Courses

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.

• CAS NE 589: Neural Impacts on Tumorigenesis
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS NE 102, NE 203, and NE major; and junior or senior standing. - Explores neuronal invasion and mechanisms of neurogenesis into solid tumors, cross-talk in tumor microenvironments, and nervous system influence on cancer modulators that enhance tumorigenesis. Enhancement of cancer from environmental stress at this interface is also examined. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Scientific Inquiry II
• CAS NE 593: Topics in Computational Neuroscience
  Examines contemporary topics in computational neuroscience research, drawing from recent literature. Students critically evaluate papers, assess the soundness of methods, distinguish correct from incorrect interpretations of data, and discuss the soundness of conclusions.
• CAS NE 594: Topics in Neurobiology
  Undergraduate Pre-requisites: CAS NE 203 or BI 203 - Examines contemporary topics in neurobiological research, drawing from recent literature. Students critically evaluate papers, assess the soundness of methods, distinguish correct from incorrect interpretations of data, and discuss the soundness of conclusions. Pre-reqs may vary with topic. Topic for Spring 2025 - Neurogenetics: Students will gain conceptual understanding of the contributions of genes and epigenetics to various behaviors and neuropathologies. The subject will be explored through various approaches such as behavioral genetics research, genetic inheritance and epigenetics, candidate gene approaches, animal studies, and other approaches such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In addition to basic physical behaviors, students will explore psychiatric disorders, and will conduct literature research regarding the genetic basis of behaviors/pathologies of interest.
• CAS NE 598: Neural Circuits
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASBI325 OR CASNE203) and CASPY106. - Reviews modern techniques and toolsets that are capable of dissecting neural circuits, which are critical for understanding how coordinated patterns of neural activity lead to complex behavior. Recent literature on information processing, guided behavior and cognition is discussed. Also offered as CAS BI 598.
• CAS PH 525: Judith Butler
  Undergraduate prerequisites: two previous XL, WS, or PH courses; or consent of instructor. Graduate prerequisites: graduate standing. - An intensive study of Judith Butler's philosophical thought and social theory from the 1990s to the present, with an emphasis on the continuities and discontinuities between Butler's early work on gender performativity and more recent writings on racial justice, war, and violence.
• CAS PH 605: Aristotle I
  A careful study of Aristotle's theoretical philosophy conducted through a close reading of selections from the Categories, Posterior Analytics, Physics, On the Soul, and the Metaphysics.
• CAS PH 615: Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
  Course subtitle: "Constructing and Deconstructing Autonomy". We will ask: To what extent is a practical agent free or autonomous' We examine answers to these questions by figures such as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
• CAS PH 618: 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. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS PH 619: Nietzsche
  An intensive study of Nietzsche's philosophical thought. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
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  • Historical Consciousness
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
• CAS PH 620: Contemporary Philosophy
  A survey of the main developments in recent philosophy in both the analytical and continental traditions.
• CAS PH 621: Frege, Moore, and Russell
  An in-depth reading of several works by Russell.
• CAS PH 622: Analytic Philosophy
  A survey of the basic works of twentieth-century analytical philosophy.
• CAS PH 626: Phenomenology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and others. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS PH 627: 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 633: Symbolic Logic
  A survey of the concepts and principles of symbolic logic: valid and invalid arguments, logical relations of statements and their basis in structural features of statements, analysis of the logical structure of complex statements of ordinary discourse, and the use of a symbolic language to display logical structure and to facilitate methods for assessing the logical structure of arguments. We cover the analysis of reasoning with truth-functions. Effective Spring 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
• CAS PH 636: 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 643: 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 645: 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 646: Philosophy of Religion
  Critical investigation of the limits of human knowledge and the theoretical and practical demands for meaning attached to notions of God, providence, immortality, and other metaphysical conditions of human thriving, from Plato to modern philosophies of religion. Effective Spring 2022 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
  • Social Inquiry I
• CAS PH 651: Contemporary Ethical Theory
  An examination of contemporary English and American moral theories. Topic for Fall 2019: The Color Line and the Problem of Reparations.