Introductory Courses in Philosophy

PHILOS 101:  Introduction to Philosophy
Lec 011
Selected Topics in Philosophy
3 credits, HU
MWR 6:30pm-9:48pm
CRT 309
4 weeks beginning week of 6/28/04
Instructor: Elizabeth Scarbrough
tel 414-229-4719
email scarbro2@uwm.edu

THIS COURSE HAS BEEN CANCELLED.  THERE WILL BE TWO SECTIONS OFFERED OF PHILOS 111 IN FALL 2004.

  This course will be a historical and comparative introduction to Hindu and Buddhist religious life and thought.  Special emphasis will be placed upon the development of the classical forms of these traditions within India.  The Buddhist tradition will also be stressed as a missionary movement linking the various cultures of Asia and interacting with the indigenous traditions of East Asia.

Lec 071
3 credits, HU
TR 6:30pm-9:48pm
BOL B52
6 weeks beginning week of 7/12/04
Instructor: Michael Liston
tel 414-229-5217/4719
email mnliston@uwm.edu

  The Island of Knights and Knaves is a place where only Knights and Knaves live. A Knight is a person who always tells the truth. Knaves, on the other hand, never tell the truth. Harry, who lives on the island, says: "If I am a Knight, then I'll eat my hat." Did you know that you can prove from the above information that Harry will eat his hat? Did you know that if everyone loves a lover and Madonna is a lover, then everyone loves everyone?

  Learn how to solve these and other puzzles in Philosophy 211, where we will study formal deductive logic -- the science of what follows from what. The concepts and techniques encountered in the study of deductive logic are of central importance to any analysis of argument and inference. They reflect fundamental patterns of proof found in science and mathematics, they underlie the programs that enable computers to "reason" logically, and they provide tools for characterizing the formal structures of language. This is an introductory course intended for students who have had no previous work in logic.

Intermediate and Advanced Courses

  The goals of critical thinking are to instill in the student an understanding of the fundamental principles of analysis, problem solving, and construction of an argument. In order to convey these principles, students are taught how to use contract law using legal materials, including but not limited to, the language used by the legal profession and legal resources.  It is through the study of law that teachers hope to impart to their students a system for analytical thinking which they may use in their every-day lives.  Texts used will include Murphy, Speidel and Ayres’ Studies in Contract Law, 5th Edition, and Restatement of Contracts (Second) and case law. 

This course is taught off-campus at the School of Continuing Education, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave., Room 6000.

  This course will center on analysis of the thought of thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty.  Also, Husserl's phenomenological method will be discussed along with its influence on the existentialist movement.