Class Schedules

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

An introduction to philosophy through topics found in classical and contemporary philosophical writings, such as the nature of truth and knowledge, mind and body, freedom and determinism, right and wrong, and the existence of God. Course content varies from instructor to instructor. Specific course descriptions will be available in the department prior to registration.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

An introduction to philosophy through topics found in classical and contemporary philosophical writings, such as the nature of truth and knowledge, mind and body, freedom and determinism, right and wrong, and the existence of God. Course content varies from instructor to instructor. Specific course descriptions will be available in the department prior to registration.

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? What role, if any, does gender play in 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, 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. 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

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

Materialism, rather than solving the problem of mind, consciousness and intentionality, has spawned numerous philosophical perplexities. This course will examine a variety of philosophical problems associated with contemporary models of the mind (mind/body dualism; mind/brain identity theories; behaviorism; functionalism and artificial intelligence; eliminative naturalism and folk psychology; biological naturalism). The course will also look at contemporary philosophical accounts of personhood and personal identity, particularly narrative accounts of the self. Readings will typically include David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Owen Flanagan, Derek Parfit, Marya Schechtman, John Searle, Galen Strawson, and Kathleen Wilkes.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Are quarks "real"? Does science lead to objective knowledge? Is there really a scientific method? How do we distinguish between creation "science" from evolution; or astrology from astronomy? These questions are asked in philosophy of science, which studies the fundamental processes, principles, and presuppositions of the natural sciences. The social and historical contexts of the sciences are also considered. Topics include: science vs. pseudoscience, scientific explanation, scientific revolutions, the philosophy of space and time, the theory of evolution, theories of confirmation, objectivity in science, and realism vs. relativism. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 111, PHIL 100, or permission of the instructor.

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

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