Liberal Studies (LS)
Philosophy and Religious Studies
500 Religious Worlds in Transition (3:3:0). Examines a selection
of non-Western and pre-Western cultures and religions, both ancient and modern,
and examines their responses to an evolving world. Each culture is viewed from
two standpoints: first, from its own construction of values, its conceptions of
the relationship of the sacred to the world, the human condition, and "success"
in human life; second, from its responses to the inevitable crises of history
and the forces of change.
502 Religions in Conflict and Dialogue (3:3:0). Examines the
nature and patterns of religious conflict and explores ways of engaging in dialogue.
Exploration of religious pluralism for dialogue is the main theme of the course.
511 Contemporary Values (3:3:0). Students identify personal,
social, political, and religious values operative in contemporary society; examine
their foundations and interrelationships; and examine in depth at least one area
of human life in which values are both important and contested.
513 Existence, Faith, and Doubt (3:3:0). Examines the idea
of religion, of the essential features and variations belonging to religious existence,
of the challenges to religious self-understanding posed by contemporary interpretation
of religious consciousness, and of the responses tothose challenges through a
hermeneutics of the religioussymbol.
515 Time and the Human Condition (3:3:0). Explores Western
culture's changing interpretations of the meaning and value of time and an examination
of the ways these changing interpretations reflect diverse understandings of the
meaning of the human condition.
520 Science, Reason, and Reality (3:3:0). Advanced exploration
of the interrelations between science, reason, and reality. Explores philosophical
perspectives such as the logical empiricist approach, the Popperian falsifiability
orientation, Kuhn's historicism, Newton-Smith's rationalism, a modeling approach
by Van Fraasen, and Hacking's experimental realism.
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