Cross-listed with ECON298B and ISRL249O. Credit only granted for ISRL249O, ECON298B, or PHPE308U.

Between geopolitical strife and growing social divides, understanding what drives people's beliefs and behavior is more imperative than ever. In this interdisciplinary course, we will discuss and explore what Behavioral Economics can teach us about the psychological forces that shape and distort our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. We will learn about the psychological biases and illusions behind stories people tell about the world we live in, as well as how our environment unconsciously influences and guides our behavior. The course will also address the cultural and intellectual roots of Behavioral Economics. We will explore how cultural differences affect society, policy, and business. We will see how the ideas apply to narratives of modern Israel as well as the means of influencing behavior and thinking.

Cross-listed with PHIL338Z. Credit only granted for PHIL338C or PHPE308Z.

Credit only granted for PHPE401 or GVPT449E.

The theme of the capstone course will be polarization and society. We will examine how political parties engaged with one another at different times, theory on why polarization comes about, and considering the post-polarized world, where pernicious political sorting has fully taken place and figuring out how we ought to live with one another in light of that state of affairs.

Participants in this course will inquire into the nature of various categories of social significance. All of the readings for this course will be contemporary articles or books in the analytic, Western tradition. No content familiarity will be assumed; some familiarity withphilosophy s aims and methods will be. Any open minded individual with an interest in metaphysics and the social world around them will find themselves at home in this seminar.

Cross-listed with PHIL438K. Credit granted only for PHPE408M or PHIL438K.

Senior capstone course for the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major.

Phil anarchism and political normativity - On one way of understanding it, philosophical anarchism is the striking view in political philosophy that there are no actual governments or states with legitimate authority. Indeed, arguments for philosophical anarchism point toward the even more striking claim that it is not even possible for a state tohave legitimate authority. Participants in this seminar will explore such arguments as they are found in contemporary political philosophy in the Anglophone, analytic tradition. Along the way, participants will also explore related questions about the nature of legitimate authority and political normativity more generally. What is legitimate authority? How can political obligations, reasons, and the like, be explained? Are such explanations distinct from explanations of moral obligations, reasons, and so on? Prior familiarity with political philosophy will not be expected of participants in this seminar. Anyone with an interest in political philosophy, normative ethics, metaethics, explanation, and metaphysics are likely to feel at home in this seminar.

Cross-listed with PHIL428J. Credit only granted for PHIL428J or PHPE408Q.

Cross-listed with PHIL408J and PHIL408M. Credit granted only for PHPE408Z or PHIL408M or PHIL408J.

Senior capstone course for the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major. Immigration is a defining issue of our time, at the heart of political debates across the globe. The key question here is, should nations welcome more migrants or impose stricter border controls? The debates onthis question often focus on empirical questions: how immigration affects wages, economic growth, and social well-being. But immigration also raises fundamental ethical and normative questions: Do states have a moral right to close their borders? Is there a human rightto migrate?Or perhaps individuals have a moral duty to stay or to leave their home country? In this course we will explore the rich philosophical literature from recent decades on these and on related questions.