2027 Course Descriptions

Spring
 

1100 Introduction to Philosophy

What is the ultimate nature of right and wrong? Can values be objective? Why is there something rather than nothing? Does God exist? Do we have free will? Does it matter? Does anything matter, really? Believe it or not, these are all serious philosophical questions that have important implications for how we should live our lives. Introduction to Philosophy strives to engage these and other perennial philosophical questions using historical and contemporary sources from around the globe.

GE: Historical and Cultural Studies Foundation

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1332 Engineering Ethics

The purpose of this course is to equip engineering students with the skills necessary for resolving moral issues that are likely to arise in professional contexts. The course begins with a brief introduction to ethics and will then turns to contemporary issues in engineering ethics. Students will discuss whistleblowing, conflicts of interest, diversity in the workplace, risk and uncertainty, privacy and surveillance, sustainability, autonomous weapons systems, and the ethics of artificial intelligence.

GE: Historical and Cultural Studies Foundation
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Not open to students with credit for 1300

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1420 Philosophical Approaches to Racism and Sexism

How should terms like ‘racism’ and ‘sexism’ be defined, especially given the complicated, intersectional nature of lived experience? Can racism or sexism exist without racists or sexists? Is reverse racism or anti-white racism a thing? Given the intersectional nature of oppression, can gender justice be achieved and promoted without racial justice (and vice versa)? Do we need to get clear about the nature of gender in order to understand and counter-act sexism? And similarly, do we need to clarify the nature of race to be effective anti-racists? How does ethnicity differ from race, if at all? The dominant position in philosophical literature is that categories like race, ethnicity and gender are “socially constructed.” But what does this mean, and how do socially constructed categories fit into a broader picture of reality? We will explore these questions in part by studying the views of academic philosophers. We will also explore and assess the implications of these views for the “real world.”

GE: Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity Foundation

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1500 Introduction to Logic

There are many ways to get others to believe what you say: using statistics selectively, appealing to authority figures, or triggering emotional responses. These approaches can be useful and sometimes necessary. However, they're essentially deceptive - if discovered, your audience will rightfully challenge your methods. Moreover, these tactics fail against those trained to spot them. As speakers, we want to rely on sound reasoning rather than rhetorical tricks. As listeners, we want to be able to distinguish rhetoric from reason. In this course, we'll explore what it takes to reason well and how to distinguish between good and bad arguments.

GE: Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning (or Data Analysis) Foundation
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Not open to students with credit for 1501.

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1501 Introduction to Logic and Legal Reasoning

This course equips students with the tools of logic and critical thinking especially as they apply to the assessment of legal reasoning. By examining court cases and legal materials, students will learn to assess the strength and validity of legal reasoning, and thus to be able to evaluate and weigh legal evidence and testimony to reach justified conclusions. The critical reasoning practiced in the legal context will generalize to other domains.

GE: Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning (or Data Analysis) Foundation
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Not open to students with credit for 1500.01, 1500.02, or 1501

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1520 Probability, Data and Decision-Making

When was the last time you took a risk? It’s far more recent than you think. We constantly undertake risks including deciding to drive to work and deciding to go bungee jumping. One of these is a risk we undertake without much hesitation while the other seems to require careful consideration. In this course, we will examine the rational processes by which we make decisions in the face of uncertainty. To cash out this decision theory, we’ll examine (a) what probability is and how it relates to uncertainty, (b) evaluate the data needed to determine the probability of an event, (c) how to weigh the benefits of an outcome against its risks, and (d) how our actions and beliefs ought to be guided by the probabilistic information we gain. 

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2120 Asian Philosophies

This class will explore the main philosophical traditions that underlie the cultures of India, China, Japan, and a number of other countries in south and east Asia. Specifically, we will work toward understanding some of the essential texts from Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and others as time permits. However, we will not be approaching these texts merely for their historical value. We will be engaging them as potential sources of wisdom and insight into the nature of the world around us and our place within it.

GE: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts Foundation; and Historical and Cultural Studies Foundation

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2194 – The Nature of Beauty

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder, or is there such a thing as “objective beauty?” If beauty is objective, who would be a good judge of it? How should we appreciate the beauty of nature, and how does it compare to the appreciation of art? How should we think of the beauty of persons? And why should we be cautious about “everyday” body aesthetics? In this seminar, we will explore these questions by examining influential ideas, theories, and arguments about beauty—a fundamental value in Western thought. Through the works of Plato, Hume, Kant, Burke, and various contemporary authors, we will see why beauty once occupied a central place in aesthetics and reflect on why, despite its relative marginalization in modern aesthetic theories, it continues to matter today. Through a series of formal and informal essay assignments, students will practice writing as a tool for thinking and develop core skills for philosophical argumentation.

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2332 Engineering Ethics for a Diverse and Just World (with Research Inquiry)

This course provides students in engineering and technology fields analytical and critical tools to help them design and build for a diverse and just world. Codes of ethics—such as the NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers—encapsulate the demands of citizenship on engineers in their professional capacities. These codes prioritize safety, health, and welfare—but what do these require in a diverse world marked by racial, ethnic, gender, and other inequalities? What ethical and professional responsibilities do engineers in the United States have to diverse communities at home and abroad, and how can they work collaboratively and inclusively?

GE: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World Theme

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2332 Engineering Ethics for a Diverse and Just World with High Impact Research

This course provides students in engineering and technology fields analytical and critical tools to help them design and build for a diverse and just world. Codes of ethics—such as the NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers—encapsulate the demands of citizenship on engineers in their professional capacities. These codes prioritize safety, health, and welfare—but what do these require in a diverse world marked by racial, ethnic, gender, and other inequalities? What ethical and professional responsibilities do engineers in the United States have to diverse communities at home and abroad, and how can they work collaboratively and inclusively?

GE: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World Theme

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2338 Computing Ethics for a Just and Diverse World

This course provides students in computer science fields analytical and critical tools to become ethically attuned citizens who promote and sustain justice in a diverse world. Codes of ethics—IEEE Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics, and the ACM Code of Ethics—encapsulate the demands of citizenship on computer scientists in their professional capacities. These codes prioritize safety, health, and welfare—but what do these require in a diverse world marked by racial, ethnic, gender, and other inequalities? What ethical and professional responsibilities do computer scientists have to diverse communities at home and abroad, and how can they work collaboratively and inclusively?

GE: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World Theme

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2340 The Future of Humanity

What will life be like in a hundred, two hundred, or five hundred years? Some believe that further advances in technology will make human life unimaginably joyous and prosperous. Others have a much darker vision of our future—one in which our descendants are left with a depleted planet, and in which they face extinction at the hands of technological forces they cannot control. The future of humanity raises important philosophical and ethical questions. Why should we act more sustainably for the sake of future people? How large should the human population become? Should we use technology to enhance ourselves? Will we someday be able to transcend our physical bodies by uploading ourselves into computers—and if so, would this be a desirable thing to do? How might artificial superintelligence change human life—and could it destroy it?

GE: Sustainability Theme

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2342 Environmental Ethics

This course explores the relationship between humans, our fellow creatures, and the environment we inhabit together. It addresses theoretical questions concerning the value of nature, our duties to future people, environmental justice, and animal rights, as well as practical debates about the ethics of consumption, ecological and animal rights activism, and the just distribution of climate change burdens. By the end of the semester, you will develop the skills needed to think critically about our current environmental challenges and apply ethical reasoning to novel environmental ethics puzzles that will surely emerge over the course of your life.

GE: Sustainability Theme

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2367 Contemporary Social and Moral Problems in the U.S.

Contemporary U.S. society presents a myriad of social and moral challenges. In this course, students will dissect pressing issues such as the ethics of wealth disparity, racial and gender discrimination, political polarization, and climate change. In this course, students will learn how to analyze, construct, and defend moral arguments with careful reasoning and how to apply these skills to philosophical writing.

GE: Writing and Information Literacy Foundation

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2390 Ethics and Leadership in a Diverse World

In this course, students examine what is required of leaders who are also citizens in a pluralistic, democratic society. How do difference and disagreement shape leaders’ responsibilities? How do responsibilities differ within their organizations and as democratic citizens navigating broader social, political, legal, and economic challenges? Students will engage with leading scholarship on the justification of authority, democratic citizenship, morally responsible decision-making, and virtue ethics to understand how citizenship in a just and diverse society shapes our ideals and practices of ethical leadership.

GE: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World Theme

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2400 Political and Social Philosophy

The course investigates one of the central questions of philosophy: How should we, as human beings, live together? Given that social and political institutions both shape us and are shaped by us, what values should we adopt so that we may best fulfill our natures as individual and social beings? In particular, we will focus on questions surrounding how and whether a state can be justified, what it means to be free, what justice entails, and what equality is for, as well as contemporary issues, such as the protection and violation of human rights, immigration, epistemic injustice, and global poverty.

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2450 Philosophical Problems in the Arts

What is art? How should we feel about images, music, and video created by artificial intelligence? Is that art too or is it something else entirely? Is artistic value merely subjective or is there some substantial difference between good and bad art? What role does creativity play in the good life and should we keep making art even if we aren't particularly good at it? This class will engage the complex interactions between the history and the philosophy of art as we strive to understand the nature of art itself and why we value it.

GE: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts Foundation

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2455 Philosophy and Videogames

This course examines video games from a philosophical perspective. The course explores questions such as: What is a game in the first place? Are video games art and if so, are they a distinct form of art from movies or other visual arts? Are achievements that you are awarded in video games real achievements? Do these achievements have value or are videogames largely a waste of time? Is it ever wrong to perform an action in a video game? Is it wrong for tech companies to develop and market video games that are highly addictive for users? Throughout our course, we will also examine broader philosophical issues that arise in the creation and play of videogames. For example, what can we learn from video games about the nature of personal identity or free will?

GE: Historical and Cultural Studies Foundation; and Literary, Visual and Performing Arts Foundation

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2456 Philosophy of Sport

Sport is a central part of many people's lives, but despite the popularity and ubiquity across cultures and histories, there are still a number of questions about it that we've yet to answer. For instance: What constitutes a sport? How is sport different from games? Are esports even sports? What role does sport have within a happy and flourishing life? How should we understand fairness and cheating? How do these considerations bear on drug use in sport? How do considerations of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and discrimination intersect with sport? In addressing these questions, the course draws on insights from a wide range of subjects including philosophy, psychology, and exercise science.

GE: Health and Well-Being Theme

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2465 Death and the Meaning of Life

What is a meaningful life? What role, if any, does the afterlife play in conceptions of meaningfulness? Can things like achievement, happiness, and engaging in valuable projects give meaning to our lives?  Would immortality or an extraordinarily long life increase or decrease the likelihood of a meaningful life? The course will explore these and related questions. 

GE: Health and Well-Being Theme

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2490 - American Civic Philosophy

This course supports American civic literacy by exploring key traditions of American civic philosophy, including political economy, from the nation?s founding to today. Students will study foundational texts and influential writings, reflecting on important ideas and values that have shaped public debates, contributed by philosophers, political economists, and social and political leaders.

GE: Historical and Cultural Studies Foundation

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2500 Symbolic Logic

Ordinary physical objects have a basic structure.  Various natural sciences (physics, biology, chemistry, etc.) help us understand this structure, thereby enabling better prediction and control of the world around us. 

Analogously: ordinary language and ordinary arguments have a basic structure; part of the role of symbolic logic is to help us understand this structure, thereby facilitating more effective reasoning and argumentation. In this course we develop a theory of valid deducibility adequate to handle most deductive reasoning to be found in science, mathematics, and legal discourse.  Along the way we will reflect upon such notions as logical truth, logical form, the nature of language, the relation between truth and derivability, the idea of a “correct logic,” and the very idea of a valid argument.  Students should emerge from the course more sensitive to the structure of deductive arguments and better equipped to evaluate them. 

The course is self-contained and requires no special background beyond familiarity with the techniques of high school algebra and geometry.  There will be three mid-term exams and a cumulative final exam, plus frequent problem sets.  TEXT: E.J. Lemmon, Beginning Logic. 

GE: Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning (or Data Analysis) Foundation
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Math 1075 or equiv, or an ACT Math subscore of 22 or higher that is less than 2 years old

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2540 Introduction to the Philosophy of Rational Choice

This course is a brief introduction to rational choice theory and its philosophical, political, and economic significance. It surveys dominant views of rationality and the normative constrains they impose on actions and decisions including decision and game theories. We will also discuss the relationship between individual rationality and the emergence of norms, conventions, and institutions.

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2751 – Knowledge in the Digital Age

The great promise of the internet is that it provides easier communication of and exposure to a wide range of arguments, perspectives, interests, and information. It also seems to endanger that promise by encouraging group-think, echo chambers, filter bubbles, and belief polarization, as well as by allowing easier communication of so-called “fake news” and fringe or repugnant arguments that otherwise might never have gained a hearing or any respectability. In this class we will investigate these challenges and ask just how costly they are to our knowledge. If they are costly, what potential solutions might be adopted? Should we rely on individual responsibility to mitigate the difficulties? Are there regulative solutions that might have more promise? Or, in the end, are some of the challenges insurmountable, and the great promise of the internet ultimately unattainable in its full idealization?

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2850 Introduction to Philosophy of Religion

Should we believe in God? The concept of God has been defined in many different ways throughout history, and a wide variety of arguments have been offered for and against believing in such a being. This class will provide an in-depth look at issues such as: possible explanations for the existence and complexity of the world, the nature of morality, the occurrence of apparently gratuitous evils, the role of faith and personal religious experience, and the challenge of religious diversity.

GE: Cultures and Ideas; and Historical and Cultural Studies Foundation
Prerequisites/Restrictions: N/A

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3000 Gateway Seminar

What does it mean to be a responsible thinker?  In this seminar, philosophy majors will explore the concept of epistemic responsibility, which concerns the obligations that epistemic agents have as reasoners.  Should we always defer to experts, or is independent critical engagement necessary for rational autonomy?  Just how demanding are our duties as epistemic agents?  And what, as well-mannered reasoners, do we owe other epistemic agents?  A large part of this course will address these questions through an examination of inquiry with AI.  What kind of epistemic source is an AI system?  Can relying on AI help us become better thinkers, or might it undermine the skills that responsible inquiry requires?  Alongside our readings and discussions, we’ll use AI tools in structured activities to explore how they affect our practices of inquiry.  This course will help you build the skills you need to read challenging philosophical texts, to construct stronger philosophical arguments, and to write more effective essays.

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3002 PPE Core 2: Tradition, Progress, Utopia 

This course examines three ways of thinking about social and political change, each of which captures something important about social and political life, and each of which has significant blind spots.  The first focuses on “traditional” values or ways of life that should be protected and preserved.  The second envisions a future of steady progress toward an identifiable social or political ideal.  The third looks forward to a radical social transformation that allows us to transcend existing institutions and values.  We will explore each of these ways of thinking by examining they can help us to think about the relationship between human beings and nature, and about the foundations of human societies.

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3111 Introduction to Jewish Philosophy

This is a general introduction to major figures, thoughts, and movements in ancient, medieval, and contemporary Jewish philosophy. After a brief introduction to Judaism, we will take up Philo Judaeus, from the ancient world, Moses Maimonides, from the medieval period, and Joseph Soloveitchik, from the present. If time permits, we will cover some of the early literature on Zionism. Evaluation will be based on a series of short essays, group discussions, class participation, a term paper, and a take home essay-type final examination.

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3221 Philosophy and the Just Society in the Classical Islamic World

In the eighth-tenth centuries AD, Muslim elites living in the Abbasid Caliphate commissioned scholars of diverse confessional backgrounds to translate a vast corpus of Greek, Persian, and Indian philosophical and scientific works. This “Arabic Translation movement” set in motion a revolutionary synthesis of the diverse traditions of the early medieval Islamic empire with long-term ramifications for the region and world history. This course introduces students to the dynamic history of this era and uses the era as arena for exploring how major thinkers of diverse religious backgrounds in this era conceived of an array of foundational ideas: citizenship and political belonging, just versus unjust rule, the role of virtues and ethics in managing the domestic sphere as well as civil and political society, and the aims of the ethical life within political communities.

GE: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World Theme
Prerequisites/Restrictions: Not open to students with credit for Arabic 3601

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3240 – History of 18th Century Philosophy

We will consider how some prominent 18th century European philosophers grappled with some of the following questions:  Is the world as it appears to be?  If not, how should we distinguish appearance from reality?  What can we know?  Can we have justified belief where we lack knowledge?  Is natural science possible?  How should it be understood and conducted?  What about knowledge of God and God’s relation to the world?  Do we have free will?  (And how should we understand this question so that it is worth arguing about?)  Is metaphysics a project that makes sense?  If so, what sort of metaphysics? 

Prerequisite: 3 cr hrs in Philos, or permission of instructor.

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3261 – Fundamental Concepts of Existentialism

This course critically examines the existentialist tradition as it emerged and developed in 19th and 20th century Europe, and as it has been identified beyond Europe—especially in Latin America, the United States, and Africa. How and why do Christian existentialists like Kierkegaard and Dostoyevsky rethink the authority of divine command? What is the source of meaning in a world without god according to atheist existentialists like Nietzsche and Sartre? How do Black existentialists like W.E.B. DuBois, Frantz Fanon, James Baldwin, and Richard Wright shed distinct and needed light on the nature of racism and colonialism? How and why do existentialists like Martin Heidegger and José Ortega y Gasset develop a new philosophical anthropology? Why do existentialists like Beauvoir and Camus critique modern liberal conceptions of freedom, and what alternative do they offer? Can existentialism help us reconcile angst and flourishing without annihilating them? How does the modern world threaten the grounds of individual authenticity? What does it mean to say that existence precedes essence?

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3300 Moral Philosophy

This course explores ideas and strategies for teaching philosophy, with a special focus on the theory and practice of classroom dialogue facilitation and the Philosophy for Children tradition. You and your fellow classmates will develop skills for fostering caring, creative, and critical thinking through procedurally directive dialogue facilitation techniques, crafting engaging and pedagogically sound lesson plans, and diagnosing and responding to the most difficult classroom puzzles in real time. You will also put what you have learned into practice by teaching lessons at a local high school. This course will critically assess some philosophically influential answers to these questions, and to other, related ones. It  will emphasize the development of intellectual skills such as critical reasoning, discussion and focused analytical writing.

Prerequisites/Restrictions: 6 cr hrs of Philos course work, or enrollment in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Major, or permission of instructor

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3430 The Philosophy of Sex and Love

How does sexuality affect us and our world?  What exactly is love, in both the senses of romantic communion and care more broadly? How can thinking through these questions help us improve life quality for the marginalized and live freer, more authentic, and happier lives?  In this course, we will examine historical and contemporary theories concerning the natures of sex and love, and their roles in constituting ourselves and our communities. Particular emphasis will be given to recent critiques of power structures and the roles of race, gender, sexual orientation, and class in such critiques.  Applied ethical issues we might address include monogamy and non-monogamy, non-heterosexual marriage, non-traditional family structures, reproduction technology, pornography, consent, and the tension between individual freedoms and community values, particularly in the contemporary U.S. context.

GE: Health and Well-Being Theme
Prerequisites/Restrictions: 3 cr hrs in Philos, or permission of instructor.

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3440 Theorizing Race

This course will address questions of the following sort: What is race? What conditions in history and society give rise to race—as acceptable definition and categorization of (human) identity? When, where, and why does race come to be in the world? Of what use, and for what purpose, is race? What are the consequences of race—i.e., the lived experiences and conditions that race gives rise to? This course will acquaint students with knowledge of the relations between different social and global groups—as found in America and elsewhere, and the manner in which these social and global relations of race have been shaped by power and knowledge. Additionally, students will learn about the bases and the terms in which, in the modern world, identities, cultures, and communities—and their ideologies—are formed.

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3600 Introduction to Philosophy of Language

This is an in-depth survey course, designed to familiarize students with a variety of theories and movements in the philosophy of language, and to prepare students for more advanced studies in semantic theory and various philosophical approaches to language and linguistic behavior.  No background in linguistics is required, but students are required to have taken Phil 2500 (Symbolic Logic) and several additional philosophy courses. Topics covered include: meaning and understanding; the very idea of “correct” translation; Russell’s Theory of Definite Descriptions; anaphora; proper names: description theories, cluster theories, Kripke’s critique; direct reference and causal-historical theories: rigid designation; natural-kind terms and “Twin Earth” thought experiments; “use” theories of meaning: inferentialism; linguistic roles, neo-pragmatist approaches; Wittgenstein and “language games”; psychological theories (a.k.a. “intention-based semantics”); verificationist theories of meaning; truth-conditional semantics; semantic compositionality; meaning and truth: Davidson’s theory; Grice’s theory of speech acts: illocution, locution, and perlocution; conversational implicature; the nature of linguistic convention; relevance, confirmation and disagreement; “expressive” vs. “descriptive” language; metaphor and figurative uses of language.         Along the way we will puzzle about the relation(s) between language and thought, and the extent (if any) to which conceptual/cognitive activity requires linguistic competence.  Obviously we will not provide in-depth study of all the listed topics—any of which could form the basis of a seminar; but we will touch upon many of them and note their interrelations.  Grade will be based upon two midterm exams, a cumulative final exam, and a ten-page term paper.  There will also be required postings on Canvas, due before each class meeting: this will provide additional motivation for preparing the readings for discussion. Students will be asked to provide relatively brief answers to questions about the required readings.

Prerequisites/Restrictions: 2500 and 6 cr hrs of Philos course work, or permission of instructor

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3830 Consciousness

This course is an introduction to consciousness with a focus on interactions between philosophy and issues in psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. The course is divided into three parts: 

• Part I: Concepts of Consciousness. First, we’ll examine the distinction between phenomenal and functional concepts of consciousness and the associated distinction between “hard” and “easy” problems of consciousness.
• Part II: Theories of Consciousness. Next, we’ll examine various theories of consciousness, including higher-order theories, representational theories, and global workspace theories.
• Part III: Applications. Finally, we’ll apply what we’ve learned in the first part of the course by examining the question of whether LLMS and other AI systems are conscious.

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5230 Studies in 17th-Century Philosophy

Course Description TBA.

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5400 Advanced Political and Social Philosophy

How do societies become stable, and how do they change? Is stability a morally significant feature of a society worth protecting? If so, how does it compare to our obligation to resist injustice and oppression? Often, those concerned with social stability underestimate the need for change, and those focused on change overlook the conditions that make a stable, cooperative social order possible. The goal of this class is to put these groups in conversation. We will use basic tools from game theory to help clarify the philosophical disagreements between the two. We will start with the classics like Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, and Rawls, along with more contemporary thinkers on the topic, especially on the idea of social movements and contentious politics. 

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5500 Advanced Symbolic Logic

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.

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5750 Advanced Theory of Knowledge

The main focus of the course 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 the epistemology of groups and the normativity of conversation.  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? 

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