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Jump to Spring 2026 Undergraduate Courses
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Spring 2026 Undergraduate Courses
Jump to Spring 2026 Graduate Courses
101-1: Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor: Matthew Maxwell
Introduction to various philosophical questions and to the strategies that philosophers use to address these.
101-2: Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor: Dani Clevenger
101-3: Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor: Farid Masrour
What is the meaning of life? What is the nature of consciousness? Are there moral rights or wrongs? Do we have free will? Does God exist? Can AI really think? Philosophers have asked questions like these for a long time, long before natural sciences such as physics, biology, and chemistry emerged out of philosophy. This course surveys and evaluates some of the answers that philosophers have given to such questions. However, our goal is not merely to learn about philosophical ideas and methodology; an equally important goal is to reflect on a broader set of questions about philosophy’s role in addressing them. Many scientists and scientifically minded philosophers think that natural sciences provide answers to some or even all of these questions. For example, they argue that scientific methods fully explain consciousness, that everything is ultimately physical, that free will is an illusion, and that moral values are merely products of societal conventions. But is this correct? And how should our answer to this question inform our conception of philosophy and its role in intellectual inquiry? Throughout the course, we will discuss these questions in depth. In doing so, we will not only assess the limits of scientific explanation but also consider whether philosophy itself has a distinctive contribution to make.
101-5: Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor: Bruno Whittle
In this class we will ask, and set about answering, some classic philosophical questions. These might include: Are you a purely physical thing? Is there such a thing as free will? Does moral responsibility make sense? What if anything can we know about the world? People talk about doing the right thing but what does that mean really? What general categories of things exist? Does God exist? What is happiness and how do you get it? By the end of the class you will know the answers to these questions. So will the person sitting next to you. I can’t absolutely promise these answers will match.
210-1: Reason in Communication
Instructor: Kiel McElroy
Argument in familiar contexts; emphasis upon developing critical skills in comprehending, evaluating, and engaging in contemporary forms of reasoning, with special attention to the uses of argument in mass communication media.
211-1: Elementary Logic
Instructor: Michael Titelbaum
Suppose I say, “If no one moved the cheese since last night, it’s in the fridge. If I didn’t move the cheese, then no one did. I didn’t move the cheese. So it’s still in the fridge.” This argument concerning the whereabouts of the cheese contains some premises followed by a conclusion. The argument is structured so that if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true as well. In this course we will represent arguments in symbols to reveal their structure, then study argumentative structures that guarantee a true conclusion from true premises. We will also learn how to prove that an argument with a particular structure is valid. The techniques we will learn are necessary for every area of contemporary philosophy, and are relevant to areas of economics, mathematics, computer science, rhetoric, and the law.
211-2: Elementary Logic
Instructor: Sam Roberts
Making and evaluating arguments is central to our lives, from deciding what to think about politics, physics, or philosophy, to deciding where to have lunch. For example, I have a very temperamental dog. Knowing that he’s either in the kitchen or the garden, and seeing he’s not in the garden, I conclude that he must be in the kitchen, which I then avoid. That simple argument—from the premises “the dog is either in the kitchen or the garden” and “the dog is not in the garden” to the conclusion “the dog is in the kitchen”—might well have saved my life! Good arguments show that their conclusion is likely to be true, given their premises. In the best case, an argument shows that its conclusion must be true, given its premises. These are the valid arguments. To see that the argument above is valid, just try to imagine what it would mean for its premises to be true, but its conclusion false! Formal logic is a systematic study of the valid arguments, and it will be the focus of this course. It provides formal languages in which we can frame many of the arguments we make in natural language and uses simple but powerful mathematical tools to determine which of them are valid. Formal logic allows you to practice reasoning in a clear, controlled, and precise form—a kind of sandbox for thought. Once you see how good reasoning works in the logic classroom, you’ll be better prepared to tackle the messy arguments that occur all around us in the real world.
241-1: Introductory Ethics Fulfills Category B
Instructor: Xavier Schultze
The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory. We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.
241-2: Introductory Ethics Fulfills Category B
Instructor: Alex Meinhof
The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory. We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.
241-3: Introductory Ethics Fulfills Category B
Instructor: Abiral Chitrakar Phnuyal
The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory. We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.
243-1: Ethics in Business
Instructor: Alec Michael
Case studies of moral issues in business; types or reasons appealed to for settlement.
243-2: Ethics in Business
Instructor: Casey Rufener
Case studies of moral issues in business; types or reasons appealed to for settlement.
243-3: Ethics in Business
Instructor: Patrick Cronin
Case studies of moral issues in business; types or reasons appealed to for settlement.
244-1: Introductory AI and Data Ethics
Instructor: Kate Lohnes
Introduction to contemporary moral and political issues in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Ethics, integrating urgent problems, controversies, and continuously updated case studies. Introduces basic technical concepts such as the bias/variance tradeoff, the reference class problem, and inductive risk. Covers topics such as data and privacy, the impacts of automation on society, and the use of algorithms in medicine and criminal law.
320-1: Philosophy of Science
Instructor: Aja Watkins
Science helps us understand the world and make important decisions—from shaping public policy to guiding personal choices. But science isn’t perfect. It faces big challenges: we can’t always be sure our conclusions are right, evidence can support multiple theories, personal values often influence research, and history shows that many scientific ideas eventually get replaced.
This course explores whether and why we can trust science despite its flaws. We’ll look at how science works, why it sometimes goes wrong, and why it’s still the most reliable tool we have for learning about nature. Along the way, we’ll apply these ideas to real-world issues in medicine, environmental science, and beyond.
341-1: Contemporary Moral Issues Does NOT fulfill Comm B requirement
Instructor: Liam O’Brien
A philosophical study of some of the major moral issue in contemporary society, such as those concerning abortion, euthanasia, punishment, property, politics, sex, nuclear disarmament, and world hunger.
341-2: Contemporary Moral Issues Does NOT fulfill Comm B requirement
Instructor: Harry Brighouse
This course will introduce you to the philosophical and other argumentative literature on a range of contemporary moral issues of public concern. At its core, careful thinking about moral issues is a matter of identifying, considering and weighing reasons for and against certain courses of action, and I want you to learn how better to engage in a practice of reason-giving and reason–taking that constitutes our best way of getting closer to truth about moral questions. We’ll engage with several issues, including: is abortion morally permissible?; Should schools defer to parental wishes about their children’s education?; should parents be licensed?; and is the gendered division of labor a source of injustice?
341-3: Contemporary Moral Issues Does NOT fulfill Comm B requirement
Instructor: Peter Vranas
Under what circumstances, if any, is abortion morally permissible? Should the death penalty be abolished? What causes terrorism, and is it ever morally permissible to torture terrorists? This course teaches students how to think systematically about these fascinating questions. The emphasis is not on defending particular answers but is instead on providing students with the tools they need to reach their own answer
341-SCF: Contemporary Moral Issues Fulfills Comm B requirement
A philosophical study of some of the major moral issue in contemporary society, such as those concerning abortion, euthanasia, punishment, property, politics, sex, nuclear disarmament, and world hunger. (Fulfills Comm B requirement).
- Lec. 91 Instructor: TBD Fulfills Comm B
Lec. 92 Instructor: TBD Fulfills Comm B
Lec. 93 Instructor: TBD Fulfills Comm B
Lec. 94 Instructor: TBD Fulfills Comm B
430-1: History of Ancient Philosophy
Instructor: Emily Fletcher
In this course, we will examine how ancient Greek philosophers approached fundamental questions about knowledge and reality. What is the nature and origin of the world? Did it come to be by chance, intelligence or some other cause? How do the senses and reason contribute to our understanding of the world? What is the connection between language and reality? We will focus on Plato and Aristotle, but we will also study some of their philosophical predecessors, such as Parmenides and Heraclitus, as well as the post-Aristotelian philosopher Epicurus
432-1: History of Modern Philosophy
Instructor: Jacob Zellmer
In this course we will read a selection of philosophical works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This was a crucial period for the early development of modern philosophy (which, at the time, included what we now consider “science”). The philosophers we will study will include René Descartes, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Benedict de Spinoza, Galileo Galilei, Anton Amo, Mary Astell, Zera Yacob, David Hume, Mary Shepherd, the Comte de Buffon, and Immanuel Kant. We will cover topics in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical theology, the grounding of science, early conceptions of race, and moral philosophy.
454-1: Classical Philosophers – Kant’s First Critique
Instructor: James Messina
Immanuel Kant is perhaps the most important philosopher since Aristotle. His Critique of Pure Reason dealt a death blow to traditional “dogmatic” philosophy, whose proponents thought that it was possible to provide proofs of the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, and the reality of human freedom. In addition to denying the possibility of proving these specific claims, Kant went further by denying us any knowledge of reality in itself. This “negative” (i.e. depressing) aspect of the Critique earned Kant the moniker “the all-destroyer.” And yet, Kant also saw his philosophy as constructive – indeed, he thought he was saving Reason and the Enlightenment. In this course, we will study Kant’s seminal book and the crucial philosophical issues raised by it. We will also consider some related texts, including works criticizing Kant’s claims.
454-2: Classical Philosophers – Buddhist Philosophy
Instructor: Jeremy Manheim
Buddhist philosophy starts from the intuition that our suffering and dissatisfaction are the result of misunderstanding both ourselves and the way things are. How do such misunderstandings cause suffering? How can they be dispelled? What is a correct understanding of ourselves? And, of course, what is real? As we will see, Buddhist answers to these questions resulted in rich, deep, and often complex views about the nature of mind, reality, knowledge, and value. In this course, we too will start from the problem of suffering by looking at the forms it takes in our lives: meaninglessness, mortality, and generalized human misery. Over the course of the semester, we will explore many of the solutions to these problems that Buddhist philosophers have proposed over the millennia. And, along the way, we will attempt to unravel some of Buddhism’s most perplexing philosophical puzzles.”
503-1: Theory of Knowledge Fulfills Category A
Instructor: Michael Titelbaum
We will survey epistemology by focusing on three large epistemological problems and considering the issues that arise in attempting to resolve them. Readings will primarily be from academic articles written by contemporary philosophers. Topics covered will include: knowledge (what does it take to know something?), justification (how can our beliefs be justified?), skepticism (do we know a material world exists?), closure (do I know everything that’s entailed by what I know?), internalism vs. externalism (does the justification of my beliefs depend on anything besides my other beliefs?), and disagreement (should any two people with the same evidence draw the same conclusion?). Previous experience reading and writing philosophical papers is required.
512-1: Methods of Logic
Instructor: Peter Vranas
If mathematicians are necessarily rational but cyclists are not, is an individual who is both a mathematician and a cyclist necessarily rational or not? This is just one of the numerous puzzles associated with the notions of necessity and possibility, the notions that form the subject of modal logic. This course is a continuation of Philosophy 211 (Elementary Logic) and presupposes thorough familiarity with 211. The main object of the course is to enable students to (1) translate into logical notation English arguments involving the notions of necessity and possibility, and to (2) easily determine whether the translated arguments are valid or not. There is also a lot of philosophical discussion of issues related to modal logic.
516-1: Language and Meaning Fulfills Category A
Instructor: John Mackay
The course will cover some of the main themes in the philosophy of language. The human ability to communicate information about the external world through language is remarkable and raises a number of philosophical questions. Topics to be considered include: what it is for a linguistic expression to be meaningful; how it could come about that a linguistic expression – which is at some level just an arbitrary group of sounds or symbols – could have a meaning; how both the mind and the external world interact with language to determine meaning; how speakers use and manipulate language in different settings to communicate different kinds of information; and the way in which the meaning of a term depends on context.
541-1: Modern Ethical Theories Fulfills Category B
Instructor: Jimmy Goodrich
Physicists are after the “theory of everything” — a single, elegant, and unified theory that explains everything about the physical universe. Could there be such a theory for morality? Could a single, elegant, and unified theory explain the morality of war, abortion, and ghosting your ex? In this course, we will dive deep into moral philosophy and ask how close humanity has come or could come to uncovering “the moral theory of everything.”
549-1: Great Moral Philosophers Fulfills Category B
Instructor: Henry Southgate
A rigorous, text-critical, discussion-based study of classic works in value theory, normative ethics, and metaethical skepticism, with the aim of evaluating social institutions and individual practices. Readings will be drawn from principal works of Aristotle, Bentham, de Beauvoir, Kant, Mill, Murdoch, and Nietzsche.
551-1: Philosophy of the Mind Fulfills Category A
Instructor: Farid Masrour
This course surveys central topics in contemporary philosophy of mind. We will discuss issues such as the relationship between the mind and the physical world, whether a scientific understanding of consciousness is possible, theories of mental representation, the nature of perceptual experience, and whether minds could be modeled as computers.
556-1: Topics in Feminism and Philosophy – Reproductive Health
Instructor: Aja Watkins
How do science and policy shape our most intimate experiences of health and reproduction? This course dives into feminist perspectives on this question, exploring how ideas about gender and power influence everything from sex education and birth control to pregnancy and childbirth.
We’ll examine both classic and cutting-edge feminist scholarship to unpack topics like reproductive rights, abortion access, maternal health, and labor and delivery practices. Along the way, we’ll ask big questions about autonomy, justice, and the role of science in shaping public policy and personal lives.
560-2: Metaphysics Fulfills Category A
Instructor: Sam Roberts
This course is an advanced introduction to metaphysics. We’ll explore some of the most fundamental and general aspects of reality, focusing on the nature of existence, identity, and possibility. We’ll address questions like: What is there? Do you exist in addition to the physical matter that you’re made of? Are there abstract objects like numbers? What about fictional objects, like Kang the Conqueror? Am I the same person today as I was yesterday? And if not, why should I be held responsible for my past actions? I’m not the head of a galaxy-spanning evil empire, but I could have been, given the right—though very far-fetched—circumstances. How should we understand the sense in which this, and many more mundane—though more important—scenarios, are possible?
At various points during the semester, we’ll also ask deep methodological questions about how to go about answering the questions of metaphysics. In other words: we’ll do some metametaphysics
Spring 2026 Graduate Courses
For course days and times, please go to Course Search and Enroll
701 Reading Seminars (combined with Graduate Seminars) Instructor Consent
701-001 Reading Seminars Topic: Causation in Early Modern Philosophy
Instructor: Steven Nadler 701-001 meets with 835-1. Please see the description of 835-1 below.
701-002 Reading Seminars Topic: Aesthetics
Instructor: Bruno Whittle 701-002 meets with 941-2. Please see the description of 941-2 below.
701-003 Reading Seminars Topic: Modality and Assertion
Instructor: John Mackay 701-003 meets with 916-1. Please see the description of 916-1 below.
701-004 Reading Seminars Topic: Ethics in Intimate Relationships
Instructor: Elizabeth Brake 701-004 meets with 941-1. Please see the description of 941-1 below.
701-005 Reading Seminars Topic: Behaviorism, Functionalism, and Dispositionalism
Instructor: Jesse Steinberg 701-005 meets with 951-1. Please see the description of 951-1 below.
835-1: Seminar- Advanced History of Philosophy
Topic: Causation in Early Modern Philosophy
Instructor: Steven Nadler
The concept of causation was central in early modern (17th and 18th century) metaphysics, natural philosophy (especially of the “new” mechanical variety) and philosophy of science. Accounts of causal relations grounded in interactionism, occasionalism and preestablished harmony vied competitively for the attention of Cartesians and anti-Cartesians alike.
Our texts will include René Descartes, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Baruch Spinoza, Louis de La Forge, Géraud de Cordemoy, Nicolas Malebranche, Anne Conway, John Locke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Isaac Newton, George Berkeley and David Hume.
916-1: Seminar -Philosophy of Language
Topic: Modality and Assertion
Instructor: John Mackay
Possible worlds have a dual role in contemporary philosophy of language and semantics. On the one hand, they are used to describe the meanings of specific expressions such as modals and conditionals. On the other hand, they are used to model general phenomena about meaning and communication; possible worlds are used to give theories of propositions, assertion, and conversational update. In this seminar we will examine both of these roles and their interaction. We will begin by reading a few classic works on the semantics of modals and conditionals, and then turn to some foundational papers on the pragmatics of assertion and communication. In the later part of the seminar, we will look at contemporary work about the interaction of these themes, much of which uses modal and conditional language to argue for new models of content and communication.
941-1: Seminar – Ethics
Topic: Ethics in Intimate Relationships
Instructor: Elizabeth Brake
Intimate relationships are sources of great value and of great vulnerability. What do we owe to each other in intimate relationships, and why? What distinctive wrongs do intimate relationships enable? How, if at all, should the state be involved in promoting the goods of relationships – or protecting against the wrongs which can occur within them? In this course, we will discuss a range of classic and newer work on these questions.
941-2: Seminar – Ethics
Topic: Aesthetics
Instructor: Bruno Whittle
This class will consider a range of philosophical questions about art. The focus will be on questions that emerge naturally from engagement with art (pictures, movies, TV shows, novels etc.); questions you might expect someone to be interested in, if you know they are interested in art; as opposed to philosophical questions that just happen to take art as their object. For example, questions about the point of art, about its value to us, or consideration of general schemes for thinking about how art works. Most of the readings will probably be more or less recent works of analytic philosophy. But some might be less academic writings by philosophers, or even works by critics, novelists etc. that can (it is hoped) be treated philosophically
951-1: Seminar – Philosophy of Mind
Topic: Behaviorism, Functionalism, and Dispositionalism
Instructor: Jesse Steinberg
We’ll discuss the three theoriest mentioned in the title of this course with our attention focused on how best to develop an account of mental states like beliefs, desires, intentions, hopes, etc. While we’ll be primarily concerned with issues that are core to philsophy of mind, we’ll also touch on issues in philosophy of science, epistemology, philosophy of action, and metaphysics. I’m reserving quite a few sessions of the course to be devoted to topics of interest to the students. As for assignments, we will have one major writing assignment that is geared around the process of publishing a paper in a philosophy journal. This will involve a draft process, a “revise and resubmit” phase, and a final submission at the end of the semester.
Summer 2026 Courses
For course days and times, please go to Course Search and Enroll
210-1 Reason in Communication May 18 – June 14 ONLINE
Instructor: TBD
Online: Asynchronous.
Argument in familiar contexts; emphasis upon developing critical skills in comprehending, evaluating, and engaging in contemporary forms of reasoning, with special attention to the uses of argument in mass communication media.
211 Elementary Logic June 15 – July 12 ONLINE
Instructor: TBD
Online: Asynchronous
The formal characteristics of logical truth and inference.
241 Introduction to Ethics June 15 – July 12 ONLINE
Instructor: TBD
Online: Asynchronous.
Nature of moral problems and of ethical theory, varieties of moral skepticism, practical ethics and the evaluation of social institutions.
243 Ethics in Business June 15 – August 9 ONLINE
Instructor: TBD
Online: Asynchronous.
Case studies of moral issues in business; types or reasons appealed to for settlement.
244 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Ethics June 15 – August 9 ONLINE
Instructor: TBD
Online: Asynchronous.
Introduction to contemporary moral and political issues in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Ethics, integrating urgent problems, controversies, and continuously updated case studies. Introduces basic technical concepts such as the bias/variance tradeoff, the reference class problem, and inductive risk. Covers topics such as data and privacy, the impacts of automation on society, and the use of algorithms in medicine and criminal law.
341 Contemporary Moral Issues May 18 – June 7 ONLINE
Instructor: Peter Vranas
Online: Asynchronous.
Under what circumstances, if any, is abortion morally permissible? Should the death penalty be abolished? What causes terrorism, and is it ever morally permissible to torture terrorists? This course teaches students how to think systematically about these fascinating questions. The emphasis is not on defending particular answers but is instead on providing students with the tools they need to reach their own answers.
441 Environmental Ethics June 1 – June 21 MWR 8:00 – 10:00am ONLINE
Instructor: Frederic Neyrat
Online: Class will be partly asynchronous and partly synchronous
Adequacy of ethical theories in handling such wrongs as harm to the land, to posterity, to endangered species, and to the ecosystem itself. Exploration of the view that not all moral wrongs involve harm to humans. Inquiry into the notion of the quality of life and the ethics of the “lifeboat” situation.