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Here is a list of courses I taught between 1989 and 1999 at Gonzaga, along with
some information about each one. If copies of syllabi are available, you will
find links to them at the end of the course description.
PHL 101: Critical Thinking
This course teaches the fundamentals of logic and critical reasoning. We
will study both a formal logical system and informal logical reasoning
skills. Critical reasoning includes both skills of reasoning and skills
in reading, interpreting, and analyzing issues. In order to develop these
skills, we will study some principles of interpretation and analysis and
develop our ability to respond in a sophisticated and reflective manner
to oral and written argumentative discourse. For a temporary password to
the website for this course, email
me. Current Web Site
PHL 201: Philosophy of Human Nature
This course is both an introduction to some major themes in western philosophy
and an introduction to philosophical thought on human nature. Our goal
is to understand and critically reflect upon the course readings and to
assess the relevance and relative insights of great philosophers for our
self-understanding. Recent Syllabus.
PHL 301: Introductory Ethics
This course provides a basic introduction to ethics. Most of us have an intuitive
ability to discern the right course of action in a situation, but the philosophical
study of ethics demands that we step back and reflect on the nature of ethical
conduct in order to attain a clearer intellectual understanding of the basis of
right conduct. Clarity in this area requires not only self-reflection, thinking
self-consciously about how we have been discerning the good, but also a good deal
of learning about human development and the ways in which a "moral sense" develops
in a normally socialized human being. The first part of this course emphasizes
both pure philosophical theory of value and information about the nature of human
social conduct. Even in these more theoretical units of the course, we will practice
our ability to develop ethical arguments about particular applied issues (such
as the ethics of smoking, pornography, and suicide). For a temporary password
to the website for this course, email
me. Current course site
PHL 420/520: Contemporary Philosophy
This course provides a high-level introduction to American and Western
European philosophical thought in the twentieth century. To give this chaotic
and diverse century some thematic unity, we will read major twentieth century
philosophies as responses to the so-called "problem of modernity" -- roughly,
the problem of how to know one's world and one's culture when the traditional
understandings of world and culture are radically altered by contemporary
science and the advent of global culture. Three major intellectual traditions
address the peculiar historical problems of modernity: British Analytic
Philosophy, Continental Phenomenology & Existentialism, and Postmodernism.
For a temporary password to the website for this course, email
me. Past syllabi: 1994 version, 1992
version, 1997 Web Site,
PHL 457/557: Business Ethics
This course gives a general introduction to ethical problems which arise
in market economies. After looking at the ethical justifications for capitalism
and some of the ethical tensions inherent in it, we turn to a variety of
subtopics including the question of business's social relationships, the
problem of group responsibility (and its implications for product liability,
sexual harassment), ethical issues in the exchange of goods & services
(including marketing ethics, advertising ethics), and employement ethics.
The general goals of the course are to gain a critical awareness of
the strengths and weaknesses of market economies from an ethical point
of view and to develop the analytic tools and research skills needed to
address contemporary ethical problems in business. Spring
1995 syllabus
PHL 470/570: Philosophy of Law
It might not seem difficult, at first, to explain the nature of law. After
all, unlike more abstract ideas like "beauty" or "justice," the law has
an easily identifiable institutional identity. In a crude sense the "law"
in the U.S. might be identified with the total institutional matrix of
courts, legislatures, and all of the people, professions, and activities
which constitute the justice system. The difficulties begin to arise when
we realize that this common sense understanding of the law doesn't help
us understanding the relationship between the practice of law (in institutional
life) and abstract ideals which we hope the law will embody, like justice,
fairness, and the promotion of at least some aspects of a good life, like
security. The goal of Unit I of the course is to understand this relationship.
In addition to this fundamental question, "What makes law law?," we
have to question our common sense understanding that law only "happens"
within the context of legal institutions. The vast majority of legal disputes
never get solved in the courthouse. Even when courts are involved, most
"cases" never proceed to trial. So we have to inquiry about the informal
means by which lawyers, professional mediators, and others help pwople
settle disputes. Unit II considers a range of literature on informal justice.
Within the institutional practice of the law, one finds still more philosophical
problems. What does it mean to "find" or "create" law on the basis of a
reading of a primary document like the U.S. Constitution? What approach
to interpretation should judges use? Is there such a thing as a method
of "constitutional interpretation"? Using the issues of privacy, sex, and
gender equality as examples, we'll try to answer these questions in Unit
III.
Units IV and V of the course deal with philosophical questions which
arise within specific areas of the law. What constitutes criminal conduct?
Does criminal responsibility apply only to crimes which a person specifically
intends or brings about through reckless behavior? In the area of tort
law, what view of causality is implicit in our understanding of liability?
Should a person be liable for some harm even if they were not the principal
(or proximate) cause of the harm?
As you can see, this course samples philosophical issues which arise both inside
and outside the legal system. Within the law, we look at problems that arise
out of the need for law to be interpreted and the need to distinguish between
criminal and civil wrongs. Fall 1994 Syllabus
, Current course site
PHL 486/586: Philosophy of Language
The general goal of this course is to use a survey of theories and issues
in the study of language to deepen our understanding of language and its
relationship to our human being and reality. Since language attends all
of our descriptions of reality and plays a key role in our self-description
(our account of the distinctiveness of human being), its study can be regarded
as crucial to improving both our ability to use language and our philosophic
self-understanding. The course will be taught as a seminar, which presumes
a greater level of involvement and student contribution than a typical
lecture/discussion course. Students will have an opportunity to define
their own objectives and projects within the course and will be encouraged
to share their work in progress during class meetings. Spring
1995 Syllabus
PHL 472/572: Philosophy of Literature
This course is an inquiry into the nature of literature, as opposed to
a study of the means by which it achieves its effects. While we will look
at theory and practice in several major genres and periods of literary
production, our principal goal is to see how claims made about the function
of a particular genre (or of literature in general) imply a view of the
nature of literature and the place it occupies in human life and society.
For a temporary password to the Spring 1997
website for this course, email
me. Spring 1993 Syllabus
PHL 486/586: Philosophy of Information
What is information? Is it simply ideas and concepts that
our language collects and expresses? Is information separate from the medium
of expression? This course will begin by defining the nature of information,
looking at traditional and contemporary definitions from philosophers and
information theorists. The second part of the course will study the relationship
between information and culture. We'll look at some new information media
such as cyperspace and hypertext and try to sort through claims by information
theorists about the role of information in human history and development.
Finally, we'll explore some ethical issues about the handling of information
in a society such as ours which values privacy, the free flow of information,
and free markets. Summer 1995 Syllabus
PHL 487/587: Philosophical Approaches to Poverty Studies
In spite of several decades of intensive study from the social sciences
and in spite of numerous political programs, no widespread consensus exists
on answers to such basic questions as what causes poverty and how should
it be alleviated. This course will familiarize students with recent research
and thinking on poverty from a variety of disciplines and political perspectives.
An understanding of poverty requires an immersion in a wide range of
literature. We will sample social histories, sociological literature, religious
thought, and writings by policy experts, journalists and literary figures.
As we gain a basic understanding of the contributions of different disciplines
to the study of poverty, we will develop a philosophical discussion on
two general questions: What are the ethical presuppositions of various
approaches to poverty? What explanatory frameworks underlie different approaches
to poverty?
In an attempt to answer the first question the following topics in ethics
will be considered: the justifications of paternalism, the nature of community,
the obligation to render aid, and our obligations to respect the rights
of individuals to liberty, dignity, and privacy. A sophisticated understanding
of the "ethics of helping" is the goal of this part of the course.
The literature of poverty will inevitably lead us to ask basic questions
about how poverty should be explained. What sort of phenomenon is poverty?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of different disciplinary approaches.
To help with these questions we will look at some philosophical ideas on
explanation and interpretation. The goal of the second part of the course
is to understand what is at stake philosophically in any answer to the
question, "Why is there poverty?" Fall 1991
Syllabus
ORGL 503: Organizational Ethics
This course gives a general introduction to the analysis of ethical problems
which arise in organizational life, especially organizations in market
economies. The course looks briefly at some ethical justifications for
markets and some of the ethical tensions inherent in them. Most of our
time will be spent on a variety of topics central to the ethical life of
professional organizations, including the problem of group responsibility,
employment ethics and management or organizational ethics. We finish by
reflecting on the relationship between power & values in organizational
life.
ORGL 504: Organizational Communication
Contemporary organizations face the tremendous challenge of learning to
use information technology to improve organization communication and decision
making. The goal of this course is to prepare ourselves to meet this challenge.
However, accomplishing this goal requires background knowledge in at least
three distinct fields: philosophy of communication, organizational theory,
and philosophy of information. The first unit of this course provides an
advanced introduction to these fields by focusing on two related questions:
How can we understand organizations as information systems? What presuppositions
do we have about how humans communicate and the "ideal of communication"
toward which we should strive in organizational life?
In the second part of the course we will practice and apply our understanding
of theory by giving a sophisticated analysis of one or more actual communication
scenarios or cases in an organization with which we are familiar. By analyzing
the flow of information in an organizational unit, the quality and use
of information, or a specific case of good or bad communication, we will
not only deepen our appreciation of contemporary communication theory,
but also reflect on the values and expectations we bring to organizational
life and interpersonal communication.
During the last third of the semester we will focus exclusively on the
meaning and impact of recent information technology on organizational communication
and, indeed, on the very nature of the contemporary work organization.
We will sample research from an emerging discipline which studies the value
and effectiveness of information technology, but we will also consult our
own experience of recent information technology to discover its promises
and perils. Our concerns are both philosophical and practical: Are emerging
technologies changing something fundamental about the way we work or merely
augmenting, for good or ill, our repertoire of techniques for communicating?
How can we assure that basic change, if it occurs, will be good? On a more
practical level, what opportunities for new work practices, empowerment,
and organizational change do specific technologies make possible? How can
I realize these opportunities today in my own work and in my relationships
with others? Visit the course website
©2001 by Mark Alfino,
Department
of Philosophy, Gonzaga University. 