Upcoming Course Offerings

 View all of the Philosophy courses offered in fall 2024 and/or register for classes at the links below.

See all Philosophy Courses   Register in UAccess

Highlighted Fall 2024 Courses

PHIL 130: Sex, Gender, and Love: An Introduction to Social Philosophy

Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 - 10:45, with Instructor Ding

 
What is sex? Is it a mere accident that the English term "sex" refers to both an activity and a system of categorization? How does sex relate to gender and love, and how might the experiences of queer and trans people both complicate and illuminate these connections? What counts as having sex in the first place, and what counts as having good sex? How should we think about consent, desire, objectification, and sexualization in connection to sexual autonomy and gender equality? This course surveys these central questions about sex, gender, and love, and in doing so, aims to introduce students to the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of social philosophy.

PHIL 233: Philosophy of Religion

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 11:00 - 11:50, with Professor Marga Reimer

 
The United States is, by all accounts, a God-fearing nation: sessions of congress are opened with a prayer, and "In God we Trust" is printed on the money. On the other hand, we are a pluralistic nation, with no official religion and almost a quarter of citizens not believing in a Judeo-Christian God. Both views have long and respectable intellectual histories. In this course students will examine these intellectual histories from the perspective of philosophy. In the first part of the course, students consider the traditional arguments for theism; in the second part, students consider traditional arguments against theism. Finally, students turn to an evaluation of this way of proceeding: Do we need to be able to prove or disprove God's existence in or to be justified in believing or disbelieving?

PHIL 265: 20th Century Continental Philosophy

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10 - 10:50, with Instructor Sam Thomas

 
The twentieth century saw massive changes in sociopolitical organization, technology, and social mores. In this course, students will examine with different philosophical perspectives on these shifts, and engage with these topics such as the relationship between the Sate and civil society, the limits of the law in constraining the State, the way that new technological developments shape our relation to the world, and how we should act in a world that had lost faith in God.

PHIL 268: Asian Philosophy

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10:00 - 10:50, with Professor Hannah Kim

  Did Confucius really say all those things? What does it mean to call something “zen”? The popularity of mindfulness and meditation made “Eastern Philosophy” fashionable, but what exactly does that entail? This class will be an introduction to Asian philosophies, including Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism. Many schools of thought in (East) Asia offered competing views on how to live  a good life. We will explore these views and trace how they responded to each other. We’ll also see how ancient and medieval Asian thoughts continue to influence culture and current affairs in Asia and beyond.

PHIL 442/542: Knowledge and Cognition

Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 - 12:15, with Professor Jonathan Weinberg

 
This course covers issues in philosophy and psychology of knowledge, with an emphasis on cognitive mechanisms. This includes perception, memory, concepts, mental representation, problem-solving, reasoning, and rationality.

PHIL 463/563: Philosophy of Language

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 1:00 - 1:50, with Professor Marga Reimer

 
Survey of basic issues in the philosophy of language such as: speech acts, reference, meaning, and logical form.