Upcoming Philosophy Courses

PHIL 104 – Existentialism

Prof. Tubert | TuTh 11 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.

Artistic and Humanistic

Existentialism describes an influential set of views that gained prominence in Europe following World War II, stressing radical human freedom and possibility, as well as concomitant responsibility and anxiety, in a world bereft of transcendent significance. This course examines the nineteenth-century philosophical roots of such views, their leading twentieth-century philosophical and theological expression, and a few of their most compelling incarnations in literature.

 

PHIL 106 – Language, Knowledge, and Power

Prof. Liao | MoWeFr 10–10:50 a.m.

Artistic and Humanistic / KNOW

This course investigates the ways in which power relations--such as racism, sexism, and ableism--structure two significant areas of individual and collective behavior: language and knowledge. It shows the necessity of philosophizing in critical engagement with the world by connecting social phenomena with social scientific theories. It also shows philosophy's strength in making fundamental inquiries and bridging academic disciplines by drawing on diverse types of empirical evidence.

 

PHIL 210 – Ancient Greek Philosophy

Prof. Protasi | TuTh 9:30–10:50 a.m.

Artistic and Humanistic // Ancient Mediterranean Studies major and minor / Greek and Latin Language major and minor / Honors minor

A survey of the origins of Western philosophy in Ancient Greece, beginning with the Presocratics and covering Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, other philosophers, including women philosophers. In this course students are introduced to the answers some of the most influential ancient philosophers have given to the question: "How can we be happy?" In addition to learning what these philosophers thought, students are stimulated to think about these questions from their own modern perspective, and reflect on the extent to which their modern viewpoint differs. Finally, but not least importantly, students learn to read and interpret texts that were written millennia ago. In the process, they encounter argumentative techniques that are still as current as the theses defended through them.

 

PHIL 230 – Philosophy of Mind

Prof. Tiehen | TuTh 2–3:20 p.m.

Artistic and Humanistic // Bioethics minor / Honors minor / IHE: Science and Values / Neuroscience major & minor / STHS major

This course introduces central issues in the philosophy of mind, especially the relation between mind and body and the nature of consciousness. Other topics will include the possibility of artificial intelligence, the nature of rationality and intelligence, and the connection between different sciences of the mind, including psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and more.

 

PHIL 232 – Philosophy of Science

Prof. Tiehen | TuTh 9:30–10:50 a.m.

Artistic and Humanistic // Biology major / IHE: Science and Values / Natural Science (Biology) major / STHS major & minor

This course consists of a philosophical examination of science. The course examines attempts to describe what is distinctive about science, including views concerning scientific methodology. The course also examines the character of scientific change, asking how one should understand the history of science. This examination leads to a discussion of the nature of scientific knowledge, including whether scientific entities should be considered real and what role values play in the development of science. Issues that arise from particular sciences also may be discussed.

 

PHIL 240 – Formal Logic

Prof. Liao | MoWeFr 11–11:50 a.m.

Connections 200–400 Level // Business Leadership Program major / Computer Science major and minor / Math minor

Formal logic is the science of reasoning and argumentation. It aims to develop systems that can describe and evaluate the internal coherence of a series of thoughts via mathematical structures and algorithms. Historically, formal logic was developed from both philosophical and mathematical interests. Today, developments in formal logic can come from philosophers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and researchers in other cognate disciplines.

This course works with two logical systems: truth-functional logic and first-order logic. Students acquire technical skills in three aspects of these systems: symbolization (representing argumentative thoughts in the formal language); interpretation (using a mathematical structure to interpret the formal language); and deduction (working with algorithms that govern series of expressions in the formal language).

Very roughly, symbolization and interpretation represent philosophers' interests in capturing argumentative thoughts. Very roughly, interpretation and deduction represent mathematicians' and computer scientists' interests in developing decision procedures. In working with the technical skills, students approach the topic of reasoning with questions and methods from philosophy, mathematics, and computer science; and work with materials and assignments from those disciplinary perspectives.

 

PHIL 340 – Cognitive Science

Prof. Liao | MoWe 2–3:20 p.m.

Connections 200-400 Level // Neuroscience major & minor / STHS major

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of the mind, which involves collaborations between philosophy, artificial intelligence, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, and more. This course covers foundational questions of cognitive science through a historical overview. It starts with the central debate between symbolic and connectionist models, as they apply to human minds and artificial intelligence. It then turns to contemporary responses, with a focus on embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognition; and a focus on comparative cognition across biological and artificial systems.

 

PHIL 360 – Aesthetics

Prof. Protasi | TuTh 12:30–1:50 p.m.

Artistic and Humanistic // IHE: Artist as Humanist / IHE: Visual Culture

What is beauty, where can we find and why does it matter? Is there aesthetic value in "ugliness"? How does beauty relate to art? What is art? Can videogames or food be art? How do aesthetic, artistic and beauty standards arise? How does aesthetics relate to ethics? Can art be immoral? Can we disagree on matters of taste? In this course students explore these and other questions concerning the nature and value of aesthetic value.

 

PHIL 378 – Philosophy of Law

Prof. Tubert | TuTh 3:30–4:50 p.m.

Artistic and Humanistic // Bioethics Minor / CLJ Minor

This course is concerned with the nature of law and the relationship between law and morality. The course is centered on questions like the following: What is the law? What is the connection between law and morality? Is it morally wrong to break the law? Is breaking the law sometimes morally permissible or even morally required? Should morality be legally enforced? To what extent, if at all, should legal decisions be influenced by moral beliefs? What are the relationships between legal, constitutional, moral, and political rights? Can legal punishment be morally justified? While pursuing answers to these questions through the work of leading legal philosophers, students read a number of actual court cases and discuss specific issues like hate speech and capital punishment, among others.

 

PHIL 499 – Ethics Bowl

Prof. Tiehen | Fr 4–4:50 p.m.

Experiential Learning // 0.25 activity unit

This course provides students with a unique opportunity to practice applying ethical theories to controversial ethical problems. An Ethics Bowl is a collaborative yet competitive event in which teams analyze a series of wide-ranging ethical dilemmas. Throughout the semester, students research and discuss case studies dealing with complex ethical issues in a number of practical contexts and possibly compete in an Ethics Bowl. Cases concern ethical problems on wide ranging topics, such as personal relationships (e.g. dating, friendship), professional ethics (e.g. cases in engineering, law, medicine), social and political ethics (e.g. free speech, gun control, health care, discrimination), technology (e.g. autonomous cars, carebots), and global issues (e.g. the impact of globalization, global warming, biodiversity).

Email Prof. Tiehen at jtiehen@pugetsound.edu for permission to enroll in this course.