Upcoming Philosophy Courses

PHIL 101 – Introduction to Philosophy

Prof. Tiehen: MoWeFr 9–9:50 a.m.

Representative philosophical topics, such as mind and body, the grounds of knowledge, the existence of God, moral obligation, political equality, and human freedom, are discussed in connection with contemporary philosophers and figures in the history of philosophy.

 

PHIL 215 – Classical Chinese Philosophy

Prof. Liao: MoWe 3:30-4:50 p.m.

(Chinese Language & Culture Major)

This course introduces students to influential philosophical questions in early Chinese thought, and it exposes students to central philosophical texts such as Lunyu, Daodejing, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Mengzi, Xunzi, and Han Feizi. It is both a course in history of philosophy and a course in comparative philosophy. Hence, students are expected to both develop skills for making historically-informed interpretations of these thinkers' responses to the influential philosophical questions, and to consider their ideas' relevance to practical and philosophical discourses today.

 

PHIL 250 – Moral Philosophy

Prof. Tubert: TuTh 2-3:20 p.m.

(Bioethics Minor; Neuroscience Major and Minor; STHS Major)

This course examines a number of ethical theories - theories attempting to provide a systematic account of our beliefs about what is right and wrong, good and bad. The course examines a range of answers to questions like the following: What makes for a good life? What, if anything, is of value? What does morality require? Should we care about moral requirements and, if so, why? Is there a connection between morality and freedom? In addition to a careful study of various classic views, we will consider recent defenses and critiques of these views.

 

PHIL 286 – Ethics, Data, and Artificial Intelligence

Prof. Tubert: TuTh 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.

(Bioethics Minor; Data Analytics Minor; IHE: Science & Values; Neuroscience Major and Minor; STHS Major and Minor)

This course focuses on social, economic, legal, and ethical issues that arise from the collection, analysis, and use of large data sets, especially when these processes are automated or embedded within artificial intelligence systems. The course explores the design of ethical algorithms by considering questions like the following: what kinds of biases are ethically problematic and how can they be avoided? What are the effects of automation on jobs and inequality? What are the privacy considerations that arise when collecting and using data? What is the ethical significance of transparency in automation? Who owns data sets and who has the right to access information? Who is responsible for actions that result from artificial intelligence systems? In thinking about these complex questions, students consider specific case studies of controversial uses of data and algorithms in fields such as medicine, 

biotechnology, military, advertising, social media, finance, transportation, and criminal justice, among others. In addition to relevant ethical theories, students are introduced to philosophical, legal, and scientific theories that play a central role in debates regarding the ethics of data and artificial intelligence. Readings are drawn from a number of classic and contemporary texts in philosophy, science and technology studies, law, public policy, and the emerging fields of "data ethics" and "robot ethics".

 

PHIL/BIOE 292 - Basics of Bioethics

Prof. Liao: MoWe 2-3:20 p.m.

(Bioethics Minor; Biology [Natural Science] Major; IHE: Science & Values; STHS Major)

This course examines Western philosophical understandings of moral issues brought on by advances in health care, science, and technology. In this course, students will learn the "Principles approach" to bioethics, as well as other ethical approaches to the difficult moral issues raised by contemporary medical science and its clinical applications.

 

PHIL 330 – Epistemology

Prof. Tiehen: TuTh 12:30-1:50 p.m.

(IHE: Science & Values; STHS Major and Minor)

Epistemology, otherwise known as the theory of knowledge, addresses issues about the nature of knowledge, justification, and truth, issues that arise from questions such as "How do you know?" and "Can you be sure?" It has been an especially lively area of philosophy in English in recent decades; many currents in the humanities appeal to epistemological notions - such currents as post-modernism, relativism, social constructionism, feminism, and situated knowing. This course answers both developments. It introduces such disciplinary concerns as foundationalism, virtue epistemology, internalism and externalism, naturalism, reliabilism, and the Gettier problem. It also engages such wider concerns as relativism about truth and reason and the role of social institutions and social structures, power and privilege, in constituting knowledge.

 

PHIL 353 – Philosophy of Film

Prof. Protasi: MoFr Noon-1:20 p.m.

(IHE: Artist as Humanist; IHE: Visual Culture)

This course surveys some of the fundamental philosophical questions that arise from cinema as an art form. What is a film? What does it have in common with, and how does it differ from, other arts, such as theater or photography? What challenges does cinema pose to the traditional understanding of art? Other topics covered may include: the problem of identifying authorship in film; reasons and nature of our emotional engagement with movies; puzzles concerning film narration; the relation between film and society. At the end of the course students collaborate to make a film.

 

PHIL 400 – Topics in Philosophy: The Constitution of the Self

Prof. Tubert: MoWe 2-3:20 p.m.

This course is focused on the idea that the self is in some sense created or constituted throughout a person’s life. Different theories of self-constitution have been recently developed in response to the problem of personal identity -- the problem of what, if anything, makes each one of us the same person throughout our lives. The course starts with an overview of the problem and Derek Parfit's Humean solution to the problem, which denies the existence of a self that survives throughout a person's life. We will focus on views such as Christine Korsgaard's Kantian view, focused on the role of reason and choice in self-constitution; Marya Schechtman's existentialist view, focused on the role of narratives in constituting the self; and Paul Katsafanas' Nietzschean view, focused on the underlying psychological structures that form the self. As we examine these theories, we consider whether they present plausible alternatives to Parfit's reductionism and explore the consequences of each theory for thinking about ethics and practical reasoning. In addition, we read a number of articles criticizing, applying, or clarifying the theoretical framework provided by self-constitution views, such as Galen Strawson’s critique of the narrative view of personal identity, Maria Lugones’ discussion of agency under oppression, Hilde Lindemann Nelson’s treatment of the role of the body in narrative views, and Catriona Mackenzie’s discussion of narrativity in relation to cases of mental illness.

Conducted as an advanced seminar, this course emphasizes student contribution to class discussion and the completion and presentation of a substantial independent project. Pre-requisites: three courses in Philosophy.

 

CCS 146 – Seven Deadly Sins

Prof. Protasi: MoWeFr 9-9:50 a.m. and MoWeFr 10-10:50 a.m.

Wrath, pride, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth and lust are the so-called “seven deadly sins”, vices traditionally condemned in the Christian tradition and also in many other religious and cultural contexts. In this course, students start by learning the genealogy of the list, that is, how it historically came about, its classical Greek underpinnings, and some of its developments in the thought of the Fathers of the Christian Church, such as Thomas Aquinas. Then, they compare this Christian approach to the Buddhist and/or Islamic approach to vice, and reflect on the social construction of the notion of sin in general, and these sins in particular. After this introductory period, the bulk of the course consists in the philosophical analysis of each of the vices, in thinking about how they manifest in our contemporary secular multi-religious American society, and in which virtuous ways they can be counteracted, including the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Finally, students work on a capstone project aimed at producing a research paper on one or all of the seven “deadlies” from an interdisciplinary perspective.

All philosophy courses count towards the “Artistic and Humanistic Perspectives” requirement.