PHIL 100: Critical Thinking

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, ESL 150, or eligibility determined by the English placement process.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

This course develops critical thinking skills that can be applied in all areas of life. Topics include the structure and evaluation of arguments, fallacies, credibility, rhetorical devices, and explanations. Using examples from the news media, social media, advertising, political speeches, and other real-life sources, students learn the distinction between claims and theories that make sense and claims and theories that do not survive rational scrutiny.

PHIL 101: Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, ESL 150, or eligibility determined by the English placement process.
Enrollment Limitation: Not open to students with prior credit in PHIL 101H.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

This introduction to philosophical inquiry emphasizes problems of knowledge and reality through the analysis of classical and contemporary works on such issues as free will, personhood, knowledge and belief, the existence of God, and the nature of reality. The course encourages students to think independently and formulate their own tentative conclusions. UC CREDIT LIMITATION: Credit for PHIL 101 or PHIL 101H. C-ID PHIL-100

PHIL 101H: Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality (Honors)

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, ESL 150, or eligibility determined by the English placement process.
Enrollment Limitation: Not open to students with prior credit in PHIL 101.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

This course introduces highly motivated students to the methods and topics of philosophy through the analysis and discussion of classical and contemporary works. It explores metaphysical and epistemological questions, such as free will, personhood, knowledge and belief, the existence of God, and the nature of reality. The course encourages students to think independently and rationally and to formulate their own tentative conclusions after considering several alternatives and objections to their positions. UC CREDIT LIMITATION: Credit for PHIL 101 or PHIL 101H. C-ID PHIL-100

PHIL 102: Contemporary Moral Problems

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, ESL 150, or eligibility determined by the English placement process.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

This course examines the nature of morality as it applies to a variety of personal and social issues through the reading and analysis of classical and contemporary works. It explores major ethical theories, including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, natural law theory, social contract theories, and feminist ethics. The course emphasizes the application of ethical theory to contemporary moral issues, such as war, pornography, euthanasia, animal rights, and abortion. C-ID PHIL-120.

PHIL 110: Introduction to Logic

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, or ESL 150; MATH 64 or MATH 102; or eligibility determined by the English or math placement process.
Enrollment Limitation: Not open to students with prior credit in PHIL 110H.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

This course introduces logic with an emphasis on propositional logic. Topics include deductive and inductive reasoning, informal fallacies, validity, truth tables, translations, quantifiers, and proofs. This course is open to any student, but it may be of particular interest to philosophy, math, and computer science majors.

PHIL 110H: Introduction to Logic (Honors)

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, or ESL 150; MATH 64 or MATH 102; or eligibility determined by the English or math placement process.
Enrollment Limitation: Not open to students with prior credit in PHIL 110.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

This course introduces logic with an emphasis on symbolic logic and is intended for highly motivated students who can benefit from greater depth and rigor. Topics include deductive and inductive reasoning, informal fallacies, validity, truth tables, translations, quantifiers, and proofs. The course introduces more advanced problems and proof methods, and it may be of particular interest to philosophy, math, and computer science majors.

PHIL 221: Philosophy of Religion

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ACE 150, ENGL 50, ESL 150, or eligibility determined by the English placement process.
Advisory: PHIL 101 or PHIL 101H.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU, UC
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring

This course introduces the philosophical study of both religion and the central concepts found in Eastern and Western religious traditions with an emphasis on theism. It encourages students to think rationally, critically, and independently about the beliefs of religious adherents. Topics include arguments for theism and atheism, the validity of religious experience, the meaning of karma, concepts of God and Ultimate Reality, the possibility of miracles, and the value of religion.

PHIL 292: Internship Studies

Units: 0.5-3
Prerequisites: None
Corequisite: Complete 75 hrs paid or 60 hrs non-paid work per unit.
Enrollment Limitation: Instructor, dept chair, and Career Center approval. May not enroll in any combination of cooperative work experience and/or internship studies concurrently.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU
Course Typically Offered: To be arranged

This course provides students the opportunity to apply the theories and techniques of their discipline in an internship position in a professional setting under the instruction of a faculty-mentor and site supervisor. It introduces students to aspects of the roles and responsibilities of professionals employed in the field of study. Topics include goal-setting, employability skills development, and examination of the world of work as it relates to the student's career plans. Students must develop new learning objectives and/or intern at a new site upon each repetition. Students may not earn more than 16 units in any combination of cooperative work experience (general or occupational) and/or internship studies during community college attendance.

PHIL 296: Topics in Philosophy

Units: 1-3
Prerequisites: None
Acceptable for Credit: CSU
Lecture 1 hour.
Lecture 2 hours.
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: To be arranged

This course gives students an opportunity to study topics in Philosophy that are not included in regular course offerings. Each Topics course is announced, described, and given its own title and 296 number designation in the class schedule.

PHIL 298: Directed Study in Philosophy

Units: 1-3
Prerequisites: None
Enrollment Limitation: Instructor and department chair approval and successful completion of 12 units of college work with at least a 3.0 grade-point average.
Acceptable for Credit: CSU
Laboratory 3 hours
Laboratory 6 hours
Laboratory 9 hours.
Course Typically Offered: To be arranged

This course allows students to pursue a special area of interest in order to achieve specific goals beyond the scope of existing courses within the discipline. Students work independently and interact directly with an instructor on an individual basis and as prescribed by the Directed Study Agreement.

PHIL 302: Bioethics

Units: 3
Prerequisites: ENGL 100 or ENGL 100H.
Enrollment Limitation: Only open to students enrolled in the bachelor's degree program in biomanufacturing at MiraCosta College.
Lecture 3 hours.
Course Typically Offered: Fall or Spring

This course examines the application of ethical theory to issues in biology and medicine through case studies and classical and contemporary readings in ethical theory and applied ethics. It explores major ethical theories, including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, natural law theory, social contract theories, and feminist ethics, as they apply to contemporary issues in biology and medicine, such as cloning, transplantation, defining life and death, genetic testing and manipulation, the ethical conduct of research and experimentation, and the just distribution of scarce medical resources. This course is open only to students enrolled in the bachelor's degree program in biomanufacturing at MiraCosta College.