Philosophy Courses

Semester specific course descriptions

For purposes of the major and minor, courses beyond the introductory level are classified into one of three areas indicated by a Roman numeral I, II or III.

The three areas are:

I. Ethics, Politics and Aesthetics: Philosophical inquiry into the making and justifying of judgments of value.

II. Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Language: Philosophical inquiry into the nature of reality and how we know it.

III. Logic, Rhetoric and Dialectic: Philosophical inquiry into forms of reasoning and argument to develop in students those skills essential to rigorous thinking.

100. Introduction to Philosophy.
A non-historical survey that approaches the field through consideration of such perennial problems as ultimate reality, free will, knowledge, morality, political obligation and the existence of God. This course is open to students without previous work in philosophy.

101. Science: Questions, Methods, Reflections
A thematic introduction to philosophy; its primary purpose is to help students reflect on the nature of scientific knowledge and to evaluate the status of science in our society. Students learn about the ideals of scientific methodology and read recent critiques of science. At the end of the course we consider whether there is a new picture of science emerging in response to these critiques and, if so, what the implications are for the relationship between science and society. Also offered through European Studies.

102. Philosophy of Nature.
A thematic introduction to philosophy whose primary purpose is to engage students in critical reflection about nature. The approach is comparative metaphysics, which means that students study how different cultures understand nature and humans’ place in or relationship to it. Specifically, we compare the history of Western thought about humans and nature, beginning with the Bible and ending with recent movements in environmental thought and philosophies of specific Native American traditions.

103. Philosophy East and West: An Introduction.
A thematic introduction to philosophy, taking a comparative approach, looking at philosophy not only of the Western tradition, but also of the Eastern tradition. Themes include the idea of a “good life,” ethics and the self. Through close reading of primary texts, we critically explore both the commonalities and differences across the traditions. Students learn how to analyze difficult philosophical texts and arguments critically, develop writing skills and ask and answer questions in a philosophical manner. Also offered through Asian Studies and Global Studies.

202. III. Reasoning.
An introduction to argument and logic. Attention is given to both deductive and inductive logic and to methods of determining the reliability of arguments of both types. Additional topics may include scientific thinking, informal evaluation of arguments and composition of arguments.

203. I. Ethical Theory.
A historical introduction to ethical theory, drawing on texts from the Greeks to the present. What is the nature of moral obligation? What character traits are human virtues and vices? How do we discern goodness and evil? How do we justify ethical judgments of any kind? This is an appropriate selection for students with some previous experience in philosophy and provides an important background for further study in philosophy or other disciplines. Prerequisite: Philosophy 100, 101, 102, 103, or 202 or permission of instructor. Also offered through Global Studies.

204. II. Theories of Knowledge and Reality.
A historical introduction to theories of knowledge and reality, from the Greeks to moderns. What is knowledge? What is it possible to know? How is knowledge obtained? What must the world be like for knowledge to be possible? What do we know about the world? Contemporary thinking about these questions is illuminated by showing its relation to previous theories; students are invited to consider these and related questions for themselves. Prerequisite: Philosophy 100, 101, 102, 103, or 202 or permission of the instructor. Also offered through European Studies.

206. I. Introduction to Political Theory.
A study of the answers that philosophers from Plato to Nietzsche have given to the question, “How should political life be organized?” This question leads us to consider the related problems of justice, power, equality, freedom and human nature. The course includes discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of liberal democracy. Also offered as Government 206 and through European Studies.

223. I. or II. Asian Philosophy.
An introduction to some of the major thinkers and themes of the philosophies of India, China and Japan. The major themes — self and ethics — require us to think in a different framework from that of the Western tradition: for instance, whereas the East emphasizes the ethical, the West stresses the logical and epistemological; whereas the West seeks out a methodology, the East inquires after a path. Students are encouraged to think in these non-Western frameworks; however, we also make reference to ideas and themes in Western philosophy to aid understanding of the traditions. Also offered through Asian Studies.

245. I. The Ancient Greeks: Politics, Poetry, Philosophy.
A discussion of brilliant, enduring works by Homer, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Thucydides and Plato. The course focuses on the growth of “enlightenment” in classical Athens, along with its attendant social, intellectual and political problems. Socrates, who grasped both the splendor and the perils of enlightenment, is the pivotal figure. Also offered as Government 245 and through European Studies.

301. II. Philosophy of Science.
Why does science produce such reliable knowledge? Is there really a “scientific method”? Does science get at truth, or is scientific knowledge socially constructed? In addition to these questions, we consider whether science advances according to a steady and rational process, or whether it advances according to radical “scientific revolutions.” We also try to identify what (if anything) distinguishes scientific knowledge from other kinds of knowledge. To conclude the course, we reflect on whether scientific knowledge is comprehensive enough to constitute a complete worldview. Prerequisite: Philosophy 100, 101, 202 or permission of the instructor. Also offered through European Studies.

302. III. Symbolic Logic.
A study of elementary symbolic logic. Topics include sentential and predicate logic. Prerequisite: Philosophy 202 or permission of instructor.

310. I. Philosophy of the Environment.
Our current environmental problems are due primarily to the total volume of human consumption. This course focuses on the problem of high consumption in developed countries and possible solutions for it. Is this high consumption necessary for our happiness, or could we be just as happy while doing less damage to the natural world? If we could, as many environmentalists argue, why do so few of us live as though we truly believe that? Is it possible to consume less, either as individuals or as a society? What kinds of changes are feasible in society to reduce our damage to the natural world? The course offers a theory of happiness intended to make it possible to answer these questions. Prerequisite: Philosophy 100, 101, 102, 103, 202, Environmental Studies 101 or permission of the instructor. Also offered as Environmental Studies 310 and Outdoor Studies 310.

317. III. Mathematical Logic.
An introduction to modern mathematical logic, including the most important results in the subject. Topics include propositional and predicate logic; models, formal deductions and the Gödel Completeness Theorem; applications to algebra, analysis and number theory; decidability and the Gödel Incompleteness Theorem. Treatment of the subject matter is rigorous, but historical and philosophical aspects are discussed. Prerequisite: Mathematics 280. Also offered as Computer Science 317 and Mathematics 317.

324. II. Limits of Knowledge: Exploring the Boundaries of the Unknowable.
Several of the most striking and important results of Western philosophy and science are findings about what we cannot know. Can we definitively draw lines beyond which it is impossible to know? If we do so, are we not claiming to know at least a little about what lies beyond these lines? How could this be possible? In this course, we study various examples of running into the limits of knowability: from medieval ruminations on the unknowability of God to Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and the philosophical implications of chaos theory. Prerequisite: Philosophy 204 or permission of the instructor.

327. I or II. Existential Philosophy.
Freedom, responsibility, the nature of being, the individual, community and communication are all themes of existential philosophy. Taking a comparative approach, students investigate existential philosophy as it appears in the Western tradition with, for example, Heidegger and Sartre, and also examine Asian philosophical approaches to existential questions. What are the different ways of approaching basic questions about human existence? Are these basic questions the same across traditions? Students are encouraged to explore critically both the commonalities and differences across traditions to begin to develop their own views of what it means to be human. Prerequisite: Philosophy 203, 204 or permission of the instructor. Also offered through European Studies and Global Studies.

331. II. Free Will, Responsibility and the Person.
In most cases we believe that a person is responsible for an action only if he or she has acted “of his or her own free will.” But what do we mean by free will? If everything that happens is caused by previous things that have happened (as the thesis of determinism claims), so that all our choices are caused by previous events, would that imply that no one ever has free will? Would it show that no one is ever really responsible? What picture or concept of a person (as distinct from an animal or an inanimate object) is implied by the answers we might give to these questions? These are among the issues addressed in this course. Prerequisite: Philosophy 203, 204 or permission of the instructor.

332. I. Africana Philosophy.
This seminar engages two interrelated bodies of philosophic literature, drawn from contemporary work within and about African philosophy, and one, sometimes called “Black philosophy,” that concerns questions of epistemology, ethics and politics arising from the African diaspora. First, we read African thinkers on the question “What is African philosophy?” Next we read several philosophers of the African diaspora. We end with a section devoted specifically to African-American philosophy. Also offered through African Studies and Global Studies.

333. I. Ethics of Global Citizenship
This research seminar is designed to address, from a philosophical perspective, some of the difficult ethical questions arising from the global organization of the world. Readings include classical, non-western and alternative theories of justice and peace. The course interrogates the discourses surrounding patriotism and cosmopolitanism, peace and violence, terrorism and war, justice and retribution, and the debates surrounding relativism versus universalism, especially with regard to the claims for human rights. Students undertake research projects dealing with the ways these issues are being negotiated in countries where they studied abroad, and develop ethical positions on their own responsibilities toward global citizenship. Also offered as Global Studies 333.

334. II. Feminist Philosophy
An introduction to some of the questions that shape feminist philosophy today. What connections are there between feminist philosophy and feminist writing in other disciplines and feminist movements inside and outside the academy? Does feminist philosophy transform traditional philosophical discourse and the academy? The course focuses on how an awareness of intersections of race, class, sexuality, gender and ethnicity is vital for disciplinary and interdisciplinary study in feminist philosophy. Also offered as Gender Studies 334.

341. I. Politics Through Literature.
Discussion of works by Kafka, Conrad, Dostoevsky, Brecht, Orwell, Camus, Pynchon, Kosinski and others that bear on the problem of alienation from self, work, society and nature in the modern world. Also offered as Government 341.

344. I. Modern Political Thought.
An examination of many important thinkers from the Renaissance to the present, but with a special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Syllabus may include works by Voltaire, Tocqueville, Burke, Hegel, Mill, Freud, Fromm and Arendt. Whenever appropriate, students assess modern political developments in light of the assigned texts. Prerequisite: Philosophy 206. Also offered as Government 344 and through European Studies.

357. I. Postcolonial Literature and Theory.
This course introduces a distinct way of organizing literary study, substituting for the study of national traditions the notion of postcoloniality as a global condition affecting not only literature but also categories we use to think about human experience: relations between colonizers and colonized and between culture and power; identity, authenticity and hybridity; roots, motherland, mother tongue; nationality. Readings include contemporary literature produced in the Indian subcontinent, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, as well as important theoretical texts about postcoloniality. Also offered as English 357 and Global Studies 357.

367. Feminist Postcolonial Theory.
Postcolonial theory addresses issues of identity, culture, literature and history arising from the social context of colonization, resistance to colonization, liberation from colonization and the formation of new nations. It crosses the boundaries of the social sciences and humanities in its approach to theory and analysis of the discourses used to constitute colonial and postcolonial subjects. We begin with some classic texts of postcolonial theory before moving to a focus on specifically feminist debates and texts within postcolonial studies. Literature and film are used in dialog with theoretical texts to examine questions about gender and women’s issues in various societies. Also offered as English 367, Gender Studies 367 and Global Studies 367.

390. Focus on a Philosopher.
This course gives students the opportunity to engage in in-depth study of the works and life of a single philosopher. The philosopher chosen will vary depending on faculty and student interest. Study of the philosopher will include close reading of one or more of his or her works, and often also the study of the ideas of other philosophers he or she was responding to, as well as the historical/cultural context in which the philosopher was working. Prerequisite: Phil 202, 203, 204, or permission of the instructor.

400. SYE Seminar: Metaphilosophy.
This course provides an opportunity for critical reflection on the nature and value of philosophy itself. What is philosophy? What are the methods of philosophical inquiry? Does philosophy have value in today’s world? We read what other philosophers, past and present, and in both Western and non-Western traditions, have had to say about these questions. Other members of the philosophy department will visit the class to share their own perspectives and methods. Students practice and reflect on a variety of philosophical methodologies and will be encouraged to clarify their own philosophical identities. Prerequisite: Philosophy 202, 203, or 204 or permission of instructor. Must be a senior philosophy major or minor.

402. Philosophy Tutorial.
Under faculty supervision, the student assists in the teaching of an elementary course in philosophy. Limited to majors.

451. Research.
Intended for students who have shown aptitude in philosophy and who, in the opinion of the staff, would benefit from faculty-guided research in philosophy. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

468. SYE: Independent Study
A one-semester SYE independent study option for students who are unable to complete an SYE in any other way. Students must complete an independent study project worthy of SYE designation under supervision of a faculty member.

469. SYE: Independent Study: Metaphilosophy.
Occasionally a student who wishes to take Metaphilosophy as an SYE is unable to take the seminar version of this course (which is only offered in the spring), either because of graduating at the end of fall semester, or because of scheduling conflicts in the spring with another course required for graduation. In those cases, the student can take the Metaphilosophy course as an Independent Study under supervision of a faculty member.

489-490. SYE: Research and Thesis.
Intended for students who are not eligible for honors but wish to fulfill their SYE requirement by completing a philosophy thesis during the senior year. In the fall, the student registers for 489 and conducts research under the supervision of a faculty member. In the spring, the student registers for 490 and develops a philosophical thesis and defends it in a departmental seminar. Students interested in this SYE option must submit a research propo-sal in the spring of their junior year; these proposals will be considered after honors proposals are evaluated. Limited to majors.

498-499. SYE Honors: Research and Thesis.
Intended for students who are eligible for honors and wish to fulfill their SYE requirement by completing a philosophy thesis during the senior year. In the fall, the student registers for 498 and conducts research under the supervision of a faculty member. In the spring, the student registers for 499 and develops a philosophical thesis and defends it in a departmental seminar. Students interested in this SYE option must submit a research proposal in the spring of their junior year. Limited to majors.