PHIL 504U

Catalog description

Serves as an introduction to some of the methods, issues, & theories associated within major Asian philosophical religious systems, focusing on: Hinduism, Early Buddhism, Taoism, & Zen Buddhism. Perennial issues which will be addressed in the course include: the Nature of the Sacred, the relationship between the Sacred and: the self, life and death, happiness and meaning, and morality. The course will compare and contrast approaches and answers to these issues between these traditions, as well as between these systems and “Western” philosophy and religion. In addition to the content of the course, students should find the analytic “tools” utilized in the course helpful in all courses of study requiring critical thinking as well as in assessing the plethora of arguments and pseudo-reasoning which pervade everyday life.