RPC / TWU courses taught by Dr.
Christopher S. Morrissey
Courses taught for Redeemer Pacific College / Trinity Western University
Historical Layering Style Sheet: required format for all essays submitted as course requirements
PHIL 111: History of Western Philosophy (Ancient and Medieval Period)
PHIL 305: Philosophy of the Human Person: Love and Friendship
PHIL 304: Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas
[G. K. Chesterton, St.
Thomas Aquinas]
HUMA 607: Special Topics: The Latin Philosophy of Cicero
LATN 311: Advanced Readings in Latin
"Thanks to the work of many generations of paleographers and textual critics we now have all the ancient texts in printed editions which are both easy to read and more correct than any of the surviving manuscripts. This is not, however, the case with texts from the Middle Ages, since there are many more of them [in fact, hundreds of thousands] and they have attracted much less interest from Latin specialists. Many of them, even ones that are well worth reading, have been published using only one manuscript that happened to be to hand, even though much better manuscripts may exist. Many more texts have not been published at all, but are waiting in libraries for someone to read them and prepare an edition. There is a limitless amount of valuable work waiting to be done by those who would like to devote themselves to Latin and the Middle Ages."—Tore Janson, A Natural History of Latin (Oxford, 2004) at 122.
LATN 211 & LATN 212: Medieval Ecclesiastical Latin
[Ecclesiastical Latin Pronunciation] [Latin Dictionary]
HIST 302: Greece and Rome (Leadership in the Ancient World)
RELS 160: Introduction to Theology
[Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology] [Catechism of the Catholic Church] [Why Did God Create the World?]
EDUC 203: Foundations of Education
PHIL 333: Philosophy of Literature
PHIL 303: Medieval Philosophy (The Latin Age)
John Deely, "What happened to philosophy between Aquinas and Descartes?", The Thomist 58.4 (1994): 543–568.
PHIL 420: Authors — Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain, The Person and the Common Good (Notre Dame, Ind.: U. of Notre Dame P., 1947).
PHIL 109: Critical Thinking (Informal Logic)
Course description:
An introduction to critical thinking/writing and informal logic in practical
settings. The value of rational thinking in the face of everyday challenges
is explored – e.g., problem solving, making informed decisions, evaluating
whether a statement is true, etc. Students will dissect examples of good and
bad reasoning, analyze informal fallacies, detect hidden assumptions and irrelevant
premises in arguments, determine where an argument’s burden of proof lies,
and practice transferring critical thinking skills to their writing skills.
Informal logic is “material logic” (a.k.a. “major
logic”, “critical logic”, or simply “criticism”),
i.e., it is concerned with the truth of the content (the “matter”)
of argumentation.
Required Textbook: Socratic Logic (3rd Edition)
Jude P. Dougherty, "Wretched Aristotle", Homiletic and Pastoral Review (August-September 2003): 20-27.
PHIL 105: Introduction to Philosophy
Course description:
An introduction to questions addressed by philosophers: (1) the relationship
between perception and knowledge (appearance and reality), (2) the existence
and nature of God, (3) human freedom and determinism, (4) the meaning of human
existence, (5) the nature of moral judgments, (6) the mind/body problem, (7)
artificial intelligence, (8) feminist philosophy, (9) the problem of suffering,
and (10) whether humans are capable of selfless motivation.
PHIL 108: Philosophy of Society and Law
PHIL 383: Reason and Belief in God
PHIL 460: Philosophy of Language
PHIL 490: Philosophy of Mind
