General Humanities and Philosophy Course Descriptions

HUM 120 Western Culture and the Arts: Beginnings through the Middle Ages
Course surveys cultural accomplishments of Western civilization from its beginnings in Mesopotamia through the Middle Ages. Content includes visual arts, music, literature, theater, architecture, and philosophy studied in historical context. IAI HF 902 Course fulfills the humanities and fine arts requirements

HUM 121 Western Culture and the Arts: Renaissance through the 20th Century

Course surveys the great artistic and intellectual accomplishments of Western civilization from the Renaissance through the 20th Century. Content includes visual arts, literature, drama, philosophy, architecture, and music studied in historical context. IAI HF 903 Course fulfills the humanities and fine arts requirements

HUM 122 (formerly HUM 101) Contemporary Culture and the Arts

Course concentrates on culture and arts of the last 50 years, with focus on appreciation and critical evaluation of contemporary culture. Content provides interdisciplinary perspectives on literature, music, drama, visual arts, architecture, TV, film, and cultural theory, as well as forces that influence the arts. IAI HF 901 Each Instructor develops his or her own focus. Contact the instructor for information on the class focus and books. Course fulfills the humanities and fine arts requirements

HUM 123 (formerly HUM 103) Introduction to Art

Course provides a survey of the visual arts (painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and architecture) emphasizing how art transmits cultural traditions and aesthetic values. Content includes the historical, social and technological factors that contribute to understanding the function and meaning of works of art. IAI F2 900 Course fulfills the fine arts requirements

HUM 125 (formerly HUM 105) Introduction to Music
Course examines music through a basic stylistic survey. Content includes the vocabulary of sounds (rhythm, pitch, intensity and timbre), instruments and forms as illustrated by music from medieval times to the present. Music of Western civilization emphasized and compared to music from other cultures. IAI F1 901 Course fulfills the fine arts requirements

HUM 126 (formerly HUM 106) Introduction to Music Theater

Course surveys the musical, dramatic and stylistic development of music theater, from the year 1600 to the present. Content includes selected major works of opera, operetta, musicals and ballet. Focus is on the cultural framework that gives rise to these art forms.

HUM 127 (formerly HUM 107) Introduction to Philosophy

Course focuses on the most fundamental questions that human beings have always asked. Topics include a critical examination of theories about reality and truth, moral values and social justice, personal identity and free will, aesthetic values, and systems of religious beliefs. Each Instructor develops his or her own focus. Contact the instructor for information on the class focus and books. IAI H4 900 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

HUM 131 (formerly HUM 111) Introduction to Theater

Course offers an introductory survey of theater as a performing art form. Content includes analysis of historical, social, aesthetic and technical aspects of traditional and contemporary theatrical expression. This is an appreciation class, not a performance class IAI F1 907 Course fulfills the fine arts requirements

HUM 133 (formerly HUM 113) Introduction to Architecture

Course introduces architectural thought and practice from the Egyptians to the present. Content includes philosophical and practical problems of providing habitable spaces for human beings.

HUM 140 Introduction to Women’s Studies

Course offers an interdisciplinary survey of scholarship that critically examines and evaluates the historical and contemporary situation of women. Content may include work from the disciplines of philosophy, political science, history, psychology, literary theory, art, health care, and education. Focus is on the effect of gender-laden philosophies both on scholarship and self-understanding.

HUM 142 Women and Creativity
Course explores selected creative work done by women. Content includes literature, art, music, film, and philosophy; may also explore women's creativity as manifested through shaping of community and domestic institutions, and through domestic arts. Focus may be either historical or contemporary. Each Instructor develops his or her own focus. Contact the instructor for information on the class focus and books. IAI HF 907D Course fulfills the humanities and fine arts requirements

HUM 160 Introduction to Film

Course offers a survey of the historical development of film, emphasizing a study of films and innovations in film production that have had significant influence on film as an art form. Topics include basic film language, editing, light, sound, camera movement, and related topics. IAI F2 909 Course fulfills the fine arts requirements

HUM 165 Introduction to World Music 3:3:0
Course introduces world music. Content includes musical performance, instruments, basic music theory, and the cultural significance of music; several Asian, Middle Eastern, and African cultures will be considered. IAI F1 903N Course fulfills the fine arts requirements

HUM 210 World Mythologies

Course explores the nature of mythology. Content includes themes, archetypal figures and situations, symbolism and figurative language found in selected folklore and legendary narratives. IAI H9 901 Course fulfills the humanities and fine arts requirements

HUM 220 Asian Humanities
Course offers an interdisciplinary and comparative survey of the intellectual and artistic achievements of several Asian cultures. Content includes examination of literature, philosophy, visual art, music, and other performing arts. IAI HF 904N Course fulfills the humanities and fine arts requirements

HUM 260 Perspectives on Film

Course presents different modes of filmmaking. Content includes narrative, documentary, and animation; variety of current critical methodologies for studying film, such as genre theory, authorship theory, star theory, national cinema, feminist film theory, and structuralist theory (hero studies).

HUM 290 Topics in Humanities
Course explores selected topics in music, film, art history, architecture, or any other humanities discipline. Course content varies. May focus on a single artist or composer, group of artists or composers, stylistic period, or particular trends during one such period. Representative course titles might include: Mozart's Late Opera, Contemporary American Film, or Chicago Architecture. Course can be repeated on different topics up to three times.

PHL 105 Logic
Course studies principles of correct reasoning. Topics include analyzing structure of arguments, evaluating both inductive and deductive arguments, and recognizing common errors in reasoning. Focus is on providing tools to critically evaluate persuasive language encountered in everyday life, in mass media, and in academic texts. IAI H4 906 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 106 Ethics
Course studies meaning, value, and moral responsibility in human life. Topics include examination of at least four conflicting theories about what constitutes moral conduct and social justice; application of these theories to individual moral dilemmas and to contemporary social issues such as world hunger or the environmental crisis. Each Instructor develops his or her own focus. Contact the instructor for information on the class focus and books. IAI H4 904 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 107 Business Ethics
Course investigates moral issues which arise in the conduct of business, marketing and advertising. Of value for business students and consumers. Topics include corporate responsibility and social justice, conflicts of interest, environmental issues, problems of discrimination, and the rights of employees and consumers.

PHL 170 Introduction to Philosophy of Science
Course provides a philosophical analysis of fundamental concepts in science. Focus is on the scientific method, the nature of scientific claims, inductive generalization, statistical probability and the history and development of science.

PHL 180 Medical Ethics
Course uses ethical theories to investigate moral problems in medicine and health care delivery. Of value to both health care professionals and humanities students. Topics include patients’ rights, professional obligations of physicians and nurses, euthanasia, genetics and reproduction, experimentation on human subjects, and the right to health care.

PHL 202 Philosophy of Knowledge (Epistemology)
Course examines the foundations of our claims to knowledge. Topics include whether our senses give us knowledge of reality, whether our reason gives us knowledge of reality, or whether our claims to knowledge lack an adequate foundation. Topics include theories of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and Kant.

PHL 203 Philosophy of Art (Aesthetics)
Course explores the questions of what counts as art, what counts as beauty, and the significance of artistic creativity within human life. Topics various theories of art developed by philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche.

PHL 205 World Religions
Course uses global perspective to introduce philosophies, traditions, and histories of major world religions. Topics include at least six of the following religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto, the indigenous religions of North America, Africa, or pre-Christian Europe. IAI H5 904N Course fulfills the humanities and global studies requirements

PHL 215 Non-Western Philosophy - Asian Philosophy
Course introduces works of selected Asian philosophers. Topics include philosophical discussion of reality, knowledge, ethics, and political theory. IAI H4 903N Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 230 Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Course gives historical overview of philosophical inquiry from pre-Socratic philosophers, through classic works of Plato and Aristotle, and on to works of medieval philosophers such as Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, and Aquinas. IAI H4 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 231 Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
Course examines last 350 years of Western philosophy. Topics include works of at least five major philosophers such as Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, James, Sartre, Rawls, Foucault, De Beauvoir, and Habermas. Content includes philosophical ideas about the nature of reality, knowledge, morality, and social justice. IAI H4 902 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 240 Philosophy of Religion
Course critically examines various aspects of religious experience and related theological concepts and theories. Topics include relationship between myth and religion; structure and meaning of worship; arguments for and against God’s existence, and relevance of modern science to religious belief. IAI H4 905 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 245 Foundational Religious Texts
Course studies one or more of foundational documents of world's major religions, from humanistic viewpoint. Documents studies may include the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Qur'an (Koran), or the Vedas. Course can be repeated once. IAI H5 901 Course fulfills the humanities requirements

PHL 290 Topics in Philosophy
Course explores selected topics in philosophy. Topics included vary, with focus on a single philosopher, group of philosophers, or particular philosophical problem. Course may be repeated up to three times for up to nine credits.

To read more about Transfering Credit from Oakton Community College, click here

To read more about the Transfer Program here at Oakton Community College, click here

To read more about the Illinois Articluation Initiative (IAI), click here

If you have questions about the Department web pages, please contact Holly Graff.
Please direct questions or comments about the web site to the Ananda Spike.