A complementary minor is taken in addition to a student’s main program. There is no direct admission in a complementary program; the choice is made after admission and registration in a bachelor program.

Compulsory courses (12 credits)

• PHI2154 Moral Philosophy
• PHI2182 Human Existence
• PHI2184 Philosophy of Religion
• PHI2185 Ethics and Education

Optional courses (18 credits)

3 credits from:

• PHI1101 Reasoning and Critical Thinking (UO)
• PHI1105 Introduction to Philosophical Reasoning
• PHI1110 Elementary Logic

3 credits from:

• PHI2380 Greek Philosophy or the Birth of Philosophy (UO)
• PHI3185 Aristotelian-Thomistic Metaphysics
• PHI3370 Plato: The Philosopher as Legislator (UO)
• PHI3380 Aristotle or the Search for Happiness (UO)
• PHI4130 Aristotle’s Ethical Theory

3 credits from:

• PHI2382 Medieval Philosophy (UO)
• PHI3107 Thomas Aquinas
• PHI3141 Augustine

3 credits from:

• PHI2383 Modern Philosophy (UO)
• PHI3377 Contemporary Continental Philosophy (UO)
• PHI3398 Contemporary Analytic Philosophy (UO)
• PHI4155 Selected Topics in Philosophy II

6 credits from:

• PHI2111 History of Ethics
• PHI2113 Nature, Science and Philosophy
• PHI2121 Texts in Ethics
• PHI2153 Christian Philosophers
• PHI3112 Philosophical Theology
• PHI3131 Ethics Counselling
• PHI3140 Kant’s Ethical Theories (UO)
• PHI3152 Philosophical Hermeneutics
• Or any other course approved by the Faculty.

Students must take at least 2 courses at the 3000 and 4000 levels for completing a minor.

Some courses have specific prerequisites.

A course that is part of a bachelor degree or a major cannot count as an optional course toward a minor.

PHI 1101 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking

Development of fundamental skills in reasoning and critical thinking through the study of argument types, logical structures, criteria used in the evaluation of arguments, and forms of fallacious reasoning.

PHI 1105 - Introduction to Philosophical Reasoning

This course offers students a general introduction to philosophical reasoning in the western tradition. It seeks to identify what philosophy is through a reading of some classic and representative texts in the discipline. The course is planned along thematic and historical lines, that is, it tries to introduce philosophy through a selection of readings from various branches of philosophy (epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics), and it is historical in that we read philosophers from the ancient through to the modern periods. Readings in Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and others will focus discussion. Attention will be given to the nature of philosophical argument, and the ways in which argumentation is a central concern for all forms of philosophical reasoning

PHI 1110 - Elementary Logic

This course is a general introduction to logic. The course introduces students to such basic logical concepts as deduction, induction, validity and invalidity, fallacy, the relation of language to logic, and problems arising from workaday, rhetorical forms of argument.

PHI 2111 - History of Ethics

When offered, this course would take one of the following three forms: I. Ancient and Medieval Ethics: Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman Ethics. Selection from Plato’s Dialogues, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Selection from the Epicureans, Stoics, Neoplatonists, and Aquinas. II. Early Modern Ethics: Renaissance Humanists, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, and Hume. III. Post-Kantian Ethics. Selections from Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, J.S. Mill, T.H. Green. Selections from Moore, the positivists and post-modernists.

PHI 2113 - Nature, Science and Philosophy

Difference between philosophy of nature and the science of nature. The history of philosophical reflection on nature. The individuation of beings; the relationship between matter and life; the nature of the consciousness in relation to the body, the problem of finality in nature. Impact on environmental ethics and bioethics.

PHI 2121 - Texts in Ethics

Readings of selected texts.

PHI 2153 - Christian Philosophers

Great Christian philosophers. Relationships between faith and reason. The reciprocal influence of theology and philosophy on one another.

PHI 2154 - Moral Philosophy

Survey of the major ethical systems in the Western world. Relationship between philosophical and religious thinking in ethical matters. Fundamental questions facing contemporary moral consciousness. PHI 2154 and PHI2174 are mutually exclusive. PHI 2154 was previously under course code PHI 3183.

PHI 2182 - Human Existence

Essential dimensions of human existence. Its specificity with regard to the world around it. Openness to the religious realm, self awareness, reason, political life, relation to others, relationship to the world of nature.

PHI 2184 - Philosophy of Religion

Philosophers and religion. Questions raised by the scientific study of religion in the contemporary period. Contributions of linguistic analysis to the study of the expressions of religious faith.

PHI 2185 - Ethics and Education

Examination of the philosophical and psychological research on the formation of ethical judgments. Relationships between judgment, feeling, and moral action. Examination of how various learning theories can be incorporated into teaching ethics to children, how ethics may be taught to children both inside and outside a religious context. The contribution of psychological research: Piaget, Kohlberg, Freud, and the Humanist School.

PHI 2380 - Greek Philosophy or the Birth of Philosophy

The birth of philosophy in Ancient Greece and its development, from the 6th to the 4th century B.C. Introduction to the originality and specificity of philosophical discourse through the study of Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

(Also offered as CLA2380). (HP).

PHI 2382 - Medieval Philosophy

The encounter of philosophy with the Christian, Islamic and Jewish traditions of thought from the 4th to the 15th century. Among topics to be studied: The development of a Christian metaphysics, the reinterpretation of Aristotle, the debate about universals. (HP).

PHI 3107 - Thomas Aquinas

Life, intellectual context, and philosophical thought of Thomas Aquinas. Study of selected texts.

PHI 3112 - Philosophical Theology

The philosophical question of God. The problem of the existence of God. The proofs of existence of God. Divine being and divine attributes. God and History. God and Evil. God and Human Freedom.

PHI 3131 - Ethics Counselling

Principles of ethics consultations. Application of ethical theories to the practice of counselling. How to take decisions in the area of ethics. How to facilitate ethical decision making by individuals and organizations.

PHI 3140 - Kant’s Ethical Theory

Principle elements of Kantian ethics: the categorical imperative; human dignity; autonomy. Examination of contemporary ethical problems from the perspective of Kant’s ethical theory.

PHI 3141 - Augustine

Life, intellectual context, and philosophical thought of Augustine. Study of selected texts.

This course was previously PHI2155

PHI 3152 - Philosophical Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics of the Enlightenment and birth of the modern hermeneutical paradigm in relationship with the history of ideas and the theological preoccupations.

PHI 3185 - Aristotelian -Thomist Metaphysics

The question of being. First philosophy. Fundamental notions of Aristotelian metaphysics. Several contemporary critiques.

PHI 3370 - Plato: the Philosopher as Legislator

Introduction to the philosophy of Plato through a study of his political philosophy: The philosophical reform of the state and the philosopher as a legislator and as a dialectician. Analysis of the political mission of the philosopher as related to the nature of philosophy.

Prerequisites: 12 PHI credits, including PHI 2380. Also offered as CLA 3370. (HP).

PHI 3377 - Contemporary Continental Philosophy

Survey of the major trends in 20th-century European philosophy: existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, structuralism, and poststructuralist.

Prerequisites: 15 PHI credits, including PHI 2383.

PHI 3380 - Aristotle or the Search for Happiness

Introduction to the main concepts of Aristotle's philosophy, in particular, to his ethics (happiness, virtue), through the study of his theory of knowledge and of his analysis of contingency in the theory of action.

Prerequisites: 12 PHI credits, including PHI 2380. Also offered as CLA3380. (HP).

PHI 3398 - Contemporary Analytic Philosophy (UO)

Study of major debates and currents in analytic philosophy, with focus on the core theoretical areas of philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics.

Prerequisites: 15 PHI credits, including PHI 2170 and PHI 2383. (ME). Previously: PHI3378.

PHI 4130 - Aristotle's Ethical Theory

Aristotle on: happiness; virtue, acting according to right reason, mediatedness; justice and political life. Examination of contemporary ethical problems from the perspective of Aristotle's ethical theory.

PHI 4155 - Selected Topics in Philosophy II

Study of a particular topic in philosophy.