Phil 103 An introductory course in Philosophy focused on questions about human beings and their environments.

This course is about how we live, how we think about living, and how ideas can help us to take the best of humanity into a different future.

Would you be interested? Are you interested in the environment, nature, sustainability, animal rights, or ecology? Do you like to question, think about and consider different ideas? Does your cultural worldview offer a different perspective about humans and the natural world?

These are the books we will read.

What does it mean to be wealthy? How did we get to this place– economically, socially, politically? Why is having “stuff” so valued? What drives our desires to own, consume, and create relationships with others? What counts as a fulfilling human life? When can we be satisfied?

Humans & animals What makes us distinctively human? We will explore what it means to be a human, an animal, and our human-animal relationship. How has the distinction between reason and emotion shaped our thinking about our human place in the world ? How do these attitudes impact the way we treat animals, other humans, what we eat and wear? How far are we ready to extend equality, freedom and fairness?

Assignments This is a discussion based class. The effort will be to learn about and share ideas that may be new to us, to explore options, and define and refine our own ideas on important issues. Writing assignments: Discussion Board: share your ideas and Interact informally with the ideas of your classmates. Weekly journal of current events and your observations of nature. Argument analysis: learn about the dynamic structure of arguments, and how to address an argument’s strengths and weaknesses. Dialogue/Creative project: Use your imagination to express your point of view on an idea that impacts your future.