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PHIL 1611: Self, Society, and Freedom
Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

This course investigates ideas about the self in the western philosophical tradition, including work in contemporary philosophy. Issues may include freedom and responsibility, otherness, the relationship between mind and body, the relationship between humans and animals, the impact of trauma, suffering or oppression on self- identity, and the existence or non-existence of the soul.


PHIL 1621: Reason, Will, and World
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course is an introduction to the study of philosophy that looks at some major thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition. We examine fundamental and enduring questions raised about human beings and the world. The specific topics to be discussed include the nature of the universe, human knowledge and desire, goodness and morality, the existence of a divine being, human flourishing and freewill, and the nature of philosophy. Students learn about and compose essays on these themes to discover the interconnections among theories of reason, will, and world.


PHIL 2511: Introductory Philosophy of Science
Instructor: Dr. S. A. Inkpen

This course explores competing philosophical explanations of scientific theory and practice. Based on historical and contemporary cases, it compares philosophical theories including logical positivism, scientific realism, scientific pluralism, sociology of scientific knowledge, and the most recent critiques from social constructivism and feminism. Prereq: 3 credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department

PHIL 2701: Introduction to Ethics
Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia

This course introduces current western ethical theories (such as consequentialism, deontology, feminist, and virtue ethics) from historical sources (such as J. S. Mill, Kant, and Aristotle) as well as contemporary ones. In addition, material normally includes non-western texts (for instance, from Africana, Chinese, and Indian traditions) whose continuities and tensions with standard western theories and texts will usefully expand the scope of the discussion. Themes discussed may include: the nature of moral agency and the good life, the role of pleasure, power and desire in ethics, the relation of the ethical and the political, of the right and the good, and of reason and emotion. Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3231: Modern Philosophy: The Empiricist Tradition
Instructor: Dr. S. A. Inkpen

This course investigates the thought of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, the leading English-language thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These authors seem to be reacting to the a priori tradition examined by Philosophy 3221. But they also make claims that are not merely reactive, and the course examines the degree to which they propose a coherent interpretation of the extent and the limitations of human understanding. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL; 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3731: Philosophy of Law
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course introduces central issues in the philosophy of law. Topics may include the relation of law and morality, the rule of law in relation to coercion and liberty, the nature of judicial decision-making, the origin and justification of legal systems, and theories of the nature and function of law from the competing claims of legal positivism, formalism, and realism. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3991A: Kant on Freedom and Knowledge
Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

Kant is a highly systematic thinker, and so we will look at aspects of his epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, social philosophy, and anthropology. The goal will be to see how they fit together, but also to observe tensions and difficulties along the way. We’ll follow a throughline of Kant’s views on human freedom and how we try to make sense of a chaotic world. This course counts toward the History of Philosophy requirements for Philosophy and PPE majors. Format: Lecture 3 Hours. Exclusion: PHIL 4200; PHIL 3240 Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL; 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 4111: Contemporary Ethical Theory
Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia

This seminar will investigate contemporary discussions of the main approaches to ethical theory.  Topics discussed will include deontology, utilitarianism and virtue theory, as well as other approaches (depending on student interest) including: feminist ethical theory, world ethics, philosophy as a way of life, etc. Attempts will be made to bring in visiting speakers (digitally or in person) whose work will be discussed in the course. Note 1: Prerequisite PHIL 2701 or Permission of the Department. Note 2: Students may register for PHIL 4111 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.

PHIL 1601: Plato’s Republic
Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia

Plato's Republic is a seminal text that originates, discusses and unifies important philosophical concerns that are perennially relevant. In addition to giving us an introduction to issues such as the nature of morality, mind, God, reality and knowledge, it provides us with an excellent point of departure for examining how other traditions of the world have originated and discussed these issues in their own contexts. Grounding our wide-ranging examination in the Republic will allow us to examine these issues in a dialogical fashion. More importantly, the use of non-western sources will throw light on some of the central presuppositions and concerns of the western philosophical tradition that are still with us today.


PHIL 1651: Knowledge, Nature, and Science
Instructor: Dr. S. A. Inkpen

This course introduces the study of philosophy in the Western tradition through an investigation of how and why humans come to know the natural world. Readings will include historical and contemporary sources. Specific topics may include the development of science, the relation between humans and nature, the relation between science and technology, and the nature of ideas like progress, realism, truth, pseudoscience, explanation, objectivity, responsibility, and justice. Format: Lecture 3 Hours. Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1651 previously offered with a different title.


PHIL 2401: Introductory Aesthetics
Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

This course focuses on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, drawing on both the history of philosophy (including figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Nietzsche) and on contemporary theories about art. Topics may include the problem of defining art, the role of art and the artist in society, the experience of the sublime, and the nature of aesthetic judgment and taste. [Note 1: This course may count as 3 credits in Art History.] (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prereq: 3 credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 2611: Introductory Logic
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course introduces the study of logic, examining the basic structure of arguments, common reasoning fallacies, truth tables, and propositional logic. Further topics may include an introduction to quantification theory, syllogistic reasoning, Venn diagrams, Mill's methods, and issues central to inductive and deductive reasoning.


PHIL 3101: Mediaeval Philosophy
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course examines themes and developments in the mediaeval monotheistic tradition of philosophy (ca. 350-1400 CE). The enduring philosophical topics discussed may include knowledge of God, universals, the nature of the human person, freedom of the will, the scope of philosophy, and the relationship between faith and reason. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL; 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3221: Modern Philosophy: The Rationalist Tradition
Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia

This course investigates the thought of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, the leading seventeenth-century continental thinkers who formulated the great a priori systems. The capacity and function of human reason fully to understand the world is a theme common to these thinkers; it constitutes one of the major concerns of the course, a concern balanced by investigation of why these systems have reached such diverse answers to the substantive issues of how the world is to be understood. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL; 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3511: Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Instructor: Dr. S. A. Inkpen

In recent decades the philosophical assumptions underlying the life sciences have been seen increasingly as distinct from the physical sciences. This course will examine this difference as well as the linkage between them, then turn to the philosophical issues within evolutionary theory, the notion of species and problems of classification, persistent controversies surrounding sociobiology, genetic control, use of animals in research, and the application of bioethics. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prereq: PHIL 2511; B.Sc. students already doing 3/4000 level work in their own field, and students with declared programs in Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, or Cognitive Science will be admitted; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3741: Philosophy of Disability
Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

This course introduces the philosophical study of disability. It raises important questions that challenge our thinking and assumptions in a range of ways and explores issues such as: social versus medical models of disability; definitions of impairment and disability, including how they have changed through history; disability as identity and how it interacts with other identities; the relationship between concepts of disability and concepts of well-being; disability and culture; and philosophy's treatment of intellectual disability in the context of philosophy's traditional valorization of reason. [Note 1: Students enrolled in Health Studies programs who are already doing 3/4000 level work in their own field will be admitted to this course.] (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) (Exclusion: PHIL 4991 Philosophy of Disability) Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.


PHIL 3991B: Incommunicability
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course examines philosophical contexts of incommunicability. The notion of a transcendental realm, a metaphysical nature, or a mode of knowledge that can be experienced but not communicated has a looming presence in the history of philosophy. We review puzzles about incommunicability in logic (on inference), epistemology (on deep disagreement), metaphysics (on limit), ethics (on moral education). We will consider some models of thought and language that attempt to explain the source of ineffability, some social implications of the concept of incommunicability, and some accounts of philosophical practice centered on the task of expressing the inexpressible. This course counts toward the History of Philosophy requirements for Philosophy and PPE majors.


PHIL 4521: Technology, Society, and Artificial Intelligence
Instructor: Dr. S. A. Inkpen

My philosophy of science seminar this year will explore themes related to the implications and ethics of emerging technology, with a special emphasis on artificial intelligence. We will begin with broader themes about the relations between society, technology, and organisms (humans included, but not limited to humans). Then we will turn to recent themes in the philosophy of artificial intelligence, such as how we build ethics into artificial intelligence systems, how we define intelligence, how we manage biases and discrimination, whether machines will/should have legal or moral rights, how machines and organisms relate to one another, what the future of technological developments might mean for human well-being and the meaningfulness of human activities, like work or art. We will read a diversity of sources that interrogate these themes, including science, utopian science fiction, and philosophy.