Courses in this list fulfill the senior general education requirement for
students following the degree requirements of the previous curriculum. Any
student who is a junior or senior during the 2006-07 academic year is required
to take one course from those listed below. (Freshmen and sophomores will follow
the new curriculum and take an Integrated Studies course, INTG 4xx, their senior
year.)
ISSI 402. Classical Mythology and Religion
Considers the meaning of myth and
religion in Graeco-Roman society. Discusses various theories of myth, including
rationalism, charter myths, and myths as ritual justification. Surveys various
aspects of Greek religion, especially mystery religions like the cult of Demeter
at Eleusis and the worship of Dionysus. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three
credits.)
ISSI 408. Personal Identity
An examination of the biological, behavioral and
social foundations of the sense of personal identity. The course considers the
ways in which personal identity may be a gift, a biological imperative, a
challenge, a distraction, a social creation, or an illusion. The multiple
anchors of our identity in memory, body, society and immediate experience are
explored. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 413. Suffering, Evil, and Hope
Why is there suffering and evil? What is
our responsibility in the face of suffering? Are there grounds for hoping that
suffering may one day cease? This class focuses on the long tradition of
religious and philosophical reflection on these and related questions. Features
classic texts, novels, and film. Prerequisite: Senior standing. Permission for
non-seniors should be directed to the department chair. (Also PHIL 413.) (Three
credits.)
ISSI 414. Economy, Community, and Ethics
Economic issues increasingly dominate
our lives in the twenty-first century. This course examines moral and ethical
issues related to living and laboring in a global economy. What resources do the
Judeo-Christian traditions provide for navigating an economically interdependent
world? Prerequisite: Senior standing. Permission for non-seniors should be
directed to the department chair. (Also RELG 414.) (Three credits.)
ISSI 415. Faith & Solidarity: American Perspectives on Religion, Ethics and
Politics
This seminar provides students with the opportunity to think about the
relationship between religion, ethics and politics in the American context
through closed reading of texts by classic American philosophers, including
Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, Josiah Royce and John
Dewey, as well as the writings of contemporary pragmatists like Richard Rorty
and Cornel West. The course examines the development of the culture of
individualism and engages criticisms and concerns about the effect of
individualism on the forming and sustaining of communities. Along the way, we
look at such themes as loyalty and patriotism; democracy and religious
pluralism; race and gender; self-expression and communal identity. The course
also explores the religious and political functions of music (spirituals, blues,
jazz). Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 422. Ethics in Media Communication
A systematic approach to moral
reasoning combining ethical theory with the practice of ethics in a mediated
society. Students are presented with a moral-reasoning method which is then
applied to hypothetical case situations and current media communication topics.
Prerequisite: Senior standing. May not be used by CATA, Public Relations majors
for ISSI credit. (Three credits.)
ISSI 426. Feminist Approaches to Literature and Society
An application of
feminist critical theories to the examination of social constructs present in
literary works and in social problems. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 433. Liberty
This course examines the history of the pursuit of
freedom with an emphasis on relating current issues such as abortion, the death
penalty, taxation, gun control, affirmative action, immigration, welfare reform,
the role of government, and school vouchers to the pursuit of freedom.
Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 434. War and Peace
A study of the causes and results of war, efforts to
bring about a peaceful and orderly society, and reasons for the persistence of
armed conflict. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 435. Political Philosophy from Plato to the Present
A historical survey
and philosophical analysis of political theory from ancient Greece to the
present. Includes works by Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Lock,
Rousseau, Marx, and Mill. (Also POLS 411 and PHIL 411.) Prerequisite: Senior
standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 436. Poetics of the Self
An investigation of some questions that arise
from an awareness of one’s own self. The intent is to place the question “Who am
I?” into a critically manageable context. Emphasizes discovery of the self and
various strategies for making sense of who one is. Particular emphasis on the
need for models (plots, paradigms, myths) in defining our existence. (Also PHIL
336.) Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 437. The New Individual: Narcissus and the Faceless Man
A study of
individualism and conformity emphasizing the origins of the tradition of
pessimism in modern American thought. Includes discussion of anarchism,
conformity, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism contrasted with the ideal of
the well-rounded individual of the liberal arts tradition. Includes readings
from history, philosophy, and literature. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three
credits.)
ISSI 444. The Politics of Islam
Examines different forms of Islamic revivalism
as well as the basic political tenets of Islam. Puts current trends in
historical perspective. (Also POLS 244G.) Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three
credits.)
ISSI 468. The Arts in Society
The arts examined critically from the perspective
of the values which they embody, express, and communicate. Topics include:
freedom and creativity; the autonomous value of the arts; art and the sacred;
the arts in relation to the civic environment (urban design, education,
censorship, pornography, political revolution, patronage, and kitsch).
Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 470. Biotechnology and Human Values
A course designed to study the impact,
trends and implications of biotechnology on modern culture. The biological
history and development of the phenomenon will also be considered. Prerequisite:
Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 472. Fiction and Industrial Society
An investigation of issues and
questions of value raised by selected 19th- and 20th-century novels that focus
on modern industrial society. Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 474. Economic Policy Alternatives and Citizen Welfare
An analysis of the
social and economic conditions of a variety of nations across the world and the
governmental policies that produced them. Policies examined include national
labor-management policy, educational institutions, wage and price controls,
insurance programs, pension planning, rules that protect domestic industry, work
week rules, overtime customs, contract and property rights protections,
environmental rules, and national policies on antitrust, government regulation
and competition. The course will examine the variety of governmental policies
different nations have followed to an economic success. Prerequisite: Senior
standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 477. Energy Resources
Study of the geologic, economic, and socio-political
implications of locating, recovering, utilizing, as well as the disposing of the
wastes from the use of the earth’s energy resources. The effects of population
growth and the demands from industrial development will be considered.
Prerequisite: Senior standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 479. Cosmology and Creation
An investigation, from Western and Eastern
points of view, of the origin of the universe and our place in it, this course
raises issues that confront most thinking people at some point in their lives.
It will examine differing view points, such as myth and truth, creation and
evolution, science and religion and critically study the contributions of
scientists—both physical and biological, philosophers—ancient and modern, and
theologians—traditional and non-traditional, and notice where these scholars
interrelate and where they part company. (Also RELG 479.) Prerequisite: Senior
standing. (Three credits.)
ISSI 480. Evolution of Human Behavior
An exploration of the application of
evolutionary theory to explain human behavior, beginning with an overview of the
process of evolution and research in animal and human behavior. Abuses of
neo-Darwinian explanations (e.g. social Darwinism, progressive evolution,
racism, sexism) will be contrasted with the potential benefits of such an
approach to understanding human behavior. Broader philosophical implications of
applying naturalistic explanations to human behavior will be discussed.
Cross-listed with BIOL 480. Prerequisite: Junior standing for BIOL 480, Senior
standing required for credit as ISSI. (Three credits.)
ISSI 485. Ethics in an Information Society
The course is intended to increase
students’ awareness of social and ethical issues which arise as a result of the
use and influence of computers and computing and to encourage students to
examine their own personal value systems in the context of the use of computer
technology in modern society. The course is open to senior students regardless
of their majors. Prerequisite: Senior standing or permission of instructor.
(Three credits.) |
