These courses meet the Philosophy and Ethics general education requirement.
PHIL 110P Introduction to Philosophy
MWF 10:00-10:50 (16845), MWF 11:00-11:50 (11800), MWF 1:00-1:50 (16846)
Dr. Chad Wiener
Philosophy covers many topics, but the core to philosophy is the love of wisdom and living well. This course will focus on asking “what is the best life?” and “what is the best political community?” using philosophers including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, as well as contemporary authors.
PHIL 110P Introduction to Philosophy
TR 4:30-5:45 (18284), TR 6:00-7:15 (17043)
Prof. Matthew Montoya
In this course we will utilize popular culture to examine popular Western philosophical questions such as why we exist and if we can truly be good people. Through film, videogames, books, and digital media we will see that philosophy is something we all practice even though we don’t always realize.
PHIL 110P Introduction to Philosophy
TR 3:00-4:15
Dr. Justin Remhof
No description available.
PHIL 150P Life, Death, and Meaning
Online asynchronous (19081/19580/19581, 20196/20197/20198, & 19762/19763/19764)
Dr. Elena Lopez
Dr. Lopez’s version of PHIL 150P explores topics such as the soul’s immortality, reincarnation, grief, and personal identity, in light of what constitutes a meaningful life. Class materials include readings from classical Greek philosophy, existentialism, literature, Buddhist and classical Chinese texts, as well as contemporary articles, videos, and films. Students will be guided through critical engagement with course materials in order (1) to appreciate a diverse survey of perspectives on death and a meaningful life, and (2) to develop their own views on how to live and die meaningfully.
PHIL/REL 150P Life, Death, and Meaning
TR 3:00-4:15 (HONORS 19584), MW 4:30-5:45 (20200)
Dr. Antipas Harris
Dr. Harris’s course focuses on how various faith traditions inform perspectives on the meaning of life and death. The students are invited to bring their own stories and traditions of faith to bear. The course involves a variety of course materials. For example, we watch movies and documentaries, read popular and academic publications, listen to music, analyze visual art, and more. This course aims to show how philosophy and religious studies are crucial dynamics to the way we interpret life and death. The goal is to help students deepen their reflection on life and death and consider how critical reflection informs their everyday choices and careers.
PHIL 150P Life, Death, and Meaning
MWF 12:00-12:50 (22049), MWF 1:00-1:50 (22050), MWF 2:00-2:50 (21252)
Dr. Andrew Snyder
How can we find meaning in lives that are destined to end? Do we disengage and submit ourselves to the inevitability of fate? Do we strive to assert ourselves fully in every moment, making the most of the fleeting time in our grasp? Do we turn to the eternal with the hope that there is an existence to be had beyond the grave?
In this course, we will hear from a variety of philosophical and religious voices that focus on these perennial questions of life, death, and meaning. As we do so, we will develop a broad understanding of the history of ideas and strive to develop maps of meaning that inform the directions that our own lives might take.
PHIL 155E Human Nature
MWF 10:00-10:50 (21211), 11:00-11:50 (21212), MWF 1:00-1:50 (21213)
Prof. Anna Besch
Professor Besch’s course uses a lens of friendship to examine human nature. How do we come to understand our relationships, from friends to colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers? What would Aristotle think of “frenemies” or “situationships?” Where does the Snapchat streak fall in the continuum of intimacy and love? How do Indigenous folktales or different theologies view the soul and relationships?
PHIL 155E Human Nature
Online asynchronous (22675/22676/22677, 22678/22679/22680, 22682/22683/22684)
Prof. Josh Tignor
The idea of being human seems to carry some moral, practical significance in our lives. What cognitive/physical/emotional capacities, qualities, or features do human beings share with non-human animals and AI? Addressing this question might help us to better identify what, if anything, is unique about human beings. In this class, we are going to investigate the nature of being human and discuss whether or not this higher degree of moral, practical significance can be justified.
PHIL 230E Introduction to Ethics
Online asynchronous (21893/21894/21896)
Prof. Michael Cooper
The most important questions about right and wrong are often the most difficult and controversial things to discuss. In Dr. Cooper’s ethics course, you’ll learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular ways to think about right and wrong, and apply them to controversial issues of the day. Each semester students vote on which controversial issues we’ll focus our attention on at the end of the semester.
PHIL 230E Introduction to Ethics
MWF 11:00-11:50 (14038), MWF 12:00-12:50 (11314), MWF 2:00-2:50 (15239)
Prof. Dennis Feldman
Prof. Feldman’s Ethics course is rich in didactic stories as they stimulate reflection and lively discussion upon matters of profound moral significance. The course grade is derived from 3-4 exams and a few short essay assignments.
PHIL 230E Introduction to Ethics
Online asynchronous (16849/18083/18084 & 18802/18803/18804)
Dr. Shamim Hunt
This course explores contemporary moral issues including capital punishment, poverty, environment, immigration and racism, and animal rights. You will not just learn various theories and arguments about the issues but will learn to think for yourself and argue for your position
PHIL 230E Introduction to Ethics
TR 11:00-12:15 (22467), TR 1:30-2:45 (22468)
Dr. Andrew Kissel
While film director Spike Lee encourages everyone to Do the Right Thing (Lee 1989), figuring out what is right, and what is good, can be tricky. This class approaches a variety of ethical theories about the right and the good and applies them to contemporary issues of significance, such as abortion, health care, gun rights, and drug use. In doing so, it also explores the possibility that the right thing might be subjective, or dependent on one’s religion or god, or totally up to luck! By the end of the class, students will have expanded their understanding of what the right and the good could be and have greater confidence to live and defend their own answers in everyday life.
PHIL 235E Love, Sex, and Desire
Online asynchronous (19072/19073 & 18795/189796)
Prof. Camilla Cannon
Through a diverse set of perspectives, including Ancient Greek philosophy, Black feminism, and Queer Theory, students will develop a familiarity with major philosophical approaches and the ability to analyze a variety of arguments and traditions regarding love, sex, and desire.
PHIL 235E Love, Sex, and Desire
MWF 9:00-9:50 (CRN TBD), 10:00-10:50 (CRN TBD), MWF 1:00-1:50 (CRN TBD)
Dr. Dana Rognlie
Experiences of love, sex, and desire are basic to human existence. Yet, most of us spend remarkably little time critically thinking about this aspect of our lives. What is love? What is good sex? Does desire make us better or worse people? How does gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion influence what we believe about love, sex, and desire? What is moral, normal, and who gets to decide? We will examine these and other questions through engagement with classical and contemporary philosophical texts.
PHIL 235E HONORS: Love, Sex, and Desire
TR 11:00-12:15 (20162)
Dr. Nicole Willock
What is love? What is sex? What is desire? Are these concepts personal, culturally-bound, or universal? This course explores these questions and more by reading and analyzing writings on these topics by a diverse array of thinkers—bell hooks, Valerie Kaur, and the Dalai Lama, among others. Topics including the nature of love, types of love, familial love, friendship and love, love and romance, Tibetan erotic poetry, politics and marriage in China, eastern medicine and cultivation of the body, masculinity and politics in India, Buddhist views of gender, and Black feminist sexuality.
PHIL 250E World Religions: Beliefs and Values
Online asynchronous (13016/13018/13019)
LeADERS Diversity course
Dr. Michael McLaughlin
A survey of major religions in a global context, ranging from Christianity to Buddhism to Voudou, that will help you to think about your own beliefs about the ultimate reality.
PHIL 250E World Religions: Beliefs and Values
Online asynchronous (18792/18793/18794)
LeADERS Diversity course
Dr. Nicole Willock
By asking questions such as: “How do religions intersect with culture, history, and politics?” and “How do varying religious traditions make sense of the human condition?,” students in this course gain religious literacy in ten different religious traditions and perspectives: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Daoism, Navajo religion, and Atheism. Work in the course will include reading responses, reflection exercises, writing a spiritual autobiography, two quizzes, and a book review.
PHIL 303E Business Ethics
Online asynchronous (11300, 18182, 18183 & 11517, 18184, 18185 & 17625, 18186, 18187)
Prof. Aaron Nachtigal
This course explores the sometimes humorous and sometimes disturbing consequences of trying to be ethical in the world of business while satisfying your philosophy and ethics general education requirement.
PHIL 344E Environmental Ethics
TR 9:30-10:45 (18190)
Service Learning course
Dr. Chad Wiener
This class is about moral obligations we have to our environment, ranging from animals and plants to habitats and ecosystems. We will spend the first half of the term thinking about various moral theories that commit us to moral obligations to the environment and what these obligations would be and the second half of the class discussing the largest environmental ethics issue: climate change. There will be a service-learning project that deals with sea-level rise, social justice, and resilience.
PHIL 345E Bioethics
MWF 10:00-10:50 (29520), MWF 11:00-11:50 (29521), 12:00-12:50 (33202)
Dr. Chad Wiener
This course covers topics including patient autonomy, personhood, animal ethics, abortion, voluntary active euthanasia, genetic engineering, racism in healthcare, and just distribution of healthcare resources. We will focus on grasping the moral arguments for and against various positions. There will be planned discussion days where students get to discuss what interests them most on these topics.
PHIL 345E Bioethics
TR 4:30-5:45 (20143)
Dr. Joel Bock
This course examines moral standards as they apply to various dimensions of medical institutions and practices. It reviews the major Western ethical theories and the feminist ethics of care, and it discusses the ways in which these theories can inform the delivery of health services as well as serve as the ethical framework for the social and political structures in which these services are provided. Class time will consist of both lectures on important ethical theories and concepts and discussions of case studies in which we apply the moral frameworks to analyze the ethical stakes of concrete situations in the medical field. Graded assignments will mainly consist of multiple-choice quizzes and short take-home essay exams.
PHIL 355E Cybersecurity Ethics
Online asynchronous
LeADERS Leadership course
Dr. Shamim Hunt (17630/18087/18088)
Prof. Nathan Nicol (18562/18563/18564)
Prof. Ryan Thompson (19075/21371/21372)
In this course, you’ll learn ethical theories through sci-fi short stories, read academic articles on the ethical issues distinctive of cybersecurity, and complete case analyses. Units are on privacy, data ethics, corporate social responsibility, professional ethics, whistleblowing, cyberconflict, and information warfare. No quizzes or exams, but expect weekly reading and writing assignments throughout the semester.
PHIL 357E Ethics and Data
MWF 10:00-10:50 (22042)
Dr. Teresa Kouri Kissel
This course will provide a framework for considering the ethical implications of collecting, drawing inferences from, and acting on data, especially when these activities are automated and on a large scale. Topics to be covered may include privacy and confidentiality, defining research and the responsibilities associated with conducting ethical research, implicit and structural biases in data collection and analysis, freedom of speech, and consent to data collection.