COR 3690 What's in a Name
(formerly COR 369)
This course examines the usage of words and the way they affect our understanding of the world. Labels can empower, enlighten, oppress, and inspire emotional response in both subtle and obvious ways. The philosophical view of language seeks to explain how we organize everything we know, the degree to which language reflects true existence, and how words can mean anything at all. The course will cover a wide range of topics, including manipulation through advertisements and political propaganda, socio-linguistics (cultural identity, social constructions such as names, race/ethnicity, etc.), labels in education, medical terminology, language differences, geographic locations, politics, marketing, music genres, personal identity, logical fallacies, ambiguity and perceptions of reality. Students will look briefly at the history of our language, improving vocabulary by understanding the roots of many English words (e.g., "philos" = love of + "sophia" = wisdom.) Core courses are not open to Freshmen or Sophomores, except for associate degree candidates.
Distribution
Academic