This course explores questions about the nature and purposes of human knowledge, such as: Are there different kinds of knowing? What are the sources of knowing? What counts as knowing? What are the relationships between knowledge and truth, knowledge and beliefs, knowledge and skill, knowledge and reality? How can we justify what we know? Students have the opportunity to read and discuss key philosophical texts on these and related topics. Open to first-year students only.

This course explores questions about the nature of beauty, such as: Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Are there different kinds of beauty? What are the sources of beauty? What are the relationships between beauty and art, beauty and nature, beauty and pleasure, beauty and goodness? Students have the opportunity to read and discuss key philosophical texts on these and related topics. Open to first-year students only.

This course explores questions about the nature of morality such as: What is the right thing to do? What makes someone a good person? What are the sources of moral goodness? What are the relationships between morality and pleasure, morality and duty, morality and evil, morality and politics, morality and non-human creatures and natural features? Students have the opportunity to read and discuss key philosophical texts on these and related topics. Open to first-year students only.

This course explores the nature of reality, such as: What is real, what exists, and how do we determine that? What kinds of things are real and unreal? What role do different disciplines play in investigating reality? What are the relationships between reality and fiction, reality and morality, reality and knowledge, reality and existence, reality and perception? Students have the opportunity to read and discuss key philosophical texts on these and related topics. Open to first-year students only.

Selected studies of major philosophers or philosophical concerns. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Recent offerings include Civil Discourse, Poverty Studies, Native American Philosophy, Mark Twain, Persons Over Time, and Scottish Philosophy. Please consult the online course schedule for current offerings of this course.

An investigation into the varieties of reasoning, with concentration on the comprehension, evaluation, and construction of arguments. By analyzing examples of reasoning drawn from everyday life, the media, and different academic disciplines, students develop the skills and vocabulary required to articulate how reasoning works and to make reasoning an effective tool for gaining knowledge and participating in public discourse.

Selected studies of major philosophers or philosophical concerns. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Recent offerings include Civil Discourse, Poverty Studies, Native American Philosophy, Mark Twain, Persons Over Time, and Scottish Philosophy. Please consult the online course schedule for current offerings of this course.

The philosophical analysis and evaluation of selected controversies related to the use of law and political systems to create and sustain just social conditions. The typical sort of issues studied would be poverty and world hunger, racism, the death penalty, civil disobedience, and conflicts over the protection of fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy.

The philosophical analysis and evaluation of selected controversies related to the practice of medicine. The typical sort of issues to be studied are abortion, termination of treatment, physician-assisted suicide, the use of reproductive and genetic technologies, and the just allocation of limited medical resources.

The philosophy of cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field in which arguments, theories and methods from the intersection of philosophy and the cognitive sciences are used to reflect about aspects of the mind, including rationality, perception, actions, thoughts, and language. Students study, analyze, and evaluate six theories of representation—logic, rules, concepts, analogies, images, and connections—and three mental architectures—computational, connectionist, and dynamical. Students explore contemporary philosophical research and philosophical perspectives on interdisciplinary debates about the emotions, consciousness, embodiment, agency, and the social.

An introductory study of existentialism and phenomenology. We reflect on the human condition, the commitments engendered by faith in God, the finitude of existence in the face of death, authenticity in ourselves and in relation to others, grappling with finding significance in a world without meaning, our lived experience, the structures of consciousness and self-consciousness, and aspects of our experience that are subjective and relative to points of view. Thinkers might include Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Arendt, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, or contemporary philosophers engaging with existentialism and/or phenomenology.

Emphasis upon the development of a symbolic system for sentential logic. Critical analysis and reasoning skills are practiced. Some aspects of traditional and informal logic receive brief treatment.

Is freedom compatible with a world of cause and effect? Does freedom exist or is the conscious will an illusion? Students study, analyze, and evaluate philosophical arguments concerning freedom of the will, its relationship to moral responsibility, the nature of agency and action, philosophical accounts of intentions, and the relationship between rationality, reasons, and causes of action. Students explore contemporary philosophical research on questions concerning moral psychology, debates about the effectiveness of the conscious will, and debates about the awareness of our own agency.

Study of ancient Western philosophers and philosophical systems. Subjects may include the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and Neo-Platonism. Cross-listed as CLAS 285.

Study of philosophers and philosophical systems of the Enlightenment: Rationalism, Empiricism, and Kant.

Study of the intellectual history of the late modern period (late 18th century through the late 19th century) including the study of primary texts written by a selection of the following thinkers: Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. Throughout the course we focus on the themes of agency, the self, and the social, tracing the emergence of German Idealism, critiques of idealism, and the origins of post-modernism. Other possible topics include: metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, and social and political thought of the late modern period.

Environmental philosophy is the study of the natural environment and humans' place within the natural world. What do we mean when we talk about nature? How do we understand the ways that humans are a part of and interact with the natural world? What are the worldviews, beliefs, desires, and interests that guide humans as they interact with the non-human natural world? Topics might include: philosophy of nature, philosophy of environmental sciences, philosophy of technology, philosophies of environmental value, the aesthetic appreciation of natural environments, or introductory environmental ethics.

Study of women’s experience under patriarchy and of the philosophical, theological, and social criticisms arising therefrom.

Environmental Ethics is the study of the values of the non-human natural world, our obligations to care for nature, and debates about possible practical solutions to our environmental problems. Is the value of nature intrinsic or instrumental, ecological or anthropocentric, holistic or individual? What obligations do humans have to non-human nature? Who counts in environmental ethics (animals, plants, or ecosystems)? What ethical values are involved in caring for the natural world? What aspects of human practices might be changed to address environmental problems? Topics might include any of the following: animal rights, climate change, conservation, agriculture, wilderness, or environmental activism.

A philosophical exploration of these three post-Platonic traditions in ancient philosophy. Prerequisite: A previous course in philosophy or classics, or consent of instructor

The course focuses upon understanding and comparing theories about what principles should guide human action, what kind of living constitutes the truly good life, and in what sense judgments regarding moral value have "objective" answers. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

What is God like? Should God be understood as a person or a force? How is God related to the world? This course surveys primarily Western thinkers from the times of the biblical writers, through Plato, Aristotle and early Jewish and Christian sources to the development of modern atheism and beyond it to contemporary understandings of God. Issues such as evil, human responsibility and prayer are discussed in relation to divine power and knowledge. Cross-listed as RELI 332.

Philosophical issues related to science and the scientific method with readings from Hempel, Popper, Kuhn, and others.

Study and evaluation of the major philosophical theories and controversies shaping our contemporary political debates over such issues as the nature of social and economic justice, the meaning of equality, the limits of individual freedom, the sources of political obligation, and the characteristics of a well-ordered society. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

The study of philosophical issues and questions related to religious belief, language, and worldview, with particular attention to classical and/or contemporary arguments regarding the relationship of faith and reason. Topics may include arguments of existence of God, the problem of evil, the nature and epistemic value of religious experience, and the implications of pluralism for rational religious commitment. Cross-listed as RELI 370. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy or religious studies, or consent of instructor

Metaphysics is concerned with the most general questions about the foundations of existence. What is the nature of being? What are the basic objects of reality? Is the nature of properties and relations different from the way we talk and think about them? Are there necessary truths? What are space and time? What makes persons, minds, bodies identical with themselves over time? What is the nature of causation? Are human beings free? Is the task of metaphysics descriptive or is metaphysics a revisionary science, explaining and predicting the grounds of existence?

Epistemology is the philosophical inquiry into the nature, conditions and extent of knowledge. Are dreams, hallucinations, and illusions threats to our knowledge? Is all knowledge based in our senses or can we have knowledge independent of experience, like propositions in math or logic? Is justified true belief sufficient for knowledge? Does knowledge shift with context? Is knowledge internal or external to a subject’s perspective? Does epistemology involve inquiry into the justification of our beliefs or into the natural origins of our beliefs? Students study knowledge in at least one particular case—perception, action, memory, inference, or testimony. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

An introduction to aesthetics as a theoretical discipline in its own right, a discipline concerned with the nature of representation and thus with beauty and art. The course focuses in particular on issues of aesthetics and visual representation; the relationship between visual arts, literature, and other art forms; the efficacy of aesthetic theory as a mode of reading and interpreatation. The class explores these issues in relation to specific works of visual art, film, and literature. Cross-listed as ARTH 389.

What is the nature of the mental and how does it relate to the physical body and physical bodies in general? Is the mark of the mental intentionality, or “aboutness”? What is the nature of representational content of our mental states? Are the contents of our mental states determined by facts internal to the individual or facts external to the individual in the physical world? What is the nature of consciousness and self-consciousness? Students discuss a special topic from the following: perception, action, emotion, memory, thought, language, consciousness, or self-consciousness. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy or consent of instructor.

A topics course in philosophy. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

Neurophilosophy is the study of foundational assumptions of neuroscientific theory and practice through the lens of arguments about mechanism, causation, and intervention with particular emphasis on the philosophy of science. Students study, analyze, and evaluate philosophical arguments concerning reductive accounts of perception, action and consciousness, accounts of representation and processes in neuroscience, foundational assumptions of brain-imaging technologies, and debates about functions and structures in the brain. Students also reflect upon how findings in neuroscience appertain to traditional philosophical questions concerning mental causation, morality, language, consciousness, selfhood, freedom, moral responsibility, and the existence of souls and God. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

An advanced seminar in philosophy for senior majors in philosophy. Topics are chosen by the faculty members teaching the seminar. This course may be taken by senior philosophy majors in lieu of the senior thesis.

A topics course in philosophy studying selected major philosophers or philosophical concerns. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Recent topics include Poverty Studies, New Philosophy of Science, Spinoza, Ethics and Commerce, Philosophy of Psychology and Early Medieval Philosophy. Please consult the online course schedule for current offerings of this course. Prerequisite: One previous class in Philosophy or permission from the instructor

Students in consultation with a professor research, write, and defend a substantial paper on a topic of their choosing. Open only to philosophy majors in the senior year.

This course introduces students to the teachings, practices, spiritualities, and histories of many world religions. The religions include Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and indigenous traditions. Since this course introduces Asian religions in an abbreviated way, students who take this course may also take RELI 111 Introduction to Asian Religions.

This course introduces students to religious traditions rooted in Asia. It examines sources to help students recognize and understand the many ways in which Asian religious communities have attempted to understand the nature of the world, human society, and the individual’s place therein. It includes narrative and philosophical texts, ritual practices, religious experiences, social relationships and historical developments. Since this course does not include Abrahamic religions, students who take this course may also take RELI 110 The World’s Religions: An Introduction.

This course examines the content and significance of this influential book in the Bible. It offers a focused way of beginning to learn about biblical literature by examining one book that has shaped countless generations of Jewish and Christian thinkers and that has deeply influenced Western literature. Attention is given to the various genres contained in the book and how its message can be relevant to today. The course provides some basic hermeneutical skills as well as promote a positive attitude towards Torah.

An introduction to the basic grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew, intended for students who wish to gain reading proficiency in the language of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Cross-listed as HEBR 110.

A continuation of RELI 121. By the end of the course students read extended narrative texts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as well as some poetic texts. Cross-listed as HEBR 120.

An introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), employing the methodologies of academic biblical scholarship. Attention is given to the major texts, characters, and themes of the Hebrew Bible, with consideration of both the literary character of the text and its relationship to the historical context of ancient Israel.

This course is an introduction to the New Testament, employing the methodologies of academic biblical scholarship. Attention is given to the major texts, characters, and themes of the New Testament, with consideration of both the literary character of the text and its relationship to the historical context of early Christianity. Some attention is also given to the noncanonical texts of early Christianity, including the Gnostic Gospels.

What is yoga, and what, if anything, does the practice that some 16 million Americans perform in studios and gyms, spas and ashrams have to do with the religions of India? This course surveys a variety of recent scholarship on the cultural history of yoga in the context of ancient Indian traditions, and also looks at colonial era and contemporary innovations that have contributed to the mass cultural phenomenon that might arguably be called India's greatest cultural export. Readings include early and medieval texts typically associated with yoga, such as the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and later tantric material, and we also consider the work of early cultural ambassadors, major modern interpreters and contemporary advocates.

An exploration of contemporary forms of Jewish beliefs, practices, thought, and culture, set within an historical overview. Emphasis is on the spectrum of Jewish self-identities and the lived texture of the worldwide Jewish experience in its various expressions, constructed in both the “great” and “little” traditions. This course is a deepening and expansion of ideas introduced in RELI 110 The World’s Religions: An Introduction, which is recommended as a prerequisite, but not required.

Central to the Buddha's teachings was a presentation of meditation practices designed to calm the mind and evoke insight into the nature of reality. Over time, Buddhist contemplative culture has come to encompass a variety of techniques, such as breathing meditation, cultivation of mindfulness, altruism, compassion, visualization, and recovering innate intelligence. This course introduces how Buddhist meditative states have been linked to doctrine and practice in different historical and cultural contexts. It invites students to participate experientially in an investigation of methods associcated with different Buddhist contemplative traditions, many of which have been researched and adapted for a variety of uses in contemporary secular society.

This course is designed as an introduction to the myriad forms of South Asian religious expression designated as “Hinduism.” The course surveys Hinduism’s historical roots and developments, philosophical and ritual innovations, social and ethical ideals, and influential works of literature, relying on both primary and secondary sources. The latter part of the course centers on issues of ongoing relevance to modern-day tradition, analyzing, for example, Hindu understandings of religious art and worship, influential works of modern Indian fiction, and current scholarship on contemporary issues and communities.

This course is designed as an introduction to the myriad forms of South Asian religious expression designated as “Hinduism.” The course surveys Hinduism’s historical roots and developments, philosophical and ritual innovations, social and ethical ideals, and influential works of literature, relying on both primary and secondary sources. The latter part of the course centers on issues of ongoing relevance to modern-day tradition, analyzing, for example, Hindu understandings of religious art and worship, influential works of modern Indian fiction, and current scholarship on contemporary issues and communities.

This course is an introduction to Buddhism, spanning its origins in India, its spread throughout Asia, and its arrival in the West. The course explores the core doctrines, practices and key historical developments that have shaped the Buddhist tradition in India; considers the ways this tradition has been assimilated in an Asian context; and finally reflects upon the perspectives of leading Buddhist writers and practitioners on the relevance of Buddhism for modern society.

Even within the Bible itself, we find people struggling with the apparent meaninglessness of life, the injustice of the world, and the triumph of evil over good. This course examines two of the most profoundly skeptical voices in the Hebrew Bible—the books of Ecclesiastes and Job. Students consider the relationship of each text to the issues of its own day, as well as examining how they have been received, reflected, and reinterpreted in contemporary art, film, literature, and music.

Students engage in close readings of one or more of the New Testament Gospels. While some attention is given to historical context, the focus is on the Gospels as literature and on the role of the reader in the production of meaning. Students engage the text from the perspectives of contemporary literary theory, including such theoretical frameworks as gender theory, queer theory, and postcolonial theory.

The development of Christian thought and institutions from 100-1500 CE. Discussion of questions surrounding the formation of orthodoxy, the interplay between religion and politics and the variety of ways in which Christians practiced their faith.

A survey of Christian thought and institutions from 1500 to the present. Special attention is given to the Protestant Reformation and the ongoing impact of cultural trends on Christian beliefs and practices.

Who is Jesus and what did he accomplish? This course surveys the widely divergent answers in history including the gospels, the early church councils, the modern search for the historical Jesus, and contemporary portraits.

This course equips students to work effectively in religiously diverse environments. It is intended not only for future religious leaders, but for anyone interested in business, politics, nonprofit work, or any type of public involvement in a religiously pluralistic society. Drawing on academic resources as well as the expertise of local interfaith leaders, the course provides students with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to build understanding, appreciation, and collaboration among people with diverse religious, spiritual, and nonreligious ways of life. Recommended: RELI 110 is recommended but not required

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries an important form of religious thinking is emerging called ecotheology. It involves exploring how spirituality is connected with an appreciation of the earth and its many forms of life and how the earth needs to be protected from excessive exploitation. There are Christian versions of ecotheology, Jewish versions, Buddhist versions, and many others, including feminist versions called ecofeminism. This course looks at a wide variety of forms of ecotheology. A component of the course focuses on human relations to animals, with attention to the animal rights movement and constructive religious responses to it.

This course engages students in understanding the complexity of religion through a topic chosen from among the areas of world religions, biblical studies, Christianity, religion and culture, and philosophy of religion and theology. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught.

The course explores contemporary methods in biblical interpretation such as feminist criticism, postcolonial criticism, critical race theory, and queer theory. While some attention is given to scholarly works employing these theories and methods, the focus of the course is on students developing their own interpretive abilities. The specific biblical texts considered varies by semester. Prerequisite: RELI 123 or RELI 124 recommended

This course examines the New Testament book of Revelation as a call to for resistance to Empire in both its historical context and today. Attention is given to both the literary and historical contexts of Revelation within the early Christianity of the Roman Empire. More contemporary interpretations of Revelation are considered, including popular “End Times” prophecies, among others. The course requires engaged learning outside of the classroom, exploring what “resistance to Empire” may mean in Conway, Little Rock, and beyond.

What is God like? Should God be understood as a person or a force? How is God related to the world? This course surveys primarily Western thinkers from the times of the biblical writers, through Plato, Aristotle and early Jewish and Christian sources to the development of modern atheism and beyond it to contemporary understandings of God. Issues such as evil, human responsibility and prayer are discussed in relation to divine power and knowledge. Cross-listed as PHIL 332.

What makes for a life well-lived from a Buddist persepctive? How do literary works portray the lives of highly accomplished Buddhists? Beginning with the Buddha, this course explores the life-stories of ideal monks, masters and meditators, examining the religious values, literary practices and cultural dynamics evident in religious biographies over the centuries and across Asian traditions. We also consider the relationship between biographical texts, historiography, and the act of venerating living Buddhist figures both historically and in the contemporary world.

What does the idea of the shaman tell us about indigenous peoples, their religious identities, and their cultural practices? Who or what are spirits, and how do they function amidst ordinary life and in times of crisis, illness, and healing? And how do people who "shamanize" understand and represent themselves in the present context? In addressing these questions, this course examines various ways in which anthopologists, historians of religion and others - including native people themselves - have attempted to articulate and interpret the dimensions of global indigenous culture deemed "shamanic." In the process, the course considers contemporary perspectives on the value and problems associated with comparative studies, ethnographic representation, and intercultural communication; examines ethical and philosophical issues in light of cross-cultural (mis)understandings of healing modalities; and discusses contemporary shamanism as an aspect of popular culture.

Topics such as God, sin, salvation, morality, meaning, and truth are examined in light of the interdisciplinary field known as cognitive linguistics. Students are first introduced to the key ideas of cognitive linguistics such as embodied cognition, image schemas, radial categories, conceptual metaphors, and cultural frames. This approach to human cognition is then applied to biblical and theological concepts.

The study of philosophical issues and questions related to religious belief, language, and worldview, with particular attention to classical and/or contemporary arguments regarding the relationship of faith and reason. Topics may include arguments of existence of God, the problem of evil, the nature and epistemic value of religious experience, and the implications of pluralism for rational religious commitment. Cross-listed as PHIL 370. Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy or religious studies, or consent of instructor

This course, a prerequisite to RELI 497 Senior Thesis, prepares students to conduct advanced research and undertake critical thinking in the academic study of religion. Students examine several major theorists who have historically defined “religion” as a field of academic inquiry, and who represent a variety of methodologies for understanding it—including psychological, sociological, phenomenological and anthropological approaches. The course also considers issues of theoretical importance in the present-day study of religion, considers the relationships of religious studies to philosophy and theology, and introduces students to several major areas of current scholarly research.

An intensive analysis of a critical issue in the study of Asian religion. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Recent topics range from a thematic treatment of religious phenomenon across more than one tradition (e.g., Pilgrimage, Saints and Sages, Death and Afterlife, Gender and Status) to an in-depth study of particular texts and traditions (Hindu Epic and Devotional Literature, Tibetan Meditation). Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught. Prerequisite: Junior standing and two courses in religion or instructor’s consent Recommended: one of either RELI 110, 121, 221 or 223

A topics course in Biblical studies. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor

A topics course in Biblical studies. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor

A topics course in religion and culture. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor

A topics course in the philosophy of religion and theology. This course can be repeated for additional credits as long as the section topics are different. Check the online course schedule for information about the topics currently scheduled to be taught. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor