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PHIL 101 Introduction to Philosophy
Department: UG_University Elective
Module Description: This module is an introduction to the central questions, concepts, and principles in philosophy through the Western and Arabic traditions covering selections from major philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-Ghazali, Descartes, Kant, Hume, Mill, Ryle, Searle, and Rawls. The module focuses on the major issues and role of philosophy in providing a foundation to other disciplines such as free will, consciousness, ethics, rights, justice, knowledge theory, and personal identity, including discussion of these issues as they apply to the contemporary world. Included also is discussion and training in constructing and critique arguments and the basic application of logic to argumentation.
Recommended readings
- Abu-Rabi’, I. (2003). Contemporary Arab thought: studies in post-1967: Arab intellectual history. London: Pluto Press.
- Adamson, P. and Taylor, R. (eds). (2004). The Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Baird, F. and Kaufmann, W. (eds). (2011). Philosophy classics: from Plato to Derrida. 6th edn. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
- Black, A. (2011). The history of Islamic political thought: from the prophet to the present. 2nd edn. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Cottingham, J. (2008). Western philosophy: an anthology. 2nd edn. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Lahoud, N. (2005). Political thought in Islam : a study in intellectual boundaries. London: Routledge.
- Fakhry, M. (2004). A history of Islamic philosophy. 3rd edn. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Feinberg, J. and Shafer-Landau, R. (2017). Reason and responsibility: readings in some basic problems of philosophy. 16th edn. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
- Garvey, J. and Stangroom, J. (2012). The story of philosophy: a history of Western thought. Quercus Publishing.
- Mulvaney, R.J. (2014). Classic philosophical questions. 14th edn. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
- Hourani, A. (1983). Arabic thought in the liberal age 1798-1939. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Kahn, S. (ed.). (2012). Classics of Western philosophy. 8th edn. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
- Kenny, A. (2010). A new history of Western philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Leaman, O. (2002). An introduction to classical Islamic philosophy. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press.
- Leaman, O. and Nasr, S. H. (eds). (2001). History of Islamic philosophy. London: Routledge.
- Lowe, E. (2007). An introduction to the philosophy of mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- McCumber, J. (2011). Time and philosophy: a history of continental thought. Acumen Publishing.
- Nasr, S. H. (2006). Islamic philosophy from its origin to the present: philosophy in the land of prophecy. Albany: SUNY Press.
- Pojman, L. (2016). Philosophy: the quest for truth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Popkin, R. (ed.). (2006). The Columbia history of Western philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Rahman, S., Street, T. and Tahiri, H. (2010). The unity of science in the Arabic tradition: science, logic, epistemology and their interactions. Springer.
- Soccio, D. (2016). Archetypes of wisdom: an introduction to philosophy. 9th edn. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
- Solomon, R. and Higgins, K. (1996). A short history of philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Solomon, R. and Higgins, K. (2017). The big questions: a short introduction to philosophy. 10th edn. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
- Weston, A. (2017). A rulebook for arguments. 5th edn. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
- Wolff, J. (2016). An introduction to political philosophy. 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
