Philosophy Courses

PHIL 100

Introduction to Philosophy

This introduction to philosophy will explore how philosophy can provide answers to some of the more profound questions we face, such as questions concerning knowledge, truth, mind and body, personal identity, free will, morality, politics, reasoning and the existence of God.
* Note: Topics will vary with sections of this course *

PHIL 150

Critical Thinking

An introduction to the systematic study of reasoning, this course will teach the theory and practice of good reasoning. It will provide students with reasoning skills that are useful in whichever discipline and career they may pursue.

PHIL 190AA

Comparative Indigenous and European Philosophy

Comparison of the philosophical traditions of Indigenous peoples of North America with those of Europeans. Views considered may include those on the relationship between the individual and the community, the relationship between people and the natural environment, the nature of property, and the role of reason in gaining knowledge.

PHIL 210

Pre-Socratics and Plato

A critical survey of philosophy concentrating on the pre-Socratics and Plato. Special attention will be given to historical continuity between theories and to the genesis of perennial philosophical problems.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 211

Aristotle and Later Greek Philosophy

A critical survey of philosophy concentrating on Aristotle and later Greek philosophers such as the Stoics, the Epicureans, and Plotinus. Topics may include language, ethics, psychology, politics, and other major divisions of human thought.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 212

Medieval Philosophy

A study of the work of major philosophers from the 5th to the 15th century selectively drawing from the writings of Boethius, Augustine, Abelard, Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus, and Ockham.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 213

Early Modern Philosophy

A critical examination of some of the works of the major empiricist and rationalist philosophers. The philosophers discussed will be selected from Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Special attention will be given to the conflict between empiricism and rationalism.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours.***

PHIL 214

Late Modern Philosophy

A critical survey of philosophy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The background of contemporary philosophy and its historical continuity will be developed with such philosophers as Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Mach, and James.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 216

Existential Philosophy

A discussion of the writings of representative existentialist thinkers, including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, Marcel, Sartre, and Camus.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 235

Knowledge and Reality

A critical examination of the core questions in Epistemology and Metaphysics. What is Knowledge? How does knowledge differ from mere belief? Is it possible for us to have it? What are its scope and limits? What is the ultimate nature of reality? What is a person? What is a mind? What is free will and do we have it?
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or 15 credit hours.***

PHIL 241

Philosophy of Science

A critical examination of some of the problems of the nature of scientific theory, the status of scientific laws, induction and the foundation of probability, confirmation, analysis of causality, and the nature of scientific explanation.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours.***

PHIL 242

Philosophy of Religion

An analysis of religious claims concerning the existence of God, religious experience, faith, revelation, and immortality. Modern and contemporary works will receive major attention.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 243

Philosophy of Human Nature

A study of classical and contemporary views on human nature. These views will be drawn from a variety of philosophical traditions such as the classical and medieval tradition, the Cartesian view, and the dialectical tradition, as well as recent views to be found in the writings of naturalistic, analytic, phenomenological, and existential philosophers.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 244

Philosophical Study of Angels

A critical examination in speculative metaphysics of the idea of angels which will investigate arguments both for the possibility and for the actual existence of such beings, as well as an exploration into the possibilities of what such beings might be like.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 245

Philosophy of Feminism

A philosophical examination of key issues of and about feminism. Topics may include: feminist epistemology, conceptions of equality, censorship, pornography, employment equity.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 246

Animal Minds and Human Morals

Topics: Do Animals have minds, desires, beliefs and feelings? Are animals capable of language, self-awareness and autonomy? Do animals have moral standing and rights? Is it moral to confine animals in zoos, use them for entertainment in rodeos, trap them, eat them, and do medical experiments on them? *** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 251

Introduction to Symbolic Logic

An introduction to the syntax and semantics of propositional and first-order predicate logic; natural language translations and logical form; truth tables; semantic trees, natural deduction systems.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 150, or PHIL 100, or a mathematics course, or permission of Department Head.***
*Note: Students can only receive credit for one of PHIL 250, PHIL 251, or PHIL 352.

PHIL 270

Ethics

A critical introduction to the problems of moral philosophy, such as good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong, and related moral concepts. Readings will normally be selected from the following philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Mill and Nietzsche.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 271

Social & Political Philosophy

A critical analysis and evaluation of selected philosophical writings on justice, liberty, happiness, and the rights and obligations of the individual as a member of society. Authors studied will usually be selected from Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Mill, Burke, Marx, and Marcuse.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 272

Contemporary Moral Issues

A philosophical consideration of such contemporary moral issues as racism, sexism, abortion, the right to privacy, adultery, homosexuality, capital punishment, pacifism, the obligation to obey laws, and social justice.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 273

Biomedical Ethics

A philosophical examination of such issues as the definition and determination of death, rights of dying persons, euthanasia and natural death, and such moral questions in the physician-patient relationship as confidentiality, truth-telling and coercion against religious belief.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 274

Philosophy of Law

Questions in legal philosophy such as: what is law? What is the relationship between law and morality? How, if at all, is punishment justified? What are the requirements for holding people responsible for their actions?
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 275

Environmental Ethics

A philosophical examination of moral, social, and political issues concerning the environment. Topics may include: the nature of Nature; the moral status of non-human animals, species, and eco-systems; the relationship between economic systems and the environment; environmental aesthetics; ownership and use of resources; population and future generations; eco-feminism.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 276

Professional Ethics

Philosophical consideration of ethical problems which arise in the context of the conduct of various professions. Areas may include justice, business ethics, biomedical ethics, ethics of education, ethics of privacy and confidentiality (with applications to journalism, social work, psychology), and environmental ethics.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 276 or JS 276.*

PHIL 277

Ethical Issues in Science and Technology

Using a series of case studies, this class will examine ethical issues and controversies engendered by science and technology.
*** Prerequisite: Completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 278

Aesthetics

Introduction to the philosophy of art through an examination of such problems as the definition of art, the nature of beauty and aesthetic experience, interpretation and criticism, structure and form. The writings of great thinkers in the subject, from Plato to the present time, will be examined.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours ***

PHIL 281

Philosophy of Sexuality and Love

An examination of philosophical approaches to love, friendship, marriage and sexuality. Topics include: the nature of sexuality; theories of perversion; sexual ethics and pornography, prostitution, promiscuity and adultery; varieties/forms of love, sexuality, and friendship; the significance of gender within the philosophy of sex and love.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100, or completion of 15 credit hours.***

PHIL 282

Philosophical Issues in Sustainable Development

This course critically examines sustainable development from a philosophical perspective clarifying its various meanings, coherence, and implications. Underlying principles (such as the precautionary principle), relationship to other concepts (such as sustainable growth), and implied ethical obligations are explored. The merits of different sustainable development strategies are philosophically examined.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 282 or PHIL 290AF.*

PHIL 290AN

Ethical Eating

Should we all be vegetarians? Should we eat only organic food? Only local food? Only food produced in a sustainable way? Should we worry about "cultural appropriation" of foods? This course will explore these and other such questions from a philosophical perspective.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 290AO

Introduction to Symbolic Logic

An introduction to the syntax and semantics of propositional and first-order predicate logic: natural language translations and logical form; truth tables; semantic trees, natural deduction systems.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 290AO or PHIL 352.*

PHIL 290AP

Practical Argumentation

This course’s primary goal is to improve course participants’ ability to evaluate arguments on widely debated issues of public concern. Some of the basics of argumentation theory will be presented, students will then learn to apply this theory to the assessment of arguments about contemporary issues.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 290AQ

Philosophy Through Fiction

This course offers a survey of major philosophical themes such as time, the limits of knowledge, happiness and the good life, death, and free will. In complement to the original philosophical texts, we will read classic literary works by authors such as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Orwell, Huxley, Vonnegut, and Grossman.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 290AR

Critical Philosophy of Race

This course will explore conceptual, metaphysical, ethical, and political questions about race through a philosophical lens. What is race? Our readings will draw on historical philosophical works, but focus on contemporary critical philosophical work on race and racialization, colonization/decolonization, and whiteness.
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 291AB

Pragmatism

A critical examination of American pragmatism from the late nineteenth century to the present. Figures to be studied may include Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and Richard Rorty.
*** Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 310AA

Plato

A study of key dialogues and major themes in the works of Plato.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 310AA or PHIL 411.*

PHIL 310AC

Hegel

A study of the works of Georg Hegel.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 310AC or PHIL 410AC.*

PHIL 310AJ

Socrates

This course explores Platos' Socrates, as well as ancient and modern critiques of Socrates, from Aristophanes' CLOUDS to Socrates' place in the philosophies of Hegel, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. We will conclude with Kierkegaard's contrast between Socrates and Christ, and with Nietzsche's contrast between Socrates and Dionysus.
***Prerequisite: One 200-Level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 310AJ or PHIL 410AJ.*

PHIL 310AL

Heidegger

This course discusses one of the most intriguing and philosophically important books of the 20th century, Heidegger's Being and Time. We will be addressing some of the most fundamental philosophical questions concerning the meaning of being, human existence, death and temporality.
***Prerequisite: One 200-Level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 310AL or PHIL 410AL.*

PHIL 310AN

Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas

Through a textual analysis of St. Thomas Aquinas's major philosophical work the Summa Contra Gentiles, this course will consider the existence of God, his nature and his relation to both the spiritual and the material aspects of reality. The overarching concern is to come to some understanding of the relationship between faith and reason.
***Prerequisite: One 200-Level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 310AN or PHIL 410AN.*

PHIL 310AO

Being Human: The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir

This course is an historical reading of Beauvoir's philosophical work from Pyrrhus and Cineas to The Second Sex. Our focus will be her theories of human ambiguity, the tension between human freedom and reponsibility, the relationship between metaphysics and literature.
*** Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of Department Head ***

PHIL 310AP

The Philosophy of Propaganda and Ideology

This course consists in a philosophical examination of the nature of propaganda and ideology. We will discuss several theories of how propaganda and ideology are used in efforts to rationalize social injustices, such as colonialism, racism and sexism as well as unjust economic inequalities.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of department head***
*Note: Students may only receive credit for one of PHIL 310AP and PHIL 410AP.*

PHIL 310AQ

Vivre sa propre vie : La philosophie de l’existence

À l’aide de textes de philosophes francophones du vingtième siècle, élaboration de réponses personnelles à des questions existentielles : que faire devant tous les choix possibles et l’oppression et la domination que l’on vit ou que l’on voit autour de soi? Comment devenir soi-même avec et contre les autres? Comment transformer la société?
***Prerequisite: PHIL 100 or completion of 15 credit hours***

PHIL 310AR

Rawls' Political Philosophy I

This course examines John Rawls' political philosophy. Topics include; Rawls' "justice as fairness" theory, political liberalism and the problem of irreconcilable pluralism, and Rawls' theory of global justice. We discuss the ideal vs. non-ideal theory debate, and feminist and critical race theory critiques of Rawls.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 312

Aristotle's Ethics l

An intensive reading of Aristotle's writings in ethics, particularly the Nicomachean Ethics.

***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of the Department Head. ***

PHIL 313

Continental Philosophy

A critical examination of developments in French and German philosophy from the early twentieth century to the present. Figures to be studied may include Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida, Levinas, Irigaray, and Ricoeur.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 328AA

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

A Philosophical investigation of Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of the Department Head. PHIL 213 is recommended.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 328AA or PHIL 428AA.*

PHIL 329

Kant's Ethics l

A study of the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant and its impact from the time of his contemporaries to the present.

***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of the Department Head. ***

PHIL 332

Philosophy of History

A study of philosophical problems concerning the nature of historical explanation and knowledge, causality in history, historical necessity, meaning, purpose, and truth. The approaches of authors such as Hegel, Nietzsche, Collingwood, and others will be considered.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 332 or PHIL 890AS.*

PHIL 335AP

Consciousness

An examination of recent work on consciousness, with a particular emphasis on intentional or representational theories of consciousness.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 335AP or PHIL 435AP.*

PHIL 335AT

Philosophy, Literature, and the Good Life

A critical investigation of the significance of literary works for philosophy in general and for ethics in particular. Authors to be discussed include Stanley Cavell, Alasdair MacIntyre, Iris Murdoch, Martha Nussbaum, and Onora O’Neill.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 335AT, PHIL 435AS, or PHIL 880BF.*

PHIL 335CF

Philosophy for Cyborgs: Technology in Peculiar Places I

In this course, we look for technologies in peculiar places, including practices of care, eugenics, making race and disability, and philosophy. Reading works in philosophy, literature, and STS, we’ll theorize technologies and discover that we are always already “cyborgs.”
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 335CF or PHIL 435CF.*

PHIL 335CG

C.B. MacPherson

This course examines work of C.B. Macpherson, one of Canada's most prominent and important political thinkers. It covers a wide range of topics including Macpherson's theory of possessive individualism; his account of human nature; his relation to Marx and Marxism; his theory of democracy; and his critique of the social sciences.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 335CG, PHIL 435CG, or PSCI 390AT.*

PHIL 335CH

Law, Knowledge and Colonialism

This course considers philosophical issues that arise at the intersection of the philosophy of law, epistemology and some philosophical accounts of colonialism. Questions that will be considered include: How does the domination of Indigenous legal and knowledge traditions contribute to colonialism? And, why is colonialism an unjust social formation?
***Prerequisite: One 200-level philosophy course or permission of Department Head.***

PHIL 335CI

Feminist Epistemology

This is an advanced-level course in feminist epistemology. We will read work on epistemic responsibility, epistemic location, situatedness, subjectivity and objectivity, the need for and limits of self-knowledge, collective epistemic practices, and critiques of rationality; this course centres the critical-creative epistemologies of women of colour, Latinx and Mestiza, postcolonial, and trans philosophers, and critical philosophers of disability.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 336

Epistemology l

Epistemology is the study of the nature, sources and limits of knowledge. This course introduces students to the main topics in classical and contemporary epistemology: What is knowledge?, How may one acquire knowledge?, What are the scope and limitations of knowledge?.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 337

Metaphysics l

Metaphysics is that part of philosophy which asks the most general questions about the fundamental nature of reality. Topics will be selected from the following: realism and idealism, existence, universals and particulars, objects and properties, relations, causation, necessity, time and space, persons, identity, mind and body, freedom and determinism.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission from the Department Head.***

PHIL 344

Philosophy of Mind I

A critical examination of problems related to the nature of mind, through consideration of such theories of mind as dualism, behaviourism, materialism, functionalism, and eliminativism, or such problems as consciousness, intentionality, and privacy.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 344 or PHIL 444.*

PHIL 345

Philosophy of Language l

A critical examination of theories of language by consideration of such topics as meaning, the relation of meaning to use, sense and reference, and by consideration of such topics as vagueness, open texture and metaphor.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 345 or PHIL 445.*

PHIL 346

Philosophy of Action l

A critical examination of the main competing theories of human action and agency, this course will consider such issues as the nature of action, mistake, accident, and inadvertence; the nature of the relevant mental antecedents of actions and the relations which hold between behaviour and its mental antecedents; intentionality and unintentionality; practical reasoning and planning; autonomy and heteronomy; the extent of intention and responsibility.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 346 or PHIL 446.*

PHIL 370AB

Ethical Theory & Moral Chara

Advanced Topics in Ethics: Ethical Theory and Moral Character.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 370AB or PHIL 470AB.*

PHIL 370AC

Technology, Privacy & Ethics

Technology, privacy, and ethics.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 370AC or PHIL 470AC.*

PHIL 370AD

Issues in Consequent. Ethics

This course will examine some of the following issues: the nature of well-being, the relationship between utilitarianism & rights, consequentialism and integrity, or direct & indirect consequentialism.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 370AD or PHIL 470AD.*

PHIL 370AE

Topics in Environmental Ethics

An advanced study of ethical issues regarding the relationship between human beings and nonhuman nature. Topics include the moral status of animals and other living things, intergenerational justice regarding pollution and conservation of natural resources, and the value of wilderness protection.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 370AE or PHIL 470AE.*

PHIL 370AF

Environmental Ethics and Public Policy

An examination of ways in which environmental ethics can be relevant to public policy decision-makers through specific policy areas (e.g., cost-benefit analysis, sustainability, biodiversity). Key concepts and principles of environmental ethics will be explored in relation to possible understandings of public policy (including its normative dimensions).
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 370AF or PHIL 470AF.*

PHIL 370AH

Metaethics I

Metaethics studies the nature and foundation of moral claims. Some issues studied will include: Can moral claims be true or false? Are they facts like any other kinds of facts---e.g., physical facts. Or are they based entirely on social beliefs which may vary from one culture to another?
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 370AI

Death and Well-Being

Is it irrational to fear death? Would immortality really be desirable? Can people's lives go worse because of things that happen after their death? Can suicide or euthanasia be morally acceptable? This course will examine questions such as these through a philosophical exploration of the moral significance of death, and its relationship to our understanding of human well-being.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 370AJ

The Lived Experience of Democracy

This course in political phenomenology will consist of lectures and seminars through which we will approach democracy as it is lived by persons, rather than as a set of institutions or processes. It will rely on student input and participation to encourage reflection on contemporary experiences of democracy.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 370AL

Knowledge, Truth and Power

This course considers some of the complex relationships between knowledge, truth, power and society. Some questions that will be discussed include: Are knowledge and truth relative to a culture or society? How do unequal distributions of power serve to validate certain understandings of the world while marginalizing others?
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 371

Advanced Social and Political Philosophy

A study of recent theorizing about problems in the realm of social and political philosophy.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course, or permission of the Department Head.***

PHIL 410AA

Plato

A study of key dialogues and major themes in the works of Plato.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 410AA, PHIL 390 or PHIL 411.*

PHIL 410AC

Hegel

A study of the works of Georg Hegel.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 410AC or PHIL 310AC.*

PHIL 410AJ

Socrates

This course explores Plato's Socrates, as well as ancient and modern critiques of Socrates, from Aristophanes' CLOUDS to Socrates' place in the philosophies of Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. We will conclude with Kierkegaard's contrast between Socrates and Christ, and with Nietzsche's contrast between Socrates and Dionysus.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 410AJ or PHIL 310AJ.*

PHIL 410AL

Heidegger

This course discusses one of the most intriguing and philosophically important books of the 20th century, Heidegger's Being and Time. We will be addressing some of the most fundamental philosophical questions concerning the meaning of being, human existence, death and temporality.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 410AL, PHIL 310AL, or PHIL 880AW.*

PHIL 410AN

Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas

Through a textual analysis of St. Thomas Aquinas's major philosophical work the Summa Contra Gentiles, this course will consider the existence of God, his nature and his relation to both the spiritual and the material aspects of reality. The overarching concern is to come to some understanding of the relationship between faith and reason.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 410AN or PHIL 310AN.*

PHIL 410AO

Being Human: The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir

This course is an historical reading of Beauvoir's philosophical work from Pyrrhus and Cineas to The Second Sex. Our focus will be her theories of human ambiguity, the tension between human freedom and responsibility, the relationship between metaphysics and literature.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 410AO, PHIL 310AO, or PHIL 890AU.*

PHIL 410AP

The Philosophy of Propaganda and Ideology

This course consists in a philosophical examination of the nature of propaganda and ideology. We will discuss several theories of how propaganda and ideology are used in efforts to rationalize social injustices, such as colonialism, racism and sexism as well as unjust economic inequalities.
***Permission of the department head is required to register***
*Note: Students may only receive credit for one of PHIL 410AP and PHIL 310AP.*

PHIL 410AR

Rawls' Political Philosophy II

This course examines John Rawls' political philosophy. Topics include; Rawls' "justice as fairness" theory, political liberalism, Rawls' theory of global justice, and critical perspectives on Rawl's work. Students will do a presentation, compose a research paper based on feedback from the instructor, and submit regular reading analyses.
***Permission of the Department Head is required to register.***

PHIL 412

Aristotle's Ethics ll

An advanced seminar on topics related to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 413

Advanced Topics in Continental Philosophy

A critical examination of developments in French and German philosophy from the early twentieth century to the present. Figures to be studied may include Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida, Levinas, Irigaray, and Ricoeur.
** Permission of the department head is required to register. **

PHIL 420

Honours Paper

This zero-credit, pass/fail course is a required component of the Philosophy BA Honours Program. Students work with a supervisor to complete an Honours paper. Further details, including deadlines, for this requirement are available from the Department of Philosophy and Classics.

PHIL 428AA

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

A Philosophical investigation of Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 428AA or PHIL 328AA.*

PHIL 429

Kant's Ethics II

An advanced study of the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant and its impact from the time of his contemporaries to the present.
***Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Head is required to register.***

PHIL 435AD

Self-Deception

A discussion of belief, commitment, and self-identity.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 435AD or PHIL 335AD.*

PHIL 435AG

Problems in Philosophy of Hist

Collingwood and Epistemological problems in knowledge of the past. Nietzsche & Foucault - the use and abuse of History.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 435AG, PHIL 332, PHIL 335AG, or PHIL 890AS.*

PHIL 435AS

Philosophy, Literature, and the Good Life

A critical investigation of the significance of literary works for philosophy in general and for ethics in particular. Authors to be discussed include Stanley Cavell, Alasdair MacIntyre, Iris Murdoch, Martha Nussbaum, and Onora O’Neill.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 435AS, PHIL 335AT, or PHIL 880BF.*

PHIL 435CF

Philosophy for Cyborgs: Technology in Peculiar Places II

This is an advanced course in philosophy of technology and techno-politics. In this course, we look for technologies in peculiar places, including practices of care, eugenics, making race and disability, and philosophy. Reading works in philosophy, literature, and STS, we’ll theorize technologies and discover that we are always already “cyborgs.”
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 435CF or PHIL 335CF.*

PHIL 435CG

C.B. MacPherson

This course examines work of C.B. Macpherson, one of Canada's most prominent and important political thinkers. It covers a wide range of topics including Macpherson's theory of possessive individualism; his account of human nature; his relation to Marx and Marxism; his theory of democracy; and his critique of the social sciences.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 435CG, PHIL 335CG, or PSCI 390AT.*

PHIL 435CH

Law, Knowledge and Colonialism

This course considers philosophical issues that arise at the intersection of the philosophy of law, epistemology and some philosophical accounts of colonialism. Questions that will be considered include: How does the domination of Indigenous legal and knowledge traditions contribute to colonialism? And, why is colonialism an unjust social formation?
***Prerequisite: Permission of Department Head is required.***

PHIL 435CI

Advanced Studies in Philosophy: Sara Ahmed's Recent Feminist Philosophy

This course focuses on Sara Ahmed's most recent book, Complaint!, as in addition to her earlier book, Willful Subjects. This course will involve significant independent writing and reading.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 436

Epistemology ll

Selected topics in epistemology.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 437

Metaphysics ll

Selected topics in Metaphysics.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 444

Philosophy of Mind II

Seminar on Selected Topics in Philosophy of Mind.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 444 or PHIL 344.*

PHIL 445

Philosophy of Language ll

Selected topics in Philosophy of Language.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 446

Philosophy of Action ll

Selected topics in Philosophy of Action.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 470AB

Ethical Theory & Moral Chara

Advanced Topics in Ethics: Ethical Theory and Moral Character.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AB or PHIL 370AB.*

PHIL 470AC

Technology, Privacy & Ethics

Technology, privacy and ethics.
***Prerequisite: One 200-Level PHIL course or permission of the Department Head is required to register.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AC or PHIL 370AC.*

PHIL 470AD

Issues in Consequent. Ethics

This course will examine some of the following issues: the nature of well-being, the relationship between utilitarianism and rights, consequentialism and integrity, or direct and indirect consequentialism.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AD or PHIL 370AD.*

PHIL 470AE

Topics in Environmental Ethics

An advanced study of ethical issues regarding the relationship between human beings and nonhuman nature. Topics include the moral status of animals and other living things, intergenerational justice regarding pollution and conservation of natural resources, and the value of wilderness protection.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AE or PHIL 370AE.*

PHIL 470AG

Freedom and Responsibility

A study of recent theorizing about problems in the realm of moral philosophy.
***Prerequisite: One 200-level PHIL course or permission of the Department Head.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AG or PHIL 370AG.*

PHIL 470AH

Metaethics II

Metaethics studies the nature and foundation of moral claims. In this course, various forms of skepticism will be considered (nihilism, subjectivism, relativism). The naturalism/non-naturalism, realism/anti-realism debates will also be considered.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 470AI

Death and Well-Being

Is it irrational to fear death? Would immortality really be desirable? Can people's lives go worse because of things that happen after their death? Can suicide or euthanasia be morally acceptable? This course will examine questions such as these through a philosophical exploration of the moral significance of death, and its relationship to our understanding of human well-being.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AI or PHIL 370AI.*

PHIL 470AJ

Philosophical Dimensions of Sustainable Livelihoods

An examination of the meaning and significance of the concept of sustainable livelihoods through diverse philosophical lenses and as a strategy in advancing sustainable development. Its relation to other sustainability terms (e.g. sustainable lifestyles, sustainable consumption and production) and philosophical concepts (e.g. autonomy, agency) will also be explored.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AJ or PHIL 370AJ.*

PHIL 470AK

The Lived Experience of Democracy

This course in political phenomenology will consist of lectures and seminars through which we will approach democracy as it is lived by persons, rather than as a set of institutions or processes. It will rely on student input and participation to encourage reflection on contemporary experiences of democracy.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AK or PHIL 370AK.*

PHIL 470AL

Knowledge, Truth and Power

This course considers some of the complex relationships between knowledge, truth, power and society. Some questions that will be discussed include: Are knowledge and truth relative to a culture or society? How do unequal distributions of power serve to validate certain understandings of the world while marginalizing others?
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 470AL or PHIL 370AL.*

PHIL 880AC

Epistemology

**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880AH

Kant's Ethics

An in-depth study of the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant its impact from the time of his contemporaries to the present. A careful reading of Kant's major writings in ethics (particularly the "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" and the "Metaphysics of Morals."
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880AI

History of Ancient Political Thought

We explore Socrates as the first political philosopher. Starting with Aristophanes' critique of Socrates, we then turn to Plato's Socrates and his account of the soul, the holy and justice in the city and the soul. We conclude with Aristotle's criticisms of Socrates and his analysis of just political orders.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880AJ

Liberalism and Freedom

An examination of the significance, both historical and theoretical, that the concepts of freedom and autonomy have played in various forms of liberalism. Particular, but not exclusive attention will be given to J.S. Mill's ideas about freedom and liberalism.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880AN

Ethical Theory and Moral Character

An extensive examination of the history and development of the character-based--"virtue ethics" -- approach to ethics. Attention will be given to both theoretical and applied aspects of the approach.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AN, PHIL 372AJ, or PHIL 471AJ.*

PHIL 880AP

Aristotle's Ethics

The class will explore Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. We focus on such themes as Aristotle's understanding of moral virtue, intellectual virtue, and the role of friendship in ethical character and action, always keeping in mind the questions of justice, pleasure, philosophy and the highest human good. This class concludes by comparing ethics in Aristotle's thought to that of Thomas Hobbes.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AP, PHIL 310AK, PHIL 312, PHIL 410AK, or PHIL 412.*

PHIL 880AQ

Philosophy of Language

Critical examination of modern analytic philosophy of language, focusing on theories of meaning, reference and use.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AQ or PHIL 435BB.*

PHIL 880AR

Philosophy of Mind

Critical examination of modern analytic philosophy of mind, with emphasis on the debates between the reductive materialists and the anti-materialists. Of special concern will be current attempts to produce a naturalized account of the mind.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AR or PHIL 435BC.*

PHIL 880AS

Plato: Love Pleasure Sophistry

This is a detailed study of some of Plato's most fascinating dialogues, the Symposium, the Phaedrus, the Sophist, and the Philebus, dealing with the topics of love, pleasure, and sophistic rhetoric. Plato's treatment of love, pleasure, and sophistic rhetoric waves itself through a blend of ethical, epistemological, and metaphysical issues.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AS, PHIL 310AA, or PHIL 410AA.*

PHIL 880AW

Heidegger

This course is dedicated to a careful study of Heidegger's Being and Time (1927). BT raises some of the most fundamental and most complex questions ever asked in the history of philosophy. It inquires primarily about: the meaning of Being, space, time, world, death, selfhood, conscience, finitude, and anxiety.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AW or PHIL 410AL.*

PHIL 880AX

Professional Ethics

Course focuses on the helping professions; topics will include an introduction to philosophical ethics, informed consent, personal autonomy, power relations and imbalance, professionals and friendships, counselling and personal value conflicts; conflicts of interest.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880AY

Environmental Ethics and Public Policy

An examination of the ways in which environmental ethics can be relevant to public policy decision makers. Specific areas for consideration include: economics, cost-benefit analysis, and environmental policy; obligations to future generations and sustainability; preserving wilderness and biodiversity; corporate responsibility; global climate change. (No background in environmental philosophy will be assumed.)
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AY or GSPP 835AN.*

PHIL 880BB

Topics in Marx's Political and Social Philosophy

An advanced critical examination of the origins, development and central themes of Marx's political and social philosophy. ***Permission of the Department Head is required to register***

PHIL 880BD

Advanced Topics - Issues in Consequentialist Ethics

An advanced critical examination of some of the following issues: the nature of well-being, the relationship between utilitarianism and rights, consequentialism and integrity, or direct and indirect consequentialism.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880BE

Contemporary Continental Philosophy

This course will take an intensive look at French and German philosophy of the past century. Topics covered will include the philosophical importance of language and history; the status of the humanities and the natural sciences; and the nature of subjectivity and truth.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880BE, PHIL 310AI, or PHIL 410AI.*

PHIL 880BF

Philosophy, Literature, and the Good Life

A critical investigation of the significance of literary works for philosophy in general and for ethics in particular. Authors to be discussed include Stanley Cavell, Alasdair MacIntyre, Iris Murdoch, Martha Nussbaum, and Onora O'Neill.
**Permission of the Department Head is required for registration.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880BF, PHIL 335CF, or PHIL 435CF.*

PHIL 880BG

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

A close reading of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Topics to be discussed include the nature of space, time, and causality, the role of concepts in organizing experience, and the limits of human knowledge.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880BG, PHIL 328AA, or PHIL 428AA.*

PHIL 880BH

Metaethics

Metaethics studies the nature and foundation of moral claims. In this course, various forms of scepticism will be considered (nihilism, subjectivism, relativism). The naturalism/non-naturalism, realism/anti-realism debates will also be considered.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880BI

Metaphilosophy

A critical investigation into the nature, goals, and methods of philosophical inquiry. Topics to be discussed include the relationship between philosophy and the natural sciences, the nature of philosophical evidence, and the possibility of philosophical progress. Prerequisite: permission of the department head is required to register.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880BJ

Death and Well-Being

An in-depth philosophical investigation of issues concerning the nature, meaning, and ethical implications of death, e.g. questions about whether immortality would be desirable, about whether things that happen after one’s death can be said to affect one’s life, and about whether death (ever) harms the person who dies.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880BK

Philosophical Dimensions of Sustainable Livelihoods

An examination of the meaning and significance of the concept of sustainable livelihoods through diverse philosophical lenses and as a strategy in advancing sustainable development. Its relation to other sustainability terms (e.g. sustainable lifestyles, sustainable consumption and production) and philosophical concepts (e.g. autonomy, agency) will also be explored.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 880AK or PHIL 870AJ.*

PHIL 880BL

The Lived Experience of Democracy

This course in political phenomenology will consist of lectures and seminars through which we will approach democracy as it is lived by persons, rather than as a set of institutions or processes. It will rely on student input and participation to encourage reflection on contemporary experiences of democracy.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 880BM

The Philosophy of John Dewey

A critical analysis of John Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy with special attention to its relevance for educational theory and practice.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AA

Advanced Ethics

An advanced exploration into the problems of moral philosophy, such as good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong, and related moral concepts. Readings will be selected from the following philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Mill and Nietzsche.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AG

Philosophy of Mind

A seminar on problems in the philosophy of mind. Topics may include: the mind-body problem, dualism, monism, materialism, idealism, naturalism, consciousness, quale, intentionality, representation, mental causation, language.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AJ

Advanced Epistemology

A critical examination of the issue of certainty in the analytic epistemological literature.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AK

Theoretical Ethics

Exploration and comparison of leading views in both meta-ethics and normative ethics. Views considered will include cognitivism, intuitionism and relativism as well as consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AL

Varieties of Political Freedom

An examination of various understandings of the concept of freedom, with a view to exploring its connections to a number of related concepts, such as labour, rights, democracy, law and autonomy.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AN

The Self and European Philosophy

A study of recent attempts in France and Germany to move past postmodern declarations of the "death of the subject", and to philosophize in a substantive way about what the self is. Our main texts will be Paul Ricoeur's "Oneself as Another" and Ernst Tugendhat's "Self-Consciousness and Self-Determination."
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AO

Narrative and Philosophy

A study of narrative and its philosophical significance. Topics will include the relation between narrative structure and reality, the difference between fictional and historical narratives, and the links between narrating and evaluating. Authors to be studied include Paul Ricoeur, Hayden White, and David Carr.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AP

Readings in Heidegger: Selected Topics

This course proposes a close reading of some of Heidegger’s major works. Topics covered include at least some of the following: the meaning of being, time, the self, imagination, language, philosophy as phenomenology.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AQ

Studies in Democratic Theory

This course involves a comprehensive and systematic examination of theories of democracy from both a historical and analytic perspective. It is designed to complement the student's advanced programme in Political Thought.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AS

Philosophy of History

A study of philosophical problems concerning the nature of historical knowledge. Figures to be studied may include Hegel, Nietzsche, Collingwood, Hempel, and Danto.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 890AS, PHIL 332, or PHIL 435AG.*

PHIL 890AT

New Directions in Social Philosophy

This course explores a neglected terrain of social philosophy: the role of implicit understanding in reasoning about the world. We will chart this terrain by reading for implicit and assumed stances about race, gender, class, and species in works of philosophy and literature.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AU

Being Human: The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir

This course is an historical reading of Beauvoir's philosophical work from “Pyrrhus and Cineas” to The Second Sex. Our focus will be her theories of human ambiguity, the tension between human freedom and responsibility, the relationship between metaphysics and literature.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of PHIL 890AU, PHIL 310AO, or PHIL 410AO.*

PHIL 890AV

Topics in Political and Social Philosophy

This course will explore general issues about the role of cultural identity and practice in individual and political life, including possible tensions between multiculturalism and equality. The course will also discuss whether there can be any standpoint from which one can legitimately criticize other cultures, or one’s own.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AW

Topics in Critical Aesthetics

Directed Reading: Feminism, Disgust, and the Work of Art. We will consider both traditional aesthetic theory, and some of the ways feminist philosophers have engaged that tradition. Topics will include feminist aesthetics, the role and nature of disgust in aesthetic judgement, and the status of female-created artworks.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AX

Gender/Technol/Cyborgs

In this course, we will focus on the use and emergence of technologies in relation to sex-gender, with a particular focus on trans* embodiments, practices, and lives, by considering readings in New Materialism, cyborg theory, and trans*-attuned philosophy.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 890AY

Phenomenological Approaches to Social and Political Thought and Action

An examination of different thinkers in social and political phenomenology. Readings may include Alfred Schutz, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, Frantz Fanon, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt.
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

PHIL 901

Thesis Research

Thesis research in Philosophy.