Courses and Syllabi
The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.
Philosophy Spring 2021
Undergraduate
100-Level Courses in PHIL
Introduction to the nature of philosophical reasoning and some of the main problems of philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
4 Sections Currently Scheduled »
Examines ethical issues associated with new developments in information technology, including privacy rights, intellectual property rights, and the effect of information technology on society. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Considers some perennial issues in ethical theory. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Introduction to philosophical reflection on the arts by looking at the critical issues in the history of aesthetics. Applies considerations to specific works and explores these works in terms of their historical contexts and influences. Concentrates on one form of art or one period and always emphasizes questions of critical evaluation and art historical analysis. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
2 Sections Currently Scheduled
Basic concepts and techniques of deduction, emphasizing the modern treatment of such topics as quantification and rules of inference, with study of the classical treatment. Basic principles of induction, informal fallacies, and uses of logic in everyday life. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
3 Sections Currently Scheduled
200-Level Courses in PHIL
Examines differences and relations between literary and philosophical texts. Examines texts from a given period in the history of literature and philosophy. Topics include the presence of common issues in literary and philosophical writings, the influence of philosophical ideas on the production of literary texts and literary theory, and the development in literary texts of issues that are possible objects of philosophical inquiry. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
11 Sections Currently Scheduled »
300-Level Courses in PHIL
Figures and problems of modern philosophy. Study of philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Hegel. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Examines some major moral issues involved in practice and research in medicine and health care. Topics to be chosen from medical experimentation, definition of death, physician-assisted dying, genetics and human reproduction, distribution of scarce resources, fertility, and organ transplants. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
6 Sections Currently Scheduled »
Investigation of theories of natural law, legal positivism, and legal realism as they pertain to some of the central philosophical questions about law. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Exploration through lecture and discussion of developments in the Western tradition of political thought from the time of the Greek city-state to late medieval Christendom, focusing on such topics as the nature and purpose of politics, the relationship between the individual and the state, the political significance of religion and tradition, and the concept of natural law. Equivalent to GOVT 323.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Exploration through lecture and discussion of recent developments in the Western tradition of political thought from the middle of the 19th century to today. Different sections focus on one or another of the various political theories that have been influential during this period such as liberal, libertarian, conservative, communitarian, Marxist, feminist, and postmodern thought. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Equivalent to GOVT 327.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Examines the philosophical questions that arise in the wake of the Nazi concentration camps concerning genocide, political modernity, and conceptions of the human. Investigates how the logic of the camp made possible systematic genocidal violence against the Jews and other groups, and the ways in which that logic manifests in other forms and on other bodies before and after Auschwitz. Draws on writers and philosophers such as Primo Levi, Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Maurice Blanchot, and/or Adriana Cavarero to analyze the ethical and political questions posed by the camps, and uses literature, film and art to engage with the complexities of bearing witness to horror and the unrepresentable. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Examines the phenomenological way of doing philosophy, its findings in regard to the "life-world," questions of "first philosophy," and the subject matter of the social sciences, as well as critical difficulties in its development. Texts by Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Schutz, and Derrida. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
An in-depth examination of selected environmental issues from a philosophical perspective. Such issues might include the value of nature, the moral status of animals, duties to protect wilderness areas, economics and environmental protection, environmental justice, and environmental aesthetics. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Philosophical issues relating to competing methodologies for the social sciences. Analysis and critique of mainstream positivism and behaviorism; paradigm theory and scientific revolutions; interpretive understanding and hermeneutical science; phenomenology and the social construction of reality; ethnomethodology and situational meaning; analytic philosophy and action theory; the "idea" of a social science; sociology of knowledge and theory of ideology; and Western Marxism and critical theory. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Study of predicate calculi by means of a step-by-step construction of artificial languages. Topics include procedures for constructing a calculus, proof techniques, significant properties of predicate calculi, and procedures for recognizing phrases. Limited to three attempts.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
400-Level Courses in PHIL
Explores topics in current philosophical research in a seminar format. Topics vary. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 18 credits.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Seminar for students enrolled in the honors program in philosophy. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Examines key social and political issues drawing on a range of philosophical thinkers, texts and approaches. Possible topics include: migration and immigration, biopolitics, climate change, health inequity, decision theory, democracy and citizenship, slavery and reparations, mass incarceration, or human rights. Emphasizes the ability to put philosophical concepts and theories to work to address questions and problems of social, political or global significance. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 9 credits.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Covers issues in the philosophy, economics, and political science of institutions, information, and collective action. Through case studies of existing legal and political institutions, applies the insights to problems in politics, policy making, social-choice theory, and social, moral, and political philosophy. (Specific content varies). Notes: Serves as the capstone course for the PPE program. Equivalent to ECON 460, GOVT 469.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Topics in PHIL
Exploration through lecture and discussion of recent developments in the Western tradition of political thought from the middle of the 19th century to today. Different sections focus on one or another of the various political theories that have been influential during this period such as liberal, libertarian, conservative, communitarian, Marxist, feminist, and postmodern thought. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Equivalent to GOVT 327.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Seminar for students enrolled in the honors program in philosophy. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Graduate
600-Level Courses in PHIL
Topics vary. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Read More »
4 Sections Currently Scheduled »
700-Level Courses in PHIL
Close study of selected topics in current philosophical discourse. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
Topics in PHIL
Topics vary. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.
Read More »
4 Sections Currently Scheduled »
Close study of selected topics in current philosophical discourse. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Read More »
1 Section Currently Scheduled
