Courses

FALL 2024 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Fall 2024 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.

PHIL 105 Happiness and Meaning in Life: Staff/TBA; MR 9:45–11:00AM; CRN 25360; (Other sections currently reserved for incoming freshman students; seats may become available later in summer); Description: The first part of this course considers different conceptions of happiness (aka well-being) by critically examining ancient and contemporary theories of happiness such as hedonism, desire satisfaction theory, and objective theories of human welfare. By studying this material we learn that being happy does not necessarily entail living a meaningful life. The second part of the course explores the differences between happiness and meaning in life by examining contemporary theories of meaning in life, such as Richard Taylor’s subjectivist theory and Susan Wolf’s fitting fulfillment theory.

PHIL 212 Social & Political Philosophy: Meghan Robison; W 10:45–1:15PM; CRN 46083; Description: The political realm seems to have expanded into almost every domain of human life. But, what, we might ask, is politics? What distinguishes the political realm from other domains of life? Should the political realm be distinct from other spheres? In this course, we will go back to the basics and explore various conceptions of politics by engaging ideas of some of the most influential figures in the western philosophical tradition including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Hobbes, Rousseau and Arendt.

PHIL 214 Ethics of Love, Sex, and Desire

Staff/TBA

TF 9:45-11:00AM

CRN 46087

Description: An exploration of the ethical issues related to human sexuality and/or intimate relationships. The focus in this course is on conflicts and/or problem areas related to love, sex and desire and the ways ethicists address them. Ethical issues to be discussed include: monogamy, promiscuity, gay marriage, abstinence education, transgender identity, pornography, prostitution, and sexual abuse.

(Course counts for the Philosophy major Values requirement, and the Philosophy minor.)

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: • W 08:00-10:30AM (Julian David-Drori) crns 46414, 46359, 44157; • TF 9:45-11:00AM (Staff/TBA) crns 46358, 46088, 46412; • MR 2:15-3:30PM (Lauren Covey) crns 45847, 46395, 43802; Description: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.; (This course serves as an Elective in the philosophy major, satisfies the 288 requirement in the Cognitive Science minor, and counts toward the philosophy minor. Each class is crosslisted under PHIL, LNGN, and PSYC so has 3 crns each; there is no difference between those sub-sections.)

PHIL 290 Philosophy of Mental Health

Jon Morgan

MR 2:15-3:30PM

CRN 46089

Description:A variety of metrics suggest that mental health is on the decline in the United States. Naturally, we’d like to know how to reverse this trend and aid those struggling with, among other things, mental illnesses and mental health disabilities. Yet when we sit down and think about possible solutions, a tricky question quickly arises: How should we define, understand, and conceptualize mental health? This is not an easy question. But an answer is indispensable. It’s hard to know how to improve mental health if we don’t have an understanding of what exactly mental health is in the first place. The good news: This is the sort of conceptual question that the critical tools of philosophy are designed to answer. In this course, we’ll put these philosophical tools to use and try to better our understanding of both mental health and mental illnesses.

(This course counts towards the Knowledge & Reality requirement of the Philosophy major, and for the Philosophy and/or Cognitive Science minors.)

PHIL 292 Philosophy of Race

Staff/TBA

MR 3:45-5:00PM

CRN 46090

Description:The aim of this course is to cover the major debates and areas of inquiry in philosophy of race. Some of the debates concern whether race is real; whether, if so, it is socially real, biologically real or psychologically real; whether society should abolish the use of the idea or category of race because of its relation to racism and racial injustice; how race can affect the flow of knowledge in society, the production of ignorance and the justification of individually held beliefs; and how race affects the distribution of wealth and opportunities in the United States. These debates and areas of inquiry in the philosophy of race will be taken up by engaging not only with philosophers of race but also with philosophers of biology, sociologists, metaphysicians, epistemologists, and political philosophers.

(Course will count for Philosophy major elective, and Philosophy minor.)

PHIL 297 Meaning in Life

Tiger Roholt

T 2:30-5:00PM

CRN 46091

Description:We want our lives to go well. We want to be satisfied, content, happy. Philosophers refer to this as well-being. But we also want to live meaningful lives. What does it mean for a life to be meaningful? Meaningfulness is related to but different from well-being. Meaningfulness is also related to but different from morality. Rather than asking what makes life meaningful, it may be more manageable to ask what makes certain activities or projects meaningful. If we can answer this last question, then we can make sense of how to get meaning into our lives. Although philosophers have been writing about these issues for centuries, it is only in the last twenty years or so that a subfield has taken shape in mainstream, analytic philosophy that is focused explicitly on meaningfulness. In this course, we will study this new philosophy, and we will also trace connections to the tradition (including the continental tradition). We will read philosophers such as Susan Wolf, Thaddeus Metz, Iddo Landau, David Matheson, Robert Nozick, Richard Taylor, Charles Taylor, Albert Borgmann, and Hubert Dreyfus.

(This course counts as a Values requirement for Philosophy majors, and will count for the Philosophy minor.)

Previous Semesters

Spring 2024 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Spring 2024 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.

PHIL 264-01 Critical Reasoning and Argumentation: Kirk McDermid; MR 9:45–11:00AM; CRN 25360; Description: This course is focused on providing students with the tools and perspectives to understand and properly evaluate the complex argumentation encountered in academic philosophy, other inquiry, and ordinary life. This will result in an improvement in their ability to comprehend, insightfully critique, and generate that argumentation in their own work. Topics include symbolic logics, Bayesian inference, counterfactual, modal, and analogical reasoning, probability, visual argument mapping.; (This course satisfies the Logic requirement in the philosophy major or serves as a philosophy Elective.)

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: • PHIL 288-70 Staff – MR 815AM–930AM (CRN 25361/25378/25377); • PHIL 288-71 Staff – MR 945AM–1100AM (CRN 25362/25380/25379); • PHIL 288-72 Julian David-Drori – W 8:00AM–1030AM (CRN 25363/25382/25381); • PHIL 288-73 Julian David-Drori – W 1045AM–1:15PM (CRN 25364/25384/25383); • PHIL 288-74 Ryan McElhaney – W 5:30PM–8:00PM SON (CRN 25385/20876/25386); Description: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.; (This course serves as an Elective in the philosophy major, satisfies the 288 requirement in the Cognitive Science minor, and counts toward the philosophy minor.)

PHIL 291-01 Animal Minds

David Sorensen

TR 5:30PM–6:45PM

CRN 25367

Description: Do chimpanzees have a sense of right and wrong? Do insects have subjective experiences? What is it like to be a bat? Philosophers have long speculated about the existence and contents of nonhuman animal minds. In the 21st century, science now offers us some answers, but much is still up for debate. This course will explore the foundations of two relatively new scientific disciplines: sensory ecology and cognitive ethology. Sensory ecologists study how animals sense their environment and try to understand what their perceptual worlds (known as umwelts) are like. Cognitive ethologists study how animals think and try to understand the content of their thoughts. Philosophy of Animal Minds intersects between at least three important sub-branches of philosophy: philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and epistemology. Early in the course, we will gain understanding of each area and how they can be applied to the scientific study of animal cognition and perception. Throughout the remainder of the course, as we become empirically informed about the current state of animal mind science, we will uncover and examine hidden assumptions, evaluate arguments, and consider their implications.”

(This course counts toward the Knowledge and Reality requirement in the philosophy major, counts in the philosophy minor and cognitive science minor.)

PHIL 292-01 Ethics and Technology

Marius Pascale

F 2:30PM–5:00PM

CRN 25808

Description: We will investigate questions of ethics and current/emerging/future technology. What are the moral/immoral applications of artificial intelligence (AI)? Is it acceptable for companies to gather, access, and share your data? Is there such a thing as an ethical hacker? How does digital media force people to reconsider ownership, copyright, and theft? How do computer technologies reflect or undermine the values of privacy and anonymity? What are the limits (if any) of free speech online?

(This course counts toward the Values requirement in the philosophy major, and counts in the Philosophy Minor and in the Cognitive Science minor.)

PHIL 295-01 Philosophy of Perception

Jon Morgan

TF 12:45–2:00

CRN 25371

Description: Psychologists, neuroscientists, and cognitive scientists study (among other things) the mechanisms that underlie sense perception. But just what is perception in the first place? This course explores the rich history of philosophical answers to this very-much live question. Our overarching goal will be to understand how perception raises distinctly philosophical problems and, in turn, how philosophers have attempted to solve these problems.

(This course serves as an Elective in the philosophy major and in the philosophy minor.)

PHIL 295-02 Phenomenology: The Philosophy of Lived Experience

Tiger Roholt

T 2:30–5:00PM

CRN 25939

Description: Phenomenology is a way of doing philosophy, a method. Phenomenology reconnects philosophy with ordinary, lived experience. In her second memoir, Simone de Beauvoir relates that she and Jean-Paul Sartre were first told about phenomenology in a Paris bar in 1932, by a friend who had recently been in Germany, studying the work of phenomenology’s founder, Edmund Husserl. The friend said to Sartre, “You see, my dear fellow, if you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!” Phenomenology is not merely of historical interest; in the last twenty years, the insights of phenomenologists—much more rigorous than casually describing a cocktail—have become increasingly influential within mainstream philosophy. In this course, we will consider the relevance of phenomenology to epistemology, ethics, philosophy of perception, psychology, and contemporary cognitive science. We will have occasion to discuss phenomenological insights into social interaction, the body, the self, time, space, technology, race, gender, and art. We will learn about the work of Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and others.

(This course serves as an Elective in the philosophy major.)

PHIL 331-01 Ancient Philosophy: Meghan Robison; W 10:45AM–1:15PM; CRN 25372; In classical antiquity, philosophy was not an abstract scholarly pursuit, but a daily practice of coping with emotions such as fear, anger and love which was aimed at ‘eudaimonia’ or well-being. Philosophy, in other words, was seen as an art of living, one that could enrich anyone’s life—not just professional philosophers. In this Ancient Philosophy course, after a brief look at their respective beginnings in the Hellenistic world, we focus on ancient Roman philosophy, on three schools of thought in particular: Epicureanism and Stoicism. Reading primary texts by philosophers such as Epicurus and Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, we will learn about what these ancient Roman Philosophers thought was entailed in a good life, and what was required to live well.; (This course satisfies the History requirement in the philosophy major or serves as an elective in the philosophy minor.)

PHIL 390-01 Philosophy of Perception

Jon Morgan

TF 12:45–2:00PM

CRN 25371

For the description of this course, see PHIL 295-01 above.

(This course counts toward the Knowledge and Reality requirement in the philosophy major; serves as an Elective in the philosophy major.)

PHIL 397-01 Phenomenology: The Philosophy of Lived Experience

Tiger Roholt

T 2:30–5:00PM

CRN 25940

See the description above at PHIL 295–02. This course meets with PHIL 295.

(This course satisfies the Traditions requirement in the philosophy major; serves as an Elective in the philosophy major.)

Fall 2023 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Fall 2023 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.


PHIL 270-01 Philosophy of Mind: Jon Morgan; TF 12:45–2:00PM; CRN 46075; Description: Mental states are puzzling. On the one hand, it’s as obvious as anything that we undergo them. On the other hand, we also live in world that seems to be entirely physical, and so it seems that mental states must be physical states of a some sort. But just what sort of physical states could they be? Are they electrochemical states of our brain? Or are they more like computational states—‘software’ that runs on the ‘hardware’ of our brains? If not, what could they be? And, moreover, what is the relationship between our mental states and physical states in the external world? Do we directly perceive the physical world? If not, how could we know anything about it? In this course, we explore possible answers to these and related philosophical questions about the nature of mental states and their place in the physical world.; (This course counts as K&R for PHIL majors, and counts towards CGSC and PHIL minors.)

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: • Phil 288-01 Lauren Covey (Linguistics Dept) – MR 2:15–3:30 (CRN 45331); • Phil 288-10 James Lennon – TF 815-930AM (CRN 45339); • Phil 288-11 James Lennon – TF 945-1100AM (CRN 45340); • Phil 288-12 Ryan McElhaney – M 5:30–8:00PM (CRN 46021); Description: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.; (This course counts as a major elective for PHIL majors, fulfills L/P/P 288 requirement for CGSC minor, and counts towards PHIL minor.)

PHIL 291-02 Philosophy of Consciousness: Ryan McElhaney; W 5:30-8:00PM – Online; CRN 46018; Description: Explaining consciousness has been and continues to be one of the hot button issues in both philosophy and cognitive science in the last half century. This course introduces students to some of the core issues in the philosophy of consciousness, surveys a number of the scientifically and philosophically informed theories of consciousness, and investigates the scientific experiments that attempt to answer questions about what consciousness is, and what we are conscious of. Students of all levels of familiarity with issues of consciousness are invited to register.; (This course counts as a major elective for PHIL majors, and counts towards CGSC and PHIL minors.)

PHIL 295-01 Sources of the Self: Tiger Roholt; T 2:30–5:00PM; CRN 45987; Description: This course is devoted to reading, discussing, and critically examining Charles Taylor’s seminal book, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (Harvard University Press, 1989). Taylor explains the book’s ambition in his opening paragraph: “I want to explore various facets of what I will call the ‘modern identity’. To give a good first approximation of what this means would be to say that it involves tracing various strands of our modern notion of what it is to be a human agent, a person, or a self. But pursuing this investigation soon shows that you can’t get very clear about this without some further understanding of how our pictures of the good have evolved. Selfhood and the good, or in another way selfhood and morality, turn out to be inextricably intertwined themes.” ¶ Taylor’s reference to the good indicates how broad and deep this investigation is; he is referring not only to questions about morality but to questions about what we care about, what makes life worth living, what makes it meaningful. Much of the book consists of tracing the development of three strands of modern identity to their philosophical roots. So once you join Taylor’s investigation, you are taken on a fascinating journey, making select stops throughout the history of philosophy.; (This course counts in the Values or major-elective categories for PHIL majors. This course meets concurrently with PHIL 426.)

PHIL 297-01 Feminist Philosophy: Meghan Robison; M 5:30–8:00PM; CRN 45343; Description: When it was first employed nearly two centuries ago, the term “feminism” referred to “qualities of females.” By the mid-nineteenth century, feminism became critical, that is, it became a philosophical movement that interrogated these so-called “feminine” qualities and how they came to be established as such. Our course will track a main strain of the feminist turn in philosophy from its beginning in the work of Simone de Beauvoir. It will have three parts. Taking de Beauvoir’s powerful thought, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman,” as our starting place, we will begin by closely engaging The Second Sex. In the next part, we will pay close attention to Judith Butler’s response, and examine her influential theory of gender performativity. In the third part, we will examine critical responses to Butler’s theory, such as Martha Nussbaum, Nancy Fraser, and Viviane Namaste. • Throughout the course, we will encounter issues surrounding the relationships of sex and gender, nature and culture, mythology and history, desire and power, intercourse and violence. We will ask about what it means to be or, alternatively, become gendered, and the connection between agency and the body that each understanding of gender entails. We will ask about the role of history, class, and culture for defining gender, and the lived experience of its construction. Finally, turning to issues raised in transgender and Gender Nonconforming Identities discussions, we will critically reflect on the possibilities and limitations for thinking personal identity as inseparable from sexuality and gender.; (This course counts—with manual credit adjustment—as a TCP requirement for PHIL majors, and counts towards PHIL minor.)

PHIL 310-01 Knowledge, Belief, and Truth: Epistemology of Plagiarism: Kirk McDermid; MR 9:45-11:00AM; CRN 45344; Description: This class will survey questions about the nature and possibility of knowledge (the study of epistemology.) It’s easiest to explain what the course is about, by saying it’s about a collection of questions like these: What is knowledge? Where do we get knowledge? How do we know we know something? What is truth? These are, obviously, pretty abstract questions – the sort philosophy is famous for. And yet they do have some practical and relevant consequences in your life, which is why in this edition of the course we’ll be focusing on plagiarism (or more generally, “academic dishonesty”.) Can we understand it better, deal with it better, if we explore what plagiarism means in terms of what we know – or what we show others we know – instead of as an ethical issue?; (This course counts as a K&R for PHIL majors, and counts towards PHIL minor.)

PHIL 426-01 Seminar: Sources of the Self: Tiger Roholt; T 2:30–5:00PM; CRN 45345; Description: This course meets concurrently with PHIL 295; see the description above. (This course satisfies the Seminar requirement for PHIL majors.)

Spring 2023 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Spring 2023 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.

Phil 200–01 History of Ethics

Tiger Roholt

T 2:30-5pm

CRN 25463

An historical examination of major ethical theories in the Western philosophical tradition, from ancient times to the present. In particular, we will investigate the interplay between ethical theories and pertinent features of societies in different historical periods.

(This course will count in the Values or major-elective category, for PHIL majors)

PHIL 266-01 Philosophy of Science

Kirk McDermid

MR 9:45–11:00

CRN 24846

The aim of this course is to make you a more sophisticated consumer or producer of science and scientific knowledge, by learning about the nature, limits and power of scientific inquiry and its results. (In philosophy jargon, we’ll be learning primarily about the epistemology of science, as well as the metaphysical claims it makes, and the ethical, political and social aspects of scientific practice.) At the end of this course, you should be capable of a) doing better science yourself and b) understanding scientific practice and claims in a more sophisticated way than even many scientists do.

(This course counts in the Knowledge & Reality or major-elective category, for PHIL majors. This course counts for the cognitive science minor.)

PHIL 291-01 Against Rational Politics: Nietzsche’s Revolutionary Illiberalism: David Kaye; MW 7-8:15pm; CRN 24849; (This course will count in the Values or major-elective category, for PHIL majors)

PHIL 293-01 Of Beauties, And Beasts: Aesthetic Theories Of The Beautiful And The Grotesque

Daniel Richmond

MR 9:45-11am

CRN 23079

Beauty held a kind of pride of place in traditional philosophical discourse; its status secure though its significance and meaning were debated. It was seen as an index, whether for a principle of unity and perfection, a pleasurable sensation, a “necessary condition of humanity,” an object of longing, or simply as disinterested satisfaction. Recently, though, beauty has had more of a strange and rough run; it is at once esteemed and vilified. In the realms of art and culture, traditional conceptions of beauty are challenged, and the simple designation of “beautiful” is open to scrutiny: What does beauty even mean?

This course begins by examining various responses to this question, from Plato’s idealized Beauty to Aristotle’s “monsters;” from Hume’s pleasure and pain as the constitutive essence of “beauty and deformity,” to Kant’s beauty as the object of disinterested satisfaction; from both Continental and Analytic traditions. We will then examine beauty at work: as signifying Nature in its most pristine state; as essential to an aesthetic education; as the once enthroned standard of art abused and overthrown; as participant in the body politic and the politics of body; and now, as the medium for our messaging. Our goal will be to understand the various interpretations of aesthetic meaning found in the beautiful, and the grotesque, in hopes of grasping how they inform our experiences of the world, and influence how we shape the world we inhabit.

(This course will count in the major-elective category, for PHIL majors. In consultation with the instructor, may be used to satisfy either the History or Values requirement.)

PHIL 337-01 Analytic Philosophy: Jon Morgan; TF 12:45-2pm; CRN 25464; The development of the analytic tradition in twentieth century philosophy; the logical and linguistic techniques employed.; (This course will count in the Traditions in Contemporary Philosophy or major-elective category, for PHIL majors)

PHIL 390-01 & -02 Theories of Mind from an Empirical Perspective

Ryan McElhaney

MR 2:15-3:30pm (sec 01) & MR 3:45-5pm (sec 02)

CRN 24853 (for section 01) & CRN 25465 (for section 02)

Though the Computational Theory of Mind (CTM) currently enjoys preeminent status within cognitive science, understanding how CTM relates to other historical and current theories of mind is important for anyone who wishes to engage with cognitive science, whether as a theoretician, experimentalist or clinician. This course engages with different metaphysical theories of mind (e.g. dualism, behaviorism, functionalism, etc.) from empirical and epistemological perspectives. We explore the empirical upshots of these different theories, ask how experiments might be constructed that would help motivate one theory over and against another, and question the current preeminent status of CTM.

(This course will count in the Knowledge & Reality or major-elective category, for PHIL majors. This course will count for the cognitive science minor.)

Fall 2022 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Fall 2022 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.


PHIL 206 Philosophical Issues in Law and Justice: Staff; TF 9:45AM–11:00; CRN 44948; An examination of philosophical approaches to current issues related to law and justice. Close attention will be paid to one or more of the following specific issues: freedom of religion, freedom of expression, gay rights, reproductive rights, or civil disobedience and political protest.
PHIL 264 Critical Reasoning and Arguments: Kirk McDermid; MR 9:45–11:00; CRN 44949; This course is focused on providing students with the tools and perspectives to understand and properly evaluate the complex argumentation encountered in academic philosophy, other inquiry, and ordinary life. This will result in an improvement in their ability to comprehend, insightfully critique, and generate that argumentation in their own work. Time permitting, we will also explore ‘unusual’ logics and metalogic topics such as Godel’s Theorem, modal logics, many-valued and fuzzy logics.

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.; • Phil 288-01 Staff – TF 8:15AM–9:30AM (CRN 42734); • Phil 288-02 Lauren Covey (Linguistics Dept) – MR 12:45–2:00 (CRN 44950); • Phil 288-03 Ryan McElhaney – M 5:30–8:00 (CRN 43774); • Phil 288-04 Ryan McElhaney – W 5:30–8:00 (SYNC) (CRN 42971)

PHIL 290 Society in an Age of Technological Compulsion: Daniel Richmond; MR 8:15AM–9:30AM; CRN 44951; Technological developments do not exist in isolation from society and its members. Our inventions and innovations impinge upon us. This course approaches and examines the relationship between technology and society from the perspective of ethics. We’ll concern ourselves with such questions as, what is the nature of the relationship between technology and society? For better or worse, how can our values inform our technological advances, and how can technology inform our social values? What role can technology play in the progression or deterioration of such values? How does technology impact the economic and political realms of society? How does technology inhibit or promote inclusivity and diversity?

PHIL 292 Ancient Philosophy and the Art of Happiness: Joshua Kaye; MR 2:15–3:30; CRN 44952; (For Phil Majors, this course will satisfy a History requirement or it will function as a Phil Major Elective.); Through the lens of Ancient Greek philosophy, this course will grapple with the age-old questions, “What is happiness?” and “What makes us happy?” We will closely read ancient Greek texts from the Skeptical, Epicurean, and Stoic schools of thought. Although each of these schools had entirely different views on most philosophical issues, they all seem to agree that happiness and a life of tranquility ought to be one’s ultimate goal. In a contemporary world in which these questions of happiness still seem to be at the forefront of our minds, as evidenced by the number of self-help books flying off the shelves, it might be refreshing to return to some of our first answers to these questions, in the hope that they shed some much-needed new light.

PHIL 397 Meaning in Life: Tiger Roholt; T 2:30–5:00; CRN 44953; (For Phil Majors, this course usually satisfies the Traditions requirement, but can alternately satisfy a Knowledge and Reality requirement or a Values requirement in consultation with Roholt regarding the focus of coursework.); We want our lives to go well. We want to be satisfied, content, happy. Philosophers refer to this as well-being. But we also want to live meaningful lives. What does it mean for a life to be meaningful? Meaningfulness is related to but different from well-being. Meaningfulness is also related to but different from morality. Rather than asking what makes life meaningful, it may be more manageable to ask what makes certain activities or projects meaningful. If we can answer this last question, then we can make sense of how to get meaning into our lives. Although philosophers have been writing about these issues for centuries, it is only in the last twenty years or so that a subfield has taken shape in mainstream, analytic philosophy that is focused explicitly on meaningfulness. In this course, we will study this new philosophy, and we will also trace connections to the tradition (including the continental tradition). We will read philosophers such as Susan Wolf, Thaddeus Metz, Iddo Landau, David Matheson, Robert Nozick, Richard Taylor, Charles Taylor, Albert Borgmann, and Hubert Dreyfus.

PHIL 424: Seminar on Color Experience: Jon Morgan; TF 12:45–2:00; CRN 44954; When I say that an apple looks red, it is natural to think that I am reporting the following: I visually experience the apple as red. Moreover, it is natural to think that, if I am not subject to some kind of illusion, the apple really is red. So we have two claims: (1) I experience the apple as red and (2) the apple is red. Claim (1) is about my experience. Claim (2) is about the apple. What is the relationship between these two claims? More generally, what is the relationship between color and our experience of color? Are the colors we experience out there in the world? Or are they illusory––mere projections of the mind? Does something’s being red depend on its looking red in some way? These are the questions that will animate this course as we try to understand the nature of color and color experience.

Spring 2022 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Spring 2022 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.


Phil 239 Existentialism: Tiger Roholt; T 2:30–5:00 (H2H); Existentialist philosophers put forward a number of unusual but thought-provoking ways of understanding core aspects of our lives. For example, rather than taking one’s self-identity to rest on a set of qualities that persist through time, perhaps based on a universal human nature, existentialists believe that each of us creates our own self-identity. In this sense, Nietzsche goes so far as to suggest that the self is like an artwork; you create your self through your actions and the projects you undertake. Existentialist philosophers such as Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, and Fanon, also have thought-provoking views of freedom, conformity, authenticity, meaning in life, values, and of the ways in which we are related to the world and to others. In addition to exploring these ideas by studying great texts in this tradition, in this course we will seek to understand similarities and differences between existentialism and certain other kinds of philosophy, analytic as well as continental.
Phil 271 Philosophy of Sport: Kirk McDermid; TF 9:45–11:00 (H2H); This course will introduce you to the practice of philosophy and philosophical thinking through discussions of sport. If you’ve argued about sports in general, or a specific sport/athlete, you’ve probably done some philosophy already without even knowing it. (But… maybe badly.) In this course, we’ll spend our time exploring the often-unappreciated depth and significance these debates involve, which extend beyond sport into other aspects of life including personal identity, the nature of reality, ethics, politics, and the meaning of life. First, we’ll learn some fundamentals of philosophical thinking by asking “what makes something a sport (as opposed to a game, or pastime, or activity)?”, and then progress to exploring more challenging philosophical topics.

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.; • Phil 288-01 Ryan McElhaney – M 5:30–8:00 (SON); • Phil 288-02 Ryan McElhaney – W 5:30–8:00 (H2H); • Phil 288-03 Lauren Covey (Linguistics Dept.) – MR 12:45–2:00 (H2H)

Phil 290 Special Topics: The Social Contract: Meghan Robison; M 2:30–5:00 (H2H); What legitimates the state’s authority? One powerful argument that gained widespread appeal in the 17th and 18th centuries is that the basis of law-governed political society is our freely-given agreement or what has come to be known as “the social contract.” However, not everyone found this idea compelling. Since its rise in the 17th and 18th centuries, various critiques have been lodged against it. Recently, interest in the social contract has resurfaced as we once again struggle with the question of authority in the face of a global pandemic and ecological disaster. In this class, we will explore the mechanism that has come to be known as ‘the social contract’ developed in works by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Then, in the final weeks, we will read and discuss some critical responses to the social contract, including those of David Hume, GWF Hegel, as well as Carole Pateman and Charles Mills.

Phil 293-01 Special Topics: Environmental Ethics: Daniel Richmond; MR 9:45–11:00 (H2H); This course introduces the field of environmental ethics and the scope and extent of human responsibility and stewardship for the environment. This includes, but is not limited to responsibility to an international community, future generations, and not simply one’s biotic responsibility towards animals, plants, and other living creatures and their supportive systems. These issues are discussed in the context of canonical ethical theories, such as deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and more contemporary approaches to the environment found in ethics of care and feminist ethics. To this end, the course will begin by addressing the more basic, critical tools needed for reading texts with an eye on the philosophical nature of their writings, as well as covering the essential historical and contemporary contexts and arguments of ethics and morality in general. As the course progresses, these tools will benefit our readings and discussions as we address such complex topics as the historical conception of “nature;” the natural or human-endowed rights of living entities; humanity’s necessary reliance and impact upon the environment in the forms of food, land, and other resources, as well as the possible practical applications of environmental ethics.

Phil 390 Special Topics: Knowing One’s Mind: Jon Morgan; TF 12:45–2:00 (H2H); You know a lot of things about your own mental life. For example, you know that you have certain beliefs, desires, hopes, feelings, sensations, and so on. How do you know these things? Do you know them simply by being directly aware of your mental states? Or is the process less direct, involving some kind of reasoning or inference? In this course, we’ll look at how philosophers have tried to answer these questions. Part of our goal will be to investigate the scope of self-knowledge. In particular, we will look at apparent failures of self-knowledge—like self-deception and implicit bias—to better understand what we can and cannot know about our own minds.

Fall 2021 Philosophy Courses


Phil 231–01 American Philosophy: Joshua Kaye; MR 9:45–11:00 (H2H); This course will be an introduction to the writing of those American philosophers we’ve come to call pragmatists. As such it will be focused on some of the key issues that animated their thought; namely, truth, justification, the community of inquirers, experience, and the nature of belief. Readings will include texts from Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and Richard Rorty.
Phil 260-01 Philosophies of Art: Meghan Robison; M 2:30–5:00 (H2H); Art-making is one way that human beings try to make sense of themselves, the natural world, and what they do and say to one another. In this class, Philosophies of Art, we will try to make sense of artworks and artmaking by reading philosophical reflections on art-making by Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Adorno, and others, while also looking at artworks by Homer, Sophocles, Manet, Beckett, and more. We will reflect on how art-making is distinct from other sense-making practices (such as science and philosophy) by thinking about the relationship between art-making and material conditions (clay, paint, the human body, etc). As we do, we will ask the following questions: what is the relationship between art and nature? How should we understand differences between artistic forms and genres? What are the effects of mechanical reproduction and digital technology on making and experiencing artworks? Does it make sense to speak of art as “beautiful” and what are the limits of doing so?

Phil 270-01 Philosophy of Mind: Jon Morgan; TF 12:45–2:00 (H2H); Mental states are puzzling. On the one hand, it’s as obvious as anything that we undergo them. On the other hand, we also live in world that seems to be entirely physical, and so it seems that mental states must be physical states of a some sort. But just what sort of physical states could they be? Are they electrochemical states of our brain? Or are they more like computational states––‘software’ that runs on the ‘hardware’ of our brains? If not, what could they be? And, moreover, what is the relationship between our mental states and physical states in the external world? Do we directly perceive the physical world? If not, how could we know anything about it? In this course, we explore possible answers to these and related philosophical questions about the nature of mental states and their place in the physical world.

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.; • Phil 288-01 Lauren Covey (Linguistics Dept.) – MR 12:45–2:00; • Phil 288-04 Ryan McElhaney – W 5:30–8:00 (H2H); • Phil 288-05 Ryan McElhaney – M 5:30–8:00 (SON)

Phil 291 Fields of Philosophy: The Philosophy of Race: Jodell Ulerie; T 5:30–8:00 (H2H); The Philosophy of Race is an important and growing sub-discipline, which has two features that make it particularly interesting. First, it is of significant public interest given the pertinence of issues about race in public discourse. Second, it is of significant philosophical interest given how it draws on, and draws connections between, central topics in metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and ethics. In this course, we will focus on two central topics in philosophy of race. First, the metaphysics of races: Do races exist, and if so, are they biological kinds, or socially constructed? Second, racism and criminal justice: Do racial biases lead to injustices before the law, and if so, what should be done about it?

Phil 390-01 Special Topics: Conspiracies & Epistemology: Kirk McDermid; TF 9:45–11:00 (H2H); A “conspiracy” theory is just a theory about a conspiracy – a theory about two or more people working together in secret towards some end. But, that innocent description hides a lot of complexity and consequence. It’s clear that conspiracy theories, and conspiracy thinking, seem to be playing an ever-more-influential role in our relationships and politics and as a result they have never been so important a topic to understand. In this course, we will be focusing primarily on the epistemology of conspiracy theories: exploring the natures of knowledge, evidence, inference, and belief as illuminated (or obscured!) by allegations and investigations of conspiracies in our midst. How do believers defend their beliefs about conspiracies that most of us reject as fantastical? (Are we right to reject them?) How do ‘non-believers’ defend the consensus understanding that conspiracists reject as naïve? (are they right to reject it?) Is belief in conspiracy about what one knows, or how one comes to know? Is it possible to be an ‘epistemically responsible’ conspiracy theorist, and what would that look like? What lessons can we learn about navigating the complex (but not conspiracy-filled) world we live in, from this exploration?

Phil 395-01 Special Topics: Plato’s Republic: Tiger Roholt; T 2:30–5:00 (H2H); It is difficult to overstate Plato’s influence on philosophy. In his Process and Reality, the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead writes, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato” (1929, II, 1). The Republic (380 B.C.E) is likely Plato’s most influential work. The book has had a significant influence not only on philosophers but also political theorists, sociologists, education theorists, psychologists, art theorists, and others. In fact, this book has had a profound influence generally on the Western intellectual tradition. In the Republic, Plato sets out an influential theory of justice, a psychology (including a theory of the self), he argues for claims about happiness, art, metaphysics, epistemology, education, and so on. The Republic is written as a dialog that unfolds organically as a discussion about how to create an ideal society. We will devote this course to a close-reading of the entire book, but we will also read some contemporary critiques by political philosophers, ancient philosophers, philosophers of art, and feminist philosophers.

Spring 2021 Philosophy Courses

Phil 200–01 History of Ethics

Chryssoula Gitsoulis; W 10:45AM–1:15PM (HawkMix); A historical survey of major ethical theories in the Western philosophical tradition, from ancient times to the present.
Phil 264-01 Critical Reasoning and Arguments: Aaron Bernstein; T 5:30–8:00 (HawkMix); This is an intermediate-level course concentrating upon argumentation and rhetorical devices as they function in everyday conversation, philosophical discussion, and philosophical writing. Arguments will be examined with an eye to penetrating purely formal structure and discovering the underlying dynamics which contribute to cogency in a given context.

Phil 266-01 Philosophy of Science: Kirk McDermid; TF 9:45AM–11:00AM (HawkSync); The aim of this course is to make you a more sophisticated consumer or producer of science and scientific knowledge, by learning about the nature, limits and power of scientific inquiry and its results. (In philosophy jargon, we’ll be learning primarily about the epistemology of science, as well as the metaphysical claims it makes, and the ethical, political and social aspects of scientific practice.) At the end of this course, you should be capable of a) doing better science yourself and b) understanding scientific practice and claims in a more sophisticated way than even many scientists do.

Phil 280-01 Philosophy of Technology: Tiger Roholt; T 2:30–5:00 (HawkMix); We are steeped in technology. The philosopher David Kaplan puts it this way: “Our world is largely a constructed environment; our technologies and technological systems form the background, context, and medium for our lives.” In our contemporary culture, it has become increasingly clear that our technology progresses faster than our understanding of how best to manage and use it. In this course we will employ the tools of philosophy to examine the ways in which technology affects our interactions with others, and the ways in which technology affects our society (the positive and the not-so-positive). We will accomplish this by drawing upon principles from ethics and political philosophy. By drawing upon the methodology of existential phenomenology, we will examine the very nature of technology, the ways in which technology shapes our experience of our surroundings, and the ways in which it influences our self-identities.

Phil 288-01 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Ryan McElhaney; M 2:30–5:00 (HawkSync); An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.

Phil 288-02 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Ryan McElhaney; W 5:30–8:00 (HawkSync); An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.

Phil 288-03 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Lauren Covey (Linguistics Dept.); MR 12:45–2:00 (HawkSync); An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.

Phil 290-01 Special Topics: Feminist Philosophy: Robison; M 5:30–8:00 (HawkMix); When it was first employed nearly two centuries ago, the term “feminism” referred to “qualities of females.” By the mid-nineteenth century, feminism became critical, that is, it became a philosophical movement that interrogated these so-called “feminine” qualities and how they came to be established as such. Our course will track a main strain of the feminist turn in philosophy from its beginning in the work of Simone de Beauvoir. It will have three parts. Taking de Beauvoir’s powerful thought, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman,” as our starting place, we will begin by closely engaging The Second Sex. In the next part, we will pay close attention to Judith Butler’s response, and examine her influential theory of gender performativity. In the third part, we will examine critical responses to Butler’s theory, such as Martha Nussbaum, Nancy Fraser, and Viviane Namaste. • Throughout the course, we will encounter issues surrounding the relationships of sex and gender, nature and culture, mythology and history, desire and power, intercourse and violence. We will ask about what it means to be or, alternatively, become gendered, and the connection between agency and the body that each understanding of gender entails. We will ask about the role of history, class, and culture for defining gender, and the lived experience of its construction. Finally, turning to issues raised in transgender and Gender Nonconforming Identities discussions, we will critically reflect on the possibilities and limitations for thinking personal identity as inseparable from sexuality and gender.

Phil 390-01 Special Topics: Philosophy of Perception: Morgan; TF 12:45–2:00 (HawkMix); Psychologists, neuroscientists, and cognitive scientists study (among other things) the mechanisms that underly sense perception. But just what is perception in the first place? Philosophers have been concerned with this question for millennia. This course explores the rich history of philosophical answers to this very-much live question. Our goal: to better understand the complex relationship between mind and world.

Fall 2020 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following courses are offered in Fall 2020 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.

Phil 288-01 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Lauren Covey (Department of Linguistics)
MR 12:45–2
Schmitt 242; Description: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.

Phil 288-02 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Jon Morgan
TF 12:45–2
Schmitt 242; Description: Pulling up to an intersection, you spot a stop sign. As you gently lean into the brake, you feel your stomach rumble. You realize that you haven’t eaten breakfast. Sighing heavily, you clutch your stomach as you look for approaching cars. Seeing none, you step on the gas––all the while trying to remember if McDonald’s still serves breakfast at noon. ¶ This all seems perfectly mundane and even boring. But your behavior in this situation is incredibly complex. You perform a number of tasks in a very short period of time: seeing, braking, feeling, and realizing; sighing, clutching, looking, and concluding; etc. How do you do all this? And, in particular, what are the underlying mental mechanisms that make this highly sophisticated collection of behaviors possible? ¶ In this course, we will study how cognitive science utilizes the notions of mental representations, computations, rules, and concepts to answer these and related questions. Since cognitive science is interdisciplinary, we will consider perspectives from psychology, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience and computer science, among others. Our goal will be to arrive at a better understanding of our minds and how they work.

Phil 288-03 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Ryan McElhaney
M 2:30–5
Schmitt 242; Description: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.

Phil 288-04 Introduction to Cognitive Science: Ryan McElhaney
W 5:30–8
Schmitt 242; Description: An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.

Phil 290-01 Selected Topics: Happiness and Technological Alienation: Tiger Roholt
T 2:30–5
Schmitt 242; Description: There are many and divergent philosophical theories of happiness. Is happiness the maximization of pleasure? Is happiness the satisfaction of desires? Is happiness a function of achievement? Does happiness depend upon the creation of meaning in one’s life? “Happiness,” it turns out, may be a misleading term; a more generic and useful term is “well-being.” In this course, we will survey some prominent theories of well-being. ¶ Is there a philosophically fruitful relationship between well-being and modern technology? Is it the case, as the title of this course may imply, that modern technology is alienating us from one another or from ourselves? In order to examine such questions, we will need to identify which kinds or aspects of technology are relevant to considering these questions. We must also clarify what we mean by alienation. In this course we will explore well-being, technology, and alienation (with conceptions of the self lurking just below the surface). We will study philosophers such as Julia Annas, Aristotle, Albert Borgmann, Hubert Dreyfus, Søren Kierkegaard, Diane P. Michelfelder, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martha Nussbaum, Richard Schacht, Richard Schmitt, Charles Taylor, Richard Taylor, and Peter-Paul Verbeek.

Phil 293-01 Selected Topics: Environmental Ethics: Aaron Bernstein
MR 9:45–11:00
Room: TBD; Description: In this course we will examine moral and political questions regarding our relationship to the natural world, especially (though not only) in the context of climate change. Topics include: What obligations do human beings have to non-human animals, to non-living things, and to future generations? What does it mean to think about the world in terms of a distinction between civilization and nature? What responsibility should I as an individual take for environmental damage? Which aspects of our current economic and political arrangements might help us solve ecological problems, and which are part of the problem?

Phil 312-01 Existence and Reality: Kirk McDermid
TF 9:45–11:00
Schmitt 242; Description: Metaphysics is one of the classic sub-disciplines of philosophy, asking questions about the fundamental nature of reality including the nature of existence (and non-existence), the nature of space, time, and causality, free will and personal identity. While you might be thinking these sorts of questions sound characteristically scientific or mystical, philosophers have their own distinct and careful approach to these abstract issues. (We will learn how the philosophical study of metaphysics differs from science and mysticism, and how it influences and pervades a wide variety of academic and ordinary worldviews.) The topics of the course are among some of the most abstract and difficult in philosophy in part because they are so slippery and remote from our scientific or common sense understandings, so we’ll have plenty of intellectual challenges in exploring them. Students will have some choices in determining the topics covered.

Phil 333-01 History of Philosophy: Modern Philosophy: Meghan Robison
M 5:30–8:00
Schmitt 242; Description: Thought & Sense. When a natural disaster such as a pandemic strikes we depend upon modern science not only to provide us with explanations that help to treat and contain infections, and ultimately, to find a cure. But whence, we might ask, springs the explanatory power of modern science? ¶ Modern philosophy was born out of this question. The first generation of philosophers who reflected on this question—Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Leibniz and others—found the ‘old’ Scholastic theories of knowledge inadequate; they sought to explain it anew. When we reflect on the various answers offered by these first-generation philosophers of modern science, we tend to track a split between two camps: Rationalism and Empiricism. While rationalists locate the authority of scientific knowledge in the thinking mind, empiricists, alternatively, locate it in our sensing bodies. Thought and sense traditionally function as the two competing sources or grounds of scientific knowledge. ¶ In this class, we will read works by key figures in each philosophical camp—including Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Hume and Kant—in order to acquire an understanding of the debate and its stakes. As we do, we will also consider the extent to which each philosopher affirms or contests the traditional position in which he is placed.

Summer 2020 Philosophy Courses

In addition to PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy), PHIL 102 (Ethics), and PHIL 106 (Logic), the following course is also offered in the Summer of 2020 by the Department of Philosophy. For more information, see NEST.

Phil 290-11 Selected Topics: “Ancient Philosophy and the Art of Happiness”: Kaye; May 18–June 11, 2020; *Online; Description: Through the lens of Ancient Greek philosophy, this course will grapple with the age-old questions, “What is happiness?” and “What makes us happy?” We will closely read ancient Greek texts from the Skeptical, Epicurean, and Stoic schools of thought. Although each of these schools had entirely different views on most philosophical issues, they all seem to agree that happiness and a life of tranquility ought to be one’s ultimate goal. In a contemporary world in which these questions of happiness still seem to be at the forefront of our minds, as evidenced by the number of self-help books flying off the shelves, it might be refreshing to return to some of our first answers to these questions, in the hope that they shed some much-needed new light.

Spring 2020 Philosophy Courses

Phil 204-01 Philosophical Issues in Biomedical Ethics: Baxter; T 5:30–8:00; In this course, we will learn about the fundamental moral principles relevant to medical ethics—including patient autonomy, beneficence, veracity, fidelity, and justice. We will apply ethical theories—including deontology and utilitarianism—to issues healthcare professionals face. We will compare these theories’ ability to recommend an appropriate course of action for the healthcare professional when fundamental moral principles conflict with each other. We will also contrast these theories with non-Western alternatives such as Buddhist ethics. Topics may include: just allocation of scarce medical resources, informed consent, stem cell research, genetic engineering, surrogate motherhood, abortion, and euthanasia. We will also study the history of medicine from a philosophical perspective, examining instances of medical personnel’s abuse of power –such as the Holocaust and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. We will then analyze the dynamics of power in contemporary medicine—such as pharmaceutical and insurance corporations’ influence on healthcare policymakers. How do these influences affect patients’ access to healthcare, the quality of care received, and the confidentiality of patients’ medical data? Our investigation of medicine and power will also illuminate disparities based on race, gender and class.
Phil 204-02 Philosophical Issues in Biomedical Ethics: Richmond; M 2:30–5:00

Phil 212 Social and Political Philosophy: Robison; W 5:30–8:00; Philosophical Perspectives on Power. Today, the term ‘political’ often has a pejorative meaning thanks to a common assumption about its relation to power. When someone is described as doing something for ‘purely political’ reasons what is usually meant is that he or she did it for personal gain and not for the benefit of a particular group or society as a whole. But is this the only way that power can take shape politically? Taking this question as our jumping-off point, in this class we will explore various philosophical perspectives on power and its relation to a constellation of other concepts such as force, authority, equality, reason, autonomy and responsibility. The course will be organized in two parts. In the first, we will read works by some of the most influential philosophers of power, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Weber, Arendt, and Foucault. Then, in the second part, we will examine power in connection to specific issues which are particularly pressing today, such as gender, race, immigration, climate change, digital information and social media.

Phil 239 Existentialism: Bernstein; M 5:30–8:00; Existentialism, as a movement in philosophy, literature, theology, drama, art, and psychology, was not named as such until the 1940s, but its explosive influence had already been felt in virtually all regions of culture since the 19th century. In this class, we will explore and interrogate one of the most important and controversial intellectual currents of the modern world—one which is often credited with (or blamed for) the rise of the “post-modern.” Existentialism is notoriously hard to define, but some recurrent concepts we will discuss include: truth and meaning as arising from within and between human beings, not from the outside; the importance of “authenticity” and “freedom” in cultivating one’s being; and challenging those rules, structures, and traditions in the world which at first seem “natural” or unquestionable, but may in fact need to be toppled or deconstructed. Authors we will read may include, but are not limited to, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Simone de Beauvoir, Søren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Michel Foucault.

Phil 270 Philosophy of Mind: Morgan; MW 1:00–2:15; Mental states are puzzling. On the one hand, it’s as obvious as anything that we undergo them. On the other hand, we also live in world that seems to be entirely physical, and so it seems that mental states must be physical states of a some sort. But just what sort of physical states could they be? Are they electrochemical states of our brain? Or are they more like computational states––‘software’ that runs on the ‘hardware’ of our brains? If not, what could they be? And, moreover, what is the relationship between our mental states and physical states in the external world? Do we directly perceive the physical world? If not, how could we know anything about it? In this course, we explore possible answers to these and related philosophical questions about the nature of mental states and their place in the physical world.

Phil 288 Introduction to Cognitive Science: McElhaney; W 10:00–12:30 (Phil 288-01); F 10:00–12:30 (Phil 288-02); An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of cognitive science. Topics include: the mind-body problem, thought as computation and the computer model of the mind, the role of representation in mental activity. Emphasis will be upon the methodological approaches found in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.


Phil 390 Fields of Phil: Thought Experiments: McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15; Can just thinking about an imaginary or even impossible situation help us know how the world actually is, or how it ought to be? Philosophy is full of “thought experiments” that some claim help us learn real facts about the real world (or how it ought to be); things we could not know otherwise — the trolley problem, the veil of ignorance, philosophical zombies. Likewise, science has notable instances of thought experiments — Schrodinger’s Cat, Maxwell’s demon, Einstein’s 1905 simultaneity argument. Are these related? How are they related to actual experimentation done in the sciences? Do we learn objective facts from them, or just reinforce pre-existing (and perhaps mistaken) intuitions? The aim of the course is not just to become familiar with a variety of thought experiments, but to ask about their usefulness and status as tools of inquiry in philosophy and the empirical sciences.

Phil 424 Seminar: Aesthetic Experience: Roholt; T 1:00–3:30; Is aesthetic experience different from ordinary experience? In this seminar we will examine different accounts of aesthetic experience by focusing on thinkers such as John Dewey, Edward Bullough, Jerome Stolnitz, Pierre Bourdieu, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. We will also consider the effects of modern technology upon our aesthetic experiences.

Fall 2019 Philosophy Courses

Phil 264 Critical Reasoning and Arguments: Bernstein; T 5:30–8:00; This is an intermediate-level course concentrating upon argumentation and rhetorical devices as they function in everyday conversation, philosophical discussion, and philosophical writing. Arguments will be examined with an eye to penetrating purely formal structure and discovering the underlying dynamics which contribute to cogency in a given context.
Phil 266 Philosophy of Science: McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15; The epistemological character of scientific thought and the relevance of scientific findings for the clarification and eventual resolution of traditional philosophical issues.

Phil 290 Fields of Phil: Feminist Philosophy: Robison; W 5:30–8; When it was first employed nearly two centuries ago, the term “feminism” referred to “qualities of females.” By the mid-nineteenth century, feminism became critical, that is, it became a philosophical movement that interrogated these so-called “feminine” qualities and how they came to be established as such. Our course will track the critical feminist turn in philosophy since its beginning in Simone de Beauvoir and the path that she initiated. It will have three parts. Taking de Beauvoir’s powerful thought, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman,” as our starting place, we will begin by closely engaging The Second Sex. In the next part, we will pay close attention to Judith Butler’s response, and examine her influential theory of gender performativity. In the third part, we will examine critical responses to Butler’s theory, such as Martha Nussbaum, Nancy Fraser, and Viviane Namaste. Throughout the course, we will encounter issues surrounding the relationships of sex and gender, nature and culture, mythology and history, desire and power, intercourse and violence. We will ask about what it means to be or, alternatively, become gendered, and the connection between agency and the body that each understanding of gender entails. We will ask about the role of history, class, and culture for defining gender, and the lived experience of its construction. Finally, turning to issues raised in transgender and Gender Nonconforming Identities discussions, we will critically reflect on the possibilities and limitations for thinking personal identity as inseparable from sexuality and gender.

Phil 293 Fields of Phil: The Philosophy of Time: Bartels; M 5:30–8; Is time real or an illusion? Is there a fundamental distinction between “subjective” and “objective” time? Is each “self” spread out over his or her lifetime or does the self only really exist in the present moment? By considering these and other questions, this course will give students a basic grounding in the issues and debates concerning the metaphysics of time in both the analytic and continental traditions. It will also focus on the interrelations between philosophical accounts of time and of the self. Readings will include both historical and contemporary sources. We will read Aristotle, Beothius, Nietzsche, Bergson, McTaggart, Gödel, Putnam and papers by contemporary philosophers; but rather than being a historical survey, this course will be arranged thematically on what philosophers of the past and the present bring to the issues with which time presents us.


Phil 295 Periods and Movements: Pragmatism: Kaye; M 2:30–5; This course will be an introduction to the writing of those American philosophers we’ve come to call pragmatists. As such it will be focused on some of the key issues that animated their thought—namely, truth, justification, the community of inquirers, experience, and the nature of belief. Readings will include texts from Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey.

Phil 339 Contemporary Continental Philosophy: Roholt; T 1:00–3:30 p.m.; This course will focus on core movements in the continental (European) philosophical tradition, with some emphasis given to phenomenology. We will examine the ways in which continental philosophers approach issues in various subfields of philosophy such as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and the philosophy of technology. We will read the work of philosophers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Martin Heidegger, Theodor W. Adorno, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, and Hubert Dreyfus. Continental philosophy stands in contrast to the dominant, Anglo-American, “analytic” philosophical tradition; we will have occasion to consider the methodological differences and similarities between analytic and continental philosophy.

Phil 390 Fields of Phil: Knowing One’s Mind: Morgan; MW 1:00–2:15; You know a lot of things about your own mental life. You know what you believe, what you want, what you feel, etc. Moreover, you seem to be the authority on such things. No one knows your mental life better than you do. In this course, we’ll look at how we come to attain such knowledge–what we might call self-knowledge. Part of our goal will be to investigate the scope of self-knowledge. In particular, we will look at how self-deception is possible and what, if anything, makes self-deception especially bad. Readings may include, but are not limited to, work by David Hume, Thomas Reid, Alex Byrne, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Mike W. Martin, and more.

Spring 2019 Courses

Phil 200 History of Ethics: M 5:30–8:00 p.m.; J. Kaye; The content of this course is a survey of major ethical theories, explored through selections from great works by key figures in the Western tradition of moral philosophy. We will examine the virtue ethics of Plato and Aristotle, the sentimentalism of David Hume, the deontological ethics of Immanuel Kant, the utilitarianism of Henry Sidgwick, the moral skepticism of Friedrich Nietzsche, and, finally, one or more modern-day ethical theories. The course will be focused on the development of important philosophical skills, especially writing.

Phil 204 Philosophical Issues in Biomedical Ethics: K. Baxter; MW 1:00–2:15 p.m.; In this course, we will learn about the fundamental moral principles relevant to medical ethics—including patient autonomy, beneficence, veracity, fidelity, and justice. We will apply ethical theories—including deontology and utilitarianism—to issues healthcare professionals face. We will compare these theories’ ability to recommend an appropriate course of action for the healthcare professional when fundamental moral principles conflict with each other. We will also contrast these theories with non-Western alternatives such as Buddhist ethics. Topics may include: just allocation of scarce medical resources, informed consent, stem cell research, genetic engineering, surrogate motherhood, abortion, and euthanasia. We will also study the history of medicine from a philosophical perspective, examining instances of medical personnel’s abuse of power –such as the Holocaust and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. We will then analyze the dynamics of power in contemporary medicine—such as pharmaceutical and insurance corporations’ influence on healthcare policymakers. How do these influences affect patients’ access to healthcare, the quality of care received, and the confidentiality of patients’ medical data? Our investigation of medicine and power will also illuminate disparities based on race, gender and class.

Phil 233 Contemporary Philosophers: The Philosophy of Technology: T. Roholt; T 1:00–3:30 p.m.; We are steeped in technology. The philosopher David Kaplan puts it this way: “Our world is largely a constructed environment; our technologies and technological systems form the background, context, and medium for our lives.” In our contemporary culture, it has become increasingly clear that our technology progresses faster than our understanding of how best to manage and use it. In this course we will employ the tools of philosophy to examine the ways in which technology affects our interactions with others, and the ways in which technology affects our society (the good and the not-so-good). We will accomplish this by drawing upon principles from ethics and political philosophy. By drawing upon the methodology of existential phenomenology, we will examine the very nature of technology, the ways in which technology shapes our experience of our surroundings, and the ways in which it influences our self-identities.

Phil 331 History of Philosophy: Ancient Philosophy: M. Robison; W 5:30–8:00 p.m.

Phil 390 Selected Topics: Theories of Explanation: K. McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15 p.m.; One definition of ‘philosophy’, as an activity, is to take an ordinary and uncontroversial concept and subject it to examination, often revealing surprising and unexpected complexities packed inside. This course will do that with explanation: explaining is something we do everyday, something we value and demand of others. But what does ‘explaining’ do? What does it mean to explain? What makes an explanation ‘good’, or ‘bad’? What does truth have to do with explanation? Are there things that are (or must be) unexplainable? Is science, as our primary generator of knowledge and method of inquiry, “in the business” of producing explanations too? Is an explanation itself an instance of knowledge, or do explanations not add to our knowledge of the world at all? In the course, students will explore different accounts of explanation and we’ll evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, especially as applied to topics and areas of interest to the class.

Phil 424 Seminar in Philosophy: J. Morgan; M 11:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m.

Fall 2018 Courses

Phil 260 Philosophies of Art: Guetti; W 5:30–8:00 p.m.

Phil 264 Critical Reasoning and Arguments: Kim; M 5:30–8:00 p.m.
Phil 270 Philosophy of Mind: Morgan; M 11:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m.; Philosophical issues arising from the study of mental processes including the relation of a person to the body and the possible reduction of consciousness to a brain process.
Phil 310 Knowledge, Belief, and Truth: McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15 a.m.; The major issues and theories concerning the relationship between knowledge, experience and reality.
Phil 390 Fields of Phil: Philosophies of Self: Roholt; T 1:00–3:30 p.m.; When you say “I” or “me” what are you referring to? There has been much disagreement in philosophy over the nature of the self/subject/person. In this course we will consider the metaphysical complexities of what the self might be, and the epistemological complexities of how we might know it. A secondary aspect of the course will involve considering whether certain conceptions of the self suggest that some ways of conducting our lives are better than others. We will read philosophers from both the analytic and continental traditions of philosophy, such as Descartes, Hume, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein, Foucault, Shoemaker, and Parfit.

Spring 2018 Philosophy Courses

Phil 291 Fields of Philosophy: The Philosophy of Race: Bayruns; M 5:30–8 p.m.; The aim of this course is to cover the major debates and areas of inquiry in philosophy of race. Some of the debates concern (1) whether race is real, (2) whether, if so, it is socially real, biologically real or psychologically real, (3) whether society should abolish the use of the idea or category of race because of its relation to racism and racial injustice, (4) whether humans have a natural disposition to categorize by race, (5) how race can affect the flow of knowledge in society, the production of ignorance and the justification of individually held beliefs, and (6) how race affects the distribution of wealth and opportunities in the United States. We will study authors and influential texts from the 15th century to the early 20th century, from theorists such as Bartolomé de las Casas to W.E.B. Du Bois, to Alain Locke. These debates and areas of inquiry in the philosophy of race will be taken up by engaging not only with philosophers of race but also with philosophers of biology, sociologists, metaphysicians, epistemologists, and political philosophers.
Phil 292 Fields of Philosophy: Philosophy in Science Fiction: McDermid; TR 10–11:15 a.m.; Science fiction – in literature, TV, movies and other cultural products – obviously focuses on the impact of current or speculative scientific and technological developments. But a key part of what makes Sci-Fi interesting is that those speculations allow authors and readers to explore science and technology as a way to ask enduring questions about the human experience: philosophical questions. The fictional possibilities opened up by the real or imagined science often frame classic philosophical issues in newly-engaging or truly novel ways. This course will allow students to explore their favorite science fiction, to develop a deeper understanding of the philosophy it assumes, questions or confronts. Course content will be substantially driven by student interests, as the scope of the subject matter and the philosophy it engages with is too great to fit in one course.
Phil 333 History of Philosophy: Modern Philosophy: Robison; W 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.
Phil 339 Contemporary Continental Philosophy: Roholt; T 1–3:30 p.m.

Fall 2017 Philosophy Courses

PHIL 212 Social and Political Philosophy: Robison; W 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.; This course will examine core issues in social and political philosophy in the western tradition—such as justice, authority, freedom and equality—in order to reflect on the nature of the political state and the relationship between the state and the individual. Taking a broad historical approach, we will examine foundational works in political philosophy by thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, as well as contemporary thinkers such as Rawls and Foucault. In so doing, we will consider philosophers’ points of disagreement on these issues, and examine their respective underlying reasoning.
PHIL 290 Fields of Philosophy: Happiness and Meaning: Roholt; T 1:00–3:30 p.m.; Is happiness simply maximizing pleasure? Is happiness just getting what you want? Can a person become happy by accumulating wealth? Is being happy the same as living a good life? What is a good life? What makes a life fulfilling? What makes it meaningful? In what ways are the following related to happiness: freedom, ethics, politics, identity, authenticity, technology? In considering these questions, we will read from several different areas of philosophy—existentialism, phenomenology, ancient Greek philosophy, contemporary analytic philosophy, and contemporary continental philosophy. One task in this project is to analyze happiness and related concepts, but we will also continually attempt to describe, to flesh out the underlying phenomenon that philosophers aim to pick out with such concepts. The underlying phenomenon is something like the ultimate goal of life or what Aristotle calls “the chief good.”
PHIL 293 Fields of Philosophy: Philosophy of Biology: McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15 a.m.; This course will be organized around answering one apparently simple question: “Is evolutionary biology a science?” Students will explore this question through independent research, group projects and class presentations, using their own expertise and interests to focus their activity. As we research this, and evaluate alternative accounts (the various creationisms, intelligent design, etc.), some of the issues we will discuss are the demarcation problem (what counts as ‘scientific’?), the nature of scientific knowledge and explanation, the relationship between the sciences and other ways of knowing (such as religion), the role of politics in science and science education, and the value-neutrality or impartiality of science.
PHIL 331 Ancient Philosophy: Kaye; W 5:30–8:00 p.m.

Spring 2017 Philosophy Courses

PHIL 233 Contemporary Philosophers: The Philosophy of Technology: Roholt; T 1:00–3:30 p.m.; We are steeped in technology. The philosopher David Kaplan puts it this way: “Our world is largely a constructed environment; our technologies and technological systems form the background, context, and medium for our lives.” The Philosophy of Technology is a relatively new sub-field of philosophy, which is exciting because the sub-field is still in flux—philosophers of technology are still in disagreement about precisely what should be their focus. The philosophy of technology should at least attempt to clarify what technology is. But is technology a particular domain of human activity? Is it a particular way of knowing? In this course, we will study some of these attempts to make sense of the nature of technology, but we will focus on the ways in which technology affects us—as individual selves, socially, and politically.
PHIL 264 Critical Reasoning and Arguments: Herrera; W 5:30–8:00 p.m.; This course addresses the philosophical side of reasoning, inference and decision-making. The emphasis is on key themes from formal logic, paradoxes, inductive reasoning, probability and rhetoric. The goal will be to develop skills necessary to critically read scholarly, scientific and even political texts. Students will also get practice in logically presenting their views, and challenging those that others express. In this course, the goal is to explore the connection between philosophical theory and practice, in a way that gets at the basic need that we have to make informed choices in a range of disciplines and situations.
PHIL 310 Knowledge, Belief, and Truth: McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15 a.m.; The major issues and theories concerning the relationship between knowledge, experience and reality.
PHIL 424 Seminar in Philosophy: Theories of Action: Robison; M 5:30–8:00 p.m.; Cooperative research seminar in major movements, problems, philosophers or works.

Fall 2016 Philosophy Courses

PHIL 200 History of Ethics: Herrera; W 5:30–8:00 p.m.; This is a survey course of the major developments in moral philosophy. We will trace a selective history, from the ancient Greeks to the 21st century. Along the way, students will become acquainted with the most important theories and concepts in ethics, such as utilitarianism, deontology and natural-law theory. These theories will be set against the parallel history of ethical skepticism. The course will also focus on the improvement of the two main skills in philosophy, reading and writing. In that sense, the class serves as a bridge between Introductory level classes and the more advanced ones that you might take in philosophy.
PHIL 295 Periods and Movements: Living Machines in Descartes and Hobbes: Robison; M 5:30–8:00 p.m.; Hobbes and Descartes are often criticized for putting forth ‘lifeless’ conceptions of life that reduce living creatures to artificial machines or dead matter. Descartes and Hobbes accept the ‘new’ scientific notion of nature as physical motion governed by universal, causal laws, and reject the ‘old’ approaches which conceive of life in terms of divine purpose or natural teleology. Each elaborates his concept of life with reference to automata or ‘engines that move themselves’, to use one of Hobbes’ formulations. From this ‘machine metaphor’, however, they draw very different conclusions. We will examine these two influential conceptions of life in order to discover the ways that each philosopher conceives of the human being as a living, moving, creature. In so doing, we will explore key issues in early modern philosophy that pertain to the relationship between nature and human experience (such as the connection between the human body and the human mind), and those concerning the free will-determinism debate.
PHIL 312 Existence and Reality: McDermid; TR 10:00–11:15 a.m.; An examination of major philosophical theories concerning the nature of reality.
PHIL 339 Contemporary Continental Philosophy: Roholt; T 1:00–3:30 p.m.; This course will survey the four main movements of the continental (European) philosophical tradition: (1) 19th-century German philosophy, (2) Marxism/critical theory, (3) phenomenology/existentialism, and (4) post-structuralism/post-modernism. This philosophical tradition runs from the 19th Century to the present day. Continental philosophy stands in contrast to the dominant, Anglo-American, “analytic” philosophical tradition. This course gives students the opportunity to examine the ways in which continental philosophers approach issues in the core subfields of philosophy, such as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics. Students will also have the opportunity to explore similarities to and differences from the analytic philosophical tradition.