Philosophy (PHIL)

Course information contained within the Bulletin is accurate at the time of publication in July 2024 but is subject to change. For the most up-to-date course information, please refer to the Course Catalog.

PHIL 5210. Special Topics in Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Arranged each semester. Please consult the instructor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 5211. Intermediate Logic. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will go through the soundness and completeness proofs for a first-order deductive system (i.e., the kind used in intro logic). The main goal of the course will be to deepen the students' understanding of logic by acquainting them with these formal results. But we'll also try to spend a little time on some philosophical issues (e.g., what, if anything, does logic have to do with reasoning).

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5216. Philosophy of Science. 3 Credit Hours.

Basic issues in the current philosophy of science, and particularly various accounts of such key notations of science as hypotheses, confirmation, laws, causation, explanation, and theories.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5217. Feminist Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science. 3 Credit Hours.

This course explores the effects of gender on scientific creativity, method and decision making. Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), was one of the first to show that political, social and psychological factors affect scientific change. Feminist criticisms of science, developed over the last thirty years, are one way in which his views have been developed. We will examine cases from a wide range of sciences to see where, and how, gender influences scientific practice. The complex relations between gender, race, class and nationality will also be discussed in relation to these issues. Central questions of the course will be: How pervasive is gender bias in science? Can gender bias be eliminated, and is it desirable to do so? Does the reduction of gender bias require an increased representation of women in science? Can the popular view that science is objective, truth-seeking and progressive be maintained in the face of findings of gender bias? We will read from the work of Evelyn Fox Keller, Donna Haraway, Sandra Harding, Helen Longino, Alison Wylie and others.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5218. Philosophy of Medicine. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5221. Social and Political Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Arranged each semester. Please consult the instructor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5222. Contemporary Ethical Theory. 3 Credit Hours.

Issues in ethical theory that have come to prominence in the 20th century. Both meta-ethical issues (about the meaning and justification of ethical statements) and normative issues (about obligation, responsibility, and goodness) will be examined.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5223. Feminist Ethics and Political Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

An examination of feminism's contribution to ethics, political philosophy, and legal theory. Issues may include: the role of care versus that of justice in determining moral obligations; the nature and causes of women's oppression (including the difference between the sexual oppression experienced by white women and the additional forms of oppression to which women of color/third-world women are subject); pornography and prostitution; equality and difference; essentialism as it pertains to gender and race; feminist jurisprudence; postmodern feminism.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5225. Metaethics. 3 Credit Hours.

The course examines the foundations of ethical value, including the metaphysics of ethical value, the semantics of ethical language, normativity, and the relation between kinds of value such as instrumental, final, intrinsic, and extrinsic as well as personal, ethical, moral, and prudential.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5226. Classics in Moral Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

The course will introduce students to Greek ethical thought through seminal texts in this genre.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5229. Philosophy in Literature. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected philosophical themes as they appear in classical and modern literature. Frequently the themes concern the "enlightenment project," "modernism," and their critics.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5230. Special Topics. 3 Credit Hours.

Arranged each semester. Please consult the instructor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 5232. History of Aesthetics. 3 Credit Hours.

A study of major works in the history of aesthetics selected from such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Dewey, Bell, Collingwood, Beardsley, Langer, Dickie, Danto, and contemporary figures.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5233. Problems in Aesthetics. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5235. Classics in Moral Philosophy II. 3 Credit Hours.

A study of the major works in the history of moral philosophy selected from among the writings of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, Moore.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5240. Special Topics. 3 Credit Hours.

Arranged each semester. Please consult the instructor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 5241. Theory of Knowledge. 3 Credit Hours.

An examination of knowledge and belief. The specific subtopics involving them include truth, perception, innate ideas, justification, induction, the priori, mathematical knowledge and rationalism versus empiricism.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5242. Metaphysics. 3 Credit Hours.

An examination of the most general features of the universe. Topics include the character of truth, the existence of abstract entities, the nature of persons, free will, the existence or non-existence of God, ontological commitment, the relation of philosophy to science, causation, modal properties, reality and appearance, and various forms of realism and anti-realism.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5243. Philosophy of Law. 3 Credit Hours.

An introduction to philosophical problems arising in the examination of legal statements, including questions and theories about the nature of law itself, about legal responsibility and legal punishment, and about standards of fairness in settling legal disputes.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5244. Philosophy of the Mind. 3 Credit Hours.

An examination of the character of mental and psychological states. Specific issues may include the nature of persons, relations between natural and psychological sciences, action, mental content, and its relation to language.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5249. Ethics in Medicine. 3 Credit Hours.

Exploration of ethical issues generated by the application of scientific and technological advances to the preservation, destruction, and programming of human life. Topics may include: ethics of medical research, abortion, euthanasia, behavior control, allocation of scarce medical resources, and the ethics of patient-physician interaction.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5250. Topics in the Philosophy of Psychology. 3 Credit Hours.

The course examines select topics in the philosophy of psychology such as philosophical treatments of the nature of cognition, perception, and sensation, as well as emotion, intention, action, and moral psychology.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 5251. Philosophy of Language. 3 Credit Hours.

This course focuses on philosophical topics concerning the nature of language. Broadly, these topics include semantics (theory of linguistic meaning), syntax (theory of linguistic structure), and pragmatics (theory of linguistic use). The precise content varies according to the instructor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for a total of 6 credit.

PHIL 5253. Philosophy of History. 3 Credit Hours.

Problems of historical knowledge, e.g., problems about the historian's claim to explain historical events (causation in history, reasons for actions, challenges to the objectivity of history) and problems about historical interpretation (including global interpretations of the historical process, such as Augustine's, Kant's, and Hegel's.)

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5269. Contemporary British and American Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected topics in 20th and 21st century English-speaking philosophy, varying according to instructor and semester.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5271. Nineteenth-Century Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected European philosophers from Hegel to Bradley.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5272. Philosophy of Culture. 3 Credit Hours.

The purpose of this course is to address central themes in philosophy of culture, such as philosophical problems raised by the notion of cultural conditions of possibility, the relation of mythic knowledge to scientific and philosophical knowledge, the role of signs and symbols in theories of culture, the philosophical significance of psychoanalysis, and the distinction between a philosophical anthropology and anthropological theory.  This course will be topical in nature, which means that it can be taken each year as different dimensions of the subject receive focus.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5273. Greek Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Interpretation and critical examination of the dialogues of Plato and the works of Aristotle.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5274. Pragmatism and American Thought. 3 Credit Hours.

American pragmatism and naturalism, with emphasis on Emerson, James, Peirce, Mead, Dewey, and contemporary pragmatists.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5275. British Empiricism. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected topics in 17th- and 18th-century philosophers such as Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Reid.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5276. Contemporary Continental Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Phenomenology and existentialism, with emphasis on such 20th century philosophers as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida, and other post-structuralists.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5278. Continental Rationalism. 3 Credit Hours.

This course is devoted to selected topics in 17th- and 18th-century philosophers in the Rationalist tradition such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 5279. Kant. 3 Credit Hours.

In depth study of some of the major critical writings of Kant.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8602. Seminar in Greek Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

This course will examine Greek philosophical conceptions of pleasure and hedonism. We will begin with some Presocratic material, then move to Plato (selections from Gorgias, Protagoras, Republic). We will examine Plato's Philebus in its entirety. Thereafter, we will look at Aristotle's treatments in Nicomachean Ethics VII and X, including Eudoxus' arguments, as well as Rhetoric I. Finally, we will consider the hedonism of the Cyrenaics and Epicureans.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8611. Seminar in Continental Rationalism. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected topics in 17th- and 18th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8616. Seminar in British Empiricism. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected topics in 17th- and 18th-century philosophers such as Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Reid.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8621. Seminar in Kant. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8626. Seminar in Nineteenth-Century Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8631. Seminar in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8641. Seminar in American Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

Selected topics in the thought of American philosophers, especially the American pragmatists such as James, Dewey, and Pierce.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8666. Seminar in Philosophy of the Social Sciences. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8701. Seminar in Aesthetics. 3 Credit Hours.

The general plan of the seminar is to explore the master thinkers of continental aesthetics from an analytic vantage and against the dominant themes of Anglo-American aesthetics. I anticipate drawing on a good selection of continental authors and a specimen or two of a more sustained treatment. This would involve, for instance, a selection among the classic figures spanning Kant and Hegel, phenomenology, hermeneutics, structuralism, post-structuralism, and the Frankfurt-critical school at least. Proposals of topics or figures are welcome.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8712. Seminar in Ethics. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8721. Seminar in Social and Political Philosophy. 3 Credit Hours.

This seminar will examine three core approaches in contemporary political philosophy--Rawlsian contractarianism, Habermassian critical social theory, and feminist political theory--and will critically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each through a study of their main exponents. Since recent controversies in social and political philosophy have tended to focus on global issues, some attention will be given to how these three approaches address questions of global justice, political ecology, and cooperation and solidarity across borders.  The seminar will proceed through a close study of key texts from each approach and will involve oral presentations by participants and an original research paper.  Readings will include John Rawls, Thomas Pogge, Jurgen Habermas, Iris Marion Young, Alison Jaggar, and Nancy Fraser.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for a total of 6 credit.

PHIL 8731. Seminar in the Philosophy of the Mind. 3 Credit Hours.

Examination of current views of such topics as materialistic accounts of mind, intentionality, the analysis of specific mental phenomena (e.g., belief, consciousness, emotion, desire), ascription of mental attributes to machines.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8741. Seminar in Epistemology. 3 Credit Hours.

For the most part, we will closely study disputes surrounding foundationalism. Originally a theory about justified belief, foundationalism has become a watchword in wider cultural wars. Because its wider use is not wholly unrelated to its original use in the theory of knowledge, it is certainly something on which we should try to achieve clarity. A recent anthology entitled Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, edited by Matthias Steup & Ernest Sosa contains essays, pro and con, on various aspects of this issue, written by a number of leading epistemologists, and with both defenses and critiques of each of the positions involved. The topics in the anthology cover, among other things, the nature of justification, a priori knowledge, perception, skepticism, the ethics of belief, truth, and context. The hope is that we can work through the 11 sections of this text to achieve a better grasp of the issues and their broader implications for our understanding.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8746. Seminar in Metaphysics. 3 Credit Hours.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 8755. Seminar in the Philosophy of Language. 3 Credit Hours.

This course is devoted to topics in the philosophy of language such as meaning, reference, metaphor, speech-act theory, and vagueness.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.

PHIL 9882. Tutorial. 1 to 3 Credit Hour.

Independent study for graduates with a professor within the department, usually their advisor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 9982. Tutorial. 3 Credit Hours.

Independent study for graduates with a professor within the department, usually their advisor.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 9994. Preliminary Examination Preparation. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 9996. Master's Thesis Research. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 9998. Pre-Dissertation Research. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.

Registration required each semester after Preliminary Examinations while researching the dissertation proposal.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.

PHIL 9999. Dissertation Research. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.

Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Student Attribute Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Student Attributes: Dissertation Writing Student.

Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.