Philosophy
Introduction to Philosophy
Students will study central topics in the major areas of philosophy. They will examine a variety of philosophical perspectives on issues such as mind-body problem, the nature of reality, the limits of human knowledge, morality and moral judgement, and the justification of religious beliefs.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Philosophy, Culture and Identity
Students will be introduced—through literary and philosophical works—to issues connected with how the modern identity is formed and how it is constituted in Western culture.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Introduction To Ancient And Medieval Philosophy
Students will study English translations of some of the standard philosophical texts from the ancient and medieval periods. They will also learn to apply methods of philosophical analysis to these texts.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Introduction to Modern Philosophy
Students will study some of the standard philosophical texts from the modern period. They will also learn to apply methods of philosophical analysis to these texts.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Confronting Moral Issues: Introduction to Ethics
Students will consider the meaning and justification of moral judgments by examining various views on whether or not morality has an objective basis. They will be introduced to leading theories of ethical conduct and will learn to apply these theories to contemporary moral problems and workaday situations.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Sustainability: Analysis and Ethics
Students will study elements of traditional philosophy courses such as critical thinking, philosophy of science, and ethics to provide a detailed analysis of a variety of concepts of sustainability. They will examine sustainability policies and practices related to the environment, social equity, and economics.
Note: This course is cross-listed with POST 1100. Students may not get credit for both courses.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Environmental Ethics
Students will examine central problems in environmental ethics. They will investigate the philosophical implications of various views about humans' relationship to nature, and consider such topics as the extent of our obligations to non-human animals, to the environment, and to future generations.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Critical Thinking
Students will study the process of argument reconstruction and evaluation. They will focus on skills necessary that will enable them to distinguish argumentative from non-argumentative writing, rationally persuasive from rhetorically persuasive arguments, and strong from weak arguments. Students will be expected to analyze arguments from a variety of contexts such as newspaper editorials, advertising and surveys.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Introduction to Formal Logic
Students will study the basic techniques of formal deductive logic. They will learn the semantics and syntax of two artificial languages—sentential logic ( SL ) and predicate logic ( PL )—with emphasis given to the former. With the aid of the formal techniques learned in this course, students will gain insight into the nature of rational argument and sound reasoning.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Introduction to Scientific Reasoning
Students will examine the methodology behind arguments and experimentation in science, including the careful analysis of data, measurement of probability, and the formulation of various explanatory hypotheses. In so doing, they will become familiar, not only with how scientists go about their work, but with the philosophical foundations of scientific reasoning.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Ancient Greek Philosophy
Students will examine the philosophical developments in ancient Greece that gave rise to Western Philosophy, with particular emphasis on one or more of Socrates, Plato or Aristotle.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Modern Philosophy: Descartes to Kant
Students will study some of the major philosophical texts from the modern period, beginning from the time of Descartes. They will apply methods of philosophical analysis to these texts in the exploration of epistemological, metaphysical, ethical and social-political questions.
Prerequisites: 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Moral Theory
Students will examine some of the major normative ethical theories. They will study classic works representing the major ethical traditions, including virtue theory, deontology, social contract theory, and utilitarianism. They will examine concepts such as duty, virtue, well-being or happiness, and right action. Students will obtain a critical grasp of these ethical theories and concepts by reading classic works.
Prerequisites: 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Asian Philosophy
Students will critically examine selected representative schools of philosophy in Asian traditions, including Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. They will explore such topics as reality, self, knowledge, ethics, and death.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Social and Political Philosophy
Students will examine selected central problems in social and political philosophy. They will investigate such topics as the justification of the state, the tension between individual freedom and social constraint, and theories of social justice.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Philosophy of Religion
Students will examine arguments for and against the existence of God, as well as other traditional problems of theology, from a philosophical perspective. In the course of such examinations, they will use both classic and contemporary sources.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Philosophical Paradoxes, Puzzles and Enigmas
Students will study the history of the paradox, extending from the ancient Greeks, through the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, and into the twentieth century. They will get a glimpse into the minds of Zeno, Socrates, Aquinas, Ockham, Pascal, Kant, Quine, Russell, and other major philosophers as they grapple with the twists and turns of philosophical riddles, sometimes finding answers and sometimes not.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Epistemology
Students will study traditional themes in epistemology. Using classical and contemporary readings, they will examine problems related to the justification of beliefs, the nature of truth, and theories describing the foundations of knowledge.
Prerequisites: 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Metaphysics
Students will study some of the main traditional topics of metaphysics. Using classical and contemporary readings, they will investigate problems related to mind-body interactionism, space and time, free will and fatalism, and theories of reality and truth.
Prerequisites: 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Health Care Ethics
Students will study various ethical and meta-ethical theories and will apply them to moral dilemmas in health care at the clinical, professional, and organizational levels. They will analyze various case studies that will help them develop competence in moral reasoning as it relates to personal, professional, and societal values—including (but not restricted to) the abortion and euthanasia debates, patient autonomy and the right to refuse treatment, two-tier health care, allocation of scarce resources, patient abuse and management of patient behaviour, alternative therapies, and the patient-caregiver relationship.
Note: This course is intended for Bachelor of Psychiatric Nursing and the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. It will not count as upper-level PHIL credits for Philosophy BA degree programs.
Business Ethics
Students will study various ethical and meta-ethical theories, and will apply them in standard business contexts, such as employer-employee relations, risk analysis, occupational and product safety, environmental protection, and multinational practices. Students will acquire the tools to allow them to make ethical business decisions.
Philosophy of Art
Students ill investigate central questions about the nature and value of art (e.g., painting, sculpture, music, literature, and film). They will critically examine attempts to answer questions such as the following: What is art? Is there a difference between aesthetic judgments and mere judgments of taste or subjective preference? What is beauty? Should moral considerations affect our evaluations of art?
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Great Philosophers of the 20th Century
Students will examine the life, work, and influence of one or more notable 20 th Century philosopher(s). They will apply principles of rhetoric and philosophical analysis through close reading of selected texts, informed discussion, and formal writing .
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
20th Century Analytic Philosphy
Students will acquire a detailed historical and conceptual framework for the assessment of 20th Century philosophical analysis. They will study issues raised by Russell and others near the beginning of the 20th Century. Students will then consider the historical and conceptual unfolding of various alternative approaches to these issues by later 20th Century analytical philosophers. They will focus on a technical examination of concepts such as: truth, reference, description, and meaning.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Life and Death
Students will study various ethical and metaphysical issues surrounding human existence and mortality. In particular, they will investigate the two central questions, "What is a good life?" and "Is death bad for the person who dies?" Using a variety of philosophical sources, they may also examine a number of related issues, including the possibility of life after death, the relationship between personal identity and immortality, the reasons why killing is generally considered wrong, and the moral status of abortion, euthanasia, and suicide.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Foundations in Ethics
Students will investigate central questions about the nature and foundations of ethical judgement. They will examine a variety of perspectives on such issues as the objectivity and prescriptivity of moral judgement.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
The Possibility of Knowledge
Students will investigate central questions about the nature and foundations of epistemic judgement. They will examine a variety of perspectives on such issues as the justification of knowledge claims and the internalism/externalism debate in epistemology.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Ethics and Public Policy
Students will critically examine ethical issues in public policy through readings in classic and/or contemporary texts. They will consider topics such as policy governing life and death, sex and reproduction, freedom of speech, punishment, and the environment.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Contemporary Moral Theory
Students will consider selected problems associated with various philosophical approaches to morality. They will investigate standard moral perspectives such as Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Contractarianism, Feminist Ethics, and Virtue Theory, in order to assess their philosophical strengths and weaknesses by introducing theoretical as well as practical considerations.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Free Will and Determinism
Students will examine the philosophical problems involved in assigning moral responsibility in a world governed by causes which are, ultimately, outside of our control. Using both classic and contemporary sources, they will evaluate the reasoning behind deterministic theories that deny the reality of free will, claiming that all events, including human actions, have prior causes that render them inevitable.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Advanced Formal Logic
Students will be introduced to contemporary symbolic logic. They will gain a working understanding of some symbolic languages, propositional logic and first-order predicate logic. Students will also discuss syntax and semantics at an elementary level, and soundness and completeness of first-order logical systems will be proved.
Prerequisites: PHIL 1150 or 3 credits of MATH 1000-level or higher or permission of the instructor.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Empiricism
Students will study the motivations and influence of empiricism—the epistemological theory that genuine information about the world must be acquired by a posteriori or experiential means, so that nothing can be thought without first being sensed. They will analyze and compare the views of prominent empiricists such as Francis Bacon, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, and John Stuart Mill.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Rationalism
Students will study the motivations and influence of rationalism—the epistemological view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. They will analyze and compare the views of prominent rationalists such as René Descartes, Benedict Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and Immanuel Kant.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Personal Identity
Students will investigate various philosophical puzzles surrounding the problem of personal identity. In particular, they will contemplate the central metaphysical question, under what circumstances is a person existing at one time identical with a person existing at another time? Students will also examine problems related to the connection between personal identity and physical continuity, the psychological underpinnings of selfhood, and the relationship between personal identity and immortality.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Language and Meaning
Students will examine the nature of language through the study of topics such as truth, reference, meaning, linguistic structure, speech acts and context of use.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100 level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of instructor. PHIL 1150 is recommended.
Philosophy of Mind: Consciousness
Students will investigate central questions about the nature of consciousness and the place of the mind in the physical world. They will examine competing approaches to the explanation of mental phenomena.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor.
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Confronting Moral Issues: Business Ethics
Students will examine moral problems and proposed solutions to moral problems that arise in a business context. They will apply moral theories and models for decision-making to specific scenarios.
Prerequisites: 18 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 3 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor.
Topics in the Philosophy of Art
Students will study a selected topic or body of work in the philosophy of art. Using a variety of classic and contemporary sources, they will consider one or more problems related to the nature of art (e.g., art as imitation, art as representation, art as expression, the relationship between art and form, the relationship between art and the aesthetic experience) or the nature of a specific form of art (e.g., painting, sculpture, music, literature, film). Students will discuss topics(s) that may be associated with a particular movement, time period, or philosophical figure.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. The specific course content will be established in advance by the instructor.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Topics in Ethics
Students will engage in an in-depth study of a selected topic in applied ethics, normative ethics, or metaethics, which may be associated with a particular movement, time period, or philosophical figure.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. Students may take this course more than once, as topics vary, with permission of the department chair. The topic in a given semester will be determined in advance by the department. Please check with the department for the current topic.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Topics in Social and Political Philosophy
Students will study a selected theme, issue, or body of work in the area of socio-political philosophy. They will examine one or more theoretical approaches—e.g., Marxism, feminism, liberalism, communitarianism, post-modern political theory—and then consider the implications of the examined approach(es) for issues like the nation state, globalization, restructuring, and the social policies surrounding welfare and health care.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. Students may take this course more than once, as topics vary, with permission of the department chair. The topic in a given semester will be determined in advance by the department. Please check with the department for the current topic.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Topics in the Philosophy of Religion
Students will study a selected theme, issue, or body of work in the philosophy of religion. Using a variety of textual sources and strict principles of philosophical analysis, they will consider one or more problems related to traditional arguments for God’s existence, arguments against the existence of God, the role of faith in religious belief, the status of miracles, the relationship between science and religion, or the relationship between religion and morality.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. The specific course content will be established in advance by the instructor.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Topics in Epistemology
Students will study a selected topic or body of work in the field of epistemology. Using a variety of classic and contemporary sources, they will consider one or more themes related to defining knowledge, scepticism and the Pyrrhonian problem, foundationalism and coherentism, epistemic justification, contextualism and relativism, epistemology and science, or the relationship between epistemology and human cognition. Students will discuss topics(s) that may be associated with a particular movement, time period, or philosophical figure.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. Students may take this course more than once, as topics vary, with permission of the department chair. The topic in a given semester will be determined in advance by the department. Please check with the department for the current topic.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Topics in Metaphysics
Students will study a selected topic or body of work in the field of metaphysics. Using a variety of classic and contemporary sources, they will consider one or more themes related to the nature of universals and particulars, time and space, appearance and reality, persistence and change, personal identity, free will and determinism, causation, the nature of physical substance, or the feasibility of metaphysics as a genuine philosophical pursuit. Students will discuss topic(s) that may be associated with a particular movement, time period, or philosophical figure.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. Students may take this course more than once, as topics vary, with permission of the department chair. The topic in a given semester will be determined in advance by the department. Please check with the department for the current topic.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
Topics in the Philosophy of Mind
Students will study a selected theme, issue, or body of work in the philosophy of mind. Using a variety of textual sources and strict principles of philosophical analysis, they will consider one or more problems related to the traditional mind-body debate, the nature of consciousness, mental causation, psycho-physical supervenience, or intentionality. Students will discuss topics(s) that may be associated with a particular movement, time period, or philosophical figure.
Note: This is a seminar-based course. Students may take this course more than once, as topics vary, with permission of the department chair. The topic in a given semester will be determined in advance by the department. Please check with the department for the current topic.
Prerequisites: 60 credits of 1100-level courses or higher including any 6 credits of PHIL or permission of the instructor
Transferable (refer to transfer guide )
