This course is intended as a general introduction to the discipline of philosophy through an examination of various attempts throughout history to answer the very fundamental question, “What does it mean to be human?” Topics discussed include happiness, the soul, virtue, good and evil, and the like. Readings from classical sources include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Hume, Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre and others.
This course provides an examination of philosophical concepts and ideas that address questions regarding the problem of knowledge (epistemology), methods of reasoning and the nature of reality (metaphysics). Special attention will be given to applying these topics to an introduction to the philosophy of natural science. Readings include classical sources such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Hegel, as well as contemporary works.
An exploration of theories of art and of aesthetic experience. Questions addressed include the following: Are judgments of taste objective? What are the roles of form, expression, and representation in the arts? How is art related to society? What is the nature of creativity in art and science? What is the relationship between creativity and madness? Examples are drawn from the various art forms, including painting, literature, music, dance, and film.
A comprehensive study of Ancient and Medieval philosophers beginning with the Greek Pre-Socratics, through Plato and Aristotle, the post-Aristotelian schools of Epicureanism, Stoicism and Skepticism, through Plotinus, Augustine, and major Medieval thinkers such as Anselm, Avicenna, Averroes, and Thomas Aquinas.
This course investigates the history of the opposition of science and religion, beginning with the emergence of philosophy as an alternative to mythology, through the scholastic dominance of the Aristotelian world-view, to the Scientific Revolution, the emergence and acceptance of evolution, and beyond. Special attention will be given to current attempts at reconciling and/or harmonizing these traditionally antithetical disciplines.
This course is a general introduction to both the history and present concerns of feminist philosophy. Readings include classic essays of feminist thought by Wollstonecraft, Mill, Engels, and others as well as contemporary writings in philosophy and feminism. This course serves as a foundation for a minor in Gender Studies. No prior courses in philosophy are required.
This course examines the popular philosophical movement known as “Existentialism.” In addition to reading such seminar thinkers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus, attention will be given to works outside the rubric of philosophy proper, including literature and cinema.
HPL 468:Women Philosophers of the Twentieth Century
This course follows the work of the following Edith Stein, Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Ardent, and Ayn Rand. These are all seminal thinkers who began their philosophical work in the first half of the twentieth century and went on to influence the course of intellectual thought for a generation to come. And yet, more often than not, these women tend to be omitted from the traditional canon of twentieth-century philosophy. One goal of this course is to consider why that is the case.
The Seminar in Philosophy is intended to provide students with an in-depth examination of the work of either one specific philosopher (or pair of philosophers), or a particular work in the history of philosophy that has had a profound impact on the development of intellectual thought. Special attention will be given to how the philosopher or work in question influenced work outside philosophy.
School: College of Arts & Letters
Department: Philosophy / CAL 105
Program: Philosophy
Research & Education
Education
Lisa M. Dolling received her Bachelor's degree in philosophy from Manhattanville College, where she minored in English and French literature. After earning a certificate of completion cum laude from the Higher Institute of Philosophy in Louvain, Belgium, she received her M.A. in philosophy from Fordham University. After a year of studying comparative literature on fellowship at NYU, she went on to complete her Ph.D. in philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York where she had the honor and pleasure of studying with Marx W. Wartofsky who served as her dissertation director and mentor.
Research
Philosophy of science, philosophy of quantum physics, hermeneutics, aesthetics, feminism, women philosophers, the philosophy of literature, and the philosophy of education.
Experience & Service
General Information
Professor Dolling wrote her dissertation on the philosophical writings of quantum physicist Niels Bohr, a work she is revising and expanding for publication. In addition to her specialty in the philosophy of science, her main interests are hermeneutics, aesthetics, feminism, women philosophers, the philosophy of literature, and the philosophy of education. Her publications include the book The Tests of Time: Readings in the Development of Physical Theory (Princeton University Press) as well as articles on Hermeneutics, Epistemology, and the philosophers Hans-Georg Gadamer, Karl Jaspers, Edith Stein and Ayn Rand. She is currently writing about the similarities between science and aesthetics, as well as researching a book-length project that examines the work of 19th century ecologist, linguist, and polymath George Perkins Marsh.
Professor Dolling comes to Stevens from St. John's University, where in addition to teaching philosophy, she served as Executive Director of the University Honors Program, Director of the Women's Studies Program and Coordinator of the Science and Religion project. In addition to her dream of writing the next "Critique of Pure Reason," Professor Dolling's aspirations include learning to cook like Jacques Pepin and play the blues like Eric Clapton.
