Please see Banner/Timetable for further information about sections, times, locations, and instructors. For a description of all courses in the catalog, please click the link below:

PHIL 435: Intermediate Formal Logic – Moore

An in-depth study of the metatheory of formal logic and philosophy of logic.

PHIL 540: Beyond Pity: Respect, Appreciation, and the Informal Ethics of Disability – Cureton

This seminar explores the ethics and politics of informal attitudes toward disabled people, including disabled persons’ attitudes toward themselves. Topics may include respect, appreciation, benevolence, pity, appreciation, infantilization, internalized ableism, misrecognition, care, and condescension.  The aim is to sketch provisional frameworks for assessing everyday encounters in families, schools, clinics, workplaces, and public life, and to consider appropriate forms of interaction with disabled people.

PHIL 573: Actions, Reasons, and Causes – Palmer

One “big picture” question in philosophy is how (and whether) we human beings can be part of the natural causal order. Can we understand ourselves and our activities as a part of this order or do we have to go “outside” of it to make sense of how we operate? In this class, we will focus specifically on whether human agency—for instance, acting for reasons, acting freely, and acting at all—must be understood in causal terms. Most contemporary metaphysicians think yes; a minority say no. In this class, we will consider both answers to this question with the aim of making up our own minds about it. These issues are tough; and deciding what to think about them is not obvious (at least not to me!). Hence, the aim for the class is for each of us (me included) to develop and defend answers to these questions. Given this aim, the class will be run ‘seminar-style’—emphasizing student involvement and discussion. I will encourage you, through class discussion and written work, to develop your own critical perspective on the material.

PHIL 585: Trauma & Art – Carlisle

This course explores the intersection of philosophy, trauma, and artistic expression. We examine how art can bear witness to suffering, give voice to the unspeakable, and serve as a medium for individual and collective healing. Drawing on philosophical aesthetics, trauma theory, and case studies from visual art, literature, performance, and film, we ask: What makes certain works powerful vehicles for processing trauma? Can art be ethically troubling and still be therapeutic? Whose stories get told, and how does form shape meaning? Students will engage critically with texts and artworks, while also reflecting on the broader social and political implications of trauma representation in art.

PHIL 585: History of the Idea of Nature – Gehrman

Coming soon!