Spring 2025 Upper Level Courses
Below you will find our upper-division course offerings for the Fall 2024 semester. You may take any of these courses after having completed any 1000 level course in philosophy–namely:
- PHI 1100 – Ethics and Critical Thinking
- PHI 1500- Major Issues in Philosophy
- PHI 1600- Logic and Moral Reasoning
- PHI 1700- Global Ethics
Information about the Major and Minor can be found at the links to the right.
Courses marked with “**” count toward fulfilling the history requirement of the Major
Philosophical analysis of legal theory and the relation of law to other basic social institutions. Honors Seats Available Spring 2025.
| QTRA | TuTh | 7:30pm-8:45pm | Ross Colebrook | Online Sync |
Philosophical theories about reality, substance, causality, space, time, knowledge, thought, universals, and the mind body relation. This course is cross-listed as PSY 3030. Students will receive credit for either PHI 3030 or PSY 3030, not both. These courses may not substitute for each other in the F grade replacement policy.
| CMWA | MoWe | 10:45am-12:00pm | Amy Trautwein | In Person |
This course is a philosophical examination of fundamental psychological concepts such as belief, desire, motive, and intention; and an analysis of psychological explanations, the nature of feelings and emotions, and the relation of folk psychology to the science of psychology. Theories and concepts, such as the unconscious, from the psychoanalytic or Freudian tradition will also be considered. This is the same course as PHI 3035. Students may receive credits for PSY 3035 or PHI 3035, not both.
| PMWA | MoWe | 5:50pm-7:05pm | TBA | In Person |
Though a science, economics generates intense political, moral, and philosophical controversies. This course studies philosophical and moral questions raised by economic theories, including different accounts of rational choice, the major analyses of the concept of value, the relation between justice and market distributions, the concept of rights and the notion of property, and the moral claims of consumers, shareholders, and workers.
| PMWA | MoWe | 5:50pm-7:05pm | Anatoly Nichvoloda | In Person |
Due to radical developments occurring in healthcare and the biological sciences, Bioethics, which considers various ethical problems of life and death, is the fastest-expanding field of applied philosophy today. Its importance is revealed by the fact that many of the most divisive issues of our times (such as, for instance, universal healthcare, abortion, and genetic modification) pertain to Bioethics. This course will examine debates and policies regarding such issues from the perspective of ethical philosophy and the theory of value.PHI 3051 may be used as an elective within the philosophy major or minor, or as a general elective for the BA, BBA, or BS degrees.Prerequisite: any 1000-level course in philosophy.
| NETA | – | – | Wenqing Zhao | Online Async |
A study of major philosophers of the 19th century, such as Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx, Comte, Bentham,J.S. Mill, and Nietzsche.
| DWA | Wednesday | 12:50pm-2:05pm | Thomas Teufel | Hybrid Async |
Classical Buddhism explores the theory and practice of Buddhism as it originated in India and spread to Tibet and eastern Asia. In addition to examining the life and teachings of the historical Buddha, the course investigates Indian Buddhism after the turn of the Common Era, as well as the theories and practices of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. (This course is cross-listed as AAS 3165, HIS 3165, and REL 3165. Students may receive credit for PHI 3165, AAS 3165, HIS 3165, or REL 3165. These courses may not substitute for each other in the F-grade replacement policy.)
| ETRA | TuTh | 2:30pm-3:45pm | Yingshihan Zhu | In Person |
This course deals with the philosophical foundations of a good society, with special attention given to the concepts of freedom, equality, right, social justice, and the good life.
| FMWWA | MoWe | 4:10pm-5:25pm | Lara Schadde | In Person |
This course focuses on the nature, justification, and conceptual analysis of crime, social responsibility, criminal responsibility and punishment; Topics may include theories of punishment, justification for limiting freedom, victimless crimes, morals offenses, guilt, insanity pleas, plea bargains, due process, white collar and cyber-crime, capital punishment.
| CMWA | MoWe | 10:45am-12:00pm | Sandeep Sreekumar | In Person |
This course provides a philosophical perspective to ethical decision making, especially regarding the specific ethical issues and controversies surrounding modern computer technology. These issues include those relating to privacy, security, identity, copyright, unauthorized use, access for the disabled, gender issues, and the digital divide. Ethical theories to be explored include subjective and cultural relativism, Kantianism, utilitarianism, and social contract theory. This course is cross-listed with CIS 3270. Students will receive credit for either PHI 3270 or CIS 3270. These courses may not substitute for each other with the F-replacement policy.
| EMWA | MoWe | 12:50pm-2:05pm | David Neely | In Person |
Survey of the major religions and philosophies of Africa, including the social impact, the theology, cosmology, and the morals embedded in the religions of the ancient Egyptians, indigenous African religions, Christianity, and Islam. It covers the major philosophical movements in Africa, including the works of Plotinus, Philo and Maimonides, Clement, Origin, Augustine, and Ibn Khaldun, as well as recent developments in philosophy in north Africa and in the religions of African-Americans.
| CMWA | MoWe | 10:45am-12:00pm | Corey Beckford | In Person |
From its earliest days, philosophy has been done in the autobiographical style. But why should an author present their ideas as a firsthand account? What effects does this have on the substance of their arguments? In this course we ask these questions and more through the examination of works of Parmenides, Qohelet, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Boethius, Descartes, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and others.
| FTRA | TuTh | 4:10pm-5:25pm | Vincent Peluce | In Person |
What is the role of hope and imagination in social or political movements? Many pressing issues today, from criminal justice reform to the ongoing climate crisis, are overwhelming in their scope; they require coordinated structural change as well as a shift in moral perspectives. Given the complex nature of structural injustice, how do we understand and work towards social progress? This course will explore a number of topics related to hope, political imagination, moral revolutions, and social activism. Course texts will come from social/political philosophy, metaethics, and social epistemology, and will largely come from the Western philosophical tradition.
| MNFA | Fridays | 1:15pm-4:10pm | Maggie Fife | In Person |
Why do we perceive nature as beautiful? How does this beauty differ from that found in works of art? Do ethical considerations color our perception of nature’s beauty, or are they entirely separate? Is there a difference between organic and inorganic beauty? And how can our answers to these questions inform environmental studies more broadly? In this seminar, we will investigate these questions through the works of philosophers spanning different traditions and eras, from ancient times through the modern period. No previous background in aesthetics will be presumed or required.
| EMWA | MoWe | 2:30pm-3:45pm | Corey Beckford | In Person |