Courses
Search for courses listed in this bulletin. To find a semester course schedule (including instructors, meeting times and locations), go to mynmu.nmu.edu.
- Offered: Fall Winter
- Prerequisites: Senior class standing or instructor's permission and declared physics major.
Students will prepare and deliver a series of presentations on topics in physics or astronomy with faculty adviser approval. A student may enroll for one or two credits, which will determine the number of presentations to be done.
- Offered: Fall Winter
- Graded: S/U
- Co-requisites: Registration for graduation or instructor permission.
A variety of tests to gauge the understanding of concepts, techniques, and reasoning skills taught in the Physics major. These tests will take the form of laboratory work, standardized tests, and other activities as determined by the instructor.
- Offered: On demand
- Prerequisites: Junior standing and department permission.
A course devoted to a special topic selected either for its current interest value or as a major piece of physics not covered in the normal curriculum.
- Offered: On demand
- Prerequisites: Junior standing and department permission.
Students either assist a faculty member in research, design an advanced physics laboratory experiment, or prepare a written, scholarly exposition on a physics-related topic approved by the faculty adviser and evaluated by three department faculty members.
Notes: May be taken only once.- Offered: Fall Winter Summer
- Offered: Fall Winter
- Offered: Fall Winter
Covers major approaches to universal morality and codes of ethics. This course prepares students to bring a theoretical perspective to the moral dilemmas discussed in the applied ethics courses (PL 181 through PL 186).
- Offered: Fall
An examination of ethical issues in business. Representative topics include the moral justification of the free market system, the ethics of advertising, employee rights and responsibilities, sexual harassment in the workplace, the moral responsibilities of the corporation, and ethical issues in international business.
- Offered: Winter
An examination of ethical issues in computing, information, and technology. Representative topics include social media use and related research, privacy in the information age, surveillance, property rights in software, the ethics of classified information, moral enhancement, ethical issues in artificial intelligence, unpiloted and autonomous cars and weapons, and freedom of expression on the Internet.
- Offered: Contact department.
A study of the great philosophers of the past and their exploration of moral judgments, moral virtues, moral knowledge, moral rationality, moral practice and strength of will.
- Offered: Fall
An examination of ethical issues in the law and legal practice. Representative topics include capital punishment, searching without a warrant, private possession of firearms, same-sex marriage, affirmative action, requiring the purchase of health insurance, the legalization of drugs, the ethics of punishment, and the ethics of police work, legal, and paralegal practice.
- Offered: Winter
An examination of ethical issues in medical and genomic practice. Representative topics include abortion, euthanasia, the use of humans in medical experiments, justice in the distribution of health care, informed consent, adolescent decision-making, mental illness and involuntary confinement, the role and responsibilities of doctors and nurses, genetic testing and engineering, requiring the purchase of medical insurance, and conscience clauses for medical professionals.
- Offered: Contact department.
An examination of issues such as contemporary theories of justice, the search for objective moral standards in a multicultural world and the interconnection between science and ethics.
- Prerequisites: Every third semester.
This course is a philosophical exploration of how human society influences and is influenced by its natural environment. It addresses general philosophical questions about sustainability and environmental change. In addition, it covers a variety of more specific philosophical issues, such as the moral status of non-human animals and ecosystems, obligations to future generations, food justice, environmental (in)justice, and the aesthetic value of nature.
- Offered: Contact Department
Introduction to the way people have understood themselves and the world. This course examines some of the main philosophic concepts, issues and problems and their earliest beginnings through a study of leading philosophers.
- Offered: Contact Department
The development of philosophy in the modern period, particularly from the 17th to the end of the 19th century. The primary focus of the course will be metaphysics and theory of knowledge. The development of social and political thought will also be discussed.
- Offered: Every Third Semester
Examination of philosophical texts, issues, and analyses concerning the nature, status, and experience of women. Attention will be devoted to global patterns of gender discrimination and philosophical explanations and critiques of these patterns. Additional topics may include philosophical analyses of social justice, philosophical analyses of gender, philosophical analyses of power hierarchies, social roles, and related issues. Readings will include works by classic and contemporary philosophers.
- Offered: Every third semester.
Examination of philosophical issues concerning the nature, value, experience, and interpretation of art. Topics may include what is art; why is it valuable; what is the relationship between art and morality; and what is the relationship between art and emotion. Art will be taken in the broad sense that encompasses literature, film, music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, etc.
- Offered: Fall Winter
- Offered: Every third semester, contact department for timing.
Pursuit of an understanding of the nature and meaning of religion and religious experience. The course deals with the problems of the nature and existence of God, the meaning of religious assertions and the nature of faith. Readings are drawn from traditional and contemporary sources.
- Offered: Contact department
- Offered: Every third semester, contact department for timing.
- Prerequisites: EN 211 with a grade of "C" or better and sophomore standing.
An evaluation of personal conduct in relation to political, social and economic systems. Classical and modern texts are used to examine concepts such as individual rights, social duty, authority of the state, social justice and anarchy, and to evaluate the ends of social organization.
- Offered: Every third semester, contact department for timing.
- Prerequisites: EN 211 with a grade of "C" or better and sophomore standing.
Study of European philosophies of human existence, tracing the developments up to the end of the 20th century.
- Offered: Every third semester, contact department for timing.
Pursuit of an understanding of the sources, nature, validity and significance of human knowledge. Epistemology examines the form of cognition, the problem of other minds, probability and induction, rationalism, British empiricism from Locke to Russell, logical empiricism and pragmatism.
- Offered: Fall Winter
- Co-requisites: Registration for graduation is required for enrollment.
All graduating students must submit a portfolio of written work as part of the Philosophy Department outcomes assessment.