Upcoming Philosophy Courses

PHIL 101 – Introduction to Philosophy

Prof. Tiehen: MoWeFr 9:00AM–9:50AM

Representative philosophical topics, such as mind and body, the grounds of knowledge, the existence of God, moral obligation, political equality, and human freedom, are discussed in connection with contemporary philosophers and figures in the history of philosophy.

 

PHIL 104 – Existentialism

Prof. Tubert: MoWe 2:00PM-3:20PM

Existentialism describes an influential set of views that gained prominence in Europe following World War II, stressing radical human freedom and possibility, as well as concomitant responsibility and anxiety, in a world bereft of transcendent significance. This course examines the nineteenth-century philosophical roots of such views, their leading twentieth-century philosophical and theological expression, and a few of their most compelling incarnations in literature.

 

PHIL 106 – Language, Knowledge, and Power

Prof. Liao: MoWeFr 11:00AM-11:50AM

(KNOW)

This course investigates the ways in which power relations--such as racism, sexism, and ableism--structure two significant areas of individual and collective behavior: language and knowledge. It shows the necessity of philosophizing in critical engagement with the world by connecting social phenomena with social scientific theories. It also shows philosophy’s strength in making fundamental inquiries and bridging academic disciplines by drawing on diverse types of empirical evidence.

 

PHIL 210 – Ancient Greek Philosophy

Prof. Protasi: TuTh 11:00AM-12:20PM

(Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies)

A survey of the origins of Western philosophy in Ancient Greece, beginning with the Presocratics and covering Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Hellenistic philosophy. In this course students are introduced to the answers some of the most influential ancient philosophers have given to the question: "How can we be happy?" In addition to learning what these philosophers thought, students are stimulated to think about these questions from their own modern perspective, and reflect on the extent to which their modern viewpoint differs. Finally, but not least importantly, students learn to read and interpret texts that were written millennia ago. In the process, they encounter argumentative techniques that are still as current as the theses defended through them.

 

PHIL 230 – Philosophy of Mind

Prof. Tiehen: TuTh 2:00PM-3:20PM

(Bioethics; Honors Minor; IHE: Science & Values; Neuroscience; Science, Technology, Health & Society)

This course introduces central issues in the philosophy of mind, especially the relation between mind and body - the brain, in particular - and the nature of consciousness. Other topics may include the possibility of artificial intelligence, the nature of psychological explanation, self-knowledge, psychopathology and psychopharmacology, psychoanalysis, and the concept of a person. Course materials reflect scientific developments in such fields as psychology, neurobiology, medicine, linguistics, and computer engineering.

 

PHIL 232 – Philosophy of Science

Prof. Tiehen: TuTh 9:30AM-10:50AM

(Biology; IHE: Science & Values; Science, Technology, Health & Society)

This course consists of a philosophical examination of science. The course examines attempts to describe what is distinctive about science, including views concerning scientific methodology. The course also examines the character of scientific change, asking how one should understand the history of science. This examination leads to a discussion of the nature of scientific knowledge, including whether scientific entities should be considered real and what role values play in the development of science. Issues that arise from particular sciences also may be discussed.

 

PHIL 292 – Basics of Bioethics

Prof. Liao: TuTh 8:00AM-9:20AM

(Bioethics; Biology; IHE: Science & Values; Science, Technology, Health & Society)

This course examines Western philosophical understandings of moral issues brought on by advances in health care, science, and technology. In this course, students will learn the "Principles approach" to bioethics, as well as other ethical approaches to the difficult moral issues raised by contemporary medical science and its clinical applications.

 

PHIL 350 – Moral Psychology & Metaethics

Prof. Tubert: TuTh 12:30PM-1:50PM

(Neuroscience)

This course is focused on the interconnection between value judgments and a scientific perspective on the world and human psychology. Drawing on philosophical work that connects to and draws implications from attempts to study human behavior scientifically, the course explores answers to questions like: What motivates ethical action -- is it emotions, reasoning, or something else? What is the connection between a person’s values and their behavior? As students explore various answers to these questions, they will draw connections and look at the implications of those answers for epistemological and metaphysical issues connected to ethics, such as whether morality is objective or subjective; whether morality can be universal or whether it is relative to a person, to some aspect of a person’s psychology, or to a community; whether ethical language is an expression of a person’s feelings or a statement of some fact (be it a fact about the community or the psychology of the speaker, or a non-natural fact); and whether moral responsibility requires freedom of choice.

 

PHIL 389 – Race and Philosophy

Prof. Liao: TuTh 3:30PM-4:50PM

(KNOW; African American Studies; Bioethics, IHE: Race & Ethnicity, Science & Values; Latina/o Studies)

The construct of race is omnipresent in the way people think, the way society is structured, and even in the materials that people use. Despite its omnipresence, race remains difficult to discuss, if it is discussed at all, because of its theoretical complexity, contested social history, and emotional triggers. This course challenges students to engage in courageous conversations about the nature of race and its relations to mind, language, and aesthetics. Students will confront difficult questions such as: What is race? How does race influence human cognition? How does race structure human communication? How does race shape human aesthetic preferences and artistic endeavors? Students use tools developed in different areas of philosophy and its cognate disciplines to construct answers to these difficult questions about race. At the same time, students learn that these difficult questions about race can challenge and extend common conceptions of analytic philosophy.

 

PHIL 499 – Ethics Bowl

Prof. Liao: Fr 4:00PM-4:50PM

(Experiential Learning; 0.25 activity unit)

This course provides students with a unique opportunity to practice applying ethical theories to controversial ethical problems. An Ethics Bowl is a collaborative yet competitive event in which teams analyze a series of wide-ranging ethical dilemmas. Throughout the semester, students research and discuss case studies dealing with complex ethical issues in a number of practical contexts and possibly compete in an Ethics Bowl. Cases concern ethical problems on wide ranging topics, such as personal relationships (e.g. dating, friendship), professional ethics (e.g. cases in engineering, law, medicine), social and political ethics (e.g. free speech, gun control, health care, discrimination), technology (e.g. autonomous cars, carebots), and global issues (e.g. the impact of globalization, global warming, biodiversity).

 

Email Prof. Liao at sliao@pugetsound.edu for permission to enroll in this course.

 

CONN 121 – Ethics in Practice

Prof. Tubert: MoWeFr 11:00AM-11:50AM

This course engages students in conversation about ethics in everyday life, and the values and reasoning behind different ways of approaching them. Throughout the semester, students research and discuss case studies in small groups. The instructor-assigned cases may come from personal contexts (such as friendship and family), social contexts (such as speech and representation), technological contexts (such as social media and generative artificial intelligence), or professional contexts (such as medicine or business). In addition, students will complete a final project on the ethics of a case that relates to their curricular or co-curricular interests. While exploring cases of ethics in practice, students will consider different social perspectives, different academic approaches to knowledge, different career paths, and their own values and interests.

 

**All philosophy courses except PHIL 499 count towards the “Artistic and Humanistic Perspectives” requirement.