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Fall 2023

 

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Philosophy (PHIL)
211 Susan Campbell, 541-346-5547
College of Arts & Sciences
Course Data
  PHIL 345   + Dis >1 0.00 cr.
Explores the relation between humans and the cosmos as a matter of place by comparing seminal texts in the history of philosophy. Offered alternate years.
Grading Options: Optional; see degree guide or catalog for degree requirements
Instructor: Dillabough JE-mail Office:   221 Susan Campbell Hall
Course Materials
 
  CRN Avail Max Time Day Location Instructor Notes

+ Dis

15328 3 25 1500-1550 f 154 STB Dillabough J  
 
Associated Sections

Lecture

15326 5 50 1200-1320 mw 123 GSH Vallega-Neu D  
Academic Deadlines
Deadline     Last day to:
September 24:   Process a complete drop (100% refund, no W recorded)
September 30:   Drop this course (100% refund, no W recorded; after this date, W's are recorded)
September 30:   Process a complete drop (90% refund, no W recorded; after this date, W's are recorded)
October 1:   Process a complete withdrawal (90% refund, W recorded)
October 1:   Withdraw from this course (100% refund, W recorded)
October 2:   Add this course
October 2:   Last day to change to or from audit
October 8:   Process a complete withdrawal (75% refund, W recorded)
October 8:   Withdraw from this course (75% refund, W recorded)
October 15:   Process a complete withdrawal (50% refund, W recorded)
October 15:   Withdraw from this course (50% refund, W recorded)
October 22:   Process a complete withdrawal (25% refund, W recorded)
October 22:   Withdraw from this course (25% refund, W recorded)
November 12:   Withdraw from this course (0% refund, W recorded)
November 12:   Change grading option for this course
Caution You can't drop your last class using the "Add/Drop" menu in DuckWeb. Go to the “Completely Withdraw from Term/University” link to begin the complete withdrawal process. If you need assistance with a complete drop or a complete withdrawal, please contact the Office of Academic Advising, 101 Oregon Hall, 541-346-3211 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday). If you are attempting to completely withdraw after business hours, and have difficulty, please contact the Office of Academic Advising the next business day.

Expanded Course Description
The aim of this course is to deepen a philosophical understanding and questioning of the human place in the cosmos through close reading of seminal texts in the Western tradition. This requires that we question what defines humans and how we understand what we call "cosmos." It also requires that we reflect on the notions of "place" and "space" more generally and how we understand ourselves in the context of space and place.

The course will highlight how throughout the Western philosophical and scientific tradition, the understanding of our place in the cosmos has undergone significant shifts, which occurs together with radical changes in how we understand ourselves and the physical world as well as ourselves in relation to the physical world.

In order to pursue the question of the place in the cosmos with focus and rigor, the course will concentrate on a few seminal philosophical texts of the Western tradition. These texts will be supplemented with introductory lectures on Ancient cosmology, medieval cosmology, as well as lectures that highlight the fundamental change in the Western understanding of our place in the cosmos through the mathematization of nature, which occurred in the 17th century along with the new astronomical theories of Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton.

The course will require close reading and text analysis, and will lead to the critical comparison of different approaches to the question of the human place in the cosmos, as well as to questioning ourselves with respect to how we view our relation to the cosmos today.

PHIL 345 satisfies the criteria for Art & Letters under General Education. Insofar as this course integrates different views and ways of inquiring into the place of humans in the cosmos, it promotes open inquiry from a variety of perspectives. Different philosophical texts claim different principles of order for the cosmos, different ways of understanding space and place, different theories of causation, different articulations of our relations to the stars and to animal and plant life. The question of how we are situated as humans will be addressed and articulated from different creational, moral, physical, intellectual, and spiritual perspective. It thus addresses different main philosophical subject areas like ontology, ethics, and metaphysics.

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