Courses - Spring 2025
PHIL100
Introduction to Philosophy
An introduction to the literature, problems, and methods of philosophy either through a study of some of the main figures in philosophic thought or through an examination of some of the central and recurring problems of philosophy.
PHIL140
Contemporary Moral Issues
The uses of philosophical analysis in thinking clearly about such widely debated moral issues as abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, pornography, reverse discrimination, the death penalty, business ethics, sexual equality, and economic justice.
PHIL202
Know Thyself: Wisdom Through Cognitive Science
Credit only granted for: PHIL209N or PHIL202.
Formerly: PHIL209N.
How do we improve our decision making? Cognitive science demonstrates that self-knowledge isn't as easy as we think, and that there are numerous biases and fallacies that impact our decision-making in ways that are hard for us to be aware of. In this course you will learn what some of these are and how they have been discovered, and you will explore potential strategies for avoiding these fallacies and for making wiser choices.
PHIL203
Credit only granted for: PHIL209J or PHIL203.
Formerly: PHIL209J.
Virtually everyone thinks it's permissible to kill people only in special circumstances. But why is killing usually wrong? Is it ever acceptable to kill an innocent human being intentionally? This course raises these and related questions and examines cases such as terrorism, suicide, abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, war. Except for a brief discussion of animals, all the controversies considered deal with killing and causing death to human beings.
PHIL205
Credit only granted for: PHIL205, PHIL209G, or HONR229E.
Formerly: HONR229E.
Things happen routinely in sports that would seem morally unacceptable in other context: violence between the participants, attempts to trick the referee, fans hoping that some players would do embarrassingly badly, spectators feeling anger towards whole nations. Nonetheless, all of this may seem reasonable and even justifiable within a sporting context. This course will investigate the ethical structure of sports, and what it tells us about the ethics of everyday life. Philosophy will provide the primary disciplinary context, but we will also think about sociological, legal and anthropological perspectives on sports. Issues will include the nature of sportsmanship, what types of violence in sports are acceptable, drug use in sports, what it means to be a fan (for example, asking why loyalty to your team is valuable) and how our view of sports interacts with our view of nations. By the end of the course you should have gained familiarity with a variety of ethical concepts and a sensitivity to the ethical issues in sports. You should also find that by thinking about morality in the context of sports, you will look at larger ethical issues in new ways.
PHIL211
AI & ETHICS
Credit only granted for: PHIL209D or PHIL211.
Formerly: PHIL209D.
An introduction to a major subfield of contemporary Philosophy, namely applied ethics, and the experience of using some major tools in the practice of philosophy more generally, namely, the construction and formal evaluation of arguments, conceptual analysis, the use of thought experiments, and clear, direct and persuasive writing. Learning how to execute the latter will involve an intense iterative process. The substantive focus of the course will be the ethical evaluation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in some of its current and potentially future incarnations. We'll examine algorithmic opacity, algorithmic bias and decision-making, autonomous weapons systems, human-robot interaction, and artificial moral agents, in order to uncover what, if any, ethical issues they give rise to.
PHIL220
Credit only granted for: PHIL209A or PHIL220.
Formerly: PHIL209A.
Bioethicists formulate ethical guidelines. They answer questions such as: When life-saving health resources are scarce, who should get them? Should we increase supply of one such resource, kidneys, by buying them from living "donors"? If drug trials in developing countries benefit patients who consent to participate, are the trials ethical, even if the same research would be forbidden in the US? If a sick person aims to hasten her death, how, if at all, might her doctor permissibly help her? In this course, students construct and defend ethical rules in four domains: research ethics, allocation of scarce resources, markets in organs, and physician-assisted dying.
PHIL245
Political and Social Philosophy I
A critical examination of such classical political theories as those of Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Marx, and such contemporary theories as those of Hayek, Rawls, and recent Marxist thinkers.
PHIL271
Symbolic Logic
Recommended: PHIL170.
This course provides students with a thorough treatment of the basic concepts and techniques of modern symbolic logic, through classical first-order logic with identity. We will concentrate on the construction of natural deduction proofs and on the evaluation of logical statements in semantic models. Along the way, we will study some of the concepts from set theory (sets, functions, relations) used in the definition of semantic models for logical systems. We may also introduce some alternative, or non-classical logics. Although the subject of symbolic logic was developed by mathematicians and philosophers for their own special purposes (which we will discuss), logical concepts and techniques have found applications in a variety of disciplines, including computer science, economics, law, linguistics, and psychology. We may also consider some of these applications.
PHIL318R
Studies in Epistemology/Metaphysics; Equalities and Inequalities in Ethics, Economics and Philosophy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Cross-listed with PHPE308J. Credit only granted for PHIL318R or PHPE308J.
In this course, we look into some of the ways in which philosophers and economists have discussed the concepts of equality and inequality and why they are or are not morally significant. Writers such as Sen, Piketty, Parfit, Temkin, Dworkin, Anderson and others will be discussed.
In this course, we look into some of the ways in which philosophers and economists have discussed the concepts of equality and inequality and why they are or are not morally significant. Writers such as Sen, Piketty, Parfit, Temkin, Dworkin, Anderson and others will be discussed.
PHIL320
Knowing Oneself and Knowing the World: Early Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Kant
Prerequisite: 6 credits in PHIL courses; or permission of instructor.
A study of major philosophical issues of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries through an examination of such philosophers as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Cavendish, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant
PHIL362
Theory of Knowledge
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: 6 credits in PHIL courses; and PHIL170.
Formerly: PHIL462.
Some central topics in the theory of knowledge, such as perception, memory, knowledge, and belief, skepticism, other minds, truth, and the problems of induction.
PHIL366
Philosophy of Mind
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: 6 credits in PHIL courses.
An introduction to core issues in the philosophy of mind, focusing especially on the basic metaphysical question of dualism versus physicalism.
PHIL386
Experiential Learning
Credits:
3 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Restriction: Permission of ARHU-Philosophy department; and junior standing or higher.
Consult Director of Undergraduate Studies: C. Manekin. Prerequisites: 12 credit hours of philosophy and 3.0 GPA. Carries no credit toward philosophy major.
PHIL408F
Topics in Contemporary Philosophy; A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Cross-listed with PHPE408J. Credit only granted for PHIL408F or PHPE408J.
This course will introduce students to the main ideas behind machine learning. This includes both the theoretical underpinnings of and the practical tools used to implement machine learning algorithms. Along theway we will touch on a number of philosophical and ethical issues that arise when using machine learning tools. The course will be self-contained. However, while the course does not have any math or programming prerequisites, the course will include programming exercises and will discuss a number of mathematical ideas.
This course will introduce students to the main ideas behind machine learning. This includes both the theoretical underpinnings of and the practical tools used to implement machine learning algorithms. Along theway we will touch on a number of philosophical and ethical issues that arise when using machine learning tools. The course will be self-contained. However, while the course does not have any math or programming prerequisites, the course will include programming exercises and will discuss a number of mathematical ideas.
PHIL408P
Topics in Contemporary Philosophy; Philosophy of Psychiatry
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
PHIL414
The Philosophy of Aristotle
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: 6 credits in PHIL courses.
A critical study of selected portions of Aristotle's writings.
PHIL428D
Topics in the History of Philosophy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
PHIL438L
Topics in Value Theory; Philosophy and Law
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
PHIL446
Law, Morality, and War
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
An exploration of fundamental moral and legal issues concerning war.
PHIL478
Topics in Philosophical Logic; Logics for defeasible reasoning
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
PHIL498F
Topical Investigations; Topical Investigation
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite:Two courses in philosophy or permission of the department.
PHIL498G
Topical Investigations; Topical Investigation
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite:Two courses in philosophy or permission of the department.
PHIL640
Value Theory
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
A basic course in value theory for beginning graduate students, covering a number of topics in depth, to provide a springboard for further study and research in the area.
PHIL788G
Research in Philosophy; Research in Philosophy
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
PHIL788I
Research in Philosophy; Research in Philosophy
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
PHIL799
Master's Thesis Research; Masters Thesis Research
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
S-F
PHIL808L
Seminar in the Problems of Philosophy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
PHIL808M
Seminar in the Problems of Philosophy; The Philosophy in AI: the Graduate Perspective
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
Prerequisite: open to graduate students in philosophy or to those who receive permission from the instructor. Permission will only be given to students with substantial philosophical background.
In this seminar, we are going to read a selection of the nascent philosophical (and philosophy-adjacent) literature on large language models, with an eye to how research in philosophy interfaces with it. Our focus will be on topics pertaining to language, cognition, rationality, explanation, intentionality, and learning. The seminar willbe articulated in a small number of units (3-5). Each unit will havea gateway philosophical reading (that does not have to be recent) to frame discussion. This will be followed by in-depth discussion of two or more cutting-edge articles.
In this seminar, we are going to read a selection of the nascent philosophical (and philosophy-adjacent) literature on large language models, with an eye to how research in philosophy interfaces with it. Our focus will be on topics pertaining to language, cognition, rationality, explanation, intentionality, and learning. The seminar willbe articulated in a small number of units (3-5). Each unit will havea gateway philosophical reading (that does not have to be recent) to frame discussion. This will be followed by in-depth discussion of two or more cutting-edge articles.
PHIL808V
Seminar in the Problems of Philosophy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
PHIL888
Professional Mentoring for Doctoral Students
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
S-F
PHIL889
Pedagogical Mentoring for Doctoral Students
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
S-F
PHIL898
Pre-Candidacy Research
Credits:
1 - 8
Grad Meth:
Reg
PHIL899
Doctoral Dissertation Research; Doctoral Dissertation Research
Credits:
6
Grad Meth:
S-F
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