Class Schedules

The Philosopher Aristotle said "without friends no one would choose to live, though they had all other goods". (Nicomachean Ethics, 1055a 5-7). It is not clear exactly what Aristotle means by this, but the high value he gives to friendship and love is shared by many other ancient Greek and Chinese Philosophers, such as Plato, Epicurus, and Confucius. This class will begin with an overview of central themes in ancient and contemporary philosophy -- epistemology, metaphysics and ethics -- and then undertake a detailed investigation of friendship and love: Why are friendship and love valuable? How do we become friends, and when should we break off friendships? With whom can we be friends: family members? pets? on-line friends? AI? Is ’romantic’ love real or merely a social construction? Should we love only one other, or many, or everyone? Could it be good for us to have no friends, or should we have as many friends as possible? How should we think philosophically about polyamory and asexuality? What role, if any, does gender play in four conceptions of friendship and love? What, if anything, do we owe to our friends and lovers? We will consider texts by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Sappho, Confucius, Montaigne, Kant, Emerson, de Beauvoir, Sartre, bell hooks, as well as several contemporary philosophical perspectives on friendship and love. We will also read works of literature, such as Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and love poems of Emily Dickinson, and view together several films, such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Her. Your grade will be based on three short papers, two ’take-home’ examinations, reading responses (’convos’), and attendance/participation.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The Philosopher Aristotle said "without friends no one would choose to live, though they had all other goods". (Nicomachean Ethics, 1055a 5-7). It is not clear exactly what Aristotle means by this, but the high value he gives to friendship and love is shared by many other ancient Greek and Chinese Philosophers, such as Plato, Epicurus, and Confucius. This class will begin with an overview of central themes in ancient and contemporary philosophy -- epistemology, metaphysics and ethics -- and then undertake a detailed investigation of friendship and love: Why are friendship and love valuable? How do we become friends, and when should we break off friendships? With whom can we be friends: family members? pets? on-line friends? AI? Is ’romantic’ love real or merely a social construction? Should we love only one other, or many, or everyone? Could it be good for us to have no friends, or should we have as many friends as possible? How should we think philosophically about polyamory and asexuality? What role, if any, does gender play in four conceptions of friendship and love? What, if anything, do we owe to our friends and lovers? We will consider texts by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Sappho, Confucius, Montaigne, Kant, Emerson, de Beauvoir, Sartre, bell hooks, as well as several contemporary philosophical perspectives on friendship and love. We will also read works of literature, such as Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and love poems of Emily Dickinson, and view together several films, such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Her. Your grade will be based on three short papers, two ’take-home’ examinations, reading responses (’convos’), and attendance/participation.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What matters in life? Is happiness the only thing that matters? If so, whose happiness should I care about? Just my own? My family’s? Or everyone else’s, too? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away? If things in life other than happiness matter, too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it’s wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt. Are they right? Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent? Why? When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be? Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy? If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick? In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What matters in life? Is happiness the only thing that matters? If so, whose happiness should I care about? Just my own? My family’s? Or everyone else’s, too? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away? If things in life other than happiness matter, too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it’s wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt. Are they right? Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent? Why? When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be? Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy? If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick? In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Did Confucius really say all those things? What does it mean to call something "zen"? The popularity of mindfulness and meditation made "Eastern Philosophy" fashionable, but what exactly does that entail? This class will be an introduction to classical Chinese philosophy, focusing on Confucianism and its rivals (Daoism, Mohism, Buddhism). Many schools of thought in East Asia offered competing views on how to live a good life; we will explore these views and chart how they responded to each other. We'll also see how Chinese thoughts were received and developed by Korean and Japanese philosophers and assess ongoing influences of these philosophies in East Asia and beyond. Texts with English translations.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What is the relationship between our conscious experience and the physical world? This question is one way of articulating the “mind-body problem”, which is arguably the central question of the philosophy of mind. This course provides a survey of the most influential historical and contemporary answers to the mind-body problem, including dualism, behaviorism, identity theory, and functionalism. Toward the end of the term, we will likely also cover topics such as panpsychism, the Simulation Argument, the puzzle of personal identity, and the question of whether a machine could ever be conscious. Students will leave the course with a firm foundation in the philosophy of mind and with a sharper perspective on what it means to be a thinking being.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

For Marx, "philosophy" is really not a thing, since the world of ideas has no independent existence. And nevertheless, all Marx ever did was to write things, to do theory. In this course, we will come to know Marx’s theory as something that cannot be separated from the texts he wrote, texts that continue to challenge us in questioning the way we make sense of the world. We will read selections from Marx’s early writings on religion and alienation through the theory of ideology and commodity fetishism in tandem with texts by 20th-century thinkers and activists who critiqued and further developed Marx’s thought (Gramsci, Luxemburg, Du Bois, Angela Davis, Adorno). Requirements: Reading responses, problem sets, one short and one long paper. Core course for the Critical Theory Concentration. Taught in English.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The field of environmental ethics sparks a rich line of philosophical inquiry largely focused on the moral status of the natural world and the non-human entities within it. What reasons do we have to give moral consideration to the environment? And what do we mean when we say we have a moral duty toward the environment? Do we have moral duties to individuals within a species, or to species themselves, or to ecosystems, or to...? This course will invite you to reflect on key philosophical works that engage these and related questions. This course relies heavily on scholarship in Indigenous Environmental Justice and depending on the semester, may also include the debate over the ethics of wilderness preservation; global climate change and resource sustainability; rights of water and other so-called 'natural objects' such as trees, plants, and rocks.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most exciting and fastest-moving technological fields today. This course examines philosophical questions related to AI. We will explore big-picture questions such as whether AIs can be conscious, whether we can control them, whether there might be an intelligence explosion. What, if anything, distinguishes intelligence from computation, prediction, or pattern recognition? How should we think about AI agency, autonomy, and responsibility? We will also consider ethical and social issues involving large language models, transparency and explainability, the ethical status of robots, and the ethics of deploying AI in high-stakes domains. No programming experience required.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

There are over 5000 nations of Indigenous peoples globally, including over 574 Native American tribal nations in what we now call the United States. This discussion-based course engages the rich diversity of thought in the tradition of Native American and Indigenous philosophy from both a historical as well as contemporary perspective. We will read from Indigenous philosophers on topics such as land, relations, being, and sovereignty to pose questions such as: What does it mean to be alive? What is the best way to know?, and, How do we live a good life in agreement with our surroundings?

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In what sense are mental illnesses genuine illnesses, and how do they differ from other bodily ailments? Is a psychiatric diagnosis the discovery of a natural biological fact, or is it a social judgment cloaked in the language of science? This course provides an overview of the philosophical study of mental disorder from a variety of angles, including the scientific, the ontological, and the sociopolitical. Throughout the term we will engage with interdisciplinary work in order to evaluate the scientific and normative status of mental disorder classifications. We will also examine the power dynamics between the institutions that employ these labels and the individuals affected by them. Students will develop the analytical tools necessary to navigate the complex intersection of science and values that is modern psychiatry. While the course will deal with sophisticated concepts, no specific philosophical background is required, and interested students from a variety of backgrounds are encouraged to enroll.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A capstone experience in philosophy for senior majors. Each participant in the seminar will be expected to write an essay reflective of scholarly standards within the discipline on a question of their own choosing, within a collaborative and supportive environment. Participants in the seminar will help one another develop their capstone papers and prepare to present them publicly at the end of the semester. Readings may be assigned as appropriate with regard to student-identified topics. Prerequisite(s): Philosophy major and senior status, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will cover a variety of topics with an emphasis on issues that bear on everyday life. Philosophical topics we will explore together will include (but not be limited to) the following: the free will debate (Is free will real? Can we be held morally responsible for our actions?), the problem of evil (If there is an all-powerful and all-loving god, why would they allow so much pain and suffering? Does the suffering we observe in the world prove god's non-existence?), abortion (Is it permissible to abort a human fetus for any reason? What does the right to bodily autonomy amount to?), antinatalism (Is it immoral to have children in the first place? We were all wronged by our parents when they brought us into the world without our consent?), and the puzzle of personal identity (What makes a person the same person over time? Could we survive a body transplant? A brain transplant?). Other topics will be decided closer to the start of the semester.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will cover a variety of topics with an emphasis on issues that bear on everyday life. Philosophical topics we will explore together will include (but not be limited to) the following: the free will debate (Is free will real? Can we be held morally responsible for our actions?), the problem of evil (If there is an all-powerful and all-loving god, why would they allow so much pain and suffering? Does the suffering we observe in the world prove god's non-existence?), abortion (Is it permissible to abort a human fetus for any reason? What does the right to bodily autonomy amount to?), antinatalism (Is it immoral to have children in the first place? We were all wronged by our parents when they brought us into the world without our consent?), and the puzzle of personal identity (What makes a person the same person over time? Could we survive a body transplant? A brain transplant?). Other topics will be decided closer to the start of the semester.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

An introduction to formal methods for evaluating deductive arguments. Topics include formal fallacies, decision procedures, translation of arguments to argument forms, and natural deduction proofs in propositional and predicate logic.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

An introduction to formal methods for evaluating deductive arguments. Topics include formal fallacies, decision procedures, translation of arguments to argument forms, and natural deduction proofs in propositional and predicate logic.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

What matters in life?  Is pleasure the only thing that matters?  If so, whose pleasure should I pursue-just my own, my family's, or everyone's? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away?  If things in life other than pleasure matter too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it's wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt.  Are they right?  Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent?  Why?  When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be?  Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy?  If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick?  In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What matters in life?  Is pleasure the only thing that matters?  If so, whose pleasure should I pursue-just my own, my family's, or everyone's? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away?  If things in life other than pleasure matter too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it's wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt.  Are they right?  Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent?  Why?  When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be?  Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy?  If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick?  In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores the historical development of Buddhist thought and practice across Asia by tracing how communities of monks, scholars, and philosophers sought to understand and embody the path to liberation. Including studies of major schools and figures in Buddhism, including Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, and Buddhaghosa, students examine how diverse Buddhist traditions emerged from shared questions about mind, self, causality, and the nature of awakening. Along the way, the coursecultivates key academic skills in textual interpretation, argumentation, and historical contextualization.Students learn to analyze philosophical ideas within their religious and cultural settings, compareperspectives across regions and time periods, and engage critically with both primary sources andmodern scholarship. By combining close reading with cross-cultural inquiry and philosophical reasoning,students gain insight not only into the development of Buddhism but also into the broader processes bywhich ideas travel, transform, and shape worlds. The course provides both newcomers and those withprior background a rigorous and rewarding foundation for further study in religion, philosophy, orintellectual history.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Introduction to the central problems, figures and schools of Ancient Greek, Roman, and Chinese Philosophy and the subsequent development of Medieval philosophy: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic. We begin with a brief examination of the beginning of western philosophy among the so-called 'Pre-Socratics', and then look more closely at the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, as well as Greek women philosophers like Hypatia. And we will also discuss important Classical Chinese and Roman Philosophies, followed by Medieval philosophy in several traditions. Our focus will include the following problems, since they were of central concern to the Ancients and the Medievals and continue to be studied by philosophers of all traditions to this day: Origin and Structure of the World (Cosmos); Knowledge and Opinion; The Origin and Function of the State. Love, Sex, and Friendship; The Mind and Soul; Happiness and the Good Life; Freedom and Responsibility; God and gods. Coursework: short papers, reading responses, take-home exams.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Bioethics deals with a variety of ethical issues arising in the context of medical care and biomedical research. These issues include informed consent, euthanasia, reproductive rights, confidentiality, and the distribution of health care resources. The course uses ethical theory to shed light on issues in medicine, and issues in medicine to illuminate ethical theory.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Consider classic philosophical questions such as: Can we have knowledge of the external world? How do persons persist through time? What is the nature of time? Approaching these questions through the lens of science fiction can be illuminating. Philosophical arguments become sharper and our intuitions about philosophical problems change when confronted with stories. In this course, we will explore these philosophical questions using science fiction as a conceptual aid. A significant portion of the course will focus on issues related to the direction of time. Why are we able to affect the future but not the past? Why are we able to remember the past but not the future? Why do we always see eggs breaking, but never see broken eggs spontaneously coalesce, even though both are equally allowed by the fundamental laws of physics? Is time something that emerges at higher levels or is it mere illusion? Is time-travel prohibited by the laws of logic? By the laws of physics? In addition to these, we will also discuss questions about time travel, causation, personal identity, artificial intelligence, and parallel universes in quantum mechanics. Any relevant physics will be covered in class.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Thinking systematically about right and wrong often leads to meta-questions--questions about what ethics itself is. What makes a person's life worth living? Why should I be ethical? Can we convince bad people to be good? Is ethics objective? What does it even mean to ask whether ethics is objective? This class concerns those questions, and others. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 121

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Surprisingly, the small country of Scotland became a hotbed of European Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century, fueling the broader Scottish Enlightenment. The major philosophical figureof this period was undoubtedly David Hume (1711-1776). A major philosophical force to this day, Hume was influenced by earlier Scottish thinkers like Frances Hutcheson. His best friend, the famous economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith, was at Hume's bedside when he died. Subsequent Scottish philosophers, in the so-called "common sense" school, such as Thomas Reid, reacted against Hume's extreme skepticism. Theologians like Joseph Butler and Philosophers of Science like Mary Shepherd further questioned the Humean paradigm. But along with his famous antagonist Jean-Jacques Rousseau, perhaps the greatest frenemy of Hume was Immanuel Kant, who wrote in his Prolegomena that Hume "awoke me from my dogmatic slumber." Yet, in the same text Kant chastised Hume: "deposited his ship on the beach (of skepticism) for safekeeping, where it could then lie and rot." We will also explore some of the significant influences of Scottish philosophy in Early America, especially physicist and politician Cadwallader Colden and his botanist daughter Jane. Among the philosophical topics to be considered: epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, skepticism, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, economics, political philosophy, race, and aesthetics.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What are laws and (why) do we need them? Do laws codify morals or are they something different entirely? What do laws do for us? When is it right to break the law? This course enlists classic questions in the philosophy of law to trouble three contemporary ethical dilemmas: landback reparations, prison reform or abolition, and our moral responsibilities surrounding artificial intelligence.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials