Description: Introduction to critical exploration of such issues as knowledge, reality, consciousness and the good life; readings from Plato, Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, or more recent sources. 

Description: Introduction to such social and ethical questions as, "What makes a happy life? What justifies ideas of good and evil? How should we live with others? What is the role of science, religion, sex, and race in society?"

Description: Introduction to the appraisal of arguments found in everyday and specialized sources; typical forms of strong and weak reasoning; avoidance or repair of faulty arguments; common problems in statistical, causal and analogical reasoning.

Description: Formal reasoning as a practical method for problem solving.

Description: While Artificial Intelligence (AI) began in the 1950s, recent work in Generative AI has taken the world by storm, creating the possibility for both great advancement and great harm. This course serves both as an Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (and its roots in philosophy) as well as Ethical issues AI presents. This course will give students a working knowledge of the different kinds of AI and what they can do, the relationship between natural and artificial intelligence, and the ethical issues in using AI that any user or producer of the technology should know (whether you are just trying to keep yourself safe, avoid being fooled, or are interested in reducing a company’s risk associated with AI).

Description: History of philosophy from 7th century B.C. through early Middle Ages structured around major themes that shaped classical period, attention to cultural and historical settings in which they arose and to which they contributed; readings from philosophical and nonphilosophical sources. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 1101 or PHIL 1102, or permission of instructor.

Description: History of philosophy from late Middle Ages through 19th century structured around major themes that shaped the modern period; attention to cultural and historical setting in which they arose and to which they contributed; readings from philosophical and nonphilosophical sources. NOTE: while this is a continuation of PHIL 3001, it may be taken separately. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 1101 or PHIL 1102, or permission of instructor.

Description: Such important contemporary moral issues as pornography and obscenity, capital punishment, abortion, human rights, "reverse discrimination," and civil disobedience; underlying philosophical ideas for each issue considered and discussed.

Description: Historical and comparative study of different existentialist writers and their relation to literature, religion, and psychology; readings from such writers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus.

Description: Selected ideas from the history on women from the Greeks to the present; developing methods and ideologies within contemporary theoretical approaches to feminist studies; diversity, equality and difference discussed by drawing on different epistemologies, such as existentialism and poststructuralism.

Description: Introduction to key figures and movements in 19th and 20th century continental philosophy; phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, deconstruction, poststructuralism, and feminism.

Description: The nature of mind, free will vs. determinism, personal identity and immortality, and the nature and possibility of knowledge.

Description: Critical analysis of classical ethical theories and their application to problems of individual and society. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 1101 or PHIL 1102, or permission of instructor.

Description: Ethical problems growing out of development of modern science and technology; of such issues as relation of science to society, dehumanization of the individual, impact of technology on environment, and modern warfare. Specific content of course varies each semester.

Description: Discussion of ethical problems raised by contemporary medical practices and biological innovations from standpoint of contemporary ethical theories including abortion, euthanasia, human experimentation, genetic engineering, pandemics, and healthcare.

Description: Most agree that we should treat people with respect and concern. But should this ethical treatment extend to non-human features of our world like oceans, forests, and non-human animals? This course will investigate the sources of our ethical commitments to the environment, including the effects of climate change and our obligations to reduce global warming. Attention will also be paid to distinct ethical problems like those concerning animals, biodiversity, sustainable energy, and environmental racism.

Description: Philosophical analyses of nature and justification of law, legal reasoning, legal institutions, practices such as punishment.

Description: Introduction to canonical and contemporary issues and thinkers in political philosophy such as the role of the civil state, divine right, social contract theory, individualism, nationalism, fascism, and theocracy, as well as the nature and variety of justice.

Description: Examination of ethical issues that arise in interactions between business and society; ethical theory, economic justice, corporate responsibility, and employee rights and obligations.

Description: This course develops an understanding of formal logical systems, starting with an introduction of sentential (a.k.a. propositional) logic, and then turning to first-order predicate logic. One focus is on how to translate sentences of English into predicate logic and vice-versa. Additionally, this course investigates how to reason by using formal rules and a derivation system. Other possible topics include logical reasoning in LSAT and GRE tests, the psychology of deductive inference, and the completeness and soundness of the formal systems we use. While there are no prerequisites for this course, some training in, or familiarity with the use of formal reasoning as taught in elementary logic, computer science, or mathematics has proven helpful to students.

Description: Examination of one or more major religious movements with regard to their origins, doctrines, and philosophical significance; contrasting conceptions of deity, worship, and role of religion in how we think about ourselves and our roles in society.

Description: Selected religious doctrines and practices from standpoint of philosophy. Topics vary from semester to semester. Sequel to PHIL 3701, but may be taken independently.

Description: What does death have in store for us? What are the implications for how we live our lives and contend with the fact that we will die? This course inquires into the nature of death via historical and contemporary philosophical texts. Topics to be explored might include the metaphysics of whether or not we can survive death, whether death is a bad thing for the person who dies, and the existential meaning of death.

Description: This course examines the philosophical concept of nature and its roles in making sense of the human being’s place in and knowledge of the universe. Course topics might include philosophical approaches to explaining what exactly nature is, the extent to which humans are part of or distinct from nature, whether the human relationship with nature is objective, normative, aesthetic, religious, or other, and challenges to views about nature emerging from ethics and social-political philosophy.

Description: Discussion of philosophical issues relating to evil including the problem of evil, the question of whether evil exists, the nature of suffering, the banality of evil, the nature of forgiveness, and phenomena like natural disasters, morally heinous acts, and genocide. Includes discussion of case studies.

Description: This course covers the development of Asian philosophy and religious philosophical thought. Concentration will be on those traditions with continuing significant sociological, political, and literary influence. The course will include a survey of the foundations of Chinese thought in Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism: Indian thought in the Vedas, the Upanisads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga-sutras, followed by an introduction to Buddhism (the four noble truths, no-self, the eightfold path) and major philosophical developments of Buddhist philosophy in China and Japan. Contemporary approaches to Asian Philosophy will be explored at the end of the course (including but not limited to Comparative Philosophical approaches to Asian traditions).

Description: Introduction to Chinese philosophy; readings from primary source of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, supplemented by commentary from contemporary scholarship.

Description: This course will examine the origins of Buddhist thought, and explore some of its developments as it spread throughout Asia and eventually into North America. We will begin by examining Buddhist thought during and shortly after the Buddha's lifetime, and then we will turn our attention to the two principal schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism: Madhyamaka and Yogācāra. The Madhyamaka school is characterized by the view of emptiness (the view that all things are devoid of independent, inherently existing essences). The Yogācāra school reinterprets the concept of emptiness, emphasizing the idea that nothing is ultimately separate from the mind. We will then turn our attention to the Chan/Zen lineage as they originated in China and developed in Japan through Dogen's Sōtō Zen characterized by seated meditation and Hakuin's Rinzai Zen characterized by kōan recitation. We will then turn our attention to modern interpretations of Buddhist thought. This course may cover India, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, North America and Brazil.

Description: This course will provide an overview of the history of Chinese philosophy with an emphasis on Confucianism. We will focus primarily on the classical period of Chinese philosophy which developed during the seminal Warring States Period in Chinese history. This period begins with Confucius and culminates with Han Feizi at the end of the Warring States Period and the beginning of the Qin Dynasty.

Description: Philosophical investigation of social and political themes which have developed historically in African American culture such as theories of social elevation, civil disobedience, race and racism, and black feminism.

Description: Investigation of concepts of race and racism as well as related concepts (e.g., racial identity, intersectionality) through an examination of metaphysical, epistemic, phenomenological, psychological, ethical, linguistic, or political problems associated with race.

Description: Expression of philosophical ideas in literature; readings from philosophers, playwrights, novelists and poets.

Description: Exploration of various social and political writings concerning the nature of human agency, intersubjectivity, communication, democratic procedure and practice, developed during the Enlightenment period and in the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and Marx, and that were advanced in the 20th century writings of the Frankfurt School of Social Criticism.

Description: An examination of some basic philosophical problems, integrating philosophical readings with films which illustrate positions that have been taken regarding the problems; enhance understanding and appreciation of both the philosophical problems and the films.

Description: A relatively new and rapidly developing field of moral theory, Data Ethics focuses on ethical problems posed by the ever-expanding volume of data that surrounds us, the collection and analysis of large datasets and on the use of "big data." This course will examine select moral problems related to data (including creation/storage, data farming, and usage), algorithms (artificial intelligence, algorithmic bias, etc.) and corresponding practices (responsibility, privacy/surveillance, etc.).

Description: An intensive study of select philosophical problems. Repeatable. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours credit when topic varies.

Description: PHIL 4020 is a course that provides philosophy majors an opportunity to explore and expand their in-class studies in philosophy by doing philosophy-relevant supervised internships in contexts outside the classroom like industry, public service, private foundations, and others. This course encourages career development, networking opportunities, and educational growth, preparing students for a variety of career paths. With guidance from the philosophy department’s faculty coordinator, students formulate and carry out academic work reflecting on the internship work they concurrently undertake. This course does not fulfill the 4000-level course requirement for the philosophy major. Only 3 credits of PHIL 4020 can count toward the philosophy major. This course is repeatable, but only 3 credits of PHIL 4020 can count toward the philosophy major. Prerequisite(s): Permission of department; student must discuss the internship and the academic component with the faculty coordinator and get permission; student must be enrolled in the Philosophy Major.

Description: Readings from primary sources, supplemented by commentary from antiquity and modern scholarship, including Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, and Hellenistic period. Repeatable. May be repeated once when topic varies for an additional 3 credit hours, more with permission of the department director of undergraduate studies. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 3001 or permission of instructor.

Description: Readings from major philosophers of 17th to early 19th centuries, supplemented by commentaries from modern and contemporary sources. Repeatable. May be repeated once when topic varies for an additional 3 hours credit, more with permission of department director of undergraduate studies. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 3002 or permission of instructor.

Description: Major issues and positions in recent philosophy of mind; behaviorism; reductive, non-reductive, and eliminative versions of materialism; functionalism; mental causation; phenomenal consciousness; psychoanalysis and the unconscious; computational and connectionist models of mind. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 1101, PHIL 1102, or PHIL 1611, or permission of instructor.

Description: Major developments in philosophy in England and United States from 1900 to present, reading from such philosophers as Russell, Moore, Ayer, Wittgenstein, James, Dewey, Lewis, Quine and other contemporary authors. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 3002 or PHIL 4311 or permission of instructor.

Description: Major figures in 20th Century European thought; phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism, critical theory, and hermeneutics. Repeatable. May be repeated once when topic varies for an additional 3 hours credit, more with permission of department director of undergraduate studies.

Description: In depth discussion of major philosophical theories of the individual and the state; emphasis on concepts of society, culture, institutions, government, law, power, authority, rights, and obligations. PREREQUISITE: one of PHIL 3411, PHIL 3511, PHIL 3516, 3551, or permission of instructor.

Description: Nature of axiomatic systems, techniques of formalization, and logical foundations of mathematics. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 3621, or permission of instructor.

Description: Basic features and presuppositions of science; nature of scientific method, theories, explanation, and verification; emphasis on the natural sciences. PREREQUISITE: PHIL 1611, or permission of instructor.

Description: Introduction to philosophical theories and assumptions concerning nature and role of art and possibility of aesthetic evaluation.

Description: Epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, logical theory, and axiology. Area to be covered appears in the online class listings the semester it is taught. Repeatable. May be repeated for maximum of 15 hours credit without changing an earlier grade if different areas are treated. PREREQUISITE: two courses in philosophy or permission of instructor.

Description: Directed reading and research culminating in a Senior Thesis. Thesis topic to be selected by student with approval of thesis director before semester student intends to take course. Open only to senior honors students in philosophy. Repeatable. May be repeated in successive semesters for up to 6 hours credit.

Description: Individual directed study in area of special interest. Repeatable. May be repeated in successive semesters for up to 6 hours credit.