The following Liberal Arts courses are available for Spring 2013 registration. Learn about the rest of our Spring 2013 electives here, or find a complete list of courses offered in other years here.
Philosophy & Religion
Philosophy of Mind
This course will look at the development of the philosophy of mind in the modern era beginning with mind/body dualism, then moving to current issues within the field, such as the implications of recent brain research and claims that computers actually think. We will also consider the ways in which accepted models of the mind help to shape our sense of our own actions and experiences.
taught by Gretchen Breese
Metaphysics
This course will ask about the nature of reality and whether we are able to know what is real. Is the material world as it appears to us all that there is? If we say there is something else beyond what science can measure, how can we prove it? Are there unchanging truths that we should strive to discover, or is the world always in flux? If reason contradicts our senses, which do we trust?
taught by Gretchen Breese
The Buddha
This course explores the life and teachings of the Buddha through the study, primarily, of significant parts of two major and very early Buddhist writings (composed in the 1st century A.D.), Ashvagosha’s Buddhacarita and the Sanskrit Dharmapada, as presented in English translation by Edward Conze in his Buddhist Scriptures. Students will work directly with these primary texts as well as consider the writings of other significant (20th century) explicators of Buddhist thought, particularly D. T. Suzuki and Walpola Rahula.
taught by Peter Row
WANDA LANDOWSKA