2007-2008 Academic Catalog (4-Aug-2007).indd - AUK

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY of KUWAIT
2007-2008 ACADEMIC CATALOG
feminist political movements, and the politics of everyday life. This course will not only
expand student comprehension of different feminist theories, but it will also improve general
theoretical skills: how to read theory, how to use theoretical language, how to write analytically
and critically about social and personal issues. Discussed theories will include Wollstonecraft,
various suffrage movements, Mill, de Beauvoir, postmodernism, liberal feminism and social
feminism, among others. Corequisite: ENGL 101.
PHIL 280 International Ethics (3) [H]
This course raises ethical questions in a global or international context. Questions of crosscultural,
conflicting values are of particular concern in this course. Specific topics may
include: the theoretical bases for human rights, ethical questions of social or political identity,
individual versus the state, immigration and refugee issues as well as ethical issues surrounding
the environment and globalization. The objective of this course is to improve student’s critical
awareness and reasoning about ethical issues in a global context. Prerequisite: ENGL 101.
PHIL 310 Environmental Ethics (3) [H]
This course examines normative issues in the study of the environment. Students will learn
basic ethical concepts and theories and how to apply them to specific environmental concerns.
Students will be asked to develop arguments to defend their own respective views regarding
the environment and to develop viewpoints reflecting thoughtful and scholarly consideration
of human duties, both individual and social, to the environment. Prerequisite: ENGL 101.
[Cross-listed with ENVS 310].
PHIL 311 Modern Western Philosophy (3) [H]
Review of modern Western Philosophy of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Centuries. It explores issues of science, politics and culture and the impact of the Industrial
Revolution. The course covers philosophy of science, pragmatism, utilitarianism, Darwinism
and Marxism. Prerequisite: PHIL 101.
PHIL 322 Western Political Philosophy (3) [H]
Students will examine historical and contemporary political and social theories. This
examination has the objective of increasing students’ critical understanding of the theoretical
bases for much of today’s socio-political structures and beliefs. Historical and contemporary
theories include the works of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Machiavelli, Confucius, Ghandi,
Marx, Mill, Rawls and Nozick. Prerequisites: PHIL 101 or previous INST/PLSC and ENGL
101. [Cross-listed with PLSC 322]. Fulfills major requirement for PLSC 322.
PHIL 350 Metaphysics (3) [H]
Metaphysics is the study of “what is.” This course introduces students to major metaphysical
theories from the pre-Socratics to contemporary theories. Students will analyze the major
metaphysical theories as well as develop their own justifications for their metaphysical beliefs.
Topics covered may include: the existence of qualia, mid/body distinction, proofs for the
existence of God and the nature of substances. Historical figures covered may include Plato,
Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Sartre, Quine and Kripke. Prerequisites: Any
PHIL course and ENGL 102.
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