Below is a list of upcoming graduate courses with full descriptions and other specific information. Below that is a list of all graduate-level courses offered by the Department. A full listing of graduate level courses is also available at the OSU Course Catalog. For a complete listing of courses offered in recent, current, and upcoming semesters, see the OSU Master Schedule.
Upcoming Graduate Courses
Autumn Semester 2025
5212 - Seminar in Ancient Philosophy - Aristotle
Instructor: Colin Smith
LEC: TR 9:35:00 AM-10:55:00 AM
in person
Aristotle's revolutionary significance in the history of philosophy, science, theology, and culture is difficult to overstate. He enacted breakthroughs in all the major philosophical subfields with his scientifically rigorous inquiry. His work had enormous influence on medieval, Renaissance-era, and post-Enlightenment thinking; but it also provides tools for understanding the world in ways that are quite different from, and offer critical resources for, our own thinking today. In this course, we will survey Aristotle’s most important works. We’ll begin by studying texts on language and logic like Categories and Posterior Analytics before turning to his major metaphysical writing: Physics, De Anima, and Metaphysics. We’ll conclude with a five-week study of Aristotle’s ethical and political writings. A central goal throughout will be to understand the unity of Aristotle’s thought, addressing recurrent themes like the distinction between activity and potency (often called "actuality" and "potentiality"), the connections between language and ontology, virtue ethics’ rootedness in metaphysical principles, and the central ontological function of nous (“mind” or “intelligence”).
Prerequisites/Restrictions: 3210 or 6 cr hrs at the 2000 level or above in Philos coursework, or Grad standing in Philos, or permission of instructor.
5550 - Advanced Logical Theory
Instructor: Neil Tennant
LEC: TR 11:10:00 AM-12:30:00 PM
in person
In 1931 Kurt Gödel proved his two famous incompleteness theorems: the truths of the language of arithmetic cannot be axiomatized; and no consistent theory of arithmetic can prove its own consistency. In 1936 Alonzo Church proved that logical theoremhood in the language of mathematics is not mechanically decidable. These are known as the major ‘limitative theorems’ of mathematical logic. They shattered the Leibnizian dream of a calculus ratiocinator, a mechanizable method of determining truths expressed in a characteristica universalis, or universal language. And they place inviolable limits on what can be known a priori by computational methods. PHIL 5550 will study these limitative theorems. Their proofs involve arithmetical coding of syntax (so-called ‘Gödel-numbering’) and the Cantorian method of diagonalization. Their philosophical ramifications include arguments from famous writers that human minds transcend all possible machines, and that we cannot know with a priori certainty that mathematics is consistent.
Prerequisites/Restrictions: 2500 and 5500. Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr hrs or 3 completions.
5750 - Advanced Theory of Knowledge
Instructor: Abe Roth
LEC: WF 9:35:00 AM-10:55:00 AM
in person
The class starts by getting some epistemological concepts and concerns on the table with a look at several papers on internalist and externalist notions of epistemic warrant or justification. The main focus of the course, however, will be on epistemic issues as they arise in social situations where individuals relate to one another and with institutions. We will look at some literature on testimony, trust, and the epistemology of groups. A concern will be to reconcile practical and moral considerations regarding how to act with epistemic norms concerned with knowledge and truth. Recent literature in epistemology speaks of wronging, injustice, and accountability to one another. To what extent can properly epistemic sense be made of these notions? Or do they inevitably reflect a compromising of epistemic standards, something that must be done to get on with our (social) lives?5750
GE: None.
Prerequisites/Restrictions: 2500, and 6 cr hrs in Philos at or above 3000-level; or Grad standing; or permission of instructor.
8001 - Training Seminar
Instructor: Chris Pincock
SEM: - TBA
in person
This course is designed to provide professional training for all first- and second-year graduate students that will enable them to develop the skills required for success in research, teaching and service.
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Grad standing in Philos.
8100 - First-Year Seminar
Instructor: Justin D'Arms and Tristram McPherson
SEM: T 12:45:00 PM-3:30:00 PM
in person
This course introduces new graduate students to essential skills in reading, discussing and writing philosophy, in a small seminar setting designed to allow all students to participate actively and get personalized feedback. This year, the seminar will discuss a wide range of philosophical topics, in a way that helps to introduce students to the work and interests of several of our OSU faculty.
Prerequisites/Restrictions: First year of Grad standing.
8200 - Seminar in History of Philosophy
Instructor: Lisa Downing
SEM: W 4:00:00 PM-6:45:00 PM
in person
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Grad standing in Philos, or permission of instructor.
8750 - Seminar in Theory of Knowledge
Instructor: Jeremy Fantl
SEM: T 4:00:00 PM-6:45:00 PM
in person
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Grad standing in Philos, or permission of instructor.
8800 - Seminar in Philosophy of Mind
Instructor: Jada Wiggleton-Little
SEM: R 4:00:00 PM-6:45:00 PM
in person
What does it mean to say that X typically motivates us to act? Certain states like moral reasons, urges, desires, pain, and other affective experiences are considered intrinsically motivating. However, there are debates as to how and why such states have such a significant motivational force. This course examines the nature of motivation by surveying how motivation as a phenomenon is characterized in philosophical texts and texts in experimental psychology. Starting with Hume’s theory of motivation, the course will also discuss Kant’s theory of motivation, desire and non-desire-based views of affective experiences, and cognitivist and non-cognitivist views of moral motivation.
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Grad standing in Philos, or permission of instructor.
Spring Semester 2025
5230 – Studies in 17th Century Philosophy
Instructor: Lisa Downing
R 4:00-6:45pm
In this course we will look at seventeenth to early eighteenth century debates on the border between physics and metaphysics, focusing especially on questions about how to understand Newtonian gravity and its implications for the nature of matter. Readings will include René Descartes, Isaac Newton, the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, Emilie du Châtelet.
5420 – Phil Topics In Feminist Theory
Instructor: Sahar Heydari Fard
TR 11:10 AM – 12:30 PM
In Person
In today's complex social landscape, understanding the theoretical underpinnings of feminism is more crucial than ever. This course aims to explore core philosophical topics in feminist theory, offering a comprehensive deep dive into its multifaceted concerns. Students will examine key texts and philosophical debates that have shaped feminist thought, investigating issues related to social explanation, social change, metaphysics of gender, ethics and politics of care, gender performativity, intersectionality, reproductive rights, and more. We will engage with canonical feminist philosophers as well as contemporary voices, allowing for a nuanced understanding of the ongoing discussions within the feminist community.
5440-0010: Race, Education and Citizenship
Instructor: Winston Thompson
LEC: M 4:30 PM-7:15 PM
in person
This course in philosophy of education presents its participants with a unique opportunity to engage in a close study of race and education within a political context. It takes seriously the large body of scholarship in philosophy and the social sciences that suggests that race functions within, across, and through educational institutions to confer dis/advantage of various sorts. This course will focus on the consequences of this idea, carefully investigating some of the underlying claims, implications, and normative obligations that accompany them. This course will allow participants to pursue many of the practical and conceptual questions that rest at the intersection of race and education. Among these are the following: How does education play a specific role in racialized patterns of benefit and detriment? What role, if any, should race play in our understanding of educational policy and practice? How does race affect our understanding of the ways that education might prepare persons for the complex work of citizenship (and what might this mean for you, at a university with the motto” Education for Citizenship”)? How does race impact the ways that educational experiences shape the persons that students are able to become? How does a historical study of approaches to these questions prepare us to deal well with race and education in our increasingly complicated present – and future? In what ways does a philosophical study of race and citizenship offer any clarity regarding other identity categories and their impact on education? How, if at all, does race intersect with other identity categories (gender, class, sexuality, etc.) in educationally significant ways? How does race present special challenges to abiding concerns within the field of philosophy of education?
5500 – Advanced Symbolic Logic
Instructor: Neil Tennant
TR 2:20 PM – 3:40 PM
In Person
This course covers the metatheory of first-order logics and languages. It studies systems of natural deduction (and associated sequent calculi) for propositional and predicate logic, and relates these to appropriate kinds of formal semantics, via soundness and completeness theorems. Other philosophically and foundationally important results expose the fundamental tension between expressive power and deductive power in any language for mathematics; the existence of countable models for any consistent first-order theory; and the reducibility in principle of all of mathematics to a theory of sets that is based on first-order axioms that govern a single binary relation.
5600 – Advanced Philosophy of Language
Instructor: Stewart Shapiro
TR 9:35-10:55 AM
In Person
Language can be thought of as a vehicle for communication and expression. In this context, a variety of philosophical questions arise. What is meaning, and to what extent is it compositional? What are definite descriptions, and how do they function in communication? How do proper names function? Are names rigid designators or disguised descriptions? What is pragmatics, and how does that facilitate (or impair) communication? Is there a relationship between semantics and logic—for instance, does one of those dominate the other? How should we understand semantic indeterminacy? This course includes readings and discussions that address these questions. Students will be evaluated through a series of short essays (2-3 pages) and a substantial term paper. In addition, each student will present a draft of their term paper to the class, and briefly comment on another student’s term paper.
7080 – Engineering Ethics
Instructor: Eden Lin
Asynchronous
Equip engineering grad students with skills for resolving moral issues that may arise in professional contexts. Includes an introduction to ethics, followed by contemporary issues in engineering ethics, such as the nature and moral status of technology; responsibility; privacy; honesty and integrity, safety and risk; environmental ethics; and the ethics of artificial intelligence.
8500 – Seminar in Logic
Instructor: Neil Tennant
M 12:40 PM - 3:25 PM
In Person
We investigate how proof theory raises--and possibly solves--various problems in the Philosophy of Logic and the Philosophy of Language. Among the topics to be covered are the logico-semantic paradoxes (and paradoxes of other kinds); the notion of harmony; relevance in deduction; and the free logic of abstraction.
8650 – Seminar in Philosophy of Science
Instructor: Chris Pincock
W 4:00 PM – 6:45 PM
In Person
Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) remains one of the most influential discussions of scientific knowledge. In this seminar we will consider the ongoing significance of Kuhn for the philosophy of science by reading Structure along with a selection of later writings by Kuhn and his critics. Kuhn targeted a simple model of the history of science that supposed that scientific knowledge was gradually accumulated over time. What alternative conceptions of scientific knowledge are available if we follow Kuhn and grant the existence of ongoing scientific revolutions? Kuhn claimed that scientific progress consists in our increasing capacity to solve scientific puzzles. Can a more traditional view of scientific knowledge as justified true belief survive Kuhn’s arguments? If not, what alternative notions of scientific progress remain viable?
8900 – Placement Seminar
Instructor: Tristram McPherson
TBA
In Person
8999 – Dissertation Seminar
Instructor: Abe Roth
T 4:00 PM – 6:45 PM
In person
Research for dissertation purposes only
Complete Listing of Philosophy Graduate Courses
5010S Teaching Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
Design a set of philosophy lessons and team-teach some of these lessons to secondary school students.
5210 (601.03)--Ancient Philosophy: Studies in Ancient Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
Variable content; special topics in ancient Greek philosophy, including value theory, logic, metaphysics and natural science in pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle the Hellenistic schools or neo-Platonism.
Prereq: 301 or 10 cr hrs of Philos at the 200 level; or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 10 cr hrs.
5211 (601.01)--Ancient Philosophy: Plato
3 Credit Hours
A survey of central philosophical themes in one or more Platonic dialogues.
Prereq: 301 or 10 cr hrs of Philos at the 200 level; or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor.
5212 (601.02)--Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle
3 Credit Hours
A survey of central philosophical themes in one or more Aristotelian treatises.
Prereq: 301 or 10 cr hrs of Philos at the 200 level; or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor.
5220 (602)--Studies in Medieval Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of a major philosopher, school or philosophical problem of the medieval period; topics vary.
Prereq: 302 and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 15 cr hrs.
5230 (603)--Studies in 17th-Century Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of a major philosopher or philosophical problem of the rationalist period; topics vary from quarter to quarter.
Prereq: 303 and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above; or grad standing in Philos; or written of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 15 cr hrs.
5240 (604.02)--Studies in 18th Century Philosophy: Selected Problems or Topics
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of one or more important themes in Kant's philosophical writings.
Prereq: 303, or 304, and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor
5241 (604.01)--Studies in 18th Century Philosophy: Kant
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of one or more important themes in Kant's philosophical writings.
Prereq: 303, or 304, and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor.
5260 (606)--Studies in 20th-Century Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of one or more central movement in 20th-century philosophy; topics vary.
Prereq: 15 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above, or grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 15 cr hrs.
5261 Phenomenology and Existentialism
3 Credit Hours
Early existentialist ideas of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche; Husserl's phenomenological method and critical analysis of works of philosophers such as Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre, Beauvoir, and others.
5300 (631)--Advanced Moral Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of major issues within moral philosophy such as: the foundations of morality; objectivity in ethics; morality, reason and sentiment; virtues and vices.
Prereq: 431 and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above or grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor.
5400 (630)--Advanced Political and Social Philosophy
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of issues in political and social philosophy, including democracy, civil disobedience, anarchism, totalitarianism, nature of the state, etc.
Prereq: 230 and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 200 level or above; or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor, and English 110 or 111 or equiv.
5410 (638)--Advanced Philosophy of Law
3 Credit Hours
An examination of the nature and function of law and of such problems as the relation of law to morality and the justification of punishment.
Prereq: 338 and 10 cr hrs of Philos coursework at the 200 level or above; or grad standing; or equiv or permission of instructor.
5420 (625)--Philosophical Topics in Feminist Theory
3 Credit Hours
An analytical study of selected philosophical issues arising out of feminist theory, such as the nature of autonomy, or the relation between gender and knowledge.
Prereq: 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above; or grad standing; or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 10 cr hrs.
5450 (640)--Advanced Aesthetic Theory
3 Credit Hours
Basic issues in philosophy of art: the definition of art; meaning, truth, and representation in art; the nature and basis of criticism; the criteria of interpretation of works of art.
Prereq: 15 cr hrs of Philos course work at 200 level or above; grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 641.
5500 (650)--Advanced Symbolic Logic
3 Credit Hours
Introduction to the metatheory of first-order logics and languages: axiomatic development of propositional and predicate logic; model theory; soundness, completeness, and Lowenheim-Skolem theorems.
Prereq: 250
5510 (652)--Nonclassical Logic
3 Credit Hours
Study of selected systems of nonclassical logic, such as entailment systems, modal, many-valued, epistemic, deontic, imperative, erotetic, tense, and free logics.
Prereq: 650. Repeatable to a maximum of 10 cr hrs.
5530 Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics
Analysis of basic concepts used in logic and in philosophical claims about logic and mathematics, such as proposition, logical truth, mathematical objects, and necessity.
5540 Advanced Philosophy of Rational Choice
Advanced study of the principles and methods of the philosophy of rational choice with applications in the theory of knowledge, ethics, and social and political philosophy.
Prereq: 2500 or 2540; or enrollment in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Major; or Grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor.
5550 (750)--Advanced Logical Theory
3 Credit Hours
Topics include formal arithmetic, recursive functions, Turing machines, Godel's incompleteness theorems, Church's thesis, arithmetical truth, logical paradoxes, and higher-order logic.
Preq: 250 and 650. Repeatable to a maximum of 15 hours.
5600 (673) - Advanced Philosophy of Language
3 Credit Hours
Basic problems and results in the philosophy of language, concentrating on theories of reference, theories of meaning, and theories of language-use (speech-acts, implicature, etc.).
Prereq: 250 and 10 credit hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above (preferably 473); or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor.
5650 (655)--Advanced Philosophy of Science
3 Credit Hours
A study of the nature and structure of scientific concepts, laws, and theories; appraisal of methodologies, presuppositions, and frames of reference in science.
Prereq: 250 and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above (preferably 455); or 250 and grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor.
5700 (663)--Advanced Metaphysics
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of major metaphysical problems: categories, universals, substance and process, causality and law, space and time, metaphysical presuppositions of knowledge.
Prereq: 250 or 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above (preferably 463); or grad standing; or permission of instructor.
5750 (660)--Advanced Theory of Knowledge
3 Credit Hours
An intensive examination of major epistemological problems: the possibility, origin, foundation, structure, methods, limits, types, and validity of knowledge.
Prereq: 250 and 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above (preferably 460); or grad standing; or permission of instructor.
5800 (667) - Advanced Philosophy of Mind
3 Credit Hours
Classical and contemporary approaches to the nature of mind, mind-body, other minds, intentionality, and other problems.
Prereq: 15 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above (preferably 467); or grad standing in Philos; or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 767.
5830 (612)--Introduction to Cognitive Science
3 Credit Hours
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary study of the nature of human thought; psychological, philosophical, linguistic, and artificial intelligence approaches to knowledge representation.
Prereq: Permission of instructor or a total of 12 cr hrs from at least two of the following areas: Cptr Inf, Linguist, Philos, and Psych. Not open to students with credit for CptrInf 612, Linguist 612, or Psych 612 or 794 (Sp Qtr 1989) or 794A (Wi Qtr 1990). Cross-listed in Computer and Information Science, Linguistics, and Psychology.
5840 (620)--Advanced Philosophy of Cognitive Science
3 Credit Hours
In-depth examination of the influence of results in cognitive science upon the way in which philosophers approach fundamental issues about the nature of the mind.
Prereq: 467 or permission of instructor.
5850 (670) - Philosophy of Religion
3 Credit Hours
A study of religious concepts and problems; the idea and nature of God, of humans, their relation to the world and human destiny.
Prereq: 10 cr hrs of Philos course work at the 300 level or above; or grad standing; or permission of instructor.
8001 --Graduate Training Seminar
1-3 Credit Hours
This course is designed to provide professional training for all first- and second-year graduate students that will enable them to develop the skills required for success in research, teaching and service.
Prereq: Grad standing in Philos. Repeatable to a maximum of 5 cr hrs or 2 completions. This course is graded S/U.
8100 (700) - First-Year Seminar
4 Credit Hours
A topically variable introduction to advanced philosophical methodology.
Open only to first-year philosophy grad students.
8200 (801)--Seminar in the History of Philosophy
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8300 (830)--Seminar in Value Theory
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8500 (850)--Seminar in Logic
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8600 (873)--Seminar in Philosophy of Language
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8650 (855)--Seminar in Philosophy of Science
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8700 (863)--Seminar in Metaphysics
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8750 (860)--Seminar in Theory of Knowledge
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8800--Seminar in Philosophy of Mind
1-4 Credit Hours
Preq: Grad standing in Philos or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs.
8900--Placement Seminar
1-3 Credit Hours
Prereq: Grad standing in Philos. Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr hrs or 3 completions. This course is graded S/U.
8999 --Dissertation Research in Philosophy
1-9 Credit Hours
Research for dissertation purposes only.
Prereq: Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs or 30 completions. This course is graded S/U.