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panoramic survey of the Islamic societies of the Middle East and North Africa from their origins to the present day, history and expansion of Islam both as a world religion and civilization, from its birth in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century to its subsequent spread to other parts of western Asia and North Africa, Issues of religious practices, political governance and movements, gender, social relations, cultural norms, foregrounds the complexities and diversity present in a critical geographic area: Readings and Assigned Viewing

idea of what it is like to study philosophy

major figures and persistent themes in ancient and medieval philosophy, texts from Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas: readings

various attempts to reinterpret the Judeo/Christian God, Dostoyevsky?s and Kierkegaard's attempts to preserve a non-theological version of the God of Christianity, Nietzsche?s attempt to save us from belief in any version of God offered by our tradition

foundations of the social sciences and differences between social science explanations and natural science explanations, How does human society differ from that of other social animals?, objective reality of such things as money, property, government, marriage, and universities, role of language, Why is nation state such a powerful form of social organization, Why did socialism fail? Are there human rights?

reviews central issues in theory of meaning, in particular the relation between meaning and reference to objects, classical views of Frege and Russell, meaning and reference presented by the later Wittgenstein

recovery of the ancient Near Eastern context of Genesis, recent archaeological discoveries, new models of the literary history of Genesis, anthropological and literary approaches, theories of myth and folklore, impact of ancient biblical interpretations

classic and contemporary work on central topics in ethics, metaethics, moral character: readings

examines works of film in relation to thematic issues of philosophical importance that also occur in other arts, particularly literature and opera, film's ability to represent and express feeling as well as cognition, written and cinematic works by Sturges, Shaw, Cocteau, Hitchcock, Joyce, and Bergman considered: readings