May 16, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
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PHIL 291 Introduction to Asian Philosophy [GEGA]


This course is an overview of the rich philosophical traditions of South and East Asia. The course will introduce a number of major philosophers, texts, and movements across Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese/Japanese Traditions.

Credit 3 hrs May not be repeated for additional credit
Grade Mode Normal (A-F) Course Rotation once per year

Prerequisites -
Other Restrictions -
Restriction by Major -
Restriction by Class -


Rationale for Perspectives on a Diverse World - Global Awareness (GEGA)  courses are designed to expose students to issues influencing diverse cultures around the world. In this course, we will go beneath specific issues to address the very foundations of cultures. Specific issues within a culture arise within a specific cultural milieu and this milieu stands on philosophical foundations that distinguish it from other cultures. We will isolate the philosophical presuppositions of a variety of Asian cultures, focusing on their assumptions about the make-up of the world, how human beings fit into this make-up, how knowledge is formed within this framework, what the optimal goals of the human being are, and how, based on these presuppositions, human beings should best act in the world in order to achieve their goals. It will be important to discern how these philosophical foundations can play a role when covering specific contemporary issues and the roles they play when two cultures with contrasting philosophical foundations meet. Introduction to Asian Philosophy provides students with the opportunity to study the foundational cultures of several Asian societies. These cultures are based on philosophical assumptions that differ radically and in important ways form the common assumptions that people from other cultural traditions bring to living in the world. By understanding these philosophies, students will achieve both a foundational knowledge of the cultures and a sensitivity to diverse points of view. We will directly engage the texts of these traditions, which are broadly: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism.

Keywords: Global Awareness (GEGA)  , philosophy  
Updates: Change to course rotation 4/2019, effective Fall 2019; Course Rotation added 1/2015


Summer 2024 Course Sections

Fall 2024 Course Sections




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