An introduction to philosophical inquiry as it has been practiced since Socrates, with attention to classic problems of philosophy such as the relation of mind and body, the nature of learning and knowledge, and the concept of truth.

A course on learning to reason about matters of faith. Topics include classic arguments for the existence and attributes of God, the rationality of faith, and the problem of evil.

How do we practice medicine well? In one sense, to practice medicine well is to perform a variety of procedures, generally recognized by the medical community, in a successful way - a surgeon acts well when she can replace an organ with minimal damage to the rest of the body. In another sense, to practice medicine well is to order those procedures to the patient's health. This distinguishes a skilled surgeon from a good surgeon (which, of course, requires that one be skilled). Medical ethics is an investigation of what makes for good medical practice. Through it we question even the procedures that medical professionals often perform, and ask: How are these practices for the health of the patient? This question is especially difficult when, for example, there seems to be little health we can bring about for a patient (such as end of life care) or when scarce resources force us to act for some but not others' health (such as when triage is necessary). We will be examining various principles for dealing with difficult questions regarding, among others, informed consent, honesty, paternalism, policy-creation, as well as more theoretical issues surrounding beginning and end of life care (e.g. abortion and euthanasia). Through these discussions, we will learn to think well about ensuring that - whether we be future medical practitioners, policy creators, or informed citizens - we might act for the health of every patient.

A course on the art of critical thinking and its application to arguments found in everyday life (e.g., in newspapers). Attention will be given to informal fallacies and to elementary formal logic (the sentential calculus).

This introductory-level course is an effort to think together from a Christian perspective about issues such as the meaning of the body, the nature of marriage, and the virtue of chastity.

In this interdisciplinary Medical Humanities course, we explore matters of broad bioethical concern through literature, film, and art. The premise of the field of Narrative Medicine is that engagement with literature and the arts plays a critical role in helping professionals develop the skills required to become more perceptive and empathetic practitioners in clinical settings. Narrativity and metaphor are essential features of illness experience and interpersonal communication; visual attunement is likewise fundamental for diagnostic accuracy. Creative modes of engaging the world are required for expanding these capacities. We adopt the frame of Narrative Ethics as we examine a wide range of issues related to health and medical practice, including: doctor-patient relationships, living with chronic illness, terminal diagnoses, end-of-life ethics, eugenics, organ donation, implicit bias in pain assessment, racial discrimination in experimentation, and so on. Engaging a variety of narrative genres helps us recognize and reflect upon the ethical dimensions embedded in the way we relate to illness and disease in professional settings as well as in our daily lives and in our culture more broadly.

Readings from literary texts (poems, plays or stories) that conduct philosophical inquiries in literary form, with attention to why the irreducible literary form, with its special challenges and pleasures, is inseparable from the pursuit of philosophy. This is a writing intensive course.

Readings from the ancient classical texts that originated the Western philosophical tradition, focusing especially on Plato and Aristotle and investigating both their usefulness and their provocativeness for Christian thought.

Readings from medieval philosophical texts in which Christians such as Augustine, Anselm and Aquinas use, criticize and transform ancient philosophy for specifically Christian purposes.

Readings from texts in the Western philosophical tradition from Descartes to Kant, with attention to how they have shaped modernity and its view of knowledge, morality and human nature.

A survey of key thinkers in the realm of German and French philosophy from the 19th century through the present (e.g., Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Derrida) with special attention to implications for Christian faith.

An investigation of ethics in the Western tradition, moving historically from ancient concerns with the good life and its virtues, through Christian appropriations of ancient ethics, to the emergence of modern systems such as Kantianism and utilitarianism.

For better and worse, we humans are bodies, though we often forget it in our technologically advanced and increasingly virtual lives. This course investigates theories and problems that arise from being the kinds of animals that can reflect on our own illnesses and limitations-both to understand and seek to transcend them. We will consider and question the dominant ethical framework in bioethical philosophy, and reflect on and evaluate arguments pertaining to health, the human body, technology, and medicine. These include gene editing (including new technologies like CRISPR), abortion, end-of-life care, AI in healthcare, and conscientious objection.

An introduction to formal techniques for assessing the validity of arguments, including truth tables, the sentential calculus, and quantification.

This course is a survey of Kierkegaard's authorship, reading excerpts from almost all of his major works and one or two texts in their entirety. We will consider Kierkegaard as a religious thinker and virtue ethicist in an Augustinian tradition, rather than as an existentialist. Topics covered include the nature of the self, faith, sin, knowledge, virtue(s), love, rational agency, and modern philosophy.

How does our understanding of disability give us insight into our understanding of what it is to be human? What models of disability color our understanding of it, and what are the ethical implications of these models? These two questions will guide our readings and discussion in this course. We will approach them through texts in the philosophy of disability and in philosophical anthropology more generally.

A survey of key thinkers and problems in recent Anglo-American philosophy (e.g., Russell, Ayer, Wittgenstein, Ryle, Kuhn, Quine, Davidson, Rorty, Plantinga) with special attention to implications for Christian faith.

An advanced seminar course on selected topics in philosophical hermeneutics(e.g., the nature of understanding, tradition and rationality) with special focus on how this affects Christian thought.

An advanced seminar course on the task and promise of Christian philosophy. Attention is paid to both the theory and practice of the Christian intellectual life.