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Independent Studies
An elective for students with at least six previous courses in philosophy. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
- Primary Instructor
- Ackerman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Hill
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gill
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Schechter
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Reginster
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Broackes
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Dreier
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Christensen
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Estlund
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Pautz
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Larmore
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Arpaly
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Guyer
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Senior Thesis
An elective for students writing a thesis. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
- Primary Instructor
- Ackerman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Arpaly
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Broackes
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Christensen
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Dreier
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Estlund
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gill
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Guyer
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Hill
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Larmore
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Pautz
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Reginster
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Schechter
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Research in Philosophy
Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
- Primary Instructor
- Ackerman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Hill
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gill
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Miller
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Schechter
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Reginster
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Broackes
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Dreier
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Christensen
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Estlund
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Pautz
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Larmore
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Arpaly
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Guyer
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Thesis Preparation
For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing for a preliminary examination.
- Schedule Code
- E: Graduate Thesis Prep
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Thesis Preparation
For graduate students who have met the residency requirement and are continuing research on a full time basis.
- Schedule Code
- E: Graduate Thesis Prep
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Graduate Proseminar
Will cover classics of philosophy from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 20th; including ethics as well as metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of language.
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Dissertation Workshop
No description available. Course for graduate students during their 4th year or above.
- Primary Instructor
- Schechter
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Logic
An introduction to perhaps the most fundamental tool of rational thought: deductive logic. Course begins with basic sentential logic, then moves on to deduction, quantification, and predication. Argumentation and reasoning may also be addressed at times. No previous experience with logic or philosophy is required.
Lectures for PHIL 0540 will be recorded and made available on Canvas for students to watch at their convenience. Discussion sections will be held once a week, some in-person and some online. Please register for an in-person section only if you will be able to attend it. Otherwise, please register for the online section.
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Heck
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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Political Philosophy
An analytic investigation of some central problems and topics in political philosophy, including political obligation and civil disobedience, liberty, rights, equality, and democracy. Readings are drawn from recent work in the field, along with a few classics.
- Primary Instructor
- Estlund
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Philosophy of Mathematics
This course provides an introduction to the philosophy of mathematics. We will discuss the nature of mathematical objects: Are they mental constructions, do they inhabit some Platonic realm, or are there no mathematical objects at all? We will also discuss the status of our knowledge of mathematics: How is that we are justified in reasoning as we do in mathematics? The first part of the course will be devoted to discussing the history of the philosophy of mathematics. The second part of the course will focus on contemporary debates in the philosophy of mathematics.
- Primary Instructor
- Schechter
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Ancient Philosophy
This course will introduce students to the major concerns of Greek philosophy, and how they are addressed by the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. We will have two related ends: historical and critical. On the one hand, we will get clear so far as we are able what it is that these thinkers thought; on the other, it is important to evaluate their arguments. This course will emphasize the identification of the problems and the solutions to them that seemed pressing to these thinkers, especially if such problems seem alien to us.
- Primary Instructor
- Kress
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Kress
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Kress
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
- Primary Instructor
- Kress
- Schedule Code
- C: Discussion Section/Conference
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Perception
Begins with a reading of some classic works, and then moves on to contemporary work. Topics include: naive realist versus representational theories of sensory experience, the possibility that sensory experience is massively illusory (so that we already occupy a kind of “virtual reality”), the role of the brain in shaping sensory experience, and the alleged foundational role of sensory experience in knowledge. The focus will be on vision but we will also discuss other sense-modalities. Suggested prerequisite: at least one course in philosophy (2 or more preferred).
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The Nature of Morality
Investigates major theories and issues concerning the nature of moral value. Readings from 20th-century authors. Issues include naturalism, supervenience, moral motivation, subjectivity/objectivity of value, skepticism, moral relativism, and moral realism.
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Conditionals
In this course, we will look at different theories of what "if" means. Is it a truth-functional connective, like the material conditional used in logic? Do sentences of the form "If P, then Q" even have truth conditions? Some logic will be very helpful; some familiarity with philosophy of language also helpful.
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Consciousness
Topics will include: (i) the different features of various types of consciousness; (ii) dualist, physicalist, and representationalist theories of experience; (iii) the nature of pain and other bodily sensations; (iv) the nature of conscious thought; (v) the qualitative dimension of perception; (vi) introspection; (vii) the roles of attention and working memory in perceptual consciousness; (viii) blindsight, inattentional blindness, hemineglect, and related phenomena; (ix) the unconscious; and (x) what it is for a state of consciousness to be unified.
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Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Others
A detailed study, both historical and critical, of central issues in Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Topics include a selection from: innate ideas; substance; personal identity; abstract ideas; theory of language; perception, materialism, and idealism; induction and causation; and skepticism. Also includes some discussion of later critics of classical empiricism.
- Primary Instructor
- Broackes
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Perception
A survey of contemporary philosophical views about the nature of perception, with occasional lingering looks at relevant parts of the scientific literature. Topics will include appearance and reality, colors, the nature of perceptual representation, perceptual consciousness, the relationship between perception and cognition, the controversy about whether perceptual content is thick or thin, and the relationship between perceptual experience and epistemic rationality.
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Contemporary Ethical Issues
Are we morally obligated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Do we have moral obligations toward nature, animals and other people, for instance future generations and refugees? Is abortion morally wrong? Is legalization of drugs the right thing to do? In this course we will explore these and other contemporary ethical issues in the context of important moral theories; utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and the social contract theory. This course will serve as an introduction to applied ethics and normative ethics.
- Primary Instructor
- Bjurman Pautz
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Philosophy of Biology
This course introduces philosophy of biology through engagement with historical and contemporary philosophical and scientific texts. We will ask epistemological questions about evolutionary biology, that seek a broader understanding of the status of biology as a science, and about fundamental concepts and categories of biological theory. We will ask whether and how biological knowledge (e.g. about health, “human nature,” or ecosystems) might be relevant to philosophical or ethical claims. Relatedly, we will ask questions about the roles of social values in biology. For example: How have concepts of ‘race’ and racial difference been theorized in philosophy and biology, and how has scientific racism mischaracterized human diversity? Students will leave the course with an appreciation for the relevance and importance of philosophical debates both within and about the life sciences.
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Ethical Themes in the Contemporary American Short Story
Consideration of contemporary American short stories in terms of their treatment of such philosophical themes as love, loyalty, envy, belief, despair, and charity. This course has no prerequisites. T Th 1:00-2:20. This class will be conducted entirely as online synchronous sessions via Zoom. All sessions will be recorded for asynchronous access as well.
- Primary Instructor
- Ackerman
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Structural Injustice
Graduate seminar on Political Philosophy
- Primary Instructor
- Estlund
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Philosophical Logic
An examination of various philosophical issues arising in the foundations of logic, such as the following: existence, definite description, reference and truth, semantic paradoxes, implication and presupposition, modalities and "possible worlds," logical truth, the nature of logical knowledge, and logic in natural language.
This course is intended for anyone with some background in formal logic who would
like to (i) expand their knowledge of formal logical systems beyond first-order logic and
(ii) engage in sustained philosophical reflection on the value and applications of these
other logical systems.
- Primary Instructor
- Guindon
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Ethics in the Novel
Consideration of novels in terms of their treatment of such ethical themes as love, friendship, envy, death, courage, faith, integrity, betrayal, responsibility to others, revenge, justice, and mercy. The course deals with twentieth-century and twenty-first-century novels and also with Malory. No pre-requisites. This class will be conducted entirely as online synchronous sessions via Zoom. All sessions will be recorded for asynchronous access as well.
- Primary Instructor
- Ackerman
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Problems of Irrationality: Self-Deception and Weakness of Will
This is an historical and systematic introduction into the nature of self-deception and weakness of will. There’s little agreement among philosophers about the correct description, much less the explanation of these phenomena. Historically, they’ve been approached primarily as moral failings, while contemporary philosophers have focused more on conceptual issues: Is it always irrational to act against your better judgment? Does self-deception require an intentional effort to disbelieve some home truth? And more broadly: What do these phenomena tell us about sound, rational belief and action? What do they tell us about the sorts of creatures we are?
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Plato's Republic
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his companions inquire into why it is better to be just than unjust. The ensuing conversation ranges widely, addressing the best way to set up a city, the parts of the soul, knowledge and its objects, pleasure, poetry, and many more topics besides. This class is a close reading of the dialogue, supplemented with recent secondary literature.
