Courses for Philosophy

This course is designed to familiarize incoming graduate students with the expectations and standards of graduate level work in philosophy. The course aims to develop the tools necessary to read, write, and converse about philosophy at the graduate level. In particular, students will learn how to orient themselves on a philosophical question or topic, how to formulate questions and thoughts about new topics, and how to develop and structure those thoughts—both orally and in writing. Students will study and discuss a wide range of papers, drawn from the graduate program’s three concentrations: (1) Law, Ethics, and Society, (2) Philosophy, Medicine, and Ethics, and (3) Mind and Brain. Admission into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

This course offers advanced, graduate level study of a special philosophical topic that is not part of the Department’s regular course offerings. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

Due to advances in psychopharmacology and brain imaging, scenarios resembling those of science fiction may soon be upon us: Medications that enhance memory, cognition, or happiness could be widely available soon, and advances in neuroimaging promise to allow the detection of lying, mental illness, or even level of intelligence. Technologies like these bring a host of ethical questions in their wake, ones concerning privacy, justice, and authenticity to self. Issues such as these are what compose the field of Neuroethics, and will be what students look at in this class. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

This course provides an in-depth examination of some of the central ethical issues encountered by physicians and other medical professionals. Students will acquire breadth in the field of medical ethics as well as engage in an in-depth examination of specific issues. Possible topics include: the physician-patient relationship, the role of physicians and other medical professionals, end-of-life decision-making (advance directives, do not resuscitate orders, palliative care, the definition of death), beginning of life decision-making (genetic counseling and prenatal screening), and the ethics of clinical research, and bias and unequal treatment in healthcare practice. The course is specifically aimed at students who are considering a career in healthcare but will be of interest to anyone who has a special interest in biomedical ethics. This course will be restricted to graduate students accepted to the Philosophy Departments Master’s program, or by permission of the instructor.

This course studies philosophical issues concerning oppression. Students take up questions in social metaphysics concerning how society should understand categories such as race, gender, and disability. The course surveys different views concerning how different forms of oppression manifest themselves as well as what sorts of social and legal remedies might be called for. The class also considers questions of responsibility—such as whether victims of oppression have a duty to resist their oppressive circumstances—and questions concerning what forms of civil disobedience might be justified to combat oppression, and on what grounds. Students enrolled in this course must research, compose, and write an essay suitable for submission to a professional philosophy journal and must present their research in class in a manner appropriate for a philosophy conference presentation.

This is a course covering a specialized advanced topic in specific jurisprudence. Specific jurisprudence deals with issues relevant to one area of law or legal system. Example topics are issues in criminal punishment, debates over the proper way to interpret the U.S. Constitution, and the dilemmas of privacy law. The Professor will determine the specific topic each semester the course is offered. Admission into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

This course explores the philosophical and moral underpinnings of four fundamental areas in the law school curriculum: Contract, Property, Tort, and Criminal Law. If contracts have the same moral relations that we describe as promises in our everyday social relations, how should that fact guide the principles we follow in contract law? Is liability for negligence morally defensible considering that negligence doesn’t examine one’s intent? Is property simply a system for regulating the control of assets, or do persons have a moral right to have things? Are persons responsible for who they are—personality, values, and beliefs—in a way that morally justifies punishing them for committing offenses? Landmark cases from each area will be examined, focusing upon philosophical analysis and moral evaluation of the law. Admission into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

As the “ticking time bomb” hypothetical typically goes, you are an intelligence agent or law enforcement officer who has detained the one terrorist with knowledge of how to prevent a large-scale attack. One may contort the hypothetical to make it as heart-rending as possible, but the ultimate question is whether you should torture the detainee in such an extreme scenario. These scenarios raise pressing practical and philosophical questions, but they need not be so extreme. This course examines the central legal and philosophical issues relating to national security, including terrorism, torture, the ethics of intelligence, and the balance between security and liberty.

This course explores the central philosophical issues raised in constitutional law, including constitutional structure, separation of powers, representation, the rule of law, principles of legislation, and judicial review and interpretation. The course also examines how these issues become manifest in actual cases, in the context of both government powers and civil liberties.

This course examines the central philosophical problems that arise within the law of policing. Topics include police authority, legitimacy, and the problem of political obligation; the relationship between police discretion and the rule of law; human dignity and brutality in policing; and special problems in laws governing entrapment, the police's use of informants, the police's use of surveillance and emerging technology—as well as other deceptive and dishonesty tactics.

This course examines the central issues in the philosophy of law, including the relationship between law and morality, the duty to obey the law, and the nature of legal reasoning and judicial decision, as well as cognate topics such as the objectivity of law, free will and responsibility, liberty and its limits, conceptions of the just society, liberalism and illiberalism, and critical theories of society and law. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

This course examines the central issues in the philosophy of law, including the relationship between law and morality, the duty to obey the law, and the nature of legal reasoning and judicial decision, as well as cognate topics such as the objectivity of law, free will and responsibility, liberty and its limits, conceptions of the just society, liberalism and illiberalism, and critical theories of society and law. The course also includes four “doctrinal digressions,” which examine the elements and central philosophical questions in criminal law, contract law, tort law, and property law. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

What is the relationship between the mental and the physical? That is the central question in the philosophy of mind, and students will approach it from different angles. The course will focus largely on consciousness and its place in nature. Most readings will be from the contemporary literature, but some will be historical.

Recent years have seen the use of neuroscientific methods to try to understand consciousness, in hopes that this approach succeeds where others have failed. This course surveys and analyzes current neuroscientific and philosophical approaches to studying consciousness, the focus often being on integrating the two. Topics covered this semester include: methods in consciousness research; the prefrontal cortex and consciousness; contemporary theories of consciousness; the role of consciousness in action; the neural and cognitive requirements for consciousness. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor are required.

This course concerns the nature of meaning and its connection to metaphysics and epistemology. Students will study classic works by Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Saul Kripke, and others. Students will also study more recent work in philosophical semantics and its application to arguments in the philosophy of mind. This course concerns the nature of linguistic reference, meaning, and their connection to metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Students will also study more recent works by David Chalmers, Amie Thomasson, Jennifer Saul, and others.

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that concerns the fundamental nature of reality. What exists and what is real? What does it mean for something to exist or be real? How do things persist over time and change? What is time? In this course, students will cover a range of issues in metaphysics. Possible topics include questions about ontology, universals and particulars, identity and persistence, the metaphysics of material objects, the nature of persons and personal identity, the metaphysics of modality, causal determinism and free will, the nature of time, vagueness and sorites puzzles, and the metaphysics of causation. Students enrolled in the cross-listed graduate level course must research, compose and write an essay suitable for submission to a professional philosophy journal; and present their research in-class in a manner appropriate for a philosophy conference presentation.

This course surveys ongoing, contemporary debates in epistemology, with a focus on preparing students to do original research in the field. Typical issues addressed include the nature of “right” and “wrong” belief, the nature and limits of knowledge, epistemic virtue, social factors in knowledge production, and the status of sources of knowledge such as perception testimony. Students enrolled in this course must research, compose and write an essay suitable for submission to a professional philosophy journal; and present their research in-class in a manner appropriate or a philosophy conference presentation.

Naturalism in philosophy is a very general approach committed to the view that philosophical understanding is best achieved through careful consideration of the world in which we live, and those things and processes we observe in that world. Many naturalists believe that science and philosophy are closely related, and that they are "continuous." If so, then philosophy can share in the successes of science. This course will begin with a historical survey of naturalist philosophies, from Thales and Aristotle to modern approaches based on evolutionary thinking, pragmatism, and the human sciences - psychology, neuroscience, ecology and more. Students will look at prominent naturalistic approaches to metaphysics (what exists), epistemology (the grounds of knowledge), ethics, political theory, and aesthetics.

Human nature is susceptible to various vices and imperfections. People often do bad things, develop bad habits, and come to endorse dangerous ideologies. But to what extent are individuals responsible for their flaws? What are the contributing factors involved in the decline of human nature, and are these ever so powerful as to render individuals incapable of becoming otherwise? Ancient Greece and Rome saw much progress in medical science, psychology, and political theory. Scientists and philosophers in these fields were interested in identifying the various causes of human imperfections, and working out ways to address them. This course dives into the work of these thinkers. Students will examine the main theories from the medical, psychological, and legal tradition in order to understand ancient perspectives on timeless questions concerning how to identify, explain, and improve human nature. Students enrolled in this course must research, compose and write an essay suitable for submission to a professional philosophy journal; and present their research in-class in a manner appropriate for a philosophy conference presentation.

Science serves an important role in society, from satisfying our interest in the nature of reality to informing technological advancements and public policy. This course will cover some of the main topics in philosophy of science: the demarcation of science and pseudoscience, scientific methods, the nature of evidence, scientific progress, scientific realism and antirealism, and the role of values in science. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor are required.

The “Darwinian Revolution” – the development and acceptance of evolutionary theory - is one of the most significant intellectual events in recent human history. It is significant partly because it has changed the way we understand the world and the processes that operate within it. This ultimately has implications for our conception of human nature and our understanding of human psychological, social, cultural and conceptual processes, as well as knowledge, ethics and the arts. In this class, students will explore the philosophical issues raised by the Darwinian Revolution, including the nature of evidence for and confirmation of that theory, as well as the creationist challenges. Students will also explore the influence of that revolution on subdisciplines in philosophy: evolutionary epistemology, evolutionary ethics and evolutionary aesthetics. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor are required.

This course explores the central philosophical issues in the philosophy of mental health, including: the nature of the mental, the ontology and classification of mental disorders, realism vs antirealism about mental disorders, naturalism vs normativism in mental health and social constructionism. This course also examines how these issues impact the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor are required.

Medicine is one of our most important institutions. Given its central role throughout our lives, its significance cannot be overstated. Despite its practical aims, medicine is replete with conceptual commitments and theoretical assumptions. Its methods rely on causal reasoning, inductive inference, and contentious views of what constitutes best evidence. And medical research is carried out in a complex political, economic, and value-laden context. This course examines these conceptual, methodological, and normative aspects of the practice of medicine.

The capstone seminar is the final course in the M.A. sequence. The course, which is writing- and participation-intensive, focuses on specific topics at the intersection of the three graduate concentrations: Law, Ethics, and Society; Philosophy, Medicine, and Ethics; and Mind and Brain. During the first half of the seminar, students will read articles on topics in each of the three concentrations—writing short responses in advance of each class. The second part of the course focuses on the development of a research paper—on a topic in one of the three concentrations—that meets the requirements of a professional journal. Students will present their work-in-progress to their peers, and practice giving and receiving constructive feedback to each other. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program or permission of the instructor is required.

This course is an opportunity for students to conduct self-directed study and writing on an approved topic. Students may explore a topic not offered in the regular course catalog, cover a topic in greater depth than is possible in a regularly offered course, or work on a self-directed research project for other academic or professional purposes.

This course is for the independent research and writing necessary for the completion of a Master’s thesis in Philosophy. It can be repeated for a total of 6 credit hours. Acceptance into the Philosophy Master's program and permission of the instructor are required.