Course Descriptions
2000 Level Courses
Individual or group investigation, research, studies, or surveys of selected problems. Proposals to be initiated by student(s) with guidance from faculty. Total credit limited to 6 units, with a maximum of 3 units per semester.
Independent Study
Investigation into the big questions of philosophy (Does God Exist? Can I Know Anything? Who Am I? How Should I Live? Am I Free); emphasis on how philosophers propose to answer such questions and their relevance for intelligent living. Fulfills GE requirement for Area C2a. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Investigation into the big questions of philosophy (Does God Exist? Can I Know Anything? Who Am I? How Should I Live? Am I Free); emphasis on how philosophers propose to answer such questions and their relevance for intelligent living. Fulfills GE requirement for Area C2a. 3 hours lecture/discussion. Class restricted to Honors Program students only.
Examination of formal and informal reasoning processes in everyday and scientific reasoning; emphasis on detection and avoidance of informal fallacies with examples from contemporary social issues. 3 hours lecture/problem-solving. Fulfills GE requirement for Area A3.
Introduction to philosophical questions and exploration/evaluation of answers to such questions using children’s stories and classic philosophical texts. Topics include the mind/body problem, the structure of a just society, the problem of evil, personal identity. Stories from different ethnic, national, and religious traditions will be introduced and critically examined. Fulfills GE requirement for Area C2a. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
3000 Level Courses
The diversity of the philosophy and religion of India from Rig Vedic times to the 20th century. Development of the Upanishads, Yoga systems, the great epics, the bhakti movements; emergence of Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Indian Islam. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Investigation of central traditions in moral theory, including utilitarianism, virtue theory, Kantianism, contract theories, feminism. Inquiry into the justification and implications of moral principles and claims. Analysis of moral obligation, interests, happiness. Skeptical challenge to morality’s presumed authority. Skeptical challenges to the authority of morality. 3 hours lecture/discussion. Prerequisite(s):or instructor permission.
Great philosophical ideas and thinkers from Galileo to the 18th century. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
The lively and varied growth of American thought, from the Puritans through the personalists to the pragmatists: Edwards, Peirce, James, Royce, Santayana, Dewey, Whitehead. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Examination of various styles of Asian martial arts and meditation, and of the philosophical traditions from which they have developed. Emphasizes both theory and practice. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Current public controversies over sexual morality examined in the context of historical, legal, and philosophical research on sexual practices. Focus on stigmatized, nonviolent sexual expression, such as: voyeurism and pornography, paid sex, polygamy, gay marriage, intergenerational relationships, and "leather" culture. Prerequisites: Completion of GE Area A, and GE Sub-areas C1, C2a, and C2b. Fulfills GE Synthesis requirement for Area C3. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Examination of problems in the philosophy of mind including knowledge of other minds, and the nature of mental states and their properties, in particular, consciousness and representation. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Examination of central theoretical, empirical, moral, and political questions regarding implicit bias and stereotype threat. Indirect measures of beliefs, feelings, and motivations; consciousness, automaticity, and self-knowledge; the psychological nature of bias, prejudice, and stereotyping; moral responsibility for and rationality of unconscious processes; structural approaches to discrimination, inequality, and social justice; role of implicit bias in criminal justice, education, business, and healthcare; debiasing individuals and institutions; psychology’s replication crisis and empirically informed skepticism about implicit bias. Application to students’ lived experiences. A range of texts and sources from the humanities and social sciences.3 hours Lecture/discussion. Prerequisite(s): Lower division GE requirements in Area A, at least two sub-areas in Area C, and at least two sub-areas in Area D.
GE Area(s): C3, D4
An investigation into the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge. Survey of major topics such as foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism contextualism and skepticism. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
4000 Level Courses
Examination of several of the central metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, social, and political questions in Feminist Philosophy. Topics include theories of gender difference, including social construction, realism, and new essentialisms; the relations between sex and gender; feminist epistemologies, including feminist perspectives on objectivity in science, feminist critiques of scientific practice, epistemologies of ignorance, standpoint epistemology, epistemic injustice, and the relations between knowledge and emotion; misrepresenting women, gendered narrative, and women’s appearance; intersectionality and the interactions among gender, race, class, sexuality, immigration status, ability and other social categories; structural injustice, including global gender injustice, transnational feminism, and individual bias; gender and work, including family and domestic work, sex work, and reproductive freedom and abortion; and theorizing misogyny, policing women, and domestic violence. 3 hours lecture
An examination of the moral and social philosophical aspects of the environmental crisis and the ecological movement. 3 hours lecture/discussion.
Development and writing of a thesis in philosophy on the basis of extensive research. May only be taken once for a total credit of 3 units.
Explore philosophical conceptions of justice, human rights, the state and human nature which affect contemporary questions in global justice in five areas: war, immigration and refugees, gender, development, and democracy. 3 hours lecture/discussion.