CAS – College of Arts & Sciences

CAS PH 100 A1: Introduction to Philosophy
Professor Daniel Munro
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:20 PM – 1:10 AM
Introduces the nature of philosophical activity through careful study of major philosophical topics. Topics may include the nature of reality, knowledge, God’s existence, and the significance of human life.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 100 B1: Introduction to Philosophy
Professor Andrew Butler
Tuesday, Thursday, 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Introduces the nature of philosophical activity through careful study of major philosophical topics. Topics may include the nature of reality, knowledge, God’s existence, and the significance of human life.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 150 1: Introduction to Ethics
Professor Daniel Star
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
This course focuses on a set of interrelated questions about morality: What is morality? How should I live? What does morality require of us in our daily lives, if it requires anything at all? Is morality universal? Or, is it relative or subjective? What is the relationship between morality and religion? Answering such questions will help us to understand what the most important features of morality are. We will look both at traditional moral theories that attempt to specify what morality requires of us (Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Contractarianism and Virtue Ethics), and at the application of these theories to many specific moral issues.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 150 1: Introduction to Ethics
Professor Andrew Butler
Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
This course focuses on a set of interrelated questions about morality: What is morality? How should I live? What does morality require of us in our daily lives, if it requires anything at all? Is morality universal? Or, is it relative or subjective? What is the relationship between morality and religion? Answering such questions will help us to understand what the most important features of morality are. We will look both at traditional moral theories that attempt to specify what morality requires of us (Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Contractarianism and Virtue Ethics), and at the application of these theories to many specific moral issues.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 155 A1: Politics & Philosophy
Professor Darien Pollock
Tuesday, Thursday 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM
What is justice? What are the foundations of property rights, liberty, and equality? Are anarchism and utopianism defensible? This course is an introduction to major themes and questions in political philosophy. It includes a study of classical and modern texts, as well as contemporary political issues.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 160 A1: Reasoning & Argumentation
Professor Derek Anderson
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
An introduction to philosophical methods of inquiry and discourse with three aims. The first aim is to understand the nature of reason and argumentation; the course will serve as an introduction to logic, epistemology, and philosophy of language. The second aim is to improve our ability to reason, construct arguments, and identify fallacies. The third aim concerns the social dimension of knowledge and processes of social change. In order to achieve a more just society, we need to reason together and argue with one another in ways that facilitate change of belief in the direction of knowledge and social justice.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 160 B1: Reasoning & Argumentation
Professor Alisa Bokulich
Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Knowing how to think, reason, and argue well is essential for success in all disciplines and in everyday life.  The aim of this course is to strengthen and develop your critical thinking skills; you will learn how to make good arguments and how to critically evaluate the arguments of others.  This course will emphasize both real everyday examples, such as those drawn from newspaper articles, and examples drawn from the scientific literature.  Course will include a systematic study of the principles of inductive, deductive and informal reasoning, calculated to enhance students’ actual reasoning and argumentation skills.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 242 A1: Philosophy of Human Nature
Professor Dan Dahlstrom
Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
This course examines the way in which philosophers construct and undermine traditional conceptions of human nature. These thinkers teach us to question our ordinary assumptions about religion, human distinctiveness, the conscious mind, the role and status of morality, and the uplifting effects of civilization.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking. 

CAS PH 248 A1: Existentialism
Professor Andrew Butler
Tuesday, Thursday 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM
This course examines approaches to central existentialist themes such as anxiety, truth, decision, authenticity, freedom, possibility, and “bad faith.” The first part of the course reviews the historical context of late modern European philosophy and the views of nineteenth century thinkers (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche) whose work set the stage for existentialist thinking in the twentieth century. The second part of the course focuses on writings of those thinkers (Heidegger, Sartre) most responsible for the development of existentialism in the first half of the twentieth century.
Prerequisites: One philosophy course or sophomore standing.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 251 A1: Medical Ethics
Professor Rachell Powell
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM
This course will survey ethical issues that arise in connection with medicine and emerging biotechnologies. It will examine topics such as the right to healthcare, research on human subjects, euthanasia, abortion, cloning, genetic selection, disabilities, and the biomedical enhancement of human capacities. Students can expect to gain not only training in the concepts and methods of moral philosophy and the logic of argumentation, but also the resources needed for assessing ethically difficult questions that healthcare professionals routinely face.
Prerequisites: One philosophy course or sophomore standing.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 255 A1: Law, Philosophy, and Society
Professor Darien Pollock
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Examines issues concerning law and its place in society, such as law’s relation to democracy, the nature of constitutional rights, and legal (especially constitutional) interpretation. Readings include social theory and judicial opinions as well as more narrowly philosophical sources.
BU Hub: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 256 A1: Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality (Cross-listed as WS 396 and PO 396)
Professor Derek Anderson
Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Philosophizing about gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective, we explore issues in the metaphysics, semantics, epistemology, and politics of gender and sexuality, engaging with both classic and contemporary readings. We focus on such questions as: What is gender? How is gender constructed and how is it related to sexuality? How must concepts of sexuality change within a non-binary understanding of gender? How do identities and conceptions of gender and sexuality interact with intersecting systems of oppression?
BU Hub: Social Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 259 A1: Philosophy of The Arts
Professor Dan Dahlstrom
Tuesday, Thursday 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
The course begins with a review of classic approaches to art and questions for a philosophical aesthetics. These topics are introduced by way of a historical overview, beginning with Plato and Aristotle. Combining lecture with discussion, the course examines central readings on aesthetics by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin, R. G. Collingwood, and Theodor Adorno.
Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing.

CAS PH 266 A1: Mind, Brain, and Self
Professor Daniel Munro
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2:20 PM – 3:10 PM
This course is devoted to exploring the relationships among consciousness, the mind, and the brain, the nature of the self or person, and other related topics. This course will also examine whether and to what extent these issues can be addressed by contemporary natural science.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course, Critical Thinking.

 CAS PH 270 A1: Philosophy of Science
Professor Miguel Ohnesorge
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Focuses on the rationality of science, structure and interpretation of scientific theories, central methodological concepts such as “evidence”, “confirmation”, “measurement”, “probability” and “objectivity”, and the role of moral and political values in science. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing.

 CAS PH 300 A1: History of Ancient Philosophy
Professor Cinzia Arruzza
Tuesday, Thursday 12:20 PM – 1:45 PM
A survey of ancient Greek Philosophy, with an emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Topics will include: the fundamental nature of reality, how we know anything about it, wisdom, virtue, and human happiness.
Prerequisites: One philosophy course or sophomore standing. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g. WR 100 or WR 120).
BU Hub: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Legacy.

 CAS PH 300 B1: History of Ancient Philosophy
Professor Allen Speight
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM
A survey of ancient Greek Philosophy, with an emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Topics will include: the fundamental nature of reality, how we know anything about it, wisdom, virtue, and human happiness.
Prerequisites: One philosophy course or sophomore standing. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g. WR 100 or WR 120).
BU Hub: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Legacy.

 CAS PH 310 A1: History of Modern Philosophy
Professor Aaron Garrett
Tuesday, Thursday 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
An examination of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy from Descartes to Kant, with emphasis on the nature and extent of knowledge. Readings include Descartes, Spinoza, Cavendish, Hume, and Kant.
Prerequisites: One philosophy course or sophomore standing.
BU Hub: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.

 CAS PH 310 B1: History of Modern Philosophy
Professor Ben Crowe
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
A survey of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European Philosophy, focusing on epistemology, metaphysics, and natural philosophy.  We will read selections from the works of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hume.
Prerequisites:  One philosophy course or sophomore standing.
BU Hub: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Research and Information Literacy. 

 CAS PH 340 A1: Metaphysics and Epistemology
Professor Michaela McSweeney
Tuesday, Thursday 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM
This course is about metaphysics (the study of what there is, and how it all relates) and epistemology (the study of knowledge, and how we can know things about the world) and their intersection.
Prerequisites: One previous Philosophy course.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 350 A1: History of Ethics
Professor Ben Crowe
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM
Are there fundamental principles for determining the right way to act ethically? How do different eras answer this question’ What is the significance of these differences’ This course addresses these questions by examining classical ethical texts from different historical traditions.
Prerequisites: Either two philosophy classes or one 300-level philosophy class.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 422 A1: Analytic Philosophy
Professor Peter Hylton
Tuesday, Thursday 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
An examination of some aspects of the development of twentieth-century analytic Philosophy, with an emphasis on works by Frege, Russell, the Logical Empiricists (also known as Logical Positivists), and Quine.
Prerequisites: successful completion of CAS PH 360, or equivalent knowledge of quantification theory.

CAS PH 426 A1:  Phenomenology
Professor Walter Hopp
Monday 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and others.
Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120)
BU Hub: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings.

CAS PH 452 A1: Ethics of Health Care
Professor Rachell Powell
Monday 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM
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.
Prerequisites: (CASPH350) and two other philosophy courses, or consent of instructor (PH 150 and PH 251 are recommended).

CAS PH 458 A1: Crime and Punishment: Philosophical Perspectives (Cross-listed as PO 497)
Professor Susanne Sreedhar
Tuesday 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
This course will explore philosophical questions about the criminal justice system, both in its ideal form and as it exists today. We will 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 will 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.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120)
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.
BU Hub: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II.

CAS PH 460 A1: Epistemology
Professor Michaela McSweeney
Tuesday 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
An examination of some of the central questions concerning the nature, scope, sources, and structure of knowledge.
Prerequisites: Two courses in Philosophy, CASPH360 recommended but not required.

CAS PH 468 A1: Philosophical Problems of Logic and Mathematics
Professor Juliet Floyd
Tuesday 3:30 PM – 6:15 PM
A 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 Metamathematics” are used alongside the original material. Students learn to carry out techniques of arithmetization 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.
Prerequisites: CASPH 360.

CAS PH 470 A1: Philosophy of Physics
Professor Miguel Ohnesorge
Introduction to central philosophical issues in the theoretical and empirical practice of modern physical science from Newton up to the 21st century. These include interpretational problems surrounding specific concepts (space, time, matter, force), methodological problems concerning the use of mathematics, idealizations, measurement, and statistical inference, and ethical problems concerning morally consequential areas of physical research.
Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 476 A1: Philosophy of the Earth Sciences: From Deep Time to the Anthropocene
Professor Alisa Bokulich
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
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.
Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor.

CAS PH 477 A1: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Professor Allen Speight
Friday 11:15 AM – 2:00 PM
What do we mean by the term “culture”?  What counts as cultural identity and how does it shape us?  This course will explore a range of historical and contemporary perspectives on the philosophy of culture, from Kant, Herder, Hegel and Freud to contemporary work on cultural evolution, extended cognition and material culture.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.

CAS PH 485 A1: Topics in Philosophy of Value: Reasons, Value, and Normativity
Professor Daniel Star
Monday 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM
In this course we will focus on contemporary work on reasons and normativity, across ethics, epistemology and aesthetics.
Prerequisites: (CASPH450 OR CASPH451 OR CASPH452 OR CASPH453 OR CASPH454 OR CASP H455 OR CASPH457) any one philosophy course from CAS PH 450-457, or consent of instructor.

CAS PH 488 A1: Topics in Aesthetics
Professor Aaron Garrett
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
This course treats issues in the philosophy of film through examining the work of Yasujiro Ozu, widely considered one the greatest film directors. Topics treated will include how to evaluate and read a cinematic corpus, auteur theories, shots, sound, and the distinctiveness of cinema as a medium. Most Tuesdays, PH 488 will meet jointly with a course on Ozu being taught in the Modern Foreign Languages department.
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.

GRS – GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

GRS PH 622 A1: Analytic Philosophy
Professor Peter Hylton
Tuesday, Thursday 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
An examination of some aspects of the development of twentieth-century analytic Philosophy, with an emphasis on works by Frege, Russell, the Logical Empiricists (also known as Logical Positivists), and Quine.

GRS PH 626 A1: Phenomenology
Professor Walter Hopp
Monday 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and others.
BU Hub: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings.

GRS PH 652 A1:  Ethics of Health Care
Professor Rachell Powell
Monday 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM
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. 

GRS PH 660 A1: Epistemology
Professor Michaela McSweeney
Tuesday 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
An examination of some of the central questions concerning the nature, scope, sources, and structure of knowledge.

GRS PH 668 A1: Philosophical Problems of Logic and Mathematics
Professor Juliet Floyd
Tuesday 3:30 PM – 6:15 PM
A 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 Metamathematics” are used alongside the original material. Students learn to carry out techniques of arithmetization 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.

GRS PH 670 A1: Philosophy of Physics
Professor Miguel Ohnesorge
Tuesday, Thursday 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM
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.
Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.

GRS PH 676 A1: Philosophy of the Earth Sciences: From Deep Time to the Anthropocene
Professor Alisa Bokulich
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
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.

GRS PH 677 A1: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Professor Allen Speight
Friday 11:15 AM – 2:00 PM
What do we mean by the term “culture”?  What counts as cultural identity and how does it shape us?  This course will explore a range of historical and contemporary perspectives on the philosophy of culture, from Kant, Herder, Hegel and Freud to contemporary work on cultural evolution, extended cognition and material culture.
BU Hub: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.

GRS PH 685 A1: Topics in Philosophy of Value: Reasons, Value, and Normativity
Professor Daniel Star
Monday 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM
In this course we will focus on contemporary work on reasons and normativity, across ethics, epistemology and aesthetics.

GRS PH 688 A1: Topics in Aesthetics
Professor Aaron Garrett
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
This course treats issues in the philosophy of film through examining the work of Yasujiro Ozu, widely considered one the greatest film directors. Topics treated will include how to evaluate and read a cinematic corpus, auteur theories, shots, sound, and the distinctiveness of cinema as a medium. Most Tuesdays, PH 488 will meet jointly with a course on Ozu being taught in the Modern Foreign Languages department.

GRS PH 801 A1: Ancient Philosophy I
Professor Cinzia Arruzza
Thursday 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
An advanced study of works by either Plato or Aristotle. In Spring 2026, we will read Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.

GRS PH 991 A1: Dissertation Workshop
Professor Paul Katsafanas
Monday 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM

GRS PH 994 A1: Placement Seminar
Professor Victor Kumar
Friday 11:15 AM – 2:00 PM