Philosophy Major Requirements
2024 - 2025 Catalog
Philosophy major leading to BA degree
A major in philosophy leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree requires completion of at least 11 three- or four-credit courses in philosophy with the following distribution, with courses able to count toward more than one category, except the Senior Capstone.
- PHIL 170, ordinarily completed before the end of sophomore year
- Two courses chosen from PHIL 104, 105, 110, 120, ordinarily completed before the end of sophomore year
- At least four courses at the 200 level or above
- At least one course at the 300 level
- History of philosophy or major figures: Two courses chosen from PHIL 110-139, 195, 210-239, 295, 310-339, 395; REL 218; CLAS 221
- Ethics, value theory, and political philosophy: Two courses chosen from PHIL 104, 140-169, 196, 240-269, 296, 340-368, 396; POV 243; WGSS 242, 244, 246
- Metaphysics and epistemology: Two courses chosen from PHIL 105, 171-179, 181-189, 197, 270-289, 297, 370-389, 397
- Senior Capstone: At least one course chosen from either a 300-level course taken during the senior year, or PHIL 473, or PHIL 493: Honors Thesis (3-3). Students who are not pursuing Honors in the Major must take at least one 300-level course in their senior year. This 300-level course must be in addition to the course used to satisfy requirement 4. above. Students who are pursuing Honors in the Major must speak with the department head or honors coordinator before the end of the junior year. Students pursuing honors register for PHIL 493 and prepare their theses in both fall and winter term of the senior year. They must present their theses for evaluation before the end of the winter term of the senior year.
- Required course:
- PHIL 170 - Introduction to Logic
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 The study of argumentation and modern formal logic. This course explores the basic principles of deductive and inductive reasoning. Students learn to symbolize and evaluate natural language arguments. Topics covered include sentential and quantificational logic.
- Two courses from:
- PHIL 104 - Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 The course provides a broad historical survey of moral and political philosophy. Students read selections from the work of a number of great women and men from the ancient to the contemporary period, dealing with questions of ethics and moral and political philosophy. We consider how philosophy can be way of life and how we can pursue wisdom through careful argumentation and analysis of the foundations of our beliefs about the world, morality, human nature, good and evil, government and society, justice, and equality.
- PHIL 105 - Introduction to Theories of Knowledge and Reality
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course introduces students to the following puzzles and questions of philosophy: Do we really know anything? What is time like? What are selves? Does God exist? Do we have free will? By wrestling with these big questions and by exploring how philosophy can impact everyday life, we will grow in intellectual virtues such as curiosity, rigor, intellectual humility, intellectual courage, and empathetic reasoning.
- PHIL 110 - Ancient Greek Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of the most important philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle, two Ancient Greek philosophers who were the most influential in the Western tradition. Topics include the nature of existence, friendship, happiness, justice, knowledge, morality, piety, the soul, truth, and virtue.
- PHIL 120 - Modern European Philosophy: Descartes to Hume
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of some of the metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion of the European Enlightenment, including views of the rationalists Rene Descartes, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz; and the empiricists Catharine Cockburn, John Locke, and David Hume. Topics include skepticism about the external world, mind-body dualism, the existence and nature of God, theories of substance, personal identity, and causation.
- At least four courses at the 200 level or above
- At least one course at the 300 level
- History of philosophy or major figures:
- PHIL 110 - Ancient Greek Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of the most important philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle, two Ancient Greek philosophers who were the most influential in the Western tradition. Topics include the nature of existence, friendship, happiness, justice, knowledge, morality, piety, the soul, truth, and virtue.
- PHIL 120 - Modern European Philosophy: Descartes to Hume
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of some of the metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion of the European Enlightenment, including views of the rationalists Rene Descartes, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz; and the empiricists Catharine Cockburn, John Locke, and David Hume. Topics include skepticism about the external world, mind-body dualism, the existence and nature of God, theories of substance, personal identity, and causation.
- PHIL 130 - Classical Chinese Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An introduction to philosophy via classical Chinese philosophy. We cover major schools in classical Chinese philosophy, including Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism. Many ideas of these schools have significantly shaped cultural practice in East Asia. We focus on the philosophical articulation and defense of these schools, and we reflect on issues in cosmology, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. We also discuss the relevance of classical Chinese philosophy to Western philosophy as well as empirical research.
- PHIL 195 - Seminar in History of Philosophy or Major Figures
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 A consideration of selected issues in philosophy.
- PHIL 214 - Religion and Existentialism
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as REL 214. A consideration of the accounts of human existence (faith and doubt; death and being-in-the-world; anxiety, boredom, and hope; sin and evil; etc.) elaborated by philosophers, theologians, and literary figures in the 19th and 20th centuries. The central figures considered are Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. Attention is paid to their significance for future philosophers, theologians, artists, and literary figures, and consideration may also be paid to forerunners in earlier centuries.
- PHIL 218 - Heidegger and Being in the World
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as REL 218. An exploration of the work of Martin Heidegger and the development of its themes in select philosophers, literary artists, and/or film makers. A close reading of the magisterial account of being in the world in Being and Time is followed by careful study of representative essays from his later work. After our reading of Heidegger, we consider the literary, cinematic, and/or philosophical work of major 20th- and 21st-century figures who let us reflect on the possibilities and/or problems that his account of being in the world poses for ethical, religious, and existential concern. Special attention this year is paid to the films of Terrence Malick.
- PHIL 221 - Plato
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as CLAS 221. An in-depth examination of the philosophy of Plato. We look at Plato's epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, ethics, and political philosophy through a careful analysis of several dialogues, including some or all of the following: Euthyphro, Laches, Apology, Gorgias, Meno, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus , and Republic . In addition, we consider certain challenges posed by Plato's use of the dialogue form, such as whether we are justified in assuming that Socrates is a mouthpiece for Plato's own views, and how we should interpret Plato's frequent appeal to myths and other literary devices within his dialogues.
- PHIL 222 - Aristotle
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 A study of Aristotle's comprehensive philosophy of man and nature, including his logic, physics, metaphysics, psychology, ethics, and aesthetics.
- PHIL 223 - Buddhist Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An introduction to Buddhist philosophy. We focus on the philosophical articulation and defense of Buddhism, and reflect on issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and ethics. We see how different philosophical traditions—including Indian, Chinese, and Western—can be mutually informing. We also discuss the relevance of Buddhist philosophy to empirical research and everyday practice.
- PHIL 228 - John Stuart Mill
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 A study of the life and ideas of a 19th-century philosopher who was ahead of his time. The class considers such questions as: Are liberty and individuality absolutely crucial to human happiness? Are we morally obligated to conduct our lives in ways that maximize the greatest aggregate happiness? Should women and men have equal rights and opportunities? How can we combine the benefits of capitalism (higher productivity and innovation) with the benefits of socialism (avoiding poverty and exploitation)? Is it more important to fill your head with knowledge or your heart with love?
- PHIL 232 - Nietzsche
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of Nietzsche's central philosophical conceptions - revaluation of values, genealogy of morality, self-overcoming, eternal recurrence - through selected readings from various periods in Nietzsche's authorship.
- PHIL 234 - American Pragmatism
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 A survey of historical and contemporary American pragmatist philosophers, who believe that truth is linked to concrete consequences, meaning is a social phenomenon, and the line between philosophy and politics is permeable.
- PHIL 238 - Existentialism: Meaning and Existence
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Overview of existential thought in the 19th and 20th centuries. The course presents core existentialist thinkers and their critics - e.g. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Fanon, Heidegger, Camus - and explores important existential themes such as human experience, anxiety, freedom, authenticity, and absurdity.
- PHIL 239 - Postmodernism: Power, Difference, and Disruption
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 While many things are said to be "postmodern" --architecture, pop-culture, literature, art, philosophy-- the term itself escapes many attempts at definition. In this seminar, we examine the philosophical roots of postmodern thought in an effort to gain better insight to its fluid character. The course concentrates especially on the writings of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Gilles Deleuze. We read Foucault's account of power and the docile body in Discipline and Punish ; we discuss Derrida's deconstructionist project and his concept of "differance"; and we explore the fascinatingly complex world of Deleuze's and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus . After carefully exploring these complicated texts, we read several critical appropriations of these works in contemporary race theory, postcolonial studies, and feminist philosophy.
- PHIL 295 - Seminar in History of Philosophy or Major Figures
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 A consideration of selected issues in philosophy.
- PHIL 310 - Kant
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 A close reading of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant's most important work in metaphysics and epistemology and one of the most influential philosophical works ever written.
- PHIL 315 - Hegel
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 The truth is the whole. Hegel's philosophy was inspired by an effort to reconcile various dichotomies of modern thought: nature and freedom, mind and body, immanence and transcendence, sensibility and understanding, reason and faith, romanticism and enlightenment, what is and what ought to be. This course examines the method and starting point of Hegel's project, with a close reading of his Phenomenology of Spirit . In the process, we explore and assess his attempt to comprehend all of the perennial philosophical problems with a revolutionary, systematic approach. Because Hegel is also the first philosopher to take the history of philosophy seriously and make history a fundamental category of philosophy, we gain a better understanding of both his predecessors and those whom he influenced (including existentialists, Marxists, and postmodernists) in our own time.
- PHIL 395 - Seminar in History of Philosophy or Major Figures
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. An intensive and critical study of selected issues or major figures in philosophy.
- CLAS 221 - Plato
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as PHIL 221. An in-depth examination of the philosophy of Plato. We look at Plato's epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, ethics, and political philosophy through a careful analysis of several dialogues, including some or all of the following: Euthyphro, Laches, Apology, Gorgias, Meno, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus , and Republic . In addition, we consider certain challenges posed by Plato's use of the dialogue form, such as whether we are justified in assuming that Socrates is a mouthpiece for Plato's own views, and how we should interpret Plato's frequent appeal to myths and other literary devices within his dialogues.
- REL 218 - Heidegger and Being in the World
Credits 3 Same as PHIL 218. An exploration of the work of Martin Heidegger and the development of its themes in select philosophers, literary artists, and/or film makers. A close reading of the magisterial account of being in the world in Being and Time is followed by careful study of representative essays from his later work. After our reading of Heidegger, we consider the literary, cinematic, and/or philosophical work of major 20th- and 21st-century figures who let us reflect on the possibilities and/or problems that his account of being in the world poses for ethical, religious, and existential concern. Special attention this year is paid to the films of Terrence Malick.
- Ethics and value theory:
- PHIL 104 - Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 The course provides a broad historical survey of moral and political philosophy. Students read selections from the work of a number of great women and men from the ancient to the contemporary period, dealing with questions of ethics and moral and political philosophy. We consider how philosophy can be way of life and how we can pursue wisdom through careful argumentation and analysis of the foundations of our beliefs about the world, morality, human nature, good and evil, government and society, justice, and equality.
- PHIL 145 - Contemporary Moral Problems
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Philosophical consideration of some of the main moral and political issues we confront in society and the world today, such as war, terrorism, global climate change, poverty, capital punishment, affirmative action, abortion, the treatment of animals, and hate speech.
- PHIL 150 - Ethics and the Environment
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course is a philosophical exploration of one's responsibilities to the natural world. It has three main objectives: first, to provide an understanding of different dominant ethical theories and their application to animals, plants, and ecosystems; second, to provide an understanding of major environmental issues in current political debates, such as climate change, species preservation, and sustainable development; and third, to facilitate the development of a student's own ethic towards the environment.
- PHIL 196 - Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 A consideration of selected issues in philosophy.
- PHIL 240 - Contemporary Ethical Theory
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An in-depth exploration of central questions in contemporary normative ethical theory, including the following: Which features of actions are morally important to determining their rightness (e.g., their motive, their intrinsic nature, their consequences)? What is the relation between moral values and personal values (e.g., those deriving from personal commitments and relationships)? How demanding is morality? How can we evaluate competing theories of normative ethics? Students consider these and related issues by examining contemporary philosophical defenses of theories such as consequentialism, deontology, virtue ethics, and contractualism.
- PHIL 241 - Poverty, Ethics, and Religion
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as POV 241. This course introduces students to some of the most influential and compelling ethical arguments (both secular and religious) about our moral obligations regarding poverty. The course also examines the benefits and challenges of doing comparative religious and philosophical ethical analysis of a pressing moral and social problem. In particular, students will consider the arguments for and against including religiously inflected arguments in public deliberation about anti-poverty policy.
- PHIL 242 - Social Inequality and Fair Opportunity
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An exploration of the different range of opportunities available to various social groups, including racial, ethnic and sexual minorities, women, people with low incomes, and people facing poverty. Topics include how to define fair equality of opportunity; the social mechanisms that play a role in expanding and limiting opportunity; legal and group-initiated strategies aimed at effecting fair equality of opportunity and the theoretical foundations of these strategies; as well as an analysis of the concepts of equality, merit and citizenship, and their value to individuals and society.
- PHIL 243 - Martin Luther King Jr.: Poverty, Justice, and Love
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as POV 243. This course offers students the opportunity to examine the ethics and theology that informed the public arguments about poverty made by one of the 20th century's most important social justice theorists and activists, Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the competing views of his contemporaries, critics, forebears, and heirs. The course asks the following questions, among others: How do justice and love relate to one another and to poverty reduction? What role should religion play in public discussions and policies about poverty and justice? Are the dignity and the beloved community King championed the proper goal of anti-poverty efforts?
- PHIL 244 - Feminist Social and Political Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as WGSS 244. This course critically examines the gender norms that pervade our identities, govern our everyday behavior, and organize our social life. Questions addressed may include: What is gender? In what ways does it affect the quality of people's lives? Is gender difference natural? Is it valuable? Can it contribute to, or interfere with, human flourishing? Can a gendered society be just? What can any of us do to promote good relations among people of different genders?
- PHIL 245 - Poverty, Dignity, and Human Rights
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as POV 245. Is severe poverty a human rights violation? This course examines that question and others by means of an investigation of the main philosophical and religious debates about human rights. More broadly, the course provides students with the opportunity to examine our duties (individually and collectively) to those said to suffer from any human rights abuse. Questions considered include: Are human rights universal or culturally specific? What (if anything) grounds human rights? Are religious justifications of rights permissible in a pluralistic world? Is dignity a useful concept for defending and/or discerning human rights? Do we only have liberty rights (to be free of mistreatment) or do we also have welfare rights (to claim certain positive treatment from others)? What are the practical (moral, political. and legal) implications of identifying severe poverty as a human rights violation?
- PHIL 246 - Philosophy of Sex
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course explores questions related to contemporary conceptions of sexuality and its proper role in our lives. Questions to be addressed include: What is the purpose of sex? Are sexual practices subject to normative evaluation on grounds of morality, aesthetics, and/or capacity to promote a flourishing human life? We shall consider the relation between sex and both intimacy and pleasure, viewed from the perspectives of people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. What are our sexual practices and attitudes toward sex? What should they be like?
- PHIL 247 - Medicine, Research, and Poverty
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This seminar introduces students to central ethical issues in the provision of medical care and the conduct of medical research in the context of poverty. Specific topics may include medical research on prisoners and the indigent; ancillary care obligations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); meeting the standard of care in LMICs; access to essential medicines; allocation of scarce medical resources; and compensated donation for organs or tissues.
- PHIL 248 - Ethics of War
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 4 An investigation of important ethical issues concerning the justification, conduct, and consequences of war. The course concentrates, in particular, on traditional just war theory and on recent challenges that have been raised to the central tenets of this theory in light of the rise of terrorism and "asymmetric conflict" (i.e., conflicts waged between state and non-state parties), on the one hand, and reflection upon the moral responsibility of individuals who choose to support or participate in unjust wars, on the other. We address questions such as the following: Should we regard all combatants in war as having the same moral status, regardless of whether they are fighting for a "just cause"? Is it ever morally permissible to attack non-combatants? Is terrorism ever morally justified? Is torture ever morally justified? Is there a moral obligation to engage in humanitarian intervention to stop genocide? Can the conditions of war constitute an excusing condition for acts of moral atrocity?
- PHIL 250 - Philosophies of Life
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 4 Prerequisite 3 credits from PHIL courses numbered between 100 and 399 This course provides opportunities to explore philosophies of life held by influential philosophers and by ordinary people, focusing on what it means to live a good or worthwhile life. It also gives students a chance to clarify and develop their own vision of what a good life is for them. Projects include conducting interviews with members of the community outside the classroom.
- PHIL 252 - Philosophy of Law
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of topics in the philosophy of law, such as the concepts of a law and of a legal system; natural Law theory; legal positivist and legal realist theories of law; critiques of classical legal theory; and the nature of the relationship between law and morality.
- PHIL 254 - Philosophy of the Family: Beyond Tradition
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course considers philosophical issues raised by family as a social institution and as a legal institution. Topics addressed include the social and personal purposes served by the institution of family, the nature of relationships between family members, the various forms that family can take, the scope of family privacy or autonomy, and how family obligations, mutual support, and interdependency affect individual members of families.
- PHIL 256 - Free Will and Moral Responsibility
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course provides an introduction to the problem of free will and moral responsibility. It is natural to wonder what place there is for freedom in a natural world of cause and effect. Our ordinary practices of holding people responsible (which includes not just blame, but also, e.g., credit, where credit is due) seem threatened equally by either determinism or indeterminism, fate or chance. In this class, we ask: What sort of concepts are freedom and responsibility, and what must a person be for those concepts to be applicable? The course begins with a brief historical overview of the problem of free will and moral responsibility, and then examines a number of contemporary philosophical perspectives on this problem, including the seminal work of P. F. Strawson, Harry Frankfurt, Gary Watson, John Martin Fischer, Susan Wolf, and T. M. Scanlon, among others.
- PHIL 264 - Aesthetics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course offers a wide-ranging, reflective overview of contemporary debates in the philosophy of art. We discuss the following kinds of questions: How are artistic experience and value interrelated? In what does beauty consist? What is the nature of aesthetic experience? Should we value works of art for what we can learn from them? How do pictures represent? What constitutes artistic expression? In what ways is the imagination involved in engaging with artworks? Can emotional responses to fiction be genuine and rational? Is artistic intention relevant to the interpretation of artworks? Are there general principles of aesthetic evaluation? What are the relations between the moral and aesthetic values of art?
- PHIL 296 - Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 A consideration of selected issues in philosophy.
- PHIL 340 - History of Ethics
FDR HU Credits 3 A close examination of the writings of some of the philosophers and writers who have shaped ethical thought, including Sophocles, Cicero, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, and Nietzsche. Topics include ambition, pride, revenge, friendship, family, deception, inequality, justice, law, God, sympathy, duty, reason, and evil.
- PHIL 342 - Metaethics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course focuses on contemporary issues in metaethics. For example, we address questions such as the following: Do moral judgments express truths that are independent of our feelings and conventions? Are "goodness" and "wrongness" real properties of things, or do we simply use these terms to express our subjective preferences toward states of affairs? Can we reason about morality? Do moral considerations provide practical reasons for all rational agents, or does the normative force of these considerations depend upon an agent's subjective desires? We also consider some meta-theoretical questions about the aims, methods, and authority of moral theory.
- PHIL 344 - Virtue Ethics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course examines the recent resurgence of interest in virtue-based theories in ethics. These theories, which trace back to the Ancient Greek philosophers (particularly Aristotle), emphasize the importance of the virtues and good character to living a flourishing human life. Such views are increasingly being defended as an alternative to traditional rule-based (deontological) and consequence-based (consequentialist) theories in ethics. We begin by looking at some of the seminal articles that sparked this renewed interest in virtue ethics, and then examine a fully developed neo-Aristotelian virtue ethical account (and some criticisms that have been raised to this account).
- PHIL 346 - Medical Ethics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This seminar uses a case-based method to introduce students to the fundamental ethical principles of medical care and biomedical research. Topics may include informed consent, surrogate decision-making, allocating scarce resources, end-of-life care, genetic screening, and the protection of human subjects in research.
- PHIL 348 - Legal Ethics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of the issues associated with lawyers' roles in society and their impact upon and obligations to the client, the court, and the legal profession. The course also addresses questions of the role and function of law and the adversary system.
- PHIL 354 - Distributive Justice
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite at least junior class standing How should the product of social cooperation be distributed in a just society? Is wealth redistribution through taxes fair? Is it a fair distribution of wealth that a just society depends on, or is distributive justice more complicated than that? Should we have welfare programs, and, if so, what should they be like? Our studies may include John Rawls' political liberalism, Robert Nozick's libertarianism, Ronald Dworkin's equality of resources, Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, Stuart White's justice as fair reciprocity, and criticisms of the distributive paradigm.
- PHIL 357 - Self and Social World
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course takes as its starting point the question of the 'other.' We explore such questions as: how do we perceive, and communicate with others who have different bodies, genders, cultures and histories? How do we see ourselves through the eyes of others? Can we speak for others? Can we build bridges across differences and forge common ground? We begin with traditional philosophical accounts of selves and others, i.e., Hegel's dialectic of master and slave, Husserl's alter ego, Buber's philosophy of dialogue, Sartre's account of shame, Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of embodied intersubjectivity, and Levinas' ethics of alterity. Later, we concentrate on the work of feminist philosophers, race theorists, and post-colonialist thinkers who critique these traditional philosophies and offer alternative ways of speaking about self and other.
- PHIL 396 - Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. An intensive and critical study of selected issues or major figures in philosophy.
- POV 241 - Poverty, Ethics, and Religion
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as PHIL 241. This course introduces students to some of the most influential and compelling ethical arguments (both secular and religious) about our moral obligations regarding poverty. The course also examines the benefits and challenges of doing comparative religious and philosophical ethical analysis of a pressing moral and social problem. In particular, students will consider the arguments for and against including religiously inflected arguments in public deliberation about anti-poverty policy.
- POV 243 - Martin Luther King Jr.: Poverty, Justice, and Love
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as PHIL 243. This course offers students the opportunity to examine the ethics and theology that informed the public arguments about poverty made by one of the 20th century's most important social justice theorists and activists, Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the competing views of his contemporaries, critics, forebears, and heirs. The course asks the following questions, among others: How do justice and love relate to one another and to poverty reduction? What role should religion play in public discussions and policies about poverty and justice? Are the dignity and the beloved community King championed the proper goal of anti-poverty efforts?
- WGSS 242 - Social Inequality and Fair Opportunity
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An exploration of the different range of opportunities available to various social groups, including racial, ethnic and sexual minorities, women, people with low incomes, and people facing poverty. Topics include how to define fair equality of opportunity; the social mechanisms that play a role in expanding and limiting opportunity; legal and group-initiated strategies aimed at effecting fair equality of opportunity and the theoretical foundations of these strategies; as well as an analysis of the concepts of equality, merit and citizenship, and their value to individuals and society.
- WGSS 244 - Feminist Social and Political Philosophy
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Same as WGSS 244. This course critically examines the gender norms that pervade our identities, govern our everyday behavior, and organize our social life. Questions addressed may include: What is gender? In what ways does it affect the quality of people's lives? Is gender difference natural? Is it valuable? Can it contribute to, or interfere with, human flourishing? Can a gendered society be just? What can any of us do to promote good relations among people of different genders?
- WGSS 246 - Philosophy of Sex
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course explores questions related to contemporary conceptions of sexuality and its proper role in our lives. Questions to be addressed include: What is the purpose of sex? Are sexual practices subject to normative evaluation on grounds of morality, aesthetics, and/or capacity to promote a flourishing human life? We shall consider the relation between sex and both intimacy and pleasure, viewed from the perspectives of people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. What are our sexual practices and attitudes toward sex? What should they be like?
- Metaphysics and epistemology:
- PHIL 105 - Introduction to Theories of Knowledge and Reality
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 This course introduces students to the following puzzles and questions of philosophy: Do we really know anything? What is time like? What are selves? Does God exist? Do we have free will? By wrestling with these big questions and by exploring how philosophy can impact everyday life, we will grow in intellectual virtues such as curiosity, rigor, intellectual humility, intellectual courage, and empathetic reasoning.
- PHIL 197 - Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 A consideration of selected issues in philosophy.
- PHIL 270 - Intermediate Logic
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite PHIL 170 An examination of alternative formal logics and issues in the philosophy of logic. Topics include formal ways of modeling possibility, actuality, and necessity; advanced quantificational semantics, set theory, inifinity, and paradox. Some light metalogic. May also include informal considerations of topics like conditionals, counterfactuals, intuitionism, and others.
- PHIL 272 - Philosophy and Science Fiction
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Discussion of one or more major works in science fiction and in philosophy that explore related themes.
- PHIL 274 - Metaphysics: Existence and Reality
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Broadly construed, metaphysics concerns what reality is and how it is constructed. This course will cover some major topics in metaphysics, including material objects, persons, social entities, causation, and time. We will see how metaphysics is related to science and everyday life. We will also see how metaphysics is developed in different traditions.
- PHIL 278 - Epistemology: Knowledge and Doubt
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of the basic problems in epistemology with an emphasis on contemporary discussions. Topics include skepticism, knowledge, justification (foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism), relativism, and rationality.
- PHIL 282 - Philosophy of Biology
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An examination of philosophical issues raised by biology, with an emphasis on current evolutionary theory. Topics include the structure of the theory of evolution by natural selection, an examination of the concepts of fitness and adaptation, the role of teleological explanation in biology, reductionism, the nature of biological species, individuality, levels of selection, and sociobiology.
- PHIL 285 - The Unruly Body: Philosophy, Science, and Culture
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 We are bodies. This statement apparently affirms the obvious. But if this is so obvious why then do we so often disregard and disrespect our bodies and the bodies of others? In this interdisciplinary course, students study theories of embodiment through the study of the (i) history of philosophy, (ii) contemporary scientific and philosophical depictions of the body, and (iii) social-cultural structures affecting our bodies. Finally (iv), we consider how we can rethink, relive, regard, refigure, restore, and respect our body and the body of others in more productive and thought-provoking ways.
- PHIL 297 - Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 A consideration of selected issues in philosophy. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.
- PHIL 372 - Philosophy of Language
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 A survey of central topics in the field, including some or all of the following: reference, meaning, truth, analyticity, speech acts, pragmatics, verificationism, indeterminacy, innateness, metaphor, and development of language in the species and in the individual.
- PHIL 375 - Philosophy of Mind
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 An investigation and assessment of the relation between the mental and the physical, including such theories as dualism, identity theory, functionalism, eliminativism, neurocomputationalism, and extended/embodied mind. We will investigate the evolution of minds, the relation of language to mind and culture, and the possibility of artificial and non-human minds.
- PHIL 378 - Philosophy of Science
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Discussion of philosophical issues raised by the natural sciences. Topics include the nature of scientific theories, evidence, and explanation, the demarcation of science from non-science, scientific revolutions, the unity of science, and scientific realism.
- PHIL 382 - Human Enhancement and Transhumanism
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 4 Prerequisite instructor consent What does it mean to be human? Must we stay that way? We address these questions by looking critically at the technological enhancement of human capabilities. We have the means - robotic, pharmaceutical, computational, neurological, and genetic - to alter and enhance our biological endowments. We can increase our lifespan, improve our physical, cognitive, and emotional abilities like never before. What is currently possible? What will be possible in the short, medium, and long term? Could we change ourselves to such an extent that we are no longer human - becoming transhuman or posthuman? What if our technological descendants far surpass us and enslave us? What are the dangers and moral/ethical considerations, and how are we to adjudicate them? We read authors ranging from essentialist bioconservatives to radical transhumanists.
- PHIL 397 - Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3-4 May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. An intensive and critical study of selected issues or major figures in philosophy.
- Senior Capstone:
- PHIL 473 - Senior Thesis
(3)
Credits 3 Prerequisite Philosophy major and senior class standing Senior thesis.
or
- PHIL 493 - Honors Thesis
(3-3)
Credits 3 Prerequisite instructor consent Honors Thesis. The department honors program is outlined at https://www.wlu.edu/philosophy-department/about-the -department/about-the-major-and-the-minor/honors-pr ogram .
ordinarily completed before the end of sophomore year.
Two courses chosen from PHIL 110-139, 195, 210-239, 295, 310-339, 395 ; REL 218; CLAS 221; WGSS 235
Two courses chosen from PHIL 105, 140-169, 196, 240-269, 296, 340-368, 396; POV 243; BUS 347; WGSS 242, 244, 246
Two courses chosen from PHIL 104, 171-179, 181-189, 197, 270-289, 297, 370-389, 397
At least one course chosen from either a 300-level course taken during the senior year, or PHIL 473, or PHIL 493: Honors Thesis (3-3). Students who are not pursuing Honors in the Major must take at least one 300-level course in their senior year. This 300-level course must be in addition to the course used to satisfy requirement 4. above. Students who are pursuing Honors in the Major must speak with the department head or honors coordinator before the end of the junior year. Students pursuing honors register for PHIL 493 and prepare their theses in both fall and winter term of the senior year. They must present their theses for evaluation before the end of the winter term of the senior year.