Courses

• CAS PH 406: Aristotle II
  A close reading of Aristotle's writings on practical philosophy (i.e., the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics) and of his philosophy of art in the Poetics, focusing on the nature of human happiness and the good life, the question of the best form of political government, and the function of art for life.
• CAS PH 408: History of Medieval Philosophy
  Topic for Fall 2015: Mysticism and Philosophy: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives. Thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on dynamics of religious experience. Readings from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Biblical interpretation, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain.
• CAS PH 410: Continental Rationalism
  A critical study of major texts of seventeenth-century philosophy.
• CAS PH 412: Philosophy of the Enlightenment
  A critical examination of that family of philosophical and political movements that called itself "the Enlightenment." Students analyze key texts by Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Smith, Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Jefferson, Madison, Kant, and Hegel. Also offered as CAS PO 592 and CAS HI 514.
• CAS PH 413: Kant
  A study of Kant's critical philosophy, focusing on one or more of his works.
• CAS PH 416: Hegel
  A study of Hegel's systematic philosophy, focusing on one or more of his works.
• CAS PH 418: Marx and Marxism
  Philosophical foundation of Marxism and its development. Critical study of Marx's writings stressing questions of philosophy, political economy, science, and history. Emphasis on Marx's theory of relation of praxis to consciousness. Later (including contemporary) Marxists and critics. Also offered as CAS PO 498.
• CAS PH 419: Nietzsche
  A study of Nietzsche's philosophy, focusing on one or more of his works.
• CAS PH 420: Contemporary Philosophy
  A survey of the main developments in recent philosophy in both the analytical and continental traditions.
• CAS PH 422: Analytic Philosophy
  A survey of the basic works of twentieth-century analytical philosophy.
• CAS PH 424: Wittgenstein
  An intensive (line by line) study of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations.
• CAS PH 426: Phenomenology
  Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and Heidegger.
• CAS PH 427: Heidegger and Existential Philosophy
  A study of the main topics of Heidegger's philosophy against the background of his interpretation of Husserl's phenomenology, Kant's transcendental philosophy, and ancient Greek philosophy, with an emphasis on the concepts of being, time, and truth.
• CAS PH 436: Gender, Race, and Science
  Examines issues in feminist philosophy, philosophy of race, and philosophy of science. Is "race" a genuine scientific category or a social construct? How have views about gender and race changed? Why are there still so few women and minority scientists?
• CAS PH 440: Metaphysics
  A survey of basic questions in contemporary metaphysics that may include reality, time, change, free will, personal identity, and causation.
• CAS PH 443: Philosophy of Mind
  The topic is sentience, embodiment, and the brain. The aim is to develop a "neurophenomenological" approach to consciousness and embodied experience in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind.
• CAS PH 445: The Philosophy of Love
  What is love? What different forms does it take (e.g. parental love, romantic love)? Is love non- rational or are there reasons of love? We aim to answer these and other philosophical questions by focusing on contemporary philosophical writings on love.
• CAS PH 452: Ethics of Health Care
  Medicine and health care offer a unique opportunity to explore the nature of humanity and the world and to ask fundamental questions concerning the nature of birth, life, and death, and what it is to be a person. Readings from both classical and contemporary writings in ethics, medicine, law, and public health policy.
• CAS PH 453: Theories of Political Society
  Focuses on philosophical subjects relevant to ethics and politics, such as virtue and happiness; human nature and reason; qualifications of leadership; aims and means of civic education; and conceptions of law (man-made, natural, divine). Texts by Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli. Meets with CAS PO 391.
• CAS PH 454: Community, Liberty, and Morality
  Traces the contemporary movement known as Virtue Ethics, which has revived a characteristic approach to ethics of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Focus on understanding VE's critique of modern approaches and on evaluating its advocates' positive claims.

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