Philosophy (PHIL)
Angelo State University does not have a major in philosophy. It does, however, offer a minor in philosophy. Some of the courses may also be used to fulfill the humanities requirement in all College of Liberal and Fine Arts programs except in history and as a non-advanced elective in any program.
Why is philosophy good for you? Philosophy is an activity - an effort to ask and attempt to answer all the great questions of life: Does God exist? What kind of person should I be? What makes anything right or wrong? What is the meaning of life? As one philosopher put it, "Philosophy is primarily concerned with what there is in the world, and with what we ought to do about it". Philosophical training will improve your ability to think clearly and to analyze and evaluate arguments of all kinds.
Courses in Philosophy (PHIL)
2301/1301 Introduction to Philosophy (3-0). Problems in interpretation of the nature of knowledge, reality and value.
2311/2306 Ethics (3-0). A study of the way in which past and present philosophers have dealt specifically with the question of value.
2321 Critical Reasoning and Logic (3-0). Analysis of the nature and the functions of language, the kinds of meaning and definition, the recognition of arguments, the fundamental tools of critical reasoning, the basic concepts of logic such as deduction, induction, validity, the informal fallacies and formal syllogistic logic.
3310 History of Philosophy I (3-0). Ancient and Medieval. An introductory study of the development of Western philosophy from ancient through late medieval times. Emphasis is placed on issues in metaphysics, epistemology and ethics by such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas.
4310 History of Philosophy II (3-0). Modern and Contemporary. An introductory study of the development of Western philosophy from the early modern period to today. Emphasis is placed on issues in metaphysics, epistemology and ethics by such philosophers as Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Sartre and Wittgenstein.
4332 Modern Political Theory (3-0). A study of modern political thought from Hobbs to Nietzsche. (Credit may not be earned for this course and GOVT 4331)
4333 Contemporary Politlca Theory (3-0). A study contemporary political thinkers from the beginning of the 20th Century to the present. (Credit may not be earned for this course and GOVT 4333).