Philosophy

Courses Taught

• FYS 138-4 Philosophy of Monsters
  Students will explore monsters in literature, myths, movies, art, pop culture, and philosophy as manifestations of cultural symptoms and counter-values. What do we mean when we call something a “monster"? What does the monster tell us about us versus the other? What are the limits of the monstrous, and how do these limits overlap with, challenge, and extend notions of normality? Which cultural and social roles do monster play, and what can we learn from them? A parade of zombies, crippled, witches, cannibals, cyclopes, gigantic cockroaches, dragons, robots, and many other extravagant figures will guide us in answering questions about normativity and power (gender and ethnic norms), fear and fascination (the confrontation of the dissimilar and the other), perception (phenomenological approaches to what appears), self-representation (the monster as external repository of human dubious features), and critique (the power of the monstrous for challenging accepted views). Choose your own monster and let the abominable journey begin!
• PHIL 101 Introduction to Philosophy
  Study of selected philosophical issues that deal with such themes as knowledge, happiness, justice, death, and the nature of reality. The goals are to develop an ability to read philosophical texts with understanding and, through analysis and reflection, to form arguments regarding philosophical issues.
• PHIL 216 Warring States Philosophy
  Have you ever heard of Confucius or read Laozi’s Daodejing? Do you know Mencius’s argument for the goodness of human nature, or the philosophical import of Chinese dragons relying on clouds to fly? Warring States Philosophy lies at the foundation of many Asian cultures, and the questions we’ll explore have a striking contemporary relevance. In this class, you’ll learn to do philosophy from a different worldview and to think starting from different assumptions (e.g., relations as opposed to individual substances), using new concepts (e.g., dao), and adopting alternative philosophical formats (e.g., dialogue, parable). Additionally, the course features a strong experiential learning component, allowing you to put into practice the views of these philosophers in real-world contexts.
• PHIL 240 World Philosophy
  Study of selected writings from the world’s philosophical traditions, including the Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, African, Feminist, and Latina. This year’s guiding theme is the understanding of the self across diverse philosophical traditions. Related topics and questions include the meaning and purpose of doing multicultural philosophy, the existence of such a thing as one’s “self,” mind-body dualism, conventional and nondual approaches to non-self, the autonomy of the self, the gendered and racialized self, the adaptive self, the relational self, self as an activity and a project, the fictional self, the hybrid self, and the self as multiplicity.
• PHIL 251 Philosophy of Action
  Think about any of the ordinary actions that you undertake during a day, like walking, reading a book, texting on your phone, riding a bike, and listening to music. In this course I’ll challenge you to consider that none of these actions is individual, that you aren’t the sole actor of your actions. Rather, you’re participating in a process along with many others, both human and nonhuman. We’ll explore the relational and collective constitution of agency and the agency of things like sofas, rocks, manufacture technologies, ideologies, bacteria, social roles, landscapes, and cities. We’ll discuss the sociopolitical implications of such a broad account of agency in light of current issues. Readings include Anglo-European and Chinese philosophy. The course is reading-intensive and discussion-based.
• PHIL 355 Nothingness
  Asian philosophies started from examining absence, nothingness, and emptiness, rather than presence, being, and existence. Hinduist, Mahayana, Daoist, Zen, and Kyoto School philosophers employed ideas of nothingness to depict metaphysical principles, create ethical and self-cultivational ideals, and develop philosophies of knowledge, language, and action. Different versions of nothingness will become fundamental to explain continuity and change; argue for space-time causality; reflect on life, death, and rebirth; explore the self and its relation to the world; and understand how we think, how we use language, and how we can think, speak, and act differently. All philosophies of nothingness have a transformative power: they aim at transforming how we live by acquiring subtler insights on what is (not). Prerequisite: One 100-level PHIL course, or a FYS taught by Philosophy faculty.
• PHIL 366 Great Philosophers
  An immersion in the life and works of a single major philosopher. The course offers a three-dimensional perspective on the writings, biography, social context, and intellectual development of a significant philosopher, including interests that cut across disciplines. It also incorporates the best of contemporary scholarship on the subject’s thought and its continuing relevance. The figure chosen will vary, but exemplars are: Plato, Rousseau, Tagore, Nietzsche, Mill, Heidegger, de Beauvoir, or James.
• PHIL 400 Senior Seminar
  The capstone course in Philosophy, in which a range of philosophical and other texts are examined through the lens of a selected theme or topic. Recent topics include: the Image, the Meaning of Life, the Seven Deadly Sins, Forgiveness, and Propaganda. This course is required for the major and is normally limited to senior majors.
• PHIL 466 Senior Thesis
  An individualized project of original philosophical research. Thesis writers are coached by an individual mentor, but meet as a group with the department faculty several times during the term. The resulting thesis is defended before the faculty and also given a public presentation.
• PHIL 467 Advanced Research and Scholarly Communication in Philosophy
  The questions raised within the academic field of philosophy have broad public relevance. Often academic conventions can impede the impact of eminently relevant scholarly research. This course endeavors to remedy this growing crisis of expertise. This course is a unique opportunity to develop philosophical skills, engage in guided research, and learn and expand the conventions of professional scholarly communication in philosophy at an advanced level. We will engage in the close reading and application of methods and modes of research presentation. Accordingly, the course will develop your skills in public speaking, scholarly exchange and formal presentation. The final project will consist of a refined research product that is ready for submission to professional scholarly journals and presentation to non-professional general audiences.