Logic, Reasoning, and Persuasion
50:730:101:91
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Young
GEN ED:  LQR

Development of skills in reasoning. Consideration of what an argument is, how arguments go wrong, and what makes an argument valid. Application of techniques for clarifying meaning, evaluating, and constructing arguments. Enrollment is not open to students who have taken 50:730:201.

Moral and Social Issues
50:730:105:90
Online
Professor Young
GEN ED:  EAV

Introduction to moral theory and application to selected contemporary issues. Possible topics include abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, punishment, equality, sexism, racism, affirmative action, privacy, obligations to the world’s needy, treatment of animals, drug use, and the meaning of life.

Introduction to Philosophy
50:730:111:01
T/TH 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Denehy
GEN ED: EAV

An exploration of central philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind, and person, with a view to surveying the field and locating particular philosophical specialties within it such as logic, ethics, and metaphysics.

Reading Seminar
50:730:190:01
M 2:00 pm – 4:20 pm (meets every other week)
Professor Agule

In this small, seminar-style course, students will work through either one significant book or a similarly substantive collection of essays, with the topic varying by semester. Students will engage in intensive close reading of the philosophical texts, identifying particular arguments, premises, and claims for assessment during student discussion in the seminar meetings. The course meets for 1/3 the time of a regular course, that is, on average one hour a week (or two hours every other week). This course can be repeated up to three times for credit. (Note that there is also a similar course in Religion, 50:840:190, which can be taken up to an additional three times).

Symbolic Logic
50:730:201:01
M/W 9:35 am – 10:55 am 
Professor Agule
GEN ED: LQR

An introduction to modern symbolic logic, with an emphasis on methods for the evaluation and construction of deductive arguments, and on the concepts of validity, consistency, and implication. Additional topics may be selected from among the following: informal fallacies, logic and ordinary language, induction, the scientific method, syllogistic logic, and the relation between logic and other areas in philosophy.

History of Philosophy I
50:730:211:01

T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm 
Professor Betz
GEN ED: HAC

An exploration of central philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind, and person, with a view to surveying the field and locating particular philosophical specialties within it such as logic, ethics, and metaphysics.

History of Philosophy II
50:730:212:01

M/W 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm 
Professor Rooney
GEN ED: HAC

The development of philosophy from its modern beginnings in Descartes. Readings selected from the classical modern period, from Descartes through Kant. Topics include the relationship between mind and body, the origins and extent of human knowledge, skepticism and belief, and the nature of personal identity.

Ethics
50:730:226:01

M/W 3:45 pm – 5:05 pm 
Professor Rooney
GEN ED: EAV

An examination of fundamental issues in ethical theory through the works of contemporary philosophers and key figures in the History of ethics such as Aristotle, Kant, and Mill. Topics may include human goodness, moral obligation, rights and duties, the relation of happiness to duties, the idea of role obligations specific to professional contexts, and the possibility of objective justifications of value judgments as contrasted with views from moral nihilists, skeptics, and relativists.

BIOMEDICAL ETHICS
50:730:249:90
Professor Gentzel
GEN ED:  EAV

50:730:249:91
ONLINE
Professor Gentzel

50:730:249:92
ONLINE
Professor Gentzel

50:730:249:93
Meets T/TH 8:00 am – 9:20 am 

Professor Denehy

Exploration of moral issues in medicine and medical research. The course will typically focus on issues raised by the creation and termination of life and include topics such as abortion, stem cell research, cloning, prenatal screening for disability, right to medical care, human experimentation, genetic enhancement and eugenics, animal experimentation, the diagnosis of death, and euthanasia.

Environmental Ethics
50:730:250:01

T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm 
Professor Betz
GEN ED: EAV

Exploration of ethical issues concerning the environment. The course will typically focus on issues raised by the moral justification for coercing individuals and corporations, just distribution of resources, moral rights of animals, and the study of topical issues such as clean air standards, population control, land use.

Philosophy of Law
50:730:258:01

M/W 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm 
Professor Agule
GEN ED: EAV

Introduction to philosophical issues concerning the nature of law and its relation to morality and to power. Focuses on the concept of justice and punishment, the function of law, and types of legal argument. Legal materials include cases drawn from constitutional law, contracts, torts, and criminal law.

Philosophical Ideas in Film
50:730:264:90

ONLINE
Professor Young
GEN ED: AAI

An exploration of classic philosophical questions as represented in film. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) truth, skepticism, relativism, personal identity, determinism, artificial intelligence, and the problem of evil. Film representations of these classic questions will be identified and evaluated from the perspective of various philosophers, possibly including Plato, Russell, James, Descartes, Berkeley, Kant, Locke, Hume, and others.

Evil
50:730:333:90
Online
Professor Wall
GEN ED: EAV

Examines the phenomenon and meaning of evil, especially “moral” evil. Key questions pursued are how evil may be explained, why humanity is capable of It in the first place, whether it belongs to some or all people, how to differentiate its perpetrators and its victims, whether evil is compatible with the existence of a good God, and how one may judge the difference between evil and good. These and other fundamental questions are pursued through a wide range of classic, historical, and contemporary texts and in relation to examples of evil in today’s world. Enrollment not open to students who have taken 50:840:333.

Political Philosophy
50:730:342:01

Meets T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm 
Professor Sacks
GEN ED: EAV

Critical examination of the philosophical problems involved in theories of the state and its relationship to citizens. Topics include the nature and justification of political obligations, natural rights, justice, anarchism, and the development of political ideals of communism, socialism, liberalism, and democracy.

Sexual Ethics
50:730:393:01

Meets M/W 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm  
Professor Betz
GEN ED: EAV

This course examines various philosophical and ethical issues related to the behaviors, practices, and attitudes about sexuality. Topics covered will include consent and sexual assault; sex work; non-monogamy; and surrogacy.