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The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS PH 458: Crime and Punishment: Philosophical Perspective
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor; CASPH 350, First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - This course explores philosophical questions about the criminal justice system, both in its ideal form and as it exists today. We examine historical and contemporary writings on punishment, focusing on concepts of punishment, justifications for punishment, preventative detention, the death penalty, and alternatives to punishment. We also ask how deep historical and contemporary injustices, including institutionalized racism, affect how we should theorize about institutions of punishment, their possible reform, or perhaps even their abolition. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry 2, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS PH 460: Epistemology
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH310 & CASPH360) - An examination of some of the central questions concerning the nature, scope, sources, and structure of knowledge.
  • CAS PH 461: Mathematical Logic
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASMA293) or consent of instructor. - The investigation of logical reasoning with mathematical methods. The syntax and semantics of sentential logic and quantificational logic. The unifying Godel Completeness Theorem, and models of theories. A look at the Godel Incompleteness Theorem and its ramifications. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • CAS PH 462: Foundations of Mathematics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH461) or consent of instructor. - Axiomatic set theory as a foundation for, and field of, mathematics: Axiom of Choice, the Continuum Hypothesis, and consistency results. Also offered as CAS MA 532.
  • CAS PH 465: Philosophy of Cognitive Science
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: Two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. - This course focuses on the blurry boundaries between philosophical and scientific study of the mind. Philosophers sometimes appeal to findings from empirical psychology to support views in philosophy of mind and epistemology. To what sorts of philosophical debates are empirical findings about the mind relevant? To what extent should we allow these findings to constrain our philosophical theorizing? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry 2.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Scientific Inquiry II
  • CAS PH 468: Philosophical Problems of Logic and Mathematics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASPH 360. - Amathematics” are used alongside the original material. Students learn to carry out techniques of working through of Godel’s famous 1931 paper on the incompleteness of arithmetic, alongside the proof of Turing’s 1936 proof of the undecidability of logic and Tarski’s analysis of the concept of truth for formalized languages. Warren Goldfarb’s “Notes on Metaarithmetization of syntax and understand the workings in the context of Godel’s proof, including the formalization of proof, consistency, and other metamathematical notions, and the concept of primitive recursivity. Effective Spring 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU HUB areas: Critical Thinking, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Quantitative Reasoning 2.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • CAS PH 470: Philosophy of Physics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. - An introductory survey of fascinating problems in contemporary philosophy of physics. The basic ideas and main features of physical theories, which touch upon nature at its most fundamental level and interact most crucially with philosophy in general, are outlined, so that students will have a road map of the central problems in the field. Throughout, the driving theme is the entanglement of a radical revision in our conceptualization of the world (which is forced upon us by the changes in the physical picture of the world due to major developments in modern physics) with central philosophical. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • CAS PH 472: Philosophy of Biology
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. - Conceptual problems in biology; unity or pluralism of science; hierarchy theory; biological explanation; evolutionary theory, teleology and casuality, statistical explanation; the species problem; mind and the brain; and language in animals and humans.
  • CAS PH 476: Philosophy of the Earth Sciences: From Deep Time to the Anthropocene
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. - Examines philosophical and methodological issues arising in the geosciences, from reconstructing events in deep time, proxy data, and the catastrophism-uniformitarianism debate, to analog and computer simulation modeling, and the Anthropocene debate, drawing examples from geology, archaeology, paleontology, and climate science. Effective Summer 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry 1.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Scientific Inquiry I
  • CAS PH 477: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
    Topics in the philosophy of the social sciences such as the interpretation of human action and the objectivity of social inquiry. Social consideration of alternative theoretic viewpoints such as naturalism and interpretivism. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Social Inquiry II
  • CAS PH 480: Topics in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
    Topic for Fall 2017: Thinking Food & Drink. An examination sparked by Greek literature and philosophy.
  • CAS PH 482: Topics in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: any one philosophy course from CAS PH 410-439, or consent of instructo r. - Topics vary from semester to semester; may be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2020: History, Memory, Meaning. Examines central issues in the philosophy of history, from Hegel and Nietzsche to Collingwood, Gadamer, Foucault, Nora, and Danto. Topics include: tensions between history and memory, structure of historical narratives, contrast between interpretation and understanding, does history have a meaning'
  • CAS PH 485: Topics in Philosophy of Value
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH 450 OR CASPH 451 OR CASPH 452 OR CASPH 453 OR CASPH 454 OR CASPH 455 OR CASPH 457) any one philosophy course from CASPH 450-457, or consent of instructor. - Topics vary from year to year. Topic for Spring 2021: What is happiness? How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life? Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Confucian, Buddhist, Taoist paths; comparison with contemporary studies of happiness and mindfulness.
  • CAS PH 487: Topics in the Philosophy of Science
    A discussion-based introduction to core issues in the philosophy of science, focusing on the topics of scientific realism, theory change, reductionism, explanation, models, and natural kinds.
  • CAS PH 488: Topics in Aesthetics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: philosophy major or minor and two previously completed philosophy courses. Graduate prerequisites: must be Philosophy PhD student, or have taken two previous philosophy courses at BU. - Consideration of selected topics in aesthetics, with particular attention to the relationship between aesthetic experience and analytical accounts of the experience; topics include expression, perception, qualities, the good, the ideal, and the sublime.
  • CAS PH 489: Henry James and New Media
    James’s writing exposed the moral and aesthetic dimensions of social status, wealth, and romance. Exploring James’s works and film adaptations of them, as well as contemporaneous philosophy, we address how they anticipate the social media of our time. Students complete a video, graphic novel, or other form of “new media” for a final project. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • CAS PH 490: Topics in Philosophy
    Topics vary. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
  • CAS PH 491: Directed Study
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing, consent of instructor and department, and a pproval of CAS Academic Advising. - Individual or small group tutorial instruction and directed research on selected topics.
  • CAS PH 495: Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASEN 120 or WR 100 or WR 120). - A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS PH 496: Topics in Religious Thought
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 120 or equivalent and one course from among the following: Religion, Philosophy, Core Curriculum (CASCC 101 and/or CC 102). - Topic for Spring 2025: Happiness, East and West. What is happiness? How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life? Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary studies on happiness and mindfulness. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Writing-Intensive Course

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