Fall 2026

Undergraduate courses

2  Individual Morality and Social Justice. Wallace. MWF 3-4, Li Ka Shing 245.

An introduction to some issues in moral and political philosophy guided by two overarching questions: What is the relationship between acting morally and living a good life? And: What makes a society just?

3  The Nature of Mind. Campbell. MWF 10-11, Li Ka Shing 245.

In this introductory course we will be looking at the relation of psychological states, such as desires or memories, to the physical world. There are five sections in the course: Foundations (Dualism, Behaviorism and Central-State Materialism), Functionalism, Consciousness, Intentionality, and Personal Identity. What is the mind? Are mental states, such as beliefs and desires, memories and hopes, characteristics of a non-physical substance, or are they configurations of the physical world? And if we think that mental states are entirely physical, should we think of them as relating to the ways in which a person tends to behave, or are they rather states of the person’s brain? Can a mental state be explained by its potential for causal relations with other mental states and with behavior? What is the relation between conscious experience and the brain? Is consciousness something over and above the ordinary biological functioning of the brain, or can it somehow be explained in biological terms? How can we explain our ability to think about the world? What is a person? These questions will be explored in the course of beginning to understand the nature of the mind.

7  Existentialism in Literature and Film. Novakovic. MWF 1-2, Cory 247.

In the traditional Judeo/Christian understanding, God is the ground of all meaning. At the end of the Medieval World, Descartes and Kant attempt to promote Man as an autonomous ground, taking the traditional place of God. The promotion of man undermines the authority of God, but as an autonomous ground Man turns out to be existentially insufficient. The dual failure of God and Man as ground, leaves us with the threat of nihilism. The course asks: Can we preserve the existential insight common to both traditions that life needs some kind of ground, without finding such a ground in a Supreme Being or in autonomous Man?

The answer depends upon whether one can uncover an authority other than us that, although not a Supreme Being, nevertheless serves as a ground. The course will be devoted to a series of philosophical-religious thinkers who describe just such a possibility. Pascal speaks of God as essentially hidden and makes a virtue of his hiddenness. Kierkegaard holds that after the God-man appears in the world we no longer have, nor do we need, access to God the Father. Nietzsche embraces as liberating the sheer absence of any ground. In opposition, Dostoyevsky attempts to show how one can live a meaningful life that preserves the authority of our Judeo-Christian practices without recourse to a monotheistic metaphysics.

12A  Introduction to Logic. Zhang. TuTh 11-12:30, Haas F295.

The course will introduce the students to the syntax and semantics of propositional and first-order logic. Both systems of logic will be motivated by the attempt to explicate the informal notion of a valid argument. Intuitively, an argument is valid when the conclusion ‘follows’ from the premises. In order to give an account of this notion we will introduce a deductive system (a natural deduction system), which explicate the intuitive notion of ‘follow’ in terms of derivational rules in a calculus. This will be done in stages, first for propositional reasoning (only connectives such as ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘if… then…’ and later for the full first-order calculus (including expressions such as ‘for all…’ and ‘there exists…’. In addition, we will also develop techniques to show when a claim does not follow from the premises of an argument. This is done by developing the semantics for the propositional and the predicate calculus. We will introduce truth-tables for the propositional connectives and ‘interpretations’ for sentences of first-order logic. At the end of the course, if time allows, we will also cover some metatheoretical issues, such as soundness and completeness of the propositional calculus.

25A  Ancient Philosophy. Staff. MWF 11-12, Li Ka Shing 245.

This course is an introduction to ancient Greek philosophy–and, for the uninitiated, to philosophy itself. We will spend almost all of our time on the three most important Greek philosophers–Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle–with a passing glance at pre-Socratic and Hellenistic philosophers. Our primary goal will be to understand these philosophers’ characteristic methods and views, and (more importantly) their reasons for holding these views. It is often said that we should study ancient Greek philosophy because it is the intellectual basis for all later western philosophy and natural science. That is true, but it is only half the story. We should also study ancient Greek philosophy to become familiar with a worldview so alien that it throws our own into sharp relief. As you are outraged by some of the things these philosophers say, you will come to see more clearly what your own views are, and you will be forced to ask what justifies them. You will not just be studying the history of philosophy; you will be doing philosophy. Prerequisite: None.

100  Philosophical Methods. Dasgupta. Tu 4-6, Social Sciences Building 170.

THIS COURSE IS RESTRICTED TO PHILOSOPHY MAJORS. It is intended to improve the student’s ability to read and write philosophy. Special emphasis will be placed on developing analytic skills. This semester we will first discuss questions about the ethics of AI and other future technologies, and then examine a number of philosophical texts on the foundations of ethical theory. There will be short written assignments each week, as well as a longer final paper, which will focus on the essays we are reading. In addition to two hours of lecture, students will meet in tutorials with a teaching assistant in order to discuss the reading, their weekly writing assignment, and the preparation for the final paper.

107  Moral Psychology. Bailey. TuTh 12:30-2, Social Sciences Building 170.

The course will examine a range of psychological phenomena related to the ethical and spiritual life of humans, drawing on both contemporary philosophical approaches as well as non-western (primarily Confucian) perspectives on these phenomena. Topics to be covered include: pride, modesty and humility; anger, resentment and forgiveness; compassion, empathy and sympathy; death, grief and acceptance; purity, detachment and tranquility; ethical self-cultivation and ethical self-indulgence. The unifying theme underlying the exploration of these topics is the idea of ‘no self’, that is, the idea that ethical self-transformation involves a move away from different forms of undue focus on the self.

115  Political Philosophy. Viehoff. MWF 2-3, Social Sciences Building 170.

An advanced class in political philosophy. Topics may include political authority, disobedience and protest, democracy, civil rights, and related matters.

135  Theory of Meaning. Campbell. MWF 1-2, Social Sciences Building 166.

This course reviews central issues in theory of meaning, in particular the relation between meaning and reference to objects. What explains our ability to refer to objects? Is the ability to think about an object a matter of standing in an appropriate causal relation to it? And if we take this view, does it help us to understand how thought might be in the end a biological phenomenon? We will look at basic lines of thought set out here by Kripke and Putnam, and theorists such as Dretske and Fodor who have built on their ideas. We will also look at the contrasting view of meaning and reference presented by the later Wittgenstein. We will begin, however, with the classical views of Frege and Russell.

Please note that lectures and discussions will assume that everyone present has completed one course in logic (in this the 135 course is different to the 135 course given in previous years).

136  Philosophy of Perception. Noë. TuTh 11-12:30, Social Sciences Building 60.

The philosophy of perception is a microcosm of the metaphysics of mind. Its central problems – What is perception? What is the nature of perceptual consciousness? How can one fit an account of perceptual experience into a broader account of the nature of the mind and the world? – are problems at the heart of metaphysics. It is often justifiably said that the theory of perception (and especially vision) is the area of psychology and neuroscience that has made the greatest progress in recent years. Despite this progress, or perhaps because of it, philosophical problems about perception retain a great urgency, both for philosophy and for science.

146  Philosophy of Mathematics. Mancosu. TuTh 8-9:30, Haviland 12.

This is an introduction to the classics of philosophy of mathematics with emphasis on the debates on the foundations of mathematics. Topics to be covered: infinitist theorems in seventeenth century mathematics; the foundations of the Leibnizian differential calculus and Berkeley’s ‘Analyst’; Kant on pure intuition in arithmetic and geometry; the arithmetization of analysis (Bolzano, Dedekind); Frege’s logicism; the emergence of Cantorian set theory; Zermelo’s axiomatization of set theory; Hilbert’s program; Russell’s logicism; Brouwer’s intuitionism; Gödel’s incompleteness theorems.

Prerequisites: Phil 12A or equivalent.

153  Chinese Philosophy. Shun. MWF 5-6, Social Sciences Building 166.

The goal of the course is to introduce the three main traditions of thought in China – Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism – through a study of selected texts. We will begin with a study of early Chinese thought, with focus on Confucianism (Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi) and Daoism (Zhuangzi), though there will also be references to other schools of thought, including Moism (Mozi) and Yangism (Yang Zhu). We will then move on to a study of Neo-Daoist thought (Guo Xiang) and Chan (or Zen) Buddism (The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch), focusing on two representative thinkers/texts. While we will attend closely to the primary texts (in English translation), the emphasis is on philosophical ideas in the texts.

160  Plato. Staff. MWF 11-12, Cory 247.

This course is an introduction to the Platonic corpus, with special attention to Plato’s mature metaphysics and epistemology. We will begin by considering the philosophical program of Socrates as portrayed in Plato’s early dialogues and consider how Plato’s characteristic metaphysical and epistemological interests and theories (such as the Theory of Forms) emerge from this program. We will then consider the further development of Plato’s views in later dialogues, including the Theaetetus, Parmenides, and Sophist.

170  Descartes. Crockett. MWF 12-1, Social Sciences Building 166.

This course will provide an intensive introduction to Descartes’s views on physics, metaphysics and epistemology. We will begin by examining some of Descartes’s early works on method, physics and physiology. We will then turn to an in-depth study of the Meditations, focusing on both Descartes’s epistemological project and his anti-scholastic metaphysics. We will supplement our study of the Meditations with readings from the Objections and Replies, the Principles, and several important pieces of secondary literature. Some of the issues we will discuss in this section include the method of doubt, the Cartesian circle, Descartes’s mode of presentation in the Meditations, the creation and ontological status of the eternal truths, the status of the human being, the nature of substance, and the real distinction between mind and body. After our study of the Meditations, we will examine Descartes’s physics as presented in the Principles.

187  Special Topics in the History of Philosophy. Novakovic. MWF 3-4, Wheeler 102.

This course is an introduction German Idealism, covering selections from the writings of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel. Our focus will be their conceptions of subjectivity, experience, and knowledge. We will conclude with Marx’s criticisms of Idealism.

190-1  Proseminar: Hannah Arendt. Kaiser. M 9-12, Philosophy 234.

TBA - Please see this course listing for a similar course offered in Spring 2025.

190-2  Proseminar. Staff. F 2-5, Philosophy 234.

TBA

Graduate seminars

200  First-Year Graduate Seminar. Frick/MacFarlane. W 2-4, Philosophy 234.

290-1  Graduate Seminar: Preferences: Changing, Adaptive, and Manipulated. Kolodny. Tu 10-12, Philosophy 234.

Preferences: Changing, Adaptive, and Manipulated

What you prefer is thought to be variously relevant to what you should do, what contributes to your well-being, and what others may do to you or on your behalf, among other things. But what if your preferences change: that is, what if what you prefer today to happen tomorrow is not what you prefer tomorrow to happen tomorrow? Which preference should take precedence? What if your preferences adapt to your unfortunate circumstances: that is, what if, like the fox in Aesop’s fable, you stop preferring the “sour grapes” that you realize you will never obtain? What if your preferences are engineered by others? What makes a preference “adaptive” or “manipulated,” and when, if ever, should such preferences be discounted?

290-2  Graduate Seminar: Knowledge and belief. Gómez Sánchez/Zhang. Tu 2-4, Philosophy 234.

This course explores the epistemology and metaphysics of knowledge, belief and credence. We will examine questions such as: How do knowledge and belief relate to evidence? Is knowledge the aim of belief? What about credence? What are credal/belief norms for non-introspective agents? Can beliefs be reduced to credences—and, conversely, can credences be reduced to beliefs?

290-3  Graduate Seminar. Bailey. Tu 4-6, Philosophy 234.

290-4  Graduate Seminar: Physicalism: What and Why. Rubenstein. W 10-12, Philosophy 234.

In the philosophy of mind, physicalism is, roughly, the view that mentality is a physical phenomenon. My interest is in physicalism as a general thesis: the view, roughly, that all of reality is fundamentally physical. This thesis entails that everything must either be explained in physical terms or else eliminated. We will consider some arguments for and against physicalism: based on a priori entailment, based on causal exclusion, and based on multiple realizability. We will also consider what the best version of physicalism is: should it be understood in terms of grounding, identification, or in some other way? Along the way we will consider some hard cases for physicalism, including consciousness, normativity, and mathematics. Readings will likely include work by philosophers like David Chalmers, Jonathan Schaffer, Karen Bennett, David Lewis, Shamik Dasgupta, Jaegwon Kim, Jessica Wilson, Hartry Field, Geoff Lee, and Jerry Fodor.

290-5  Graduate Seminar: Kadish Workshop on Economic, Social, and Political Implications of AI. Holliday/Cohen. F 12-3, TBD.

295  Dissertation Seminar. Dasgupta. W 4-6, Philosophy 234.

375  Teaching Seminar. Noë. Th 2-4, Philosophy 234.