PHIL 100: Appreciation of Philosophy (multiple sections)—AUCC Arts & Humanities 3B

This course introduces students to philosophy and philosophical thinking. It explores some enduring questions, such as: What is the nature of knowledge and reality? What is the nature of the mind and its relation to the body? Do humans have free will? Does God exist?  What is the meaning of life?

PHIL 103: Moral and Social Problems (multiple sections)— AUCC Arts & Humanities 3B

This is an introductory course in applied ethics. The course typically begins with an overview of central ethical theories and then practices applying these ways of thinking to a variety of moral and social problems of our day, such as abortion, world hunger and poverty, immigration, animal welfare, assistance in reproduction and death, and climate change.

PHIL 110: Logic & Critical Thinking (multiple sections)— AUCC Arts & Humanities 3B

This course explores the fundamentals of good reasoning. It will empower you to know when we are reasoning well and when we are reasoning poorly, by objectively examining arguments of various kinds.

PHIL 170: World Philosophies (multiple sections)—AUCC 1C 

Section 1—MacKenzie (MWF 9:00-9:50 AM): This course offers an introduction to and critical engagement with several philosophical traditions from around the world, including works from ancient Greece, Rome, India, and China. We’ll explore each tradition’s theory of reality, account of human personhood, and ethics, as well as its understanding of the good life. You are expected to reflect critically on the similarities and differences between these traditions, and on your own worldview.

Section 2—Hamid (TR TBD): The purpose of this course is to give an overview of selected cosmological and historical aspects of a variety of philosophical traditions, present and past. These include the Greek traditions of Plato and Aristotle, Hellenistic Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, Taoism, Alchemy, Islam, and Native American philosophy. Emphasis will be placed on comparative cosmological concepts and paradigms as a foundation for comparison and contrast of cosmological traditions.

PHIL 172: Religions of the East (Noblitt; online)— AUCC Arts & Humanities 3B

This course surveys the historical evolution and establishment of key beliefs, practices, and texts of major religions of South and East Asia, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. Students will read from influential philosophical texts and consider questions of self, reality, truth, and knowledge while comparing views between traditions.

PHIL 174: World Religions (DiRado; MWF 2:00-2:50 PM)— AUCC Arts & Humanities 3B

In this class, we'll explore religious traditions from around the world. Our focus will be on foundational religious texts of the Hebraic tradition (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Mayan peoples. Within these diverse traditions, we'll investigate images of humanity, the universe, and god(s) among other central religious concepts.

PHIL 201: Ethical Computing Systems (Easley; TR 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM)- AUCC Arts & Humanities 3B

This course will explore current topics at the intersection of ethics and technology such as autonomous cars, bias in algorithms, artificial intelligence, the attention economy, killer robots, Big Data and privacy, and the use of technologies to enhance human beings. We will use multiple moral theories in philosophical ethics, current news reports, professional ethics codes, and science fiction stories as grounding for our discussions.

PHIL 206: Knowledge & Existence (Morasch; TR 2:00-3:15 PM)

What does it mean to know something? This course explores these questions from two complementary perspectives: traditional epistemology, which focuses on the individual knower, and social epistemology, which examines how knowledge depends on our relationships with others and the social world. We will ask: What is knowledge? What makes a belief justified? Is knowledge possible, and if so, how do we acquire it? We will then broaden our focus to investigate knowledge as a social practice: When should we trust other people? How do power, prejudice, and social position affect who is believed? What is epistemic injustice, and how can we resist it?

PHIL 210: Introduction to Formal Logic (Huff; MWF 11:00-11:50 AM)

In this course, we approach the study of reasoning using formal logic tools and systematic approaches. Moving between syntax and semantics, we'll interpretate and analyze claims and arguments. We practice skills needed for these moves, dissect complex and rhetorically challenging ideas, differentiate between valid and invalid patterns of reasoning, demonstrate validity via formal proofs, and provide analysis through truth trees and truth tables.

PHIL 301: 17^th & 18^th Century European Philosophy (Romagni; MWF 11:00-11:50 AM) 

This course offers a survey of the philosophical developments in Western Europe during the period we call the Modern Era (roughly 1600-1800). The course will focus on major figures of the period and explore issues that were of central importance in the areas of epistemology and metaphysics, such as the existence and nature of God, the existence and nature of the external world, the relationship between mind and body, the foundations of knowledge, and free will.

PHIL 345: Environmental Ethics (multiple sections)

Section 1—McShane (MWF 12:30-1:45 PM): In this class, we will discuss debates about the moral status of the natural world. This includes questions about what moral obligations we have to people in other parts of the world, whether nonhuman animals have rights, whether we have any moral obligations to animals, plants, species, or ecosystems, what environmental justice consists in, and what sorts of policy implications our answers to these questions might have.

Section 2—Lopez (TR 2:00-3:15 PM): This course will explore what, if anything, we owe to nature and the environment. We will address such questions as: what does it mean to value, what kinds of beings are capable of valuing, and how is the environment valued? How should we conceive of ‘nature’ or ‘wilderness’? Are animals, plants, living entities, and ecosystems bearers of moral value? And how do we fulfill our responsibilities to these bearers of value given the magnitude of certain problems and competing economic and moral considerations?

PHIL 353: Feminist Philosophies (Butnor; TR 9:30-10:45 AM) 

This course explores central questions in feminist philosophy through a rich selection of classic and contemporary writings. Together, these works trace the development and diversity of feminist thought and its ongoing influence on philosophy and social theory. Topics include oppression and the body, gender and intersectionality, and epistemic injustice. Through critical reading, discussion, and reflection, students will examine how feminist philosophy reimagines concepts of gender, knowledge, power, and justice.

PHIL 354: Philosophy of Science Fiction (DiRado; MWF 11:00-11:50 AM) 

Science fiction powerfully articulates the ways that the emergence of modern science has changed human life. We will philosophically explore those changes in this class, including exploring topics like potential conflicts between nature and technology; what counts as a living being; and the nature of space and time.

PHIL 355: Philosophy of Religion (Kasser; MWF 10:00-10:50 AM) 

What would a perfect being be like and how can we tell? For instance, would it exist at all times or “outside” of time? What are the best reasons for thinking that such a being exists and for thinking it doesn’t exist? How is faith different from ordinary belief and in what ways, if any, is it virtuous?

PHIL 356: Islamis Philosophy (Hamid; TR 3:30-4:45 PM) 

Examination of the development of philosophical thought in early, middle, and late Muslim civilization.

PHIL 380A3: Greco-Roman Paganism (DiRado; MWF 1:00-1:50 PM)

**More information forthcoming** This course will explore the "pagan" religious traditions of the ancient Mediterranean world as understood by their adherents, including how those adherents viewed the connection between mythology (such as Egyptian, Greek, or Roman) and the rituals, beliefs, texts, mystery cults, philosophical speculation, and civic worship that defined their religious lives.

PHIL 411: Logic in Philosophy and Beyond (Tucker; TR 12:30-1:45 PM)

This course covers type theory in detail, building from the ground up and assuming no prior familiarity with type theory or any of its many applications in mathematics, (e.g., homotopy type theory), computer science (e.g., functional programming, type checking, creating data types), or linguistics (e.g., Montague semantics). Topics covered include Church's type-free and simply typed λ-calculi, Russell's simple and ramified type theories, dependent types, pure type systems, Girard's paradox, Martin-Löf's intuitionistic type theory, and Coquand's calculus of constructions.

PHIL 462: Capstone Seminar (Kasser; MWF 2:00-2:50 PM)

This capstone seminar will focus on the epistemology of disagreement. How, if at all, can it be rational for me to “stick to my guns” when I take myself to disagree with someone who is just as reasonable, decent, and well-informed as I am? But given the prevalence of such disagreements (especially in philosophy!), how can I avoid a disabling skepticism about an enormous number of important matters. Put differently, can we combine adequate respect for the views of others with adequate intellectual integrity?