Propositional logic
      1. Identify the structure of the following argument forms: 
hypothetical syllogisms, dilemmas, disjunctive syllogisms.
      2. Identify the symbolic connectors which express these argument
forms.
      3. Produce truth tables which define values for the connectors for
the above argument forms.
      4. Translate supplied English sentences into sentential forms and
express the value of such sentences using definitions of truth functional
connectors.
      5. Determine the validity of supplied arguments using truth tables
and definitions of truth-functional connectors.

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Explain the modern scientific understanding of the natural world
   A. Review the emergence and tenets of modern scientific attitudes towards nature
      1. Explain the idea that the natural world can be understood mechanistically
         a. Describe the historical setting for the emergence of mechanical philosophy in the 17th century 
            i. Explain the claim that the natural world is composed of basic matter and operates according basic laws of nature
            ii. Analyze Rene Descartes’ claim that animals are automata and only humans have minds
            iii. Formulate the implications of Descartes’ claim that animals do not have consciousness
      2. Describe Bacon’s claims about the value of understanding nature
         a. Review Francis Bacon’s claim that we must force Nature to reveal her secrets 
         b. Explain Bacon’s claim that knowledge of the natural world would work to the betterment of humanity
         c. Formulate the modern understanding of the relationship between technology and knowledge
   B. Review the assumptions of the modern scientific method
      1. Explain the idea of objectivity
         a. Distinguish quantitative and qualitative research
         b. Identify the fact/value distinction
      2. Describe the role of experimental studies in modern science

II. Explain the basic features of environmental thought found in major world religions.
   A. Review the basic features of the account of Creation in Genesis
      1. Explain monotheism and the idea that God is the transcendent source of all things
         a. Describe essential features of the Judeo-Christian God 
         b. Describe the centrality of God as a moral authority in Judeo-Christian thought
      2. Identify the image of human privilege in Genesis
         a. Explain the idea that humans are unique in being made in God’s image 
         b. Describe the place of humans in the natural world according to Genesis
         c. Formulate the implications of the idea that the natural world was created for human use
         d. Locate the idea of stewardship as it appears in Judeo-Christian thought about the environment
   B. Review the distinctive features of Islamic environmental thought
      1. Locate the foundation of Islamic thought in the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sunnah
      2. Explain the idea of Shariah law and its place in Islamic thought
      3. Describe the essential conceptual elements of Islamic environmental thought
         a. Explain the idea of Khalaifa, or human trusteeship of the natural environment 
         b. Explain the idea of tawhid, or the unity of created world as an expression of Allah’s perfect will
         c. Explain the idea of fitra, or the perfection of creation
   C. Describe the basic features of the natural world as understood in Buddhism
      1. Identify the core claims of Buddhism as expressed in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path
         a. Explain the idea of duhkha, or suffering, and its origin in cravings and ignorance
         b. Describe the doctrines of dependent origination, karma and impermanence 
      2. Articulate the distinctive features of Buddhist environmental thought
         a. Formulate the implications the idea of dependent origination for humans and our place in the natural world
         b. Formulate the normative implications of the idea of karma as applied to our treatment of other animals.
         c. Explain the relevance of the idea of impermanence to our understanding of the natural world 
   D. Review the basic features of the natural world as understood in Daoism
      1. Explain the idea of the Dao
         a. Describe the image of the Dao as presented in the Dao De Jing and Zhuangzi
         b. Formulate the normative implications of the image living in accordance with the Dao
      2. Explain the origin of the ‘myriad things’ offered by Daoism
         a. Describe the process of immanent creation in Daoism
         b. Explain the place of humans in the world as understood in Daosim
            i. Explain the image of humans as ‘straw dogsii) 
           ii. Describe Daoist emphasis on spontaneity, harmony and wu wei, or non-coercive action
         c. Describe the prevalence of naturalistic images in Daoist texts
            i. Explain the importance of the image of flowing water in Daoist thought
            ii. Explicate Zhuangzi’s use of stories of animals and plants in his moral texts
            iii. Describe the normative force given to natural processes Daoism
   E. Discuss the basic tenets of Native American beliefs as they pertain to the natural world 
      1. Explain the idea of Traditional Ecological Knowledge
      2. Describe the Native American normative emphasis on holism and balance

III. Describe the basic ideas and claims of Anthropocentrism
   A. Identify the idea and influence of anthropocentrism
      1. Explain the idea that humans are morally more important than plants and other animals
      2. Trace the idea of human uniqueness to its origins in earlier Christian and modern philosophical thought
      3. Explain the idea that only humans are moral agents
   B. Explain the difference between inherent and instrumental worth as applied to the natural world
      1. Explain Kant’s distinction between persons as ends in themselves and things as mere means
      2. Explain the idea that the natural world is valuable only as it useful to humans
      3. Formulate the implications of the idea the natural world has only instrumental worth
         a. Explain the idea of maximal pollution
         b. Discuss the idea that we should not preserve nature at the cost of human welfare
         c. Discuss the anthropocentric defense of the use animals for research and food
   C. Describe the philosophical challenges to Anthropocentrism
      1. Explain the arguments against human uniqueness
         a. Describe the biological continuities between humans and other species as revealed in the theory of evolution
         b. Explain the idea of speciesism and the arguments against it
            i. Assess the analogy between speciesism and sexism and racism
            ii. Formulate the implications of rejecting speciesism in regard to the use animals in experimentation and food
         c. Explain non-utilitarian accounts of animal rights
      2. Identify the non-anthropocentric tendencies of Buddhism, Daoism and Native American Religions

IV. Explain the basic ideas and claims of egocentrism
   A. Identify the proposed components of a land ethic
      1. Describe the concept of a biotic community
      2. Explain the values of integrity, stability and beauty as values of biotic community
      3. Distinguish conservation as the preservation of resource and as promotion of the health of ecosystems.
   B. Identify the claims of deep ecology
      1. Explain the idea that ecological diversity is an inherent good
      2. Describe the limits on human rights entailed by deep ecology
      3. Trace the connections between deep ecology and concerns about human population growth
   C. Identify the claims of ecofeminism
      1. Explain the feminist analysis of the structural and institutional oppression of women by men
         a. Describe the idea of “patriarchy” 
         b. Explain the logic of domination that is said to underlie patriarchal institutions
      2. Explain the claim there is a deep connection between patriarchy and the exploitation of the environment
         a. Trace the historical connections made between reason and though and masculinity
         b. Trace the historical connections made between feelings and the body and femininity 
         c. Explain how the historical privileging of reason and culture has denigrated both women and nature
      3. Describe the basic claims of the feminist spirituality movement
         a. Describe the image of the earth as a mother and its role in ecofeminism
         b. Explain the claim that women are closer to nature than men
         c. Explain the claim that focusing on the experiences of women can lead to a deepened appreciation of nature
      4. Describe the most prevalent challenges to ecofeminism
         a. Discuss the charge that ecofeminism draws on and reinforces traditional gender stereotypes
         b. Evaluate the charge that ecofeminist uncritically accept women’s roles and experiences as structured by patriarchy

V. Identify the features of the most pressing problems and debates in environmental ethics
   A. Describe the moral challenges posed by pollution
      1. Explain the implications of adopting an ecocentric and anthropocentric approaches to thinking about pollution
         a. Explain the idea of optimal pollution
         b. Describe the anthropocentric arguments in favor of limiting pollution
         c. Formulate the ecocentric rejection of optimal pollution
   B. Describe the moral challenges posed by climate change
      1. Explain the debate about the respective duties of developed countries and developing countries in combatting climate change
      2. Trace the connections between the problems of anthropogenic climate change and human population growth
   C. Explain the moral challenges posed by food production and consumption
      1. Describe the environmental impact of the cattle industry
      2. Explain the moral arguments in favor of vegetarianism
         a. Discuss the moral arguments against vegetarianism
         b. Explain the moral controversies attached to genetically modified organisms

VI. Describe the principle of sustainability
    A. Explain the argument that current patterns of economic development and production are unsustainable
       1. Describe the connections made between global economic trends and unsustainable consumption.
       2. Discuss the argument that adopting sustainable practices will require radical changes in economic organization
    B. Describe the problems and moral issues attached to unsustainable practices

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Introduction
   A. Define ethics.
   B. Explain methods of justification.
   C. Distinguish types of agreement and disagreement.
   D. Explain basic moral concepts and terms.

II. Deontology
   A. Kantian ethics
      1. Explain the categorical imperative.
      2. Distinguish acting out of duty and acting out of inclination.
   B. Rawls' justice as fairness
      1. Explain the original position.
      2. Explain veil of ignorance.
   C. Application to business cases
      1. Apply deontological concepts to question of truth-telling in
business.
      2. Apply deontological concepts to question of whistle blowing.
   D. Critique
      1. Explain the counter-intuitive results of deontology.

III. Consequentialism and Utilitarianism
   A. Explain act utilitarianism.
   B. Explain rule utilitarianism.
   C. Application to business cases
      1. Use utilitarianism to offer moral defense of profit motive.
      2. Use utilitarianism to evaluate corporate responsibility for
environmental safety.
      3. Use utilitarianism to evaluate employer responsibility for
employee safety and welfare.
   D. Critique
      1. Explain counter-intuitive results of utilitarianism.

IV. Virtue Ethics
   A. Explain Aristotle’s definition of virtue.
   B. Explain use of ideals of virtue and human potential in evaluating
actions.
   C. Application to business cases
      1. Apply virtue ethics to questions of management styles.
      2. Apply virtue ethics to understanding nature and extent of
businesses’ responsibility to consumers and communities.
   D. Critique
      1. Explain limitations of virtue ethics.

V. Moral Relativism
   A. Define and explain appeal of moral relativism.
   B. Application to business cases
      1. Use moral relativism to evaluate business practices in other
countries.
      2. Use moral relativism to respond to dilemmas of adopting standards
of other cultures.
   C. Critique
      1. Explain the counter-intuitive results of moral relativism.

NOTE: Individual instructors may vary the order of the outline as it
appears here and may emphasize some subtopics of the outline to the
exclusion of others.  What is assured is that this list of major topics
represents the topics that will be covered in the course.

Content Outline and Competencies:

   I. Upanishadic and “Unorthodox” Schools of Indian Philosophy 
      A. Describe the social and material conditions of ancient India that
provided the context for the prevailing philosophical ideas of the period.

      B. Summarize the Vedic background to Indian philosophy and trace the
emergence of Indian philosophy in the Upanishads. 
      C. Discuss the basic concepts of Upanishadic philosophy.  
         1. Discern the previous meanings of the word karma and the
emergence of a new meaning in the Upanishads.  
         2. Discuss the meanings of the concept of Brahman. 
         3. Discuss the identity of Atman and Brahman as asserted in the
Chandogya Upanishad. 
         4. Explain the concept of liberation through the attainment of
true knowledge 
      D. Describe and evaluate the basic ontological and epistemological
contentions of Lokayata/Charvaka materialism.  
      E. Describe and evaluate the basic ontological and epistemological
contentions of Jaina philosophy. 
         1. Explain the Jain meaning of jiva/atman, karma, samsara,
dharma, pudgala, and skandha.  
         2. Analyze and evaluate the Jain concept of truth-values. 
         3. Describe the Jain method of ridding oneself of Karma and
attaining kaivalya or absolute independence. 
 
  II. Buddhist Philosophy and Practice 
      A. Discuss the life and career of the Buddha, and describe and
evaluate the basic ontological and epistemological contentions of early
Buddhist philosophy. 
         1. Briefly recount the life and career of the Buddha. 
         2. List and evaluate the Four Noble Truths and the steps of the
Eightfold Path as the means of attaining enlightenment. 
         3. Compare and contrast the ontological status of samsara and
nirvana. 
         4. Analyze and evaluate the Buddhist contention that all things
are impermanent. 
         5. Analyze and evaluate the Buddhist denial of self and its
account of what constitutes rebirth. 
         6. Analyze and evaluate the concept of Dependent Origination as
the cause of samsara. 
         7. Analyze and evaluate the Buddhist concepts of the five
skandhas/khandas; how these account for perception; how they constitute
dukkha, or suffering; and how they are affected by Dependent Origination.

      B. Mahayana Buddhist Schools of Philosophy. 
         1. Explain and evaluate the Mahayana concepts of Sunyata, or
Emptiness; Non-Dualism; Tathagata, or universal Buddha Nature; the
Buddha’s Three Bodies; and the Bodhisattva. 
         2. Describe and evaluate the basic ontological and
epistemological contentions of the madhyamaka School of Nagarjuna. 
         3. Describe and evaluate the basic ontological and
epistemological contentions of the Yogacara School. 4. Explain the key
differences between Mahayana and “Hinayana” schools of Buddhism. 
 
 III. Confucian Thought in Chinese Philosophy 
      A. Describe the social and material conditions of ancient China that
provided the context for the prevailing philosophical ideas of the period. 

      B. Summarize the historical and cultural background of Confucianism
in the Zhou dynasty and Warring States Period.    
      C. Discuss the importance of Confucius’ teaching in the Lunyu, or
Analects. 
         1. Describe what we know of Confucius’ life.  
         2. Identify Confucius’ understanding of the dao or way as a
principle leading to social and natural harmony. 
         3. Discuss the emergence of the junzi, or exemplary person, as a
moral ideal in Confucianism. 
         4. Discern the significance of mastering li, or ritual propriety,
in Confucian moral education. 
         5. Discuss the centrality of xiao, or filial piety, and the
emphasis on social roles and tradition in Confucian thought.    
            a. Identify the use of familial relations as a model for
social and political relations 
            b. Explain the importance of the Wu Lun, or Five Relations of
parent/child; husband/wife; older sibling/younger sibling; ruler/subject;
and friend/friend in establishing and maintaining social hierarchies. 
         6. Discuss the centrality of jiao, or education, in Confucian
ethics. 
         7. Discuss Confucius’ understanding of ren, or humanity or
benevolence, or humaneness, yi, or righteousness, and zhi, or wisdom, and
their roles in his moral thinking. 
         8. Discuss the role of the sheng, or sage, as the highest
manifestation of humanity in Confucian thought. 
      D. Discuss the development of Confucian thought in the Daxue, or The
Great Learning. 
         1. Explain what is meant by ‘inborn luminous virtue’ and how
it is preserved according to the Daxue. 
         2. Discuss the interplay of care for learning, thought, the mind,
self-cultivation, family harmony, and good government in the Daxue. 
      E. Discuss the development of Confucian thought in the Zhongyong or
The Doctrine of the Mean. 
         1. Explain cheng, or integrity, as it is understood in the
Zhongyong. 
         2. Discuss meanings of xing, or nature, and renxing, or human
nature, in the Zhongyong. 
         3. Identify the contention of the Zhongyong that meaning in life
is found in the moral practice of everyday affairs. 
      F. Identify and explain the contributions of Mengzi (Mencius) in the
development of Confucianism. 
         1. Discuss Mengzi’s account of renxing, or human nature. 
            a. Explain his defense of the essential goodness of humans. 
            b. Discern his account of the origins of evil.       c.
Discuss Menzi’s criticisms of Mozi’s ideal of ‘universal love’. 
         2. Discuss Mengzi’s moral psychology. 
            a. Identify the four duan, or ‘sprouts’ or
‘stirrings’, in the xin (heart-mind) that are the basis of moral
virtue as understood by Mengzi. 
            b. Explain Mengzi’s correlation of the four duan with the
virtues of ren (benevolence or humanity); yi (righteousness); li (ritual
propriety); and zhi (wisdom). 
         3. Explain Mengzi’s account of moral development as rooted in
xiao (filial piety) and li (ritual propriety). 
         4. Explain Mengzi’s theory of ‘good government’ as based on
moral example and benevolence rather than power or coercion. 
      G. Explain Xunzi’s challenge to Menzi’s optimistic theory of
human nature 
         1. Discuss Xunzi’s claim that humans are inherently selfish and
desire to enjoy pleasure and avoid pain. 
         2. Explain Xunzi’s contention that morality was invented by the
ancient sages and is achieved through education. 
            a. Discuss Xunzi’s distinction between renxing, or nature,
and wei, or human artifice. 
            b. Explain his claim that morality stems from wei, or
“conscious striving”, and not renxing, or human nature.  
         3. Explain Xunzi’s account of the role of li (ritual propriety)
in the development of ren (benevolence). 
         4. Discuss Zunzi’s view of Tian. 
         5. Show why the Rectification of Names is important in Zunxi’s
thought. 
      H. Explain the challenges to Confucianism presented by Mozi and the
Legalists. 
         1. Discuss Mozi’s utilitarian philosophy and his idea of
universal love. 
         2. Discuss the Legalists insistence on strict rules and harsh
punishment in maintaining social harmony. 
 
  IV. Daoism and its Influence on Chinese Thought 
      A. Describe the emergence of Daoist thought as a response to the
violence and uncertainty of the Warring States Period. 
      B. Discuss traditional accounts of the life of Laozi and the
authorship of the Daodejing. 
      C. Explain the processional metaphysics and immanent cosmology of
the Daodejing and contrast it with the essentialism and transcendent
cosmology more typical of Western philosophy. 
         1. Explain the Daodejing’s naturalistic understanding of dao 
         2. Discuss the role of yin and yang processes in the emergence of
the individual objects. 3. Explain the role of a thing’s de, or power, in
the Daodejing’s metaphysics. 
      D. Explain the Daodejing’s account of language. 
         1. Explain the claim that the dao that can be spoken of is not
the eternal dao. 
         2. Analyze the claim that the named is the mother of the myriad
things. 
         3. Describe the interdependence of opposites such as beautiful
and ugly, good and bad in Daoist thought. 
         4. Evaluate the Daodejing social constructivist account of
morality and its claim that conventional morality is corrupting. 
         5. Analyze the Daoist critique of Confucian ethics. 
      E. Discuss the importance of the ideas of wuwei, or non-coercive
action, wuzhi, or non-conceptualized knowing, and wuyu, or objectless
desiring, in Daoism. 
         1. Discuss the importance of spontaneity and the processes of the
natural world in Daoist aesthetics. 
         2. Discern the daoist endorsement of minimalist government. 
         3. Analyze the suggestion that renouncing political ambition and
material wealth leads to greater happiness and social harmony. 
      F.  Discuss the Zhuangzi’s contributions to Daoism. 
         1. Describe the traditional claims about the life of Zhuangzi and
the origins of the work that bears his name. 
         2. Describe and evaluate the skeptical attitude in the Zhuangzi
regarding human knowledge and understanding. 
            a. Explain the Zhuangzi’s skeptical argument based on the
conflicting claims of Confucianism and Mohism. 
            b. Explain the Zhuangzi’s skeptical argument based on the
interdependence of all conceptual distinctions. 
            c. Explain the Zhuangzi’s epistemological skepticism based
on our limited perspectives when grasping reality as illustrated by the
parable of Zhou dreaming he is a butterfly. 
         3. Discuss the Zhuangzi’s recommendations for alleviating the
fear of death by recognizing the constant transformation of things. 
 
  V. Neo-Confucianism 
     A. Describe the innovations of Chinese Buddhism and its challenge to
Confucianism. 
        1. Explain how the rich metaphysics of Buddhism revealed a lacuna
in Confucian thought. 
           a. Discuss the idea of Buddha Nature as understood in Huanyan
Buddhism. 
           b. Explain the idea that the illusory objects of everyday
experience share the same fundamental Buddha nature. 
           c. Discuss the claim that Enlightenment is the process by which
we rediscover Buddha nature. d. Describe the focus on meditative techniques
as route to sudden Enlightenment in Chan Buddhism. 
      B. Describe the neo-Confucian response to the Buddhist challenge to
Confucianism. 
      C. Describe the neo-Confucian appropriation of Chinese Buddhist
concepts and their translation into a Confucian idiom. 
         1. Explain Zhou Dunyi’s account of the origins of yin and yang
in the Taiji, or Great Ultimate and his account of the origins of the five
agencies or phases in the interaction of yin and yang. 
         2. Explain the significance of Zhang Zai’s The Western
Inscription and the idea of human goodness. 
         3. Explain Zhang Zai’s understanding of qi as a psychophysical
substance his account of the transformation of yin and yang according to
li, or principle. 
         4. Describe Zhang Zai’s account sagehood as realizing the unity
of all things in li, or principle and the role of ren understood as
universal love as the means by which this unity is realized. 
      D. Describe the development and central claims of the Cheng-Zhu or
li xue school of neo-Confucianism 
         1. Discuss Cheng I’s emphasis on learning and knowledge of li
or principle as the route to sagehood. 
         2. Discuss the significance of Zhu Xi’s synthesis of
neo-Confucius ideas and his establishment of a Confucian canon. 
            a. Explain Zhu Xi’s emphasis on intensive reading of the
Classics 
            b. Discuss Zhu Xi’s distinction between lesser and greater
learning 
            c. Describe Zhu Xi’s account of the unity of action and
learning 
         3. Describe Zhu Xi’s idea of ge wu, or the investigation of
things. 
         4. Explain Zhu Xi’s account of human goodness in li, or the
principle of humanity, and the origins of evil in its embodiment in qi, or
psychophysical substance. 
      E. Discuss the development of the Lu-Wang or xin xue school of
neo-Confucianism 
         1. Explain Wang Yangming’s slogan that mind is principle. 
         2. Explain Wang Yangming’s claim that learning involves
overcoming selfish impulses and the recovery of our liangzhi, or original
(innate) knowledge. 
         3. Describe Wang Yangming’s account of the ultimate unity of
knowing, acting, love and ren, or benevolence.

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Contemporary Moral Culture
   A. The nature of ethics
      1. The nature and content of ethics.
         a. Identify the origin of the word ‘ethics’ and explain how
it relates to morality.
         b. Identify and describe the three main divisions of ethics.
      2. The social development of ethics.  Identify the four domains of
ethical standards and describe what each is based upon.
      3. The historical development of ethics.
         a. Explain the meaning of the two key concepts that dominated the
ethics of classical Greece, and explain how they were connected with civic
life.
         b. Describe the responses made by cynics, stoics, and hedonists
in interpreting the goal of life.
         c. Describe the shift in ethical emphasis during the medieval
period, and identify the new goal and the virtues necessary to attain it.
         d. Explain the shifts in concerns in ethics fostered by humanism,
the emergence of empirical science, and industrialization during the modern
period.
         e. Describe how cultural relativism, particularism, and feminist
ethics each contributed to a loss of confidence in the possibility of
establishing an objective ethic in the 20th century.
         f. Describe the important change in the basic form of social
communication that may be seen as contributing to the decline in the
influence of moral systems, and explain how it has changed the way values
are formed.
   B. Cultural relativism
      1. The role of folkways and social customs.
         a. Explain what folkways or customs are and how they become
mores.
         b. Explain what makes a custom right, and the implication this
has for cultural values.
         c. Explain the argument from cultural differences used to support
ethical relativism and evaluate the argument’s adequacy.
      2. The clash of values.
         a. Explain the role of laws in enforcing and reforming cultural
values.
         b. Explain the role of personal conscience in enforcing and
reforming cultural values.
   C. Particularism
      1. Rejection of moral principles.
         a. Describe the traditional pattern of moral reasoning used by
principlists that particularists wish to challenge.
         b. Identify the objections that particularists make to this
pattern of reasoning.
      2. Ethics without principles.
         a. Describe how particularists see ethical choices being made.
         b.  Explain the roles particularists see principles serving in
ethics.
      3. Principlists’ response.
         a. Explain the principlists’ objection that particularists
distort the portrait of moral decision making.
         b. Explain the advantage principlists have over particularists
regarding moral dialogue.
   D. Feminist ethics
      1. The bias in traditional ethics.
         a. Explain the bias feminists see operating in traditional
ethics.
         b. Identify the moral perspective that traditional ethics
overlooks.
      2. Caring.
         a. Explain the natural sentiment of care in terms of its
paradigmatic expression.
         b. Explain how basic human moral sentiments become ethical
mandates.
         c. Explain the importance of relationship in care ethics and why
it makes ethics particularist and concrete rather than abstract and
universal.
      3. Problems with care.
         a. Explain why the need to resist evil might pose a problem for
an ethic based on care.
         b. Explain how moral responsibility toward strangers poses a
problem for care.
         c. Explain why some feminist ethicists see care as potentially
limiting and exploiting of women.
   E. Visual culture
      1. Impact of visual media.
         a. Explain how the shift from typographic communication to visual
communication has affected both intelligence and ethical judgments.
         b. Explain the preference for television testimony and the role
it plays in postmodern culture.
         c. Explain how television promises to alter human consciousness
as well as our cultural situation.
      2. Shaping values visually.
         a. Explain how the lack of visual syntax is actually an advantage
in visual persuasion rather than a deficiency.
         b. Explain how social identity display through consumption of
goods and experiences plays an important role in visual persuasion.
         c. Explain the residual role of traditional ethics in
contemporary culture.
         d. Explain how particularism and feminist ethics can be seen as
forms of expression of the new visual culture.

II. Standards of Conduct
   A. For each of the following traditional ethical theories of values –
ethical egoism, divine commands, natural law ethics, utilitarianism, duty
ethics, rights theory:
      1. Describe the moral standard the theory uses to determine right
and wrong, good and bad, and moral obligations.
      2. Specify the sorts of acts the theory would approve or disapprove
of according to its moral standard.
      3. State the major supporting arguments and evidence advocates of
the  theory use to justify it.
      4. Explain the main objections critics make to the theory.
      5. Identify the moral insights the theory contributes to ethics.
      6. Identify the theories at work in the key social ethical issues of
our time.

III. Virtues and Vices of Character
   A. Virtue ethics
      1. The classical foundation.
         a. Explain how Aristotle’s notion of the good for mankind
results from his metaphysical thesis on entelechy and his empirical thesis
on happiness.
         b. Describe the two types of virtue Aristotle distinguishes and
explain how each is acquired.
         c. Explain the role the mean plays in virtue and how it is to be
determined.
      2. Being and doing.
         a. Explain how an ethic of being differs from one of doing.
         b. Describe the advantages of virtue ethics over conduct centered
ethics.
         c. List the seven deadly sins and explain how any of them pertain
to our culture.
         d. List the virtues and their moral precepts that Franklin
believed were necessary to overcome vice.
      3. Vices of virtue ethics.
         a. Explain how indeterminacy is a problem for virtue ethics.
         b. Explain why virtue ethics must be assisted by law which
requires some other ethical foundation than virtue.
         c. Explain how changes in character count against virtue ethics.
         d. Explain why virtue ethics is thought to encourage moral
backsliding.
   B. Pride, humility, and self-respect
      1. Pride and humility.
         a. Explain how Aristotle used pride as a means to realization of
other virtues.
         b. Provide a working definition of humility and indicate what it
requires regarding self-respect, the needs of others, jealousy, and envy.
         c. Explain how humility is related to pride.
      2. Despair.
         a. Explain how despair threatens established authority more than
the other deadly sins.
         b. Explain why contemporary despair is regarded as misguided
politics.
      3. Self-respect.
         a. Explain why the origin of self-respect is in overcoming
self-deception.
         b. Explain how the absence of self-respect affects our
relationships with others, and how it leads to alienation.
   C. Honesty
      1. Honesty and hope.
         a. Explain the conflict between hope and honesty embedded in the
claim that hope contains an inherent lie.
         b. Explain how hope produces a ‘white lie’ through production
of an unconscious falsehood.
      2. Lying and deceit.
         a. Identify what it is that makes lying wrong.
         b. Identify the most common motives behind lying.
         c. Explain why lying is an integral part of the decency of
everyday life and thus a virtue of practical intelligence.
         d. Explain why a true friendship involves a degree of deceit.
   D. Anger and violence
      1. Vigilantism.
         a. Explain why an angry mob is more dangerous than a mob of angry
people.
         b. Identify the five principal characteristics of vigilantism.
         c. Explain why vigilantism is more likely to occur now in
America.
      2. Anger and vengeance.
         a. Distinguish between natural and voluntary anger.
         b. Explain how anger is related to both self-importance and
righteousness.
         c. Explain the main difference between righteous and unrighteous
anger.
         d. Identify the purpose for which vengeance may be held to be
lawful and virtuous.

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Pre-Socratic Philosophy
   A. The Milesians
      1. Thales
         a. Explain the basis for regarding Thales as the first
philosopher in the West.
         b. Describe what is known of Thales’ account of nature.
      2. Anaximander
         a. Explain how Anaximander responded to Thales’ teachings in
terms of what he accepted, what he rejected, and his basis for rejecting
it.
         b. Describe Anaximander’s account of what exists and how change
occurs.
      3. Anaximenes 
         a. Explain Anaximenes’ amendments to Anaximander’s account of
nature.
         b. Identify the advancement Anaximenes is credited with
introducing into natural philosophy.
      4. The coherence and contributions of the Milesians.
         a. Identify the presuppositions made by all three of the early
Milesians.
         b. Identify the conceptual innovations each of them contributed.
   B. The Transition Philosophers
      1. Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism
         a. Explain the connection between mathematics and the soul made
by the Pythagoreans.
         b. Explain the Pythagorean cosmology as summarized by their
claim, "All things are numbers."
         c. Evaluate the adequacy of this account in explaining the origin
of physical things.
         d. Connect Pythagorean cosmological beliefs with their ethical
and political practices.
         e. Identify the innovations introduced in natural philosophy by
this movement.
         f. Explain why the discovery of irrational numbers produced a
crisis for Pythagoreanism.
      2. Xenophanes
         a. Describe the scientific discoveries Xenophanes is credited
with making.
         b. Explain Xenophanes’ religious views.
      3. Heraclitus
         a. Explain the basis for Heraclitus’ rejection of Milesian
accounts of what exists and how it undergoes change.
         b. Explain Heraclitus’ account of permanence and change.
         c. Assess the significance of Heraclitus’ contributions to
philosophy.
   C. The Eleatics
      1. Parmenides
         a. Explain the controversy regarding whether Parmenides should be
seen as reacting to Heraclitus or Pythagoreanism.
         b. Explain how Parmenides’ poem may be read as a rejection of
Pythagorean dualism.
         c. Explain how the Eleatics introduced logic to advance
rationalism beyond its Pythagorean form.
         d. Explain how Parmenides finds a place for Pythagoreanism in his
‘Way of Opinion’ section of his poem.
         e. Formulate an explanation for Parmenides’ use of the poetic
form in putting forth his account of reality.
      2. Zeno
         a. Connect Zeno’s paradoxes with the issue between Parmenides
and Pythagorean cosmology.
         b. Explain what a ‘reductio ad absurdum’ form of argument is
and show how Zeno can be seen as reducing the Pythagorean account of space
to absurdity.
      3. Melissus
         a. Explain the two sides of the debate over the nature of being
expressed by Melissus and Parmenides.
         b.  Show how Einstein’s solution to this issue that he borrowed
from Riemann is an attempt to reconcile these two sides.
   D. The Pluralists
      1. Empedocles
         a. Explain how Empedocles uses four elements and two forces to
account for reality.
         b. Connect Empedocles’ account with Parmenides’ basis for
rejecting Pythagoreanism.
      2. Anaxagoras
         a. Trace Anaxagoras’ pluralism to the Ionian accounts of
reality.
         b. Identify the significant innovation Anaxagoras introduces in
his account.
      3. The Atomists
         a. Correlate Leucippus’ account of reality with Pythagorean
cosmology.
         b. Explain how the world of sensory objects issues from the
atoms.
         c. Explain how the Atomists’ account of knowledge led to the
basis for skepticism.
         d. Assess the significance of atomism on subsequent science and
philosophy.

II. The Athenian Apex
   A. The Sophists & Socrates
      1. Protagoras
         a. Trace Protagoras’ metaphysical agnosticism and
epistemological skepticism to its roots in Atomism.
         b. Describe Protagoras’ ethical position.
         c. Explain why the Sophists were highly regarded in Greek culture
during this period.
      2. Gorgias
         a. Explain and evaluate the three claims and their supporting
arguments that characterize Gorgias’ teachings.
         b. Compare Gorgias’ position with the modern period British
empiricists.
      3. Socrates
         a. Explain why the historical Socrates is an enigma based on the
sources we have about his life and teachings.
         b. Explain why it is necessary to separate the historical
Socrates from the character in Plato’s dialogues.
         c. Explain why Plato’s ‘Socrates’ has been so widely
accepted.
   B. Plato
      1. Euthyphro
         a. Identify the issue Plato is dealing with in the Euthyphro and
what he seems to be rejecting.
         b. Show how the Euthyphro exemplifies the dialectic process or
"Socratic method."
         c. Explain why the dialogue ends inconclusively.
      2. Apology
         a. Contrast the old accusations against Socrates with the formal
charges made by Meletus.
         b. Explain how Socrates acquired his divine mission and how this
led to the old accusations.
         c. Explain what Plato seems to be trying to accomplish by
manufacturing these old accusations.
         d. Summarize and evaluate Socrates’ defense against the formal
charges brought against him by Meletus.
         e. Describe the facts the jurors would have been aware of which
support the charge of corrupting the youth but which Plato omits any
response to.
         f. Identify the political basis for the charges Plato appears to
be emphasizing.
         g. Evaluate the reasonableness of the penalty Socrates proposed
in Plato’s account against other alternatives available to him.
      3. Crito
         a. Explain the reasons why Crito believes Socrates should escape
from prison and avoid the death penalty.
         b. Summarize Socrates’ argument showing it would be unjust to
avoid the penalty.
      4. The trial dialogues as a philosophical trilogy.
         a. Describe the philosophical problem Plato is posing in the
trial trilogy and explain how each dialogue contributes to the problem and
to his proposed solution.
         b. Explain how this interpretation helps us to understand the
apparently deliberate weaknesses in Socrates’ hypothetical defense in
the Apology.
         c. Evaluate the solution Plato is proposing to the problem of the
social value of the reformer.
      5. Meno
         a. Diagram the dialectic examination of virtue in the first
section of the dialogue.
         b. Describe the learner’s paradox and explain Socrates’
solution to it.
         c. Explain how the interrogation of the slave boy exemplifies the
two stage structure of dialectic inquiry.
         d. Summarize the argument Socrates uses to establish that virtue
cannot be taught, and explain why it must be seen as a satire of sophistic
reasoning.
         e. Explain the satire involved in the conclusion that virtue must
be acquired by divine dispensation.
      6. Theaetetus
         a. Map the dialectic structure of the definition of knowledge
through its three primary formulations and the key objections made to
each.
         b. Explain how Plato uses the reality versus appearances motif in
the dialogue.
         c. Identify the key error Plato believes is being made in
Protagoras’ view that knowledge is simply perception.
         d. Relate Plato’s objection to the modern period British
empiricists’ account of knowledge we examined in connection with
Gorgias’ arguments for skepticism.
      7. Republic
         a. Trace Plato’s justification in Book II for organizing the
ideal state into two classes of people.
         b. Explain why in Book III Plato sees it necessary to add a third
class and to employ a ‘noble lie.’
         c. Explain how Plato uses the harmonious reconciliation of the
tripartite soul to characterize justice in the ideal state in Book IV.
         d. Describe the ‘three waves’ that Plato sees threatening to
swamp his proposal for the ideal state in Book V.
         e. Diagram Plato’s metaphor of the divided line given in Book
VI, and identify the four states of mind he distinguishes along with their
objects.
         f. Summarize the main features of the Allegory of the Cave given
in Book VII, and explain what Plato uses it to accomplish.
      8. Plato’s achievement.
         a. Explain how Plato’s Theory of Forms constitutes a synthesis
of the pre-Socratic conflict over permanence and change.
         b. Explain how Plato’s philosophy constitutes a rejection of
the Sophists’ skepticism and relativism.
   C. Aristotle
      1. The Organon
         a. Identify the four areas of inquiry in Aristotle’s conception
of philosophical thought.
         b. Identify the three basic laws of thought.
         c. Explain the key elements in Aristotle’s syllogistic logic
that permits the determination of the validity of reasoning purely on a
formal basis.
         d. Explain how this logical system along with a theory of
rhetoric allowed Aristotle to confront the Sophists in a way not open to
Plato.
      2. Physics
         a. Explain Aristotle’s form-in-matter doctrine and relate it to
Plato’s Theory of Forms.
         b. Explain Aristotle’s basis for rejecting monism.
         c. Describe the four causes of change Aristotle identifies and
indicate which of these previous philosophers overlooked.
         d. Explain Aristotle’s account of nature.
      3. Metaphysics
         a. Explain why Aristotle’s analysis of the views of his
predecessors is both invaluable and unreliable.
         b. Summarize his objections to Plato’s Theory of Forms.
         c. Describe the four types of change Aristotle distinguishes and
the three elements that exist.
         d. Explain Aristotle’s entelechy doctrine in terms of
potentiality and actuality.
         e. Explain Aristotle’s argument for the existence of a prime
mover.
      4. On the Soul
         a. Distinguish the three types of souls Aristotle identifies.
         b. Explain the powers of the human soul in terms of these types
of souls.
         c. Explain how Aristotle ties reflection and knowledge to his
form-in-matter doctrine.
      5. Ethics
         a. Explain how Aristotle’s definition of the good is a result
of his empirical thesis on happiness and his metaphysical thesis on the
nature of humanity.
         b. Identify the two types of virtue he distinguishes and explain
how he believes each is acquired.
         c. Explain the role the mean plays in virtue for Aristotle and
how he believes it is to be determined. 
         d. Explain how his analysis of moral responsibility can be seen
as superior to Plato’s.
         e. Describe the general conditions Aristotle believes might be
morally excusing conditions for the responsibility of an act.
         f. Explain the influence Aristotle’s ethic has had on both
bio-ethics and natural law ethics.

III. Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy
   A. Conditions that changed philosophy.
      1. Describe the political and social conditions following the
break-up of the Alexandrian empire that caused the shift in philosophy to
an emphasis upon personal satisfaction.
   B. Cynicism
      1. Antisthenes
         a. Trace Antisthenes’ unconventional behavior to the example of
Socrates.
         b. Describe the key elements in Antisthenes’ ethic.
         c. Explain the basis for Antisthenes’ anti-intellectual
epistemology.
      2. Diogenes
         a. Illustrate how Diogenes carried out the message of his mentor
Antisthenes.
         b. Explain the claim that Diogenes was the second king of the
empire.
      3. Crates
         a. Describe the shift made in cynicism by Crates in his
interpretation of natural living.
   C. Skepticism
      1. Pyrrho
         a. Explain the claim that philosophical skepticism was originally
an ethical position using the concept of ataraxy.
         b. Identify the three things Phyrro believed the person who would
be happy ought to consider.
      2. Sextus Empiricus
         a. Describe the skeptics account of ‘the way things are’
according to Sextus.
         b. Explain the state of mind the skeptics strived to adopt and
how they proposed to achieve it.
         c. Identify the four things skeptics followed as operational
guides and the attitude they held toward them.
         d. Explain how the skeptics hoped to avoid the two main sources
of unhappiness.
   D. Hedonism
      1. Aristippus of Cyrene
         a. Trace Aristippus’ hedonism to the influence of Socrates.
         b. Explain the basis for Aristippus’ sensationalism and the
consequences this had for social conventions and theoretical knowledge.
         c. Explain why Aristippus’ view of pleasure requires him to
regard the neutral state of quietude as undesirable.
      2. Epicurus and Lucretius
         a. Explain why Epicurus was disinterested in science and
mathematics but interested in metaphysics.
         b. Explain how Epicurus’ atomism avoided the main sources of
unhappiness in people.
         c. Explain how Epicurus avoided the determinism in Democritus’
atomism and the advantage in doing so.
         d. Explain how he used Plato to avoid the subjectivism of
Aristippus and the Sophists.
         e. Identify the three main positions Epicurus took on ethics and
explain the consequences of each.
         f. Explain how the walled garden makes an apposite metaphor for
Epicurus’ ethic.
   E. Stoicism
      1. Early Stoa: Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus
         a. Identify the ideas the Stoics borrowed from other philosophers
and philosophies in their eclectic position.
         b. Describe the Stoic account of reality and change.
         c. Explain how the Stoics responded to the two major problems
with their world view; the existence of evil and determinism.
         d. Explain how these solutions lead to an ethic based on control
of our desires and emotions.
      2. Roman Stoics
         a. Describe the main contribution of Roman stoicism from
Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius.
   F. Neoplatonism
      1. Plotinus
         a. Identify the elements from Plato’s philosophy that Plotinus
combined with monotheism.
         b. Explain how Plotinus’ metaphor of ‘emanation’ accounts
for creation of things in succession and thus the creation of time
itself.
         c. Describe Plotinus’ accounts of the nature of the human soul
and of matter.
         d. Explain how Plotinus accounts for the existence of evil.

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Introduction to Biology 
   A. Compare and contrast science, pseudoscience, and non-science 
   B. Describe the importance of scientific methodologies 
   C. Describe the characteristics of life 
   D. Describe the basic features of evolution and the importance of evolution to biology 

II. Introduction to Ethics 
   A. Compare and contrast morals and ethics 
   B. Describe the basic motivations for reasoned ethical discourse 
   C. Discuss primary secular ethical theories 
   D. Describe deontology, in terms of its major points, including its strengths and weaknesses 
   E. Describe act utilitarianism, in terms of its major points, including its strengths and weaknesses 
   F. Describe rule utilitarianism, in terms of its major points, including its strengths and weaknesses 
   G. Describe religious ethics, in terms of its major points, including its strengths and weaknesses 
   H. Compare and contrast religious ethics and secular ethics as they relate to biologically related issues 
   I. Compare and contrast natural law, virtue, natural rights, and feminist caring in terms of their major points, strengths and weaknesses 
   J. Describe the influence of religion on the analysis of current biologically related issues

III. Introduction to Case Study Analysis 
   A. Describe the use of case studies as a means of preparing a reasoned ethical argument 
   B. Prepare a detailed outline the six step analysis of an issue 
   C. Examine and discuss the salient points of sample case studies using the six step analysis 

IV. Develop and Describe a Personal Ethical Stance for the Purpose of Examining the Provided Cases 

V. Case Studies (for each of the provided cases): 
   A. Identify and describe the relevant biological facts 
   B. List the salient ethical issues 
   C. Describe the available non-biological facts 
   D. Identify and describe the stakeholders 
   E. Identify and describe the values at stake 
   F. Identify and describe the possible solutions 
   G. Choose and justify the best solution and probable outcomes

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Introduction
   A. Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion
      1. Identify questions which challenge the reasonableness of
religious belief and commitment.
      2. Formulate a working definition of religion.
      3. Establish legitimate parameters of philosophical inquiry into
questions related to religion. 
      4. Examine the nature of certainty and the reasonableness of  faith
based commitments.
      5. Identify problems associated with religious language and
critically evaluate proposed resolutions of those problems.
      6.  Compare the views of Aquinas and Hume on analogy.   

II. Arguments For and Against God’s Existence
   A. The Ontological Argument
      1. Review and explain Anselm’s Formulation.
      2. Review and explain the modal version of the ontological
argument.
      3. Critically examine weaknesses and strengths of both the
traditional and contemporary ontological arguments.
   B. The Cosmological Argument
      1. Explain and evaluate the validity of the principle of sufficient
reason.
      2. Review and explain the cosmological argument.     
      3. Explain and evaluate the concept of infinite regression.
      3. Examine weaknesses and strengths of the cosmological argument.
      4. Discuss the adequacy of uncaused first cause as definitive of
God.
   C. The Teleological Argument
      1. Traditional formulations
         a. Review and explain Paley’s Watch Analogy.
         b. Review Hume’s response and critically examine the measure
and extent of its validity.
   D. The Moral Argument
      1. Formulate and evaluate the Moral Argument for the existence of
God.
   E. The Pragmatic Argument
      1. Review Pascal’s Wager and evaluate its relevance.
   F. The Problem of Evil
      1. Distinguish and evaluate the concepts of moral and physical
evil.
      2. Explain and evaluate the following traditional concepts of evil:
         a. Privation 
         b. Punishment for sin
         c. Test of faith
         d. God’s warning
         e. A challenge necessary for the building of character
   G. The Argument from Miracles and Mystical Experience
      1. Define miracle and evaluate the possibility of the existence of
miracles.
      2. Examine and evaluate Hume’s criticisms of miracles.
      3. Evaluate the existence of miracles as a reasonable proof for the
existence of God.
   H. The Argument from Mystical Experience
      1. Review James’ explanation of mystical experience.
      2. Weigh the reasonableness of the existence of mystical experience.
 Evaluate the value of such experience as a proof for the existence of
God.

III. Alternatives to Theism
   A. Explain and evaluate arguments for the conclusion that religion is
an  opiate of the people” and exposes individuals to unreasonable
manipulation.
   B. Review the evolution of materialistic concepts fundamental to
humanism.
   C. Evaluate the reasonableness of the suggestion that religion is
possible without God and that non-theistic beliefs can satisfy religious
needs.

IV. Science and Religion
   A. Identify questions which have which have brought science and
religion into conflict.
   B. Examine the religious and scientific perspectives at the root of the
disagreements with a view to evaluating the compatibility of the apparently
conflicting religious and scientific answers.

V. Morality and Religion
   A. Explain the concept of free will and discuss the possibility logical
compatibility of free will and an omniscient God.
   B. Address the question of the relationship of free will to morality.
   C. Explain religion based morality.
      1. Explain and evaluate the divine command theory.
      2. Explain and evaluate the natural law theory.
   D. Show how morality can exist without religion and discuss moral
systems which deny the existence of God.

NOTE:  Individual instructors may vary the order of the outline as it
appears here and may emphasize subtopics of the outline to the exclusion
of others.  What is assured is that this list of major topics presents the
topics to be covered in the course.

Content Outline and Competencies:

I. Concepts in the History of Philosophy
   A. Distinguish between the history of philosophy, the history of ideas
and philosophy of history.
   B. Distinguish these terms and their methodologies:  science, theology,
and philosophy.
   C. Explain in what sense there is "progress" in philosophy and in what
sense there is not "progress" in philosophy.
   D. Explain the basic features of Scholastic philosophy.

II. Francis Bacon 
   A. Define "idols" and identify Bacon’s types of idols described in
Novum Organum and describe the ways they "meet and trouble us."
   B. Describe the features of Bacon's Novum Organum that qualify his
writing as "modern" or analytical philosophy and not speculative
philosophy.
   C. Give specific instances of Bacon's idols of (1) the cave, (2) the
market place, (3) the theatre, and (4) the tribe. 

III. Rene Descartes
   A. Describe the features of Descartes’ rationalism and explain what
personal experiences of his led him to adopt rationalism.
   B. Skepticism
      1. Explain Descartes' dreaming argument.
      2. Explain Descartes' evil genius argument.
      3. Define Solipsism.
      4. Explain Descartes' test for the truth of an idea.
   C. God's existence
      1. Explain the cosmological argument.
      2. Explain the teleological argument.
      3. Explain the ontological argument.
   D. Explain the argument for the conclusion that material objects
exist.
   E. Describe Descartes' analysis of the piece of wax.
   F. Explain Descartes' conclusions regarding the origin of sensory
qualities (colors, smells, etc.) of material objects.
   G. Define substance and describe the types and number of substances in
Descartes' theory of the physical universe.
   H. Evaluate the strength of Descartes' analysis of physical objects.

IV. Baruch Spinoza
   A. Describe Spinoza’s two basic criticisms of Descartes’ cogito
argument from the second Meditation.
   B. Describe Spinoza’s concept of substance and explain how
Spinoza’s concept leads him to reject Descartes’ cogito and
Descartes’ concept of extension.
   C. Describe Spinoza’s concepts of attribute and mode.
   D. Explain Spinoza’s rejection of the concept of final causality.
   E. Describe the levels or stages of human knowledge.
   F. Describe these concepts in Spinoza’s ethics:  his account of human
emotions, both passive and active, conatus, servitude, and freedom.

V. Gottfried Leibniz
   A. Describe Liebniz’s theory of knowledge, including his thinking
about:  
      1. Truths of reason
      2. Truths of fact
      3. Analytical propositions
      4. Synthetic propositions
   B. Describe the relationships between Leibniz’s grammar of
propositions and his metaphysics.
   C. Describe Leibniz’s conception of substance and explain how this
conception differs from Descartes’ and Spinoza’s conceptions of
substance.
   D. Explain these principles:
      1. Principle of sufficient reason
      2. Principle of noncontradiction
      3. Principle of identity of indiscernibles
   E. Explain these concepts in Leibniz’s theory:
      1. God
      2. Freedom
      3. Determinism

VI. John Locke
   A. Define "empiricism."
   B. Describe the connection between the appearance of empiricism and the
development of a comprehensive theory of language.
   C. Compare Hobbes’ account ofmeaning with Locke’s theory of
linguistic meaning.
   D. Describe Locke’s disagreement with Leibniz over innate ideas.
   E. Describe Locke’s theory of abstract ideas and his account of how
we acquire knowledge of the external world.
   F. Describe Locke’s theories of substance, causation, and personal
identity.

VII. George Berkeley
   A. Describe Berkeley’s position on causal relations among objects in
the external world.
   B. Describe Berkeley’s theory of ideas and the theory’s
implications for Locke’s conception of abstract ideas, Locke’s
distinction between primary and secondary qualities, and Locke’s notion
of substance.
   C. Describe Berkeley’s arguments against the existence of material
substance.
      1. Explain Berkeley’s conviction that belief in material objects
entails skepticism.
      2. Describe the chief features of the materialism which Berkeley
sought to refute.
      3. Provide the details of Berkeley’s arguments which were designed
to refute each of these chief features.
   D. Describe Berkeley’s argument for God’s existence and the
relationship between my mind, other minds, and God.

VIII. David Hume
   A. Describe the principles of Hume’s empiricism and how Hume’s
empiricism differs from that of Locke and Berkeley.
   B. Describe and explain Hume’s analysis of causation and explain how
his analysis harms the classical conception of causality.
   C. Describe the problem of induction according to Hume.
   D. Relate Hume’s analysis of propositonal truths to this theory of
knowledge.
   E. Apply Hume’s epistemology to his analysis of the concepts of soul
and personal identity.
   F. Describe Hume’s arguments against God’s existence and the notion
of miracles.
   G. Outline the principal features of Hume’s ethics.

IX. Immanuel Kant
   A. Describe the basic goals of Kant's metaphysical system.
   B. Explain the meaning of the words "symthetic a priori knowledge."
   C. Explain the sense in which Kant's epistemology "transcendental."
   D. Define and explain the epistemological significance of Kant's
"categories" of understanding.
   E. Describe these concepts in Kant: the "Transcendental Unity of
Apperception" and "Transcendental Deduction."
   F. Describe Kant's distinction between "phenomena" and "noumena."
   G. Kantian ethics
      1. Explain what a moral law is.
      2. Define "categorical imperative." Give Kant's three formulations
of the imperative and explain the difference between the formulations.
      3. Distinguish hypothetical from categorical imperatives.
      4. Describe the characteristics which make up "humanity" according
to Kant.
      5. Explain Kant's formulation "treat humanity as an end."
      6. Distinguish between the concepts of "dignity" and "price."
      7. Distinguish between "beneficence" and "duty."
      8. Distinguish an act from duty from an act in accordance with
duty.
      9. Explain Kant's application of the categorical imperative to the:
         a. Suicide case
         b. Promising case
         c. Comfortable circumstances case
         d. Each-for-himself case

X. G.W. F. Hegel
   A. Describe the criticisms which Hegel makes of Kant’s theory of the
categories of understanding.
   B. Describe Hegel’s characterization of history as spirit.
   C. Discuss Hegel’s theory dialectic and the theory’s role
explaining the character of reality.
   D. Explain the development of self-consciousness and this
development’s relation to master-slave relationships.
   E. Explain the concept of the cunning of reason.

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