Philosophy

Graduate Programs

Description

Philosophy courses at Minnesota State University can be taken as part of the cross-disciplinary studies program, or to supplement other disciplines. 

Policies & Faculty

Policies

Contact Information

227 Armstrong Hallmnsu.edu/philosophy

Faculty

Chair
  • Brandon Cooke
Faculty

500 Level

Credits: 3

This course will undertake a close reading and study of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and other texts.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

A study of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Theories of meaning, speech acts and semantics, relation of language to the world.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Major philosophers and philosophies of the late 20th Century.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Discussion of philosophical issues in law by way of connecting legal problems to well-developed and traditional problems in philosophy, e.g., in ethics, political philosophy, and epistemology, and investigates the philosophical underpinnings of the development of law. The course takes an analytical approach to law (as opposed to historical, sociological, political, or legalistic approaches) and devotes a substantial part of the semester to a major work on law written by a philosopher.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Study of philosophy done from a feminist perspective in areas such as metaphysics, epistemology or ethics.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-3

Intensive study of a single philosopher or topic.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

In-depth analysis of major European existentialists such as Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Aesthetic principles, theories, and the creative process. Theories of visual arts, music, literature, dance, etc.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

This course investigates some of the central philosophical issues in our thinking about film, including questions about narrative, ontology, ethical criticism of film , the role of artistic intentions in interpretation, artistic medium, and the art/entertainment distinction.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

The nature of consciousness, mind and body relations, and the free will of action.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

This course examines the conceptual and philosophical complexities of efforts to understand the mind in science. Topics include the differences and similarities between humans and other animals, the nature of psychological explanation, and reductive strategies for explaining consciousness, intentionality and language.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Nature of explanations, causality, theoretical entities, and selected problems.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

This course examines conceptual and philosophical issues in biology, the nature and scope of biological explanation and conflicts between evolutionary and religious explanations for the origin of life.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 3

Examines the the nature and methods of alternative strategies of theory construction in the social sciences and the metaphysical and epistemological assumptions and implications of such strategies. For example can people, their behavior and norms of rationality be understood in naturalistic terms or must they be understood only in culturally local terms.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-6

Special event of less than semester duration.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-6

Prerequisites: none

600 Level

Credits: 1-6

Individual study of a philosopher or problem.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-6

Individual service project.

Prerequisites: none