This course introduces basic philosophical methods and concepts by exploring a variety of approaches to some central philosophical problems. Topics covered may include the existence of God, the relation between reason and faith, skepticism and certainty, personal identity and the nature of time, and the compatibility of free will and causal determinism. Readings are drawn from historical and contemporary texts. Discussions and assignments encourage the development of the student's own critical perspective on the problems discussed.

In this course we will explore the philosophical underpinnings and ramifications of the social structures which shape our lives. Among the topics we will consider are racism, gender, disability, and incarceration and prisons. For each topic, we will investigate different accounts of what the phenomenon at issue is. Among the thinkers we will engage are Sally Haslanger, Charles Mills, and Robin Dembroff. Questions for discussion include: What are the implications of endorsing one account of an oppressive structure over another? How are oppressive social structures, e.g. ableism, transphobia, etc., mutually reinforcing? Does oppression manifest differently in different contexts? If so, how? When are the oppressed unduly burdened with explaining or combatting their oppression?

What is a mind? How is it related to a person's brain and body? These two questions have driven centuries of work in the philosophy of mind, and we will take them as our starting point. After considering a variety of answers, we will pursue several topics that challenge our best accounts of the mind: consciousness, mental representation, the emotions, free will, and the possibility of thinking machines. Our goal will be to connect central philosophical perspectives on these issues with contributions from psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience.

Do we ever act with freedom of the will? To address this question, philosophers typically start by analyzing the concept of free will. Some conclude that a choice that is caused by antecedent states or is causally determined could not be an instance of free will. This approach can lead to skepticism about whether free will actually exists. Others start with the assumption that free will must exist because it is the trait that explains and justifies our practice of holding people responsible for what they do. This approach leaves open what free will might turn out to be. We will study variations on these two strategies in the work of historical and contemporary philosophers. We will also consider what feminist philosophers say about socio-political contexts that may impede or obstruct the exercise of free will.

In this course, the artform we will focus on is video games. They raise interesting questions about the relationships between real and virtual worlds or real and virtual identities. Aesthetic issues we will discuss include: What is distinctive about interactive artworks? Are video games artworks at all? Why do we enjoy failing? Why do we care about fictional events? Ethical issues include: Is it morally wrong to enjoy virtual killing? Why is virtual killing acceptable but not other virtual immorality? Can video games make us more empathetic? How do virtual acts carry over to how we behave in the real world?

This course introduces basic philosophical methods and concepts by exploring a variety of approaches to some central philosophical problems. Topics covered may include the existence of God, the relation between reason and faith, skepticism and certainty, personal identity and the nature of time, and the compatibility of free will and causal determinism. Readings are drawn from historical and contemporary texts. Discussions and assignments encourage the development of the student's own critical perspective on the problems discussed.

In this course we will explore the philosophical underpinnings and ramifications of the social structures which shape our lives. Among the topics we will consider are racism, gender, disability, and incarceration and prisons. For each topic, we will investigate different accounts of what the phenomenon at issue is. Among the thinkers we will engage are Sally Haslanger, Charles Mills, and Robin Dembroff. Questions for discussion include: What are the implications of endorsing one account of an oppressive structure over another? How are oppressive social structures, e.g. ableism, transphobia, etc., mutually reinforcing? Does oppression manifest differently in different contexts? If so, how? When are the oppressed unduly burdened with explaining or combatting their oppression?

Logic studies the principles of valid, or correct, reasoning. It does this by looking for ways to regiment the relationship between a conclusion and the claims that support it. In this course, we will learn how to translate sentences of English into a symbolic language that brings out their logically relevant properties, and we will study formal methods - methods sensitive only to the form of the arguments, as opposed to their content - that allow us to determine whether the conclusions of arguments follow from their premises. Some consideration is given to the limits of the system itself as well as to the relationship between logic and ordinary language.

A study of central themes in seventeenth and eighteenth-century philosophy. We will engage with questions of metaphysics, epistemology, and morals. Authors include Amo, Astell, Cavendish, Conway, Descartes, Princess Elisabeth, Heywat, Hume, Locke, Kant, and Wang Yangming. Among the topics: the nature of substance, the relationship between mind and body, the limits of reason, determinism and freedom, and the good life.

This applied ethics course will examine some central problems at the interface of medicine and ethics and explore some of the social and ethical implications of current advances in biomedical research and technology. Topics discussed will include: drawing the distinction between genetic therapy and genetic enhancement; the permissibility of the practice of genetic screening and selective abortion; the status and interests of individuals at the margins of agency, such as infants, children and dementia patients; decisions about prolonging life and hastening death; and controversies about the use of memory-dampening drugs. Throughout, several key ethical themes will unify the course, including: the conditions for personhood and what we owe to persons; the value of autonomy and the right to make decisions about one's own body; and the importance of well-being and the purpose of medicine.

This course will examine some fundamental philosophical questions that arise about death. After comparing differing conceptions of death and differing views about whether we continue to exist after we die, we will consider whether death is bad for the person who dies. We intuitively think that our deaths are bad for us, but, as Lucretius famously points out, most of us do not lament that we were not born sooner. Is it problematic that we tend to hold inconsistent attitudes towards prenatal versus postmortem nonexistence? Is immortality desirable or valuable? How might our thinking about these issues surrounding mortality and immortality inform our thinking about the value of human existence and what makes a life worth living?

We all have friends and we tend to regard friendship as an important good. This seminar undertakes a philosophical examination of the nature and value of friendship. Two main questions will animate the course: What is a friend? And, why are friends valuable? We will examine different types of friendships and the features that characterize and sustain them. Many philosophers have argued that the best kind of friendship is one in which the friend is loved for her own sake; we will investigate whether this is truly possible or whether all friendships are ultimately instrumental. We'll also examine how the partiality inherent in friendship conflicts with the demands of standard moral theories. Finally, drawing on examples from literature and film, we will consider whether one has to be a good person in order to be a good friend.

Language issues permeate the criminal justice system. If a police officer says, "You wouldn't mind if I looked inside your trunk, now would you?" is that statement only a question or is it also a request or even an order? Committing perjury requires uttering something false; can a misleading but true utterance constitute perjury? This seminar will explore various linguistic issues related to the law (and the criminal justice system more generally). Tools from the philosophy of language and linguistics will be explored and then applied to legal questions. Topics covered include: perjury, consent, Miranda warnings, verbal crimes (e.g., solicitation, bribes), threats and cross-burning, invoking the right to counsel, sedition, and free speech.