Department of Philosophy
Head: K. Sweet
PhD Advisor: O. Rivera
MA Advisor: O. Rivera
The Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University offers the degrees of Master of Arts in philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy. Students may pursue studies in any area of philosophy under these programs, both of which have distinctive features. Applicants are asked to specify the degree they wish to pursue.
Humanities
HUMA 685 Directed Studies
Credits 1 to 6.
1 to 6 Other Hours.
Directed studies in specific problem areas in the humanities. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
Philosophy
PHIL 611 Ancient Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Greek and Roman philosophy from 600 B.C. to 300 A.D.; emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 616 Modern Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Developments in philosophy from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment: Renaissance humanism and natural science, 17th- and 18th-century empiricism and rationalism, idealism; major thinkers including Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 620 Contemporary Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
19th- and 20th-century philosophical movements: phenomenology, existentialism, positivism, pragmatism, analysis, process thought. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 623 American Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
The genesis of American philosophical thought from the seventeenth century until the work of Emerson; subsequent concentration on the philosophies of Pierce, James, Royce, Dewey, Mead, Santayana and Whitehead. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 624 Latin American Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Reading and examination of the philosophical writings of some of the most important Latino/as (or Hispanic) contributors to the history of philosophy.
PHIL 625 Philosophical Inquiry in Schools
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
In-depth exploration of the theory and practice of pre-college (K-12) philosophy. Prerequisites: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 630 Aesthetics
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Metaphor, the ontology of artworks, art and artifactuality, aesthetic attitudes, concepts of aesthetic appraisal such as beauty and sublimity and theory of tropes. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 632 Social and Political Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Theories of justice, equality, liberty and authority in social and political institutions; individualism and the social contract; political philosophy of writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Dewey and Rawls. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 641 Mathematical Logic I
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
The metatheory of propositional and first-order logic. Prerequisite: Graduate classification or approval of instructor.
PHIL 642 Mathematical Logic II
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Continuation of PHIL 641. Compactness, The Lowenheim-Skolem Theorems, computability theory and Church's thesis, formal arithmetic, Godel's Incompleteness Theorems, Tarski's Theorem and Church's Theorem; other topics might include systems of modal logic, intuitionistic logic and more advanced issues in set theory. Prerequisite: 641 or approval of instructor.
PHIL 643 History and Philosophy of Logic
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Selected topics on the historical development of logic; philosophical views of the nature of logical theory; the role of logical metatheory in the development of logic. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: PHIL 341 or 641 or approval of instructor.
PHIL 645 Philosophy of Science
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Philosophy of the natural and social sciences, including the nature of theories and laws, the notion of causation, probability and determinism and the nature of theoretical change. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 646 Philosophy of a Particular Science
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Focus on methodological, epistemological and ontological issues in physics, or one of the special sciences, such as biology, psychology, cognitive science, economics. Application of philosophical methods to theoretical issues in the particular science. Relationships between theories and explanations of the particular science more basic sciences or other special sciences. May be repeated for credit for courses focusing on different sciences. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 655 Philosophy of Mind
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
The mind-body problem, personal identity, thought and intentionality, action and responsibility; materialism, behaviorism, functionalism. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 658 Philosophy of Language
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
The nature of language, the various uses of language and their philosophical import, the nature of meaning, truth, reference and issues surrounding formal representations of natural languages. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 661 Seminar in the History of Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Intensive study of a current issue in the history of philosophy. May be repeated for credit with variation in topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 662 Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Intensive study of current issue in ethics, ethical theory, applied ethics, aesthetics, or the work of particular philosophers in one of these areas. May be repeated for credit with variation in topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 663 Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Seminar in Metaphysics or Epistemology. Intensive study of a current issue in metaphysics, epistemology, or other core areas of philosophy. May be repeated for credit with variation in topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 664 Seminar in Applied Philosophy
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Intensive study of a topic involving the application of philosophical concepts and theories to an issue arising in another scientific or academic field. May be repeated for credit with variation to topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 681 Seminar
Credits 0 to 3.
0 to 3 Other Hours.
Principles and practices of effective undergraduate teaching and learning; socialization to the profession of philosophy; systematic introductions to all departmental faculty members and their work. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: Enrollment in PhD program in Philosophy, or approval of instructor.
PHIL 682 Philosophical Authors
Credits 3.
3 Lecture Hours.
Intensive study of works of an individual important philosopher, their historical context, and criticisms and interpretations of them. May be repeated for credit with different authors. Prerequisites: Appropriate background in history of philosophy and approval of instructor.
PHIL 683 Philosophical Pedagogy
Credit 1.
1 Lecture Hour.
Teaching practicum for PhD students in philosophy; detailed examination of all aspects of teaching philosophy to university- and college-level students. Prerequisite: Enrollment in PhD program in Philosophy or approval of instructor.
PHIL 684 Professional Internship
Credits 1 to 6.
1 to 6 Other Hours.
Practical experience in an institutional or organizational setting appropriate to analysis and understanding of issues in some area of applied philosophy. Prerequisite: Approval of committee chair and department head.
PHIL 685 Directed Studies
Credits 1 to 6.
1 to 6 Other Hours.
Directed studies in specific problem areas in philosophy.
PHIL 689 Special Topics in...
Credits 1 to 4.
1 to 4 Lecture Hours.
Selected topics in an identified area of philosophy. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
PHIL 691 Research
Credits 1 to 15.
1 to 15 Other Hours.
Research for thesis. Prerequisites: Approval of department head and committee chair.