INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY MORAL & SOCIAL ISSUES
Course#  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
Course# 50:730:111:01
W 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Professor Sacks
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
Course# 50:730:190:01
M 2:00 pm – 4:20 pm, meets every other Monday
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
Course # 50:730:201:01
MW 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 II
Course # 50:730:212:01
MW 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm
Professor Betz
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. 

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY II
Course # 50:730:212:02
T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm
Professor Betz
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. 

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
Course# 50:730:218:01
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:20 pm
Professor Rooney
GEN ED:  USW

Introduction to the contributions of American philosophers in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries to inquiries into the nature of experience, truth, goodness, and society, with particular attention paid to the tradition of American pragmatism. Readings selected from among Emerson, Peirce, James, Dewey, Mead, Royce, Lewis, Rorty, and Putnam.

NATURE OF MIND
Course# 50:730:221:01
T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm
Professor Rooney
GEN ED:  EAV

What is the mind? Is it part of physical reality, or something separate? Can science explain the nature of the mind? Is it possible for a properly programmed computer to have a mind? If the mind is completely physical, is it located entirely in the brain? We will investigate these questions, and contrast philosophical approaches to them with the methods employed in neuroscience and empirical psychology.

DEBATE ETHICAL ISSUES ACROSS DISCIPLINES
Course# 50:730:240:01
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Moran and Professor Betz
GEN ED:  EAV, XPL

Critical examination within social philosophy of sex, gender, sexual identity, and sexuality. Topics include ways we understand sexual attraction and desire, how we determine our sexual identity, ideas of femininity and masculinity as they are reinforced through cultural and social norms, the regulation of sexuality and marriage, the publicity of sex and sexuality, and the relationship and tension between multiculturalism and feminism. Class includes applications of concepts to contemporary debates concerning parenting, pornography, sex education, same sex marriage, harassment law, and transgenderism.

PHILOSOPHY OF SEX, GENDER, & SEXUALITY
Course# 50:730:247:01
T/TH 2:05 pm – 3:25 pm
Professor Betz
GEN ED:  EAV, DIV

Critical examination within social philosophy of sex, gender, and sexuality. Topics include ways we understand sexual attraction and desire, the relationship between biological sex and gender roles, ideas of femininity and masculinity as they are reinforced through cultural and social norms, the regulation of sexuality and marriage, the publicity of sex and sexuality, and the relationship and tension between multiculturalism and feminism. Class includes applications of concepts to contemporary debates concerning parenting, pornography, sex education, same sex marriage, harassment law, and sexual reassignment.

BIOMEDICAL ETHICS
Course# 50:730:249:90
Online
Professor Denehy

Online
Course# 50:730:249:91

Professor Denehy

Online
Course# 50:730:249:92

Professor Young

Online
Course# 50:730:249:93

Professor Gentzel

Online
Course# 50:730:249:94

Professor Gentzel 

Course# 50:730:249:H1 (Honors Course)
Professor Gentzel

Exploration of moral issues in medicine and medical research. 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.

PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS IN FILM
Course#  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.