Studies philosophical approaches to social and political issues such as abortion, bioethics, environmental preservation, human rights, and reverse discrimination. Gives attention to strengths and weaknesses of philosophical treatments of these issues. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Examines public policy implications of contemporary biological, genetic, biomedical, and behavioral science in light of ethics and human values. Considers theoretical and practical grounds for moral assessment of scientific research and possible applications of technology. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Philosophical examination of several different approaches to environmental problems: economic, juridical, political, and ecological. Discusses specific environmental problems, focusing on their moral dimensions, e.g., wilderness preservation, animal rights, and land use and urban planning. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Same as ENVS 5240. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Deals with topics in the area of philosophy and public policy and is often interdisciplinary in focus. Topics vary from one semester to another. May be repeated up to 7 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Discusses topics in the philosophy of mind, including the mind-body problem, consciousness, intentionality, rationality, mental causation and the nature of mental states. Same as PHIL 4300. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Studies some of the main topics of theory of knowledge, such as evidence, justification, prediction, explanation, skepticism, and concept acquisition. Recommended prereqs., PHIL 3480 and 12 credit hours of philosophy, including PHIL 2440 and 3010. PHIL 4340 and 5340 are the same course. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Examines issues in four related areas: probability theory (e.g. the interpretation of probability, the raven paradox, and the principle of indifference), decision theory (e.g., the Newcomb problem, the toxin puzzle, and Pascal's wager), game theory (e.g., Prisoner's dilemma, tragedy of the commons, and Schelling points), and social choice theory (e.g., Arrow's theorem). Familiarity with symbolic logic is strongly recommended. Recommended prereq., PHIL 2440 and 12 hours philosophy course work. PHIL 4470 and 5470 are the same course. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Considers topics in the semantics of natural language not normally covered in first courses in philosophy of language. These include: natural deduction and sequent calculi for conditional logic; interpretation as logical inference; Lambek calculus and applicative categorial grammar; applications such as generalized coordination, plurals, higher-order intensional logic, generics, focus, and event-based semantics. Recommended prereq., PHIL 5490. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Covers seminal classic texts and/or fundamental topics in analytic metaphysics and epistemology. Requisites: Restricted to Philosophy graduate students only.
Studies topics falling under philosophy of religion, such as proofs for God's existence, religious language, mysticism, psychology of religion, modern theological movements, miracles, and study of individual theologians. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Analyzes the principal topics of aesthetics, including such issues as formal structure of aesthetics, the nature of critical judgments, and the status of the work of art. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Variety of new courses at the 5000 level. See current departmental announcements for specific content. Maybe repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Instructor meets regularly with three or more students to discuss special topics in philosophy. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Studies advanced topics in the history of philosophy. Content varies by semester, but may extend to any period in the history of philosophy, from the Presocratics into the modern era. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
Provides an in-depth look at some particular topic in social and political philosophy, such as rights, political freedom, political obligation, or democracy. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.
