Apr 24, 2024  
2014-2015 Catalog 
    
Catalog Navigation
  Catalog Home

  About UC Merced
  Academic Calendar
  Academic Programs
  Course Descriptions

  General Education
  School of Engineering
  School of Natural Sciences
  School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts
  Graduate Studies
  Research at UC Merced

  Directions and Map
  Directory
  My Catalog
HELP
2014-2015 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
Lower Division Courses numbered 1–99 are designed primarily for freshmen and sophomores but are open to all students for lower division credit. (Graduate students requesting to enroll in lower-division undergraduate courses will not receive unit credit nor will the course fulfill degree requirements.) Upper Division Courses courses numbered 100–199 are open to all students who have met the necessary prerequisites as indicated in the catalog course description. Preparation should generally include completion of one lower division course in the given subject or completion of two years of college work.

GRADUATE COURSES
Courses numbered 200–299 are open to graduate students. (Undergraduate students must obtain the signature of the instructor, School Dean, and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Graduate level units will count towards the required 120 units for graduation; however students are urged to meet with their academic advisor in order to determine if graduate course units may be used to fulfill a graduation requirement.)

CROSS-LISTED/CONJOINED COURSES
Cross-listed Courses are the same course offered under different course subjects at the same level (either undergraduate or graduate) that share the same meeting time, requirements, units, etc. Conjoined Courses are the same course but one is undergraduate and one is graduate.

COREQUISITE COURSE
A corequisite course is a course that must be taken at the same time as another course.

PREREQUISITES
Prerequisites for courses should be followed carefully; the responsibility for meeting these requirements rests on the student. If you can demonstrate that your preparation is equivalent to that specified by the prerequisites, the instructor may waive these requirements for you. The instructor also may request that a student who has not completed the prerequisites be dropped from the course. Note: For all courses a “C-” or better grade is required for a course to be used as a prerequisite for another course. If a course was taken for a “P/NP” grade then a “P” grade is required. If the prerequisite for a course is not satisfied, students must obtain the approval of the instructor (or school designee) of the course they wish to take.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES
No credit is allowed for completing a less advanced course after successful completion (C-or better) of a more advanced course in the foreign languages. This applies only to lower division foreign language courses, not upper division courses. 

More information about Course Substitutions , Grading Options , and Course Materials and Services Fees  can be found in alternate areas of the catalog.
 

Philosophy
  

  • PHIL 001: Introduction to Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    An introduction to the main areas of philosophy using classic and contemporary sources. Consideration of central and enduring problems in philosophy, such as skepticism about the external world, the mind-body problem and the nature of morality.

    Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 002: Introduction to Ethics

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of basic questions and themes in moral philosophy through the study of historical and contemporary philosophical texts. Questions may include: Are moral rules relative? What is the best sort of human life? What sorts of acts are right? Should wealth be shared with those less fortunate?

    Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 003: Applied Ethics

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of topics in applied ethics, which may include euthanasia, abortion, economic justice, world hunger, the treatment of animals, and punishment. This course will also cover some more general approaches to ethical thinking, such as theories based on rights and entitlements.

    Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 005: Introduction to Logic

    [4.0 units]

    Introduction to the techniques of deductive reasoning. Topics include the translation between English and symbolic language, rules of inference, deductive vs. inductive reasoning, validity and soundness, truth tables, and proof techniques in statement and predicate logic.

    Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 009: Phenomenology and Existentialism

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of central themes in phenomenology and existentialism and their philosophical origins in nineteenth century philosophy. Readings from such figures as Nietzsche, Husserl, Sartre, Freud, Merleau-Ponty, and Heidegger.

    Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  
  

  • PHIL 092: Internship in Philosophy

    [1.0-4.0 units]

    Provides oversight and structure for a student’s internship in a field related to philosophy in community organizations, professional research projects, etc. connected to the study of philosophy. Students are required to write an original research paper or relevant product that demonstrates how the internship advanced their knowledge of philosophy.

    Pass/Fail only. Course may be repeated 2 times for credit.


    View course scheduling information
  
  
  
  

  • PHIL 101: Metaphysics

    [4.0 units]

    Inquiry into the fundamental nature of reality: the categories of being; the differences between abstract entities, concrete entities, substances, properties, and processes; what constitutes identity of objects through time; necessity and possibility; free will and determinism; space, time, and causation.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 005  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 102: Epistemology

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of basic questions in the study of knowledge, which concern what we know and how we know things. Topics to be covered may include: certainty, justification, perception, skepticism, and introspection.

    Prerequisite: Any lower division PHIL course or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 103: Philosophy of Mind

    [4.0 units]

    Selected topics in the philosophy of mind, including the relation between mind and body, the self, personal identity, consciousness, and free-will.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 005  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 104: Ethical Theory

    [4.0 units]

    An examination of core issues in moral philosophy. Topics may include: the nature of moral judgments, methods of ethical decision making, the relationship between morality and self-interest, and proposed resolutions to situations involving conflicting moral principles.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 105: Philosophy of Language

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of work by both philosophers and linguists on the nature of language and meaning. Topics include theories of truth and reference, speech acts, metaphor, pictorial representation, and the relation between the social and mental aspects of language.

    Prerequisite: Any lower-division PHIL course or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 107: Philosophy of Religion

    [4.0 units]

    An examination of core issues in the philosophy of religion, using classical and contemporary sources. Topics may include: arguments for and against the existence of God, differing concepts of the divine, the rationality of religious belief, mysticism, divine foreknowledge and free-will, death and immortality.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 108: Political Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    An examination of core issues in political philosophy. Topics may include: descriptive and normative analyses of institutions, alternative justifications of political authority, classical and modern accounts of the social contract, theories of justice.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001 . Normal Letter Grade only.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 110: Philosophy of Cognitive Science

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of philosophical and foundational issues in cognitive science, including the Turing Test, the Chinese Room argument, the nature of cognitive architecture, animal cognition, connectionism vs. symbolic artificial intelligence, and the possibility of thinking machines.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001  or COGS 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 110A: Topics in Philosophy of Cognitive Science

    [4.0 units]

    Special topics in philosophy of cognitive science. Consideration of empirical work in cognitive science in relation to such topics as personal identity, the self, brain injury, emotion, and morality.

    Prerequisite: COGS 001  or PSY 001  or PHIL 001  or consent of instructor. Course may be repeated 3 times for credit.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 111: Philosophy of Neuroscience

    [4.0 units]

    Considerations of questions at the intersection of philosophy and neuroscience. Specific topics may include the mind-body problem, free will, consciousness, religion, and the nature of the self.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 130: Ancient Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    An examination of some of the core issues and central texts of ancient philosophy. Questions to be covered include: What is happiness? What is the best life? What are the ultimate constituents of reality? What can we know? Is there a soul, and does it survive death?

    Prerequisite: Any lower division PHIL course or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 131: Topics in Ancient Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    Selected topics in ancient philosophy, for example close readings of texts from Plato, Aristotle, the Presocratics, or Hellenistic philosophers.

    Prerequisite: Any lower division PHIL course or consent of instructor. Course may be repeated 3 times for credit.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 134: Modern Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    An examination of the works of several of the most important philosophers of the 17th and early 18th centuries. Special attention will be devoted to the new theories of knowledge and the new moral theories proposed during this time.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 150: Topics in Phenomenology

    [4.0 units]

    Study of the foundations of phenomenology in Husserl and its background in Bolzano, Frege, Brentano, Meinong, Kant, and Descartes. Topics include phenomenological method, theory of intentionality, meaning, perception, evidence, ego, other minds, intersubjectivity, and the life-world, as well as application of phenomenological methods to themes in natural science, social science, art, and literature.

    Course may be repeated 1 time for credit.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 157: Philosophy of Love and Friendship

    [4.0 units]

    Philosophical exploration of the nature of love and friendship and their relation to morality and the good life. Topics may include the question of whether friends and lovers are essential to happiness, why we love others, and how love and friendship relate to morality.

    Prerequisite: Any lower division PHIL course or consent of instructor. 


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 160: Mathematical Logic

    [4.0 units]

    Introduction to the meta-theory of first-order logic. Topics include the consistency, compactness, completeness and soundness proofs for propositional and first-order logic; model theory; the axiomatization of number theory; Gödel’s incompleteness theorems and related results.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 005  or consent of instructor. Discussion included.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 170: Philosophy, Politics and Economics

    [4.0 units]

    We will explore issues in the intersection of philosophy, political theory and economic theory. We will consider how discoveries in political science and economics can advance some debates in traditional political and moral philosophy. Conversely, we will consider how the insights and methods of philosophy influence economics and political science.

    Prerequisite: PHIL 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 171: Free Will in Philosophy and Cognitive Science

    [4.0 units]

    An exploration of the concept of free will and the plausibility of its existence through both philosophy and cognitive science. By the end of the course students will be conversant on the topic of free will and the latest developments in the debate.

    Prerequisite: Any lower division PHIL course or COGS 001  or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 172: Experimental Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    Consideration of how philosophers and cognitive scientists have tried to bring experimental methods to bear on philosophical debates. Topics may include consciousness, free will, and moral psychology.

    Prerequisite: COGS 001  or any lower division PHIL course or consent of instructor.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 190: Advanced Seminar in Philosophy

    [4.0 units]

    Intensive treatment of a special topic or problem within philosophy. May be repeated for credit in different subject area.

    Prerequisite: Junior standing. Normal Letter Grade only. Course may be repeated 1 time for credit.


    View course scheduling information
  

  • PHIL 192: Internship in Philosophy

    [1.0-4.0 units]

    Provides oversight and structure for a student’s internship in a field related to philosophy in community organizations, professional research projects, etc. connected to the study of philosophy. Students are required to write an original research paper or relevant product that demonstrates how the internship advanced their knowledge of philosophy.

    Prerequisite: Junior standing. Pass/Fail only. Course may be repeated 2 times for credit.


    View course scheduling information