Class Schedules

We all hope and work for a bright future, even if we sometimes fear the worst. But what exactly is this future we care so much about, and for what sort of future should we strive? This class introduces fundamental problems of philosophy by exploring metaphysical, epistemological and ethical problems about the future. We begin with the central concerns of philosophy itself: what is real? what do I know? what is good? what really matters? We then consider the puzzling nature of the future, which we value immensely, and worry about, as though it is fully real. Are the past and present more real than the future? This raises interesting questions of our moral attitude to the future: do we have obligations to persons and generations that do not yet exist or no longer exist? Might we have an obligation to ensure that someone does (or does not) exist in the future? Future humans will face ethical issues that are worth thinking about in the present. For example, is it acceptable for future humans to colonize other planets as past humans have colonized other continents? There are a number of threats that may prevent a human future altogether: pandemics, war, climate change. How do we gauge these threats and act accordingly? And if it turns out we are doomed, how would this affect the meaning of the life we have left? If we survive, human nature is likely to undergo significant change with the rise of technologies like artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and biomedical enhancement. Are these enhancements good for us? Are we ready to become ‘trans-human’? Finally, how can we (in the present) ensure a good future for those to come?

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

We all hope and work for a bright future, even if we sometimes fear the worst. But what exactly is this future we care so much about, and for what sort of future should we strive? This class introduces fundamental problems of philosophy by exploring metaphysical, epistemological and ethical problems about the future. We begin with the central concerns of philosophy itself: what is real? what do I know? what is good? what really matters? We then consider the puzzling nature of the future, which we value immensely, and worry about, as though it is fully real. Are the past and present more real than the future? This raises interesting questions of our moral attitude to the future: do we have obligations to persons and generations that do not yet exist or no longer exist? Might we have an obligation to ensure that someone does (or does not) exist in the future? Future humans will face ethical issues that are worth thinking about in the present. For example, is it acceptable for future humans to colonize other planets as past humans have colonized other continents? There are a number of threats that may prevent a human future altogether: pandemics, war, climate change. How do we gauge these threats and act accordingly? And if it turns out we are doomed, how would this affect the meaning of the life we have left? If we survive, human nature is likely to undergo significant change with the rise of technologies like artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and biomedical enhancement. Are these enhancements good for us? Are we ready to become ‘trans-human’? Finally, how can we (in the present) ensure a good future for those to come?

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

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

Emerging in the 1970s, the field of environmental ethics began by sparking 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. You will also have the opportunity to think about significant emerging topics in environmental ethics. Depending on the semester, these may include the debate over the ethics of wilderness preservation; the challenges of expanding environmental ethics to address issues of global climate change and resource sustainability; environmental rights; and environmental justice.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores a variety of issues in legal philosophy, including methods of legal reasoning, theories of constitutional and statutory interpretation, the relationship between law and morality, the ethical implications of lawyers’ roles in adversarial legal systems, and topics in feminist and critical legal theory. We will also consider ways legal analysis and arguments influence public policy, political controversies, and approaches to conflict resolution.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

“Free choice is the only miracle the moderns recognize” (Karol Berger). Freedom currently occupies an ambiguous place in our collective state of mind: while the Right takes to the streets in the name of freedom, MLK’s ringing refrain, “free at last,” continues to resonate in the Left’s calls for social justice. Both camps typically rely on the same underlying concept of what freedom is: something an individual exercises with their free will. In this course, we will work to gain a measure of distance on this common view of freedom by counterposing it with premodern as well as modern strains of thought that go against the grain of classical liberalism. Readings from Aristotle, Locke, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Arendt, Buck-Morss, Mbembe, Badiou, Ahmad Yousif, and others. Weekly reading responses; three mid-length papers with revisions. No prerequisites, but be prepared to work your way through some densely argued texts.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Language is magic: we can make noises at each other or make marks on a page and others can “see” what’s inside our minds! Language is even more magical when we consider its ability to do things: it can change people’s status (e.g. declaring someone a knight or husband/wife), harm others (e.g. using slurs), and turn literal falsehood into truths (e.g. metaphors or fiction) among others. In this class, you’ll be introduced to classic and contemporary topics surrounding language: how it is that words refer to objects, how context shapes meaning, how language and reality/thought are connected, and whether emoji and music are languages.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Why does 2 + 2 equal four? Can a diagram prove a mathematical truth? Is mathematics a social construction or do mathematical facts exist independently of our knowing them? Philosophy of mathematics considers these sorts of questions in an effort to understand the logical and philosophical foundations of mathematics. Topics include mathematical truth, mathematical reality, and mathematical justifications (knowledge). Typically we focus on the history of mathematics of the past 200 years, highlighting the way philosophical debates arise in mathematics itself and shape its future. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 111, MATH 279, or permission of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP

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

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

In this class, we’ll explore some of the biggest philosophical questions that occupy us. We’ll also acquaint ourselves with an array of figures in western and non-western traditions. Between life and death, there is only one factor that is truly common to all human experience: time. But what is time? St. Augustine famously says that he knows what time is until someone asks him to explain what it is. We’ll start by exploring whether time flows, what sempiternity and eternity are, and what the difference between the past, present, and future might be. Once we get a grip on this time thing that we all occupy, we’ll move on to Truth. What can we hope to know? Do we live in a simulation? Who should we trust, and how do we build a coherent understanding of the world? What is truth, anyway? Lastly, we’ll move on to perhaps the most important: meaning. What is the purpose of life? Does such a question even make sense? Where do my values come from? We’ll explore existentialism, antinatalism and others as views that offer competing answers to these questions.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In this class, we’ll explore some of the biggest philosophical questions that occupy us. We’ll also acquaint ourselves with an array of figures in western and non-western traditions. Between life and death, there is only one factor that is truly common to all human experience: time. But what is time? St. Augustine famously says that he knows what time is until someone asks him to explain what it is. We’ll start by exploring whether time flows, what sempiternity and eternity are, and what the difference between the past, present, and future might be. Once we get a grip on this time thing that we all occupy, we’ll move on to Truth. What can we hope to know? Do we live in a simulation? Who should we trust, and how do we build a coherent understanding of the world? What is truth, anyway? Lastly, we’ll move on to perhaps the most important: meaning. What is the purpose of life? Does such a question even make sense? Where do my values come from? We’ll explore existentialism, antinatalism and others as views that offer competing answers to these questions.

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

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

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. Course work: short papers, reading responses, and take-home exams.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Is there a distinct American worldview, or merely a confluence of intellectual traditions originating beyond and before the USA? This course explores the diverse intellectual strains that have contributed to the development of American philosophy in the last three centuries, including influences that have been somewhat neglected: the Native American thought of Arthur Parker and Zit Kala Za (Gertie Bonnin); the puritan theology of Jonathan Edwards; the political theory of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson; the African American philosophy of W.E.B. DuBois and Alain Locke; the transcendentalism of R. W. Emerson and H.D. Thoreau; the 'classical' pragmatism of C.S. Peirce and William James; the 'radical' pragmatism of John Dewey and Jane Adams. Special attention will be given to American philosophies of justice, freedom, democracy, religiosity, nature, pragmatism, progress and self-reliance. Course work: short papers, reading responses, and take-home exams.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Bioethics became an academic subject in 1960, when the invention of the Teflon-lined Scribner Shunt at the University of Washington made possible long-term dialysis treatment for chronic renal failure patients (as seen above). Initially, UW had only a small number of shunt-equipped dialysis machines, and a large number of patients who would die without dialysis. They faced the question: which patients should get the scarce time on the machine? The youngest? The oldest? The ones who went to church regularly? Bioethics as we know it today grew out of the scholarly discussion of that question. It is now a thriving field, important to health care providers, philosophers, policymakers, and biologists, among others, and an increasing number of universities host standalone, interdisciplinary bioethics departments. This course provides an introduction to a range of ethical and philosophical questions that arise in the context of health care provision and the life sciences. The central goal of the course is to provide you with a structured opportunity to practice thinking, writing, and speaking about these challenging questions in a rigorous, careful, imaginative, and respectful way.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A seminar bringing together questions in philosophy of literature and philosophy of race. In the first third of the class, we'll discuss the relationship between literary form and philosophy, and whether literature "tells the truth"; in the second third, we'll focus on the philosophy of race, looking at contemporary work on the metaphysics and phenomenology of race, and in the last third, we'll bring literature and race together by examining works such as Citizen, Interior Chinatown, and There, there.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge, belief, and rationality. The historical focus of epistemology has been questions about human knowledge.  What is knowledge?  How do we acquire knowledge?  Do we have any knowledge at all, or do nightmarish "skeptical" possibilities (like Descartes' demon and /The Matrix/) show that we know little or nothing? Epistemologists are also interested in broader questions about the nature of belief and mental representation in general.  What is it to believe something?  What does it take for my beliefs to be rational, or reasonable?  Can I choose what to believe, or is belief somehow involuntary?  How does our commonsense notion of belief relate to the idea of subjective probability or graded belief common in cognitive science and the decision sciences? A final set of important questions apply epistemological thinking to specific topics. Can religious beliefs ever be rational?  Do phenomena like implicit bias and stereotype threat undermine rational belief?  How should we understand epistemological standards in the law, such as the idea of proving something "beyond a reasonable doubt"?  Can reasonable people disagree about difficult moral, political, and religious questions, or must we ultimately say that one side of such disputes irrational? In this course we consider how contemporary philosophers have tried to answer these questions, and others. Prerequisite(s): Any 100- or 200- level Philosophy course.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course will focus on some central topics in contemporary Anglo-American (or "analytic") social and political philosophy. Likely topics would include an examination of John Rawls's theory of justice and the work of critics of that theory, the value of equality, and issues about global justice. Prerequisite(s): A 100- or 200- level Philosophy course.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials