PHIL 110 Introduction to Chinese Taoism

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the worldview of Chinese Taoism, using the methods and categories of philosophy and including the historical and cultural milieu of China, traditional Chinese landscape painting as expressive of Taoist philosophy, and an examination of the wisdom texts Tao Te Ching and Chuang-tzu. Focus will be on the analytic categories of metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology.

Credits

1

Prerequisite

Eligible to enroll in ENGL 121

Hours Weekly

1

Course Objectives

1. Identify and organize the concepts in Taoism that explore metaphysics (the nature of self and cosmos), Epistemology (how one knows reliably), and axiology (values and the living of a moral life).
2. Consider the possibilities within Taoist Yin images (the valley, the uncarved block, the woman, the child, and emptiness) as shapers of Taoist ethical perspectives and one’s own core beliefs about how one should interact with the world and other people.
3. Analyze and evaluate Taoist and Western approaches to being (metaphysics), knowing (epistemology), and valuing (axiology) as paths for navigating human existence and making ethical choices.
4. Apply Taoist philosophy by experiencing the Tao in the natural world and examine the Chinese ethical perspective of the Tao in nature as a model for the social order.

Course Objectives

1. Identify and organize the concepts in Taoism that explore metaphysics (the nature of self and cosmos), Epistemology (how one knows reliably), and axiology (values and the living of a moral life).

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Analytic papers one and two

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT1

   Ethics Goals

   • ET1
2. Consider the possibilities within Taoist Yin images (the valley, the uncarved block, the woman, the child, and emptiness) as shapers of Taoist ethical perspectives and one’s own core beliefs about how one should interact with the world and other people.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Analytic papers one and two

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT2

   Ethics Goals

   • ET2
3. Analyze and evaluate Taoist and Western approaches to being (metaphysics), knowing (epistemology), and valuing (axiology) as paths for navigating human existence and making ethical choices.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Final online discussion

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT3

   Global Competency

   • GC4

   Ethics Goals

   • ET3
4. Apply Taoist philosophy by experiencing the Tao in the natural world and examine the Chinese ethical perspective of the Tao in nature as a model for the social order.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Analytic papers one and two

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT4