This course will deal with enduring philosophical questions through an exploration of primary texts in the history of philosophy. Topics covered may include the nature of knowledge and the different types of knowledge, the relationship between the mind and the body, and the nature of good and evil. Texts and topics will vary with the instructor; students are advised to consult the Philosophy department's website.

This course introduces philosophy through an examination of important issues in politics and society, such as punishment, animal rights, discrimination, war and violence, equality and property. These issues may be introduced through contemporary or historical philosophical writings.

This course introduces students to philosophical inquiry through the careful study of the forms of interpersonal relationships. Issues central to friendship, love, and sexuality which may be addressed include pleasure, happiness, responsibility, power and oppression, gender, marriage and morality.

This course introduces students to philosophy through the exploration of basic perennial philosophical problems and questions, such as whether there is free will, a God, objective right and wrong, genuine knowledge of the world, and other topics. The readings for the course will consist primarily of 20th century philosophical writing.

Medicine is a philosophical, not merely a practical, empirical enterprise. This course covers philosophical concepts which are widely used to evaluate health and health-practices that include: autonomy, consent, mind, will, rights, harm, fairness, dignity, truth and even `health' itself. Issues central to health and health care practice include: the nature of professional-client relationships, genetic counseling, passive and active euthanasia, pharmacology and behaviour modification, resource allocation, and the special set of issues raised by reproductive technologies.

Environmental Philosophy asks questions such as: How has `nature' been conceptualized in the Western philosophical tradition, in aesthetics, science, and ethics? What arguments have been offered for the view that humans are superior among creatures? What connections might there be between the ways that nature, humankind, and animals have been conceptualized and the ways that humans have tended to act toward the non-human natural environment? This course may cover such topics as: climate change, resource extraction and justice, biotechnology, obligations to future generations, risk assessment and discount rates, species lost, conservation vs. preservation.

This course will examine the concept of the animal itself, the nature of animal minds, the importance of species membership, and the relationship between human and non-human animals. It will discuss applied issues related to animal welfare, wildlife, agriculture, experimentation, and the environment. It will also explore some of the ethical, social, political and feminist perspectives on animals as they are addressed by philosophers. As such, the course aims to enable students to analyze growing concerns that animals play in our lives.

This course is designed to develop clarity of thought and method in the analysis and construction of arguments. By contrast to PHIL*2110, the emphasis here is upon informal principles of critical thinking and arguments stated in terms of ordinary language. Topics include the nature and methods of arguing, classification, definition and fallacies.

This course studies the basic principles and techniques of formal logic. The analysis of the logical structure of sentences and arguments is explored, together with the fundamental principles of elementary sentential logic and quantification.

Philosophical ethics is the attempt to systematize, explain, and justify the standards by which we evaluate our conduct as persons. The course may include treatment of controversial ethical issues such as abortion, euthanasia, war, and the treatment of animals and will cover many of the following questions: can we expect to find a single, universal code of ethics that applies to all human beings, or do such codes vary for each society or even for each individual? What are the roles of reason and emotion in ethics? Is morality grounded on a principle, and if so, what is it? Are there any traits of character that one must have to be a good person? Given that traditional ethical codes have been almost universally sexist, how must ethics be refashioned in order for women to achieve equal recognition?

A survey of the beginnings of Western philosophy, this course will focus on themes such as the nature of reality, the ways we might come to have knowledge, and the good life for human beings. This course will typically consider such thinkers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Epictetus, although the specific course content will vary with the instructor.

Philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries grappled with a central question regarding the foundation of human knowledge: Does knowledge arise from pure reasoning alone or from sensory experience? This question inspired debates regarding scepticism, the nature of reality, the connection between mind and body, language and meaning, moral certainty, and the relationship between religion and science, to name but a few.

Existentialism is a philosophy built around the experience of human freedom. This course focuses on the character of the subject who makes choices, and on the personal and political responsibilities that attach to the making of decisions. The course will examine this and other themes associated with Existentialism through nineteenth and twentieth century representatives, which may include Kierkegaard, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus and others.

As a system of knowledge pursuit, science develops laws and theories to explain, predict, understand, and control empirical phenomena. This course introduces students to many of the challenging assumptions, foundations, and implications of science. Topics include the nature of scientific knowledge, the structure of scientific theories, the distinction between science and pseudo-science, whether there is a scientific method, and how social and political processes influence the way science develops.

This course is an introduction to epistemology, which is the study of the nature, scope, and limits of knowledge. This course will examine a number of the central questions in epistemology, such as: what can we know? What is the nature of knowledge? And what is the difference between knowledge and true belief?

This course presents an in-depth treatment of one or more key concepts in political philosophy. Among the many possible concepts that the course may address are those of freedom, equality, power, community, identity, autonomy, justice, rights, political obligation, representation, authority, legitimacy, exploitation, emancipation, and development. These concepts may be explored historically or through contemporary political and/or philosophical debates.

This course studies major theories of the nature of reality, and of issues and problems that arise in the investigation of fundamental features of the world. Texts read may be either historical or contemporary. Among possible topics explored in the course are materialism, free will, and determinism, the nature of time, and the position of consciousness in the world.

This course examines ethical and evaluative issues relating to business and professional practices, and is intended for students registered in a science or professional program, but without a background in philosophy. Topics to be explored include the nature of values and ethical systems, duties and rights, private and public goods, the consumer movement, social marketing, corporate social accounting, private right and professional responsibility.

This course is an introduction to the main topics in the philosophy of law. It aims to give students a philosophical grounding in such issues as the purpose and nature of law, the relationship between law and individual freedom and the question of international law. Thinkers studied may include St. Thomas Aquinas, John Stuart Mill and H.L.A. Hart. The course may also include an examination of the way in which controversial ethical and social issues are treated under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

This course considers various philosophical questions concerning art such as the nature of a work of art, the nature of beauty, the relationship between the artist and the audience, the task of the art critic, the social function of art.

An overview of philosophical thought of the Middle Ages, that is, roughly of the period between 500 AD and 1500 AD. The course will focus on several themes from the Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions to show that many of the philosophical concerns of the present day were also of concern to thinkers of the period. In particular, we will look at the relationship between knowledge and belief, the nature of human happiness, the question of whether God exists and, if so, whether his existence can be rationally demonstrated, and the problem of free will, among others. Thinkers to be discussed will generally include St. Augustine (354-430), St. Anselm (1033-1109), al-Farabi (ca. 850-ca. 950), Maimonides (1135-1204) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/25-1274).

This course offers an in-depth study of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy. The course will include study of one or more of his major works. Kant's works may be studied on their own, or in conjunction with the study of works of later philosophers who were significantly influenced by Kant's philosophical ideas.

A common way of thinking of the world is that it consists of objects with properties that persist through time while changing in different ways. Yet there are deep puzzles about each of these basic, seemingly indispensable concepts. What does it take to be an object? How much can an object change without becoming a different object? Are some of an object's properties essential to it? Metaphysics is the business of proposing and debating answers to these questions and related questions. This course introduces students to these debates.

This course studies specialized questions about science within a broad intellectual and social context. Contested issues regarding the nature of science, its aims and methods, and science's relation to society will be critically examined. Past offerings of the course have examined such topics as realism and antirealism, naturalized explanations, the unity/disunity of science, and feminist approaches to science.

This course is a survey of central issues and positions in contemporary philosophy of mind. Topics may include: the nature of the mind and its relation with the brain; the puzzle of conscious experience; and the problem of mental content.

This course is an advanced introduction to the central issues in epistemology, such as the nature of knowledge and how it differs from mere true belief. Possible topics include skepticism, theories of justification and rationality, self-knowledge and the sources of belief.

This course focuses on 20th century French and German philosophy and the influences that shaped it. The course will be part historical, part contemporary. The historical part may survey touchstones of current Continental thought in ancient and modern philosophy. The contemporary part of this course may focus on any of the hundred or so key figures in 20th or 21st century Continental thought, or groupings thereof according to particular thematic.

This course will examine selected works of women philosophers and their contributions to the major philosophical debates of their day. The philosophers covered may be drawn from any period in the history of philosophy, up to, and including, the 20th century and topics covered have ranged across feminist issues, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics. Because texts and topics will vary with the instructor, students are advised to consult the departmental website.

This is a course in social and political philosophy is the area of philosophy concerned with the morality of major social institutions such as the state, the economy, and the family. This course may engage in the detailed examination of one or more of the following questions: what justifies the state's claim to authority? What are the proper dimensions of individual liberty? What levels of material and social equality are required for a society to be just? These questions will be pursued through reading historical and/or contemporary philosophical texts.

This course will explore the relationship between human beings and language, and between language and the world. In particular, it may address such fundamental questions as: What is it about the way in which we use words that gives them the meanings they have? And what is the relationship between words and objects to which they refer? Authors studied may include representatives from the analytic and/or continental traditions in philosophy.

Both set theory and modal logic are important tools in contemporary philosophy. Set theory is about relationships among collections of things. Modal logic elaborates the notions of necessity and possibility in formal models of different possible worlds. Students will explore these topics by producing and understanding informal proofs of important facts, and by doing exercises developing understanding of the semantics of modal logic.

This course is an introduction to the most current philosophical texts and movements developed since the beginning of the 21st Century. Students will be taught to understand and work creatively with the most recent ideas in the discipline. Material covered will focus almost exclusively on the philosophical texts written in or after the year 2000.

This course focuses on the theoretical foundations of morality. Ethical theory comprises metaethics, which is primarily concerned with the objectivity of moral judgments; normative ethics, which is concerned with the principles of sound moral judgment, and moral psychology, which is concerned with moral motivation and moral reasoning.

This course gives students a chance to explore topics and texts not usually covered in other courses. Students are encouraged to consult the departmental website for course content and availability.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly touches all aspects of our lives, from our economy, healthcare systems, and food production down to our social interactions. This course will explore some of the real and possible implications of handing over decision-making power to machines. Some of the questions explored may include individual privacy, algorithmic bias, social inequality and AI, and the moral status, both in terms of agency and responsibility, of AI.

This course focuses on philosophical issues that arise within biology, such as the explanation of altruism, the question of whether species are real, and the challenge of how to identify adaptations. The course also examines philosophical issues that arise at the interface between biology and society, such as the implications of evolutionary theory for traditional views about human nature, the proper role for scientists in advocating for environmental policies, or public trust in vaccines.

This course offers an advanced introduction to contemporary feminist philosophy, exploring alternative frameworks and challenges to traditional philosophical paradigms. Topics may include feminist perspectives on epistemology, ethics, law, and social and political philosophy; feminist conceptions of the self, identity, and embodiment; and/or feminist philosophical perspectives on related issues in queer theory, philosophy of race, postcolonial thought, and disability studies.

This course will consider central and continuing philosophical issues through an exploration of primary texts in the history of philosophy. The readings and periods stressed will vary from year to year, but could cover significant and enduring texts from the ancient period right up to the 21st century. Texts and topics will vary with the instructor; students are advised to consult the Philosophy department's website.

This course is an advanced introduction to the ethical implications of values and practices guiding research in the life sciences. Fields of discussion may include ethics in health care, genetics and human reproduction, environmental sciences, agriculture, animal husbandry, animal welfare, and food technologies. Material covered will be drawn from current books and articles by philosophers in this rapidly expanding area.

This course is intended as an intensive course of reading chosen by the student in consultation with the faculty member.

This course provides an analysis of selected primary sources of Indian philosophy in translation, from the Vedic Upanishads to the "integral yoga" of Sri Aurobindo. Emphasis will be on the basic inspirational works of Hinduism and Buddhism, and their respective views on the ultimate nature of reality, the self, suffering, freedom, ignorance and enlightenment.

This course analyzes selected primary sources of Chinese philosophy, in translation, from the I Ching to Mao Tse-tung. Emphasis will be on the foundational works of Confucianism, Taoism, Ch'an (or Zen) Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism, concerning such issues as the ultimate nature of being, non-being and human destiny, proper government of the self, the family and society, and the principles and practice of enlightenment.

This course is an exploration in detail of central debates in environmental philosophy. Possible topics include: genetic modification of plants and animals, duties to future generations, obligations to distant global others, the ethics of encounters, animal welfare, trans-species communication, restoration and conservation projects, aesthetics, virtue ethics and stewardship.

This course is an advanced study of problems in feminist philosophy. The course may cover specific topics or the work of one or more feminist philosophers. Topics may be drawn from feminist ethics, epistemology, and/or postmodernism. Texts and topics will vary with the instructor; students are advised to consult the Philosophy department's website.

Each offering of this course will focus on a specific issue or set of related issues that are now being debated in Philosophy of mind and Philosophy of language. Readings will be contemporary works.

Each offering of this course will focus on close study of either one or two figures of contemporary relevance in discussions of Continental European philosophy, or a specific issue or set of related issues that are now being debated in that field.

Each offering of this course will focus on a specific issue or set of related issues that are now being debated in Philosophy of Science. Readings will be contemporary works.

This variable content course addresses an issue which is relevant to the contemporary world from a range of philosophical perspectives. The course is built on research into the issue, including material gathered during a 1-2 week field trip which is held in the summer immediately preceding the semester in which the student takes the course. The field trip is a mandatory component of the course, one for which the student assumes the costs of transportation, food and lodging.

This is an advanced level course that examines in detail selected historical or contemporary treatments of specific issues in social and political philosophy.

An advanced study of specific problems in applied ethics. This is an intensive course designed for philosophy majors as well as for seventh and eighth semester students who have had no previous philosophy course.

This course offers an advanced study of problems in ethical theory. This course will examine contemporary and perennial issues in ethics through recent or historical texts. Texts and topics will vary with the instructor; students are advised to consult the Philosophy department's website.

An examination of central problems concerning the nature of knowledge. In some offerings the selection will emphasize problems in the Philosophy of Language.

An advanced study of problems concerning the nature of reality.

Advanced study of a major text in philosophy not treated in either PHIL*4400 or PHIL*4420.

Advanced study of a major text in philosophy not treated in either PHIL*4400 or PHIL*4410.

This course is intended as an intensive course of reading chosen by the student in consultation with the faculty member.

This course is intended as an intensive course of reading chosen by the student in consultation with the faculty member.

The preparation of a major research paper under the supervision of a faculty member. Normally open only to 7th semester honours philosophy students.

The focus of this course is mastering the oral presentation of a philosophical argument, and engaging in respectful, intellectually honest discussion with one's audience. Students will develop and present a philosophical claim which they will explain and defend during a question period after the presentation. Students are expected to have topic for their presentation at the beginning of the course.