Lower-Division

An elementary introduction to formal logic and formal reasoning with an emphasis on applications of formal deductive systems. Students trained to think with rigor and precision and appreciate the value of logical reasoning and dispassionate logical analysis through proving the validity and analyzing the structure of symbolized natural language arguments. Students may not receive credit for this courses and PHIL 9.

Students cultivate their ability to distill and critically assess the barrage of argument and rhetoric with which they are confronted every day—on the Internet, in the media, on campus—and learn to subject their own thoughts to more rigorous, logical standards.

A first course in symbolic deductive logic. Major topics include (but are not limited to) the study of systems of sentential logic and predicate logic, including formal deduction, semantics, and translation from natural to symbolic languages.

An introduction to the main areas of philosophy through critical reflection on and analysis of both classical and contemporary texts. Focuses on central and enduring problems in philosophy such as skepticism about the external world, the mind-body problem, and the nature of morality.

Explores the philosophy of film through the viewing and discussionof several philosophically interesting films. Examines both the aesthetics of film and a variety of philosophical issues that particular films raise.

Covers perspectives of Eastern philosophy; specifically, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. Includes views concerning the nature of ultimate reality, personal identity, morality, the afterlife, god(s), and the problem of evil.

Provides a clearer understanding of what technology is how it relates to knowledge and human life. Students read and discuss texts by Plato, Aristotle, Husserl, and Heidegger.

Introduction to feminist philosophy. The topics may include (but are not limited to) oppression, normalization, discrimination, objectification, misogyny, androcentrism, patriarchy, the sex-gender distinction, sexed embodiment, gendered labor, and the relationships between sexism, racism, homophobia, and transphobia.

A consideration of ethical issues and theories focusing on the foundation of moral value and the principles governing character and behavior. Designed to extend and develop the student's abilities in philosophical reasoning about ethics.

Explores the philosophical issues that arise in cognitive science, particularly issues concerning the nature of minds. Students consider the idea that the mind is a digital computer, then analyze alternatives, such as connectionism and dynamics.

An examination of the conceptual and moral issues that arise in connection with a variety of specific ethical issues. Topics vary according to the interests of the instructor, but among those commonly discussed are: abortion, war and violence, euthanasia, world hunger, human rights, and animal rights. The readings are typically drawn from recent philosophical articles on these topics, but earlier sources (important in the history of philosophy) can be considered as well.

A survey of recent movements in European thought, such as phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, critical theory, continental feminism, and poststructuralism, with some attention to their 19th-century precursors. Selections from major philosophical treatises are supplemented with literary works.

Examination of the ethical issues that arise in connection with a variety of specific business contexts. Common topics include: advertising, environmental harm, employee-employer relationships, finance, capitalism, market failure, government regulation, work-life balance, and consumer rights.

This course is an introduction to the moral issues raised by our interactions with nonhuman animals and with the rest of the natural environment. The course will relate traditional moral theories to contemporary literature on the ethics of nature conservation and environmental protection. The course is intended as a first course in philosophy as well as a first course in ethics; therefore, questions concerning the nature of philosophical inquiry and the ways in which philosophical inquiry is different from inquiries conducted within other disciplines will also be addressed.

Examines some aspect of the nature of goodness or value. Topics vary each quarter and may include themes in aesthetics, ethics, and social and political philosophy.

Examines the nature of knowledge and the fundamental structure and nature of reality. Topics vary each quarter and may include nominalism, metaphysical realism, and the ontological analysis of concrete particulars, problems of modality and persistence through time, the problem of other minds, the nature of justification and knowledge, skepticism of the external world, the nature and limits of human rationality, and the problem of induction.

Examines the nature of mind. Topics vary each quarter and may include the relation between mind and matter, the nature of consciousness, artificial intelligence, animal consciousness and intelligence, and the relation between thought and language.

Examines the nature of science. Topics vary each quarter and may include realism, instrumentalism, confirmation, explanation, space and time, and rational decision making.

Examines the nature of language. Topics vary each quarter and may include theories of meaning, representation, reference and truth.

Examines historical philosophical texts. Topics vary each quarter and focus on some major philosophical period, figure, or work in the history of philosophy.

Examines aesthetic, ethical, and/or political aspects of contemporary culture. Topics vary each quarter and may include the philosophy of film, music and other genres of popular culture and may consider issues such as authenticity, rebellion, identity, and politics.

What is the nature of love? Is marriage a means of social control? Does pornography empower or oppress women? How is gender constructed? This course provides a systematic investigation of the development of Western philosophical perspectives on gender and sexuality from Ancient Greece to the 21st century. Topics include love, marriage, sexual perversion, promiscuity and monogamy, pornography, feminism, and sexual morality. Aims to promote critical reflection with regard to the ethical, political,and social implications for contemporary society.

Is there a general school of philosophy endemic to Latin America? Would it have to appeal to quintessential Western philosophical questions regarding knowledge, values, and reality? If not, why not, and would it then still count as philosophy? What difference do ethnic and national diversity, as well as strong political and social inequality, make to the development of philosophical questions and frameworks? Course explores a variety of historically situated Latin American thinkers who investigate ethnic identity, gender, and socio-political inequality and liberation, and historical memory, and who have also made important contributions to mainstream analytical and continental philosophy.

Focuses on the urgent ethical and political issues raised by data science and society, building on consideration of foundational issues in moral philosophy and a technical understanding of advances in machine learning. Topics include: algorithmic bias and discrimination, predictive policing, self-driving cars, consent to data collection, surveillance and privacy rights, democracy and free speech online, attentional modification, technology and disability, and the singularity. Each unit pairs readings from philosophical and legal scholarship with case studies documented in scientific articles, news stories, and podcasts. (Formerly Philosophical Foundations of Science Studies.)

A survey of what philosophers have said about the nature of science and scientific change. Emphasis is placed on whether science is best characterized as the gradual accumulation of truth or whether truth is irrelevant to scientific change.