Undergrad Courses

Some additional information about this semester's courses can be found at the Arts and Sciences course descriptions page.

Fall 2023 (Term 2241)

PHIL 0010 Concepts of Human Nature (20775) 
TBA
TH 12:00-12:50 

No course description available.

PHIL 0080 Introduction to Philosophical Problems (19814) 
TBA
TH 10:00-10:50 

No course description available.

PHIL 0200 History of Ancient Philosophy (20396) 
Jacob Rosen 
TH 11:00-11:50

The goal of this course is to offer an introduction to ancient Greek philosophy. We will start by examining the sorts of philosophical questions that interested the first Greek philosophers, the so-called Presocratics. These were primarily questions about natural philosophy, especially the first causes of the world and the place of human beings in it. The Presocratics will provide us with a background for exploring the complex figure of Socrates and his account of a good life. What should we care for in order to live well, Socrates wondered: money, political power, or something else? He argued that, in order to live well, we should care for our soul. But what is a soul, and what does it mean to care for it? To answer these questions, we will examine Plato’s psychology and metaphysics and Aristotle’s criticism of them. Despite their differences, both Plato and Aristotle thought that, in order to have a good life, a human being needs to be virtuous. Should we conclude from this that virtue is all one needs to be happy? We will end the course by considering two different answers to this question: that of the Epicureans, and that of the Stoics.
 
PHIL 0275 Introduction of Chinese Philosophy (31814) 
Sabrina Hao 
MW 6:00-7:15

This course aims to survey the main ideas in Chinese philosophy at an introductory level. We will mainly focus on the classical period, from which we will read about Laozi's Taoism, Kongzi's Confucianism, Mozi's Mohism, and their respective successors. We will see how Confucianism and Taoism contrast each other yet together influence the development of Chinese philosophy. During the last weeks of the semester, we will also briefly go through some important ideas in Chinese Buddhism, neo-Confucianism, and modern Chinese philosophy.

PHIL 0300 Introduction to Ethics (10347) 
Nandi Theunissen 
TH 1:00-1:50

No course description available.

PHIL 0350 Philosophy and Public Issues (22707) 
TBA 
TH 9:00-9:50 

No course description available.

PHIL 0360 Introduction to Biomedical Ethics (CGS) (23672)
Travis McKenna 
H 6:00-8:30 
Biomedical ethics is the study of philosophical questions surrounding medical care and technology. In this course, we will pay special attention to questions concerning life and death. Why is life good, and why is death bad? When is physician-assisted suicide permissible? Is abortion moral or immoral? Do the advantages of stem cell research outweigh the moral risks? Is prenatal testing, or genetic modification, morally wrong? What attitude ought we to take to the possibility of human cloning?
 

PHIL 0380 Women and Philosophy (22716) 
Kathleen Cook 
TH 11:00-12:15 

What did philosophers of the past, women and men, have to say about women’s nature, moral character, education, and the roles they should play in society? How did these philosophers argue for their views? In this course we will consider women as both subject matter for, and participants in, a number of debates in the history of western philosophy from ancient Greece through the 19th century. Our reading will include selections from works by Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Musonius Rufus, Christine de Pizan, Anna Maria van Schurman, Sor Juana de la Cruz, Rene Descartes, John Locke, Mary Astell, Francois Poulain de la Barre, Dorotha Christiane Erxleben, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, and Harriet Taylor.

PHIL 0440 Minds and Machines (28555)
TBA
MW 1:00-1:50 

No course description available.

PHIL 0450 Theories of Knowledge and Reality (30767)
TBA 
MW 1:00-1:50 

No course description available.

PHIL 0473 Philosophy of Religion (24951) 
Brock Bahler 
TH 9:30-10:45 

This course will examine arguments for and against the existence of God, as well as other topics central to philosophy of religion including the nature of religious experiences, the relation of faith to reason, interreligious dialogue, religion and civil rights, decolonial responses to the abuses of religion, and religious responses to evil (theodicy). Students will develop a working knowledge of the issues by reading and discussing traditional and contemporary scholars.

PHIL 0473 Philosophy of Religion (24952)
Brock Bahler 
MW 3:00-4:15 

This course will examine arguments for and against the existence of God, as well as other topics central to philosophy of religion including the nature of religious experiences, the relation of faith to reason, interreligious dialogue, religion and civil rights, decolonial responses to the abuses of religion, and religious responses to evil (theodicy). Students will develop a working knowledge of the issues by reading and discussing traditional and contemporary scholars.

PHIL 0500 Introduction of Logic 
TBA 
TH 2:00-2:50 

No course description available.

PHIL 1020 Plato (20539) 
Sara Magrin 
TH 9:30-10:45 
We will read a selection of Plato’s early and middle dialogues. The dialogues will not be among those that are often read in the survey course on ancient philosophy. These will include Euthyphro, Crito, Meno, and Symposium. The course will allow students to explore a rich array of issues examined by Plato in his early and middle career, such as the role of God in establishing our values, the attitude we should have towards the laws of our Country, and the relation between love and philosophy. 
 
PHIL 1070 Topics in Ancient Philosophy (31815) 
Ned Howells-Whitaker 
W 6:00-8:30 
In the Republic, Plato presents a scathing critique of democracy as decadent, ignorant, ineffectual, and inimical to rational governance. Democracy is the second-worst form of government, preferable only to outright tyranny; and democracy in any case tends to collapse into tyranny as soon as a charismatic, authoritarian leader shows up. But in his final work, the lengthy and little-read Laws, Plato defends democracy as the second-best form of government—inferior only to perfect and hence unsustainable communism—and argues that democracies can excel at preventing the political ambitions of would-be tyrants.
 
In this course, our primary aim will be to ask why (and to what extent) Plato changed his mind as we trace the development of his moral psychology and political philosophy throughout the Platonic dialogues. Along the way, we’ll take a substantial detour into Aristotle’s Politics, focusing on the pointed criticisms of Plato’s ideal states presented in that work as well as Aristotle’s own detailed and equally controversial political theory.
 
Our secondary aim will be to see whether the work of these ancient philosophers can help to shed light on our own pressing political problems, and how their work relates to modern questions (and criticisms) concerning liberal democracy. We will pay special attention throughout to Plato’s conviction that democracy is a fragile achievement which must be carefully protected at virtually any cost, and to his extreme proposals for doing so.
 
Among other topics, we’ll discuss individual liberty and social responsibility; capitalism and equality; the proper role of the market in civic life; censorship and freedom of expression; paternalism and state power; the possibility of political knowledge; the prevalence of political disagreement; and the specter of social collapse.
 
The course does not presuppose any familiarity with ancient philosophy (or with Greek).
 

PHIL 1170 Kant (23600) 
Thomas Pendlebury 
TH 11:00-12:15

An introduction to Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Themes include Kant’s conception of human knowledge, the character of his critical investigation, and the meaning of his doctrine of transcendental idealism.

PHIL 1200 20th Century Analytic Philosophy 
Mark Wilson 
TH 11:00-12:15
In this course we will study several key works of twentieth century analytic philosophy; Bertrand Russell’s Our Knowledge of the External World and Mysticism and Logic; Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus; Susan Stebbing’s Philosophy and the Physicists; Rudolf Carnap’s “Psychology in a Physicalist Language” and “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology.”
 

PHIL 1300 Ethical Theory (28748)
Nandi Theunissen 
TH 4:00-5:15 

No course description available.

PHIL 1310 History of Ethics (30778) 
Stephen Engstrom 
MW 4:30-5:45 

No course description available.

PHIL 1315 Applied Ethics (30779) 
Japa Pallikkathayil 
TH 1:00-2:15

This course will consider how different ethical theories treat various practical issues.  Possible topics include: duties to animals, abortion, poverty, prostitution and assisted suicide.  The course examines two questions: What should we think about these issues?  And which ethical theory is correct?  The course explores how the answers to these two questions are related.

PHIL 1317 Philosophy of Race and Religion (31360)
Brock Bahler 
TH 1:00-2:15 

This course is a philosophical exploration of the intersections of race, racism, and religious thought. It begins with an analysis of the modern philosophical and religious ideologies that gave rise to the idea of race during colonialism, traces the entanglement of Western philosophy and Christian theology with racist political ideologies, and presents critical responses to race from African-American, Latin American, Asian, and Indigenous philosophers and liberation theologians.

PHIL 1360 Biomedical Ethics (30780) 
TBA 
H 6:00-8:30 

No course description available.

PHIL 1400 Rights and Human Rights (23827) 
Tom Berry 
T 6:00-8:30

No course description available.

PHIL 1410 Philosophy of Action (30781) 
Michael Thompson 
TH 2:30-3:45

No course description available.

PHIL 1500 Symbolic Logic (10348)
Mark Wilson 
TH 2:30-3:45
In this course we will concentrate upon quantifier and modal logic, in conjunction with the basic metatheory of the subject.  Completion of Phil 0500 is a prerequisite without permission of the instructor. 
 

PHIL 1610 Introduction to Philosophy of Science 
Robert Batterman 
MW 1:00-1:50

No course description available.

3-23-2023

Summer 2023 (Term 2237) 

6-Week 1 (5/15-6/24)

PHIL 0080 Introduction to Philosophical Problems (13762)
Taylor Koles
TH 6:00-9:15
In this course, we will talk about some of the important questions that often occur to us in everyday life: What makes someone a good person? Do I have to give to charity, and if so, why? What makes me who I am? Do I have to obey the law if I won't get caught? Who should I listen to when I decide what to think?

We will discover that trying to get clear and well-reasoned answers to these questions will require some skills in philosophy and we'll read some philosophers wrestling with these and other questions. Our goal will be to improve our ability to reason and communicate clearly when we answer important questions like these, so that we can develop a better sense of how we want to live our lives.

PHIL 0200 History of Ancient Philosophy (16274)
Sofia Berinstein
MW 2:00-5:15

This course in an introduction to ancient philosophy. It will focus on the works of Plato and Aristotle. We will look at a broad range of themes: knowledge and appearances, virtue and ethics, justice and politics, perception and science, and poetry and drama. Plato and Aristotles’ works on these themes constitute the foundation of our  modern understanding of science, politics, ethics, and art. Using a combination of original texts and secondary sources, we try to get a handle on what particular dialogues and passages say about these topics, and sometimes how Plato’s and Aristotles writings coincide or contrast about particular ideas. This will be a discussion based seminar, thus the required texts (in hardcopy) will be used during class meetings. 

PHIL 0300 Introduction to Ethics (10174)
Klara Andersson
MW 6:00-9:15

This is an introductory course considering questions of right and wrong. The first part of the course will cover three influential kinds of ethical theories—deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics. The second part will address some moral problems of serious interest today, including criminal punishment, animal rights, and procreative enhancement. Finally, the third part will address questions about the relationship between morality and rationality (e.g. is it rational to be moral?). We will read both contemporary and historical texts.

PHIL 0330 Political Philosophy (17782)
Yao Fan
TH 2:00-5:15

This course is an introduction to political philosophy, with a focus on the question "What is a good society?" To this end, we will discuss some (alleged) key components of a good society, including Welfare, Liberty, Democracy, Equality, and Justice. We will read excerpts from various historical and contemporary texts for inspiration, including, to name a few, Plato, Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx and John Rawls. The main focus of this course is on obtaining a better overall understanding of what a good society is. 

PHIL 0500 Introduction to Logic (17438)
Tomas Albergo
TH 10:00-1:15

No course description available.

6-Week 2 (6/26-8/5)

PHIL 0010 Concepts of Human Nature (14792)
Ned Howells-Whitaker
MW 6:00-9:15

No course description available.

PHIL 0210 History of Modern Philosophy (16441)
Patrick Chandler
MW 2:00-5:15
The early modern period in philosophy spans the 17th and 18th centuries, beginning with Descartes and ending with Kant. It was the time of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. The rapid progress of science raised many philosophical questions which still resonate today, questions about mind and matter, science and religion.
 
This course will be focused on two great books: Descartes’s Meditations and Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. We will read these books closely and reflect upon the questions they raise. Can we really know anything about the world around us? How is the mind related to the body? Is there a God? Do we have free will? Can it be rational to believe in miracles? What are
the limits of human knowledge?
 
This course satisfies the General Education requirement in Philosophical Thinking or Ethics.
 
PHIL  0350 Philosophy and Public Issues (17439)
Gabriel Vasquez-Peterson
TH 2:00-5:15

Philosophy is often thought of as an abstract and theoretical discipline with little connection to the real issues we face as a society. This impression, however, is false: philosophy can offer us valuable tools for thinking about and addressing the problems and questions we encounter in our sociopolitical context, and philosophers have much to say about social issues. In this course, we will examine the philosophical dimensions of several of the most pressing of these issues. Specifically, we will discuss four broad topics:

· Race and racism

· Multiculturalism, identity, and assimilation

· Climate change and other environmental and animal rights issues

· Sex, rape, and consent

Within these topics, we will give particular attention to specific issues. For instance, in the context of race and racism we will discuss what efforts (if any) we should take to rectify past racist wrongs.

The immediate philosophical aim of this course is to help you (and me!) develop considered philosophical views about these difficult issues. But it will also hopefully provide you with philosophical tools and perspectives that can be applied to a broad range of issues, public and private, and an understanding of more general and abstract philosophical questions about concepts like justice, freedom, and responsibility.

Besides the philosophical aim, this course also has a content-neutral aim: developing valuable skills like the ability to read and understand difficult material, to write informatively and persuasively, and to engage in productive discussions with your peers. To that end, the course will involve several written assessments and a meaningful (but not overly heavy—I prefer quality over quantity) amount of reading. Furthermore, classes will be structured so as to promote discussion rather than being primarily lecture-focused.

This class does not presuppose any philosophical background.

PHIL 0500 Introduction to Logic (16440)
Vivian Feldblyum
TH 6:00-9:15

No course description available.

3-15-2023