PHIL 100
Introduction to Philosophy: Problems
An introduction to philosophical analysis and intensive study of selected philosophical classics. Topics include the existence of God, the problem of evil, problems of knowledge, the relationship between mind and body, free will, determinism, and moral obligation. 6 units. Prerequisite: Recommended for freshmen and sophomores
PHIL 110
Business Ethics
An introduction to ethical issues that arise in the practice of business. Topics include professional virtues, regulation, employer and employee rights, and social responsibility. Students are required to complete a community service project as part of this course. 6 units. Prerequisite: Recommended for freshmen and sophomores
PHIL 120
Applied Ethics: Introduction to Biomedical Ethics
The course will examine moral dilemmas created or intensified by recent advances in medical technology and study ways of analyzing those dilemmas to make them more tractable. We will focus on examples such as euthanasia and the right to die, abortion, behavior modification, allocation of scarce medical resources, in vitro fertilization, genetic screening and engineering, and human experimentation. 6 units. Also listed as Biomedical Ethics 120. Prerequisite: Recommended for freshmen and sophomores
PHIL 130
Meditation and Virtue: Contemplative and Analytic Perspectives on Character
This course focuses on different theories of the good and of the virtues that lead to a good life. It covers a variety of readings that discuss the good and the good life and also critically examines a variety of meditations designed to cultivate moral virtues. Requirements for the class include writing two papers and undertaking a daily meditation practice. 6 units. Prerequisite: Recommended for freshmen and sophomores
PHIL 140
Introduction to Philosophy: Knowing and Valuing
Is there a plausible distinction between (real!) knowing and (mere!) opinion? Can we make any warranted claims about how humans might best lead meaningful lives? We will carefully analyze the responses to such questions offered by Plato and by two 20th-century philosophers. 6 units. Prerequisite: Recommended for freshmen and sophomores
PHIL 150
Symbolic Logic
Formal study of the notions of validity, consistency, and equivalence in the languages of sentential logic and predicate logic, plus an introduction to semantics for these languages. 6 units. Prerequisite: Recommended for freshmen and sophomores
PHIL 200
History of Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle
An examination of themes in selected classical Greek tragedies and their development in the philosophies of Plato (The Republic, Gorgias) and Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics). 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 210
History of Philosophy: Scholasticism, Descartes, and Locke
A historical and textual examination of 17th- and 18th-century European philosophers, especially Descartes and Locke, as they address questions such as: What is mind? What is matter? Is there a God? 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 215
The Rationalists
An introduction to the philosophy of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz. Topics that will be covered include: method, substance, and mind and body. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 220
History of Philosophy: Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Mill
An examination of selected works of 18th- and 19th-century philosophers. Epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics are emphasized. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 225
History of Philosophy: Common Sense Philosophy
An examination of Thomas Reid’s conception of Common Sense, and the philosophical significance he attributes to it. This course will look at the way Reid relates to his contemporaries and predecessors as well as consider later figures who developed the tradition of common sense, such as, Dugald Stewart and Sir William Hamilton. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 230
History of Philosophy: Early Analytic Philosophy and British Idealism
An examination of the early 20th-century works of G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell against the background of the then-dominant Hegelian Idealism. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 235
History of Philosophy: Absolute Idealism
An examination of the school of thought known as absolute idealism (the type of idealism that was first developed fully by Hegel). A consideration of key German and British Idealists, including, among others, Hegel, T. H. Green, and F. H. Bradley. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 240
History of Philosophy: The American Pragmatists
An examination of the attempts by pragmatists such as C. S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey to reconceptualize “traditional” issues in Western philosophy. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 245
Phenomenology
An introduction to the philosophical method of enquiry developed by figures such as: Brentano, Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Sartr. Topics that will be covered include intentionality and conciousness. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 250
Entanglement: 20th Century Physics and Philosophy
An introduction to some key physics breakthroughs of the 20th century and their philosophical implications. Topics that will be covered include the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, and questions of appearance and reality. 6 units. Also listed as Physics 205. Prerequisite: One course in either philosophy or physics, or consent of instructor
PHIL 255
Idealism
Idealism in the 18th and 19th centuries. An introduction to the spiritual idealism of Berkeley, Kant’s trancendental idealism, and Hegel’s absolute idealism. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 260
Feminism and Philosophy
A consideration of the contribution of feminism to a range of subjects of philosophical inquiry, including: the philosophy of mind, ethics and the history of philosophy. 6 units. Also listed as Gender Studies 261. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 265
19th Century Philosophy
This course will provide an introduction to some of the major philosophers of 19th-century, post-Kantian, western philosophy, including figures such as Hegel, Mill, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 270
British Empiricists
An introduction to the philosophy of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Topics that will be covered include the theory of ideas, experience and observation, realism, idealism, and skepticism. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, sophomore standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 300
Epistemology
An examination of some basic questions concerning the nature and extent of human knowledge, focusing on the topics of skepticism, justification, certainty, the a priori and the a posteriori, and analyses of knowledge. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 310
Metaphysics
An examination of some central philosophical questions about reality, such as: What basic kinds of things are there? Is truth always and only relative to a conceptual scheme? What is the nature of necessity and possibility? What is the nature of change over time? 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 320
Ethics
An examination of theories about how we should live. Issues include the role of rights, duties, and virtues in decision making, the scope of morality, the limits of our obligations to others, and the foundations of morality. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 340
Philosophy of Art
An examination of major theories of the essence of art, of the major 20th-century critique of the thesis that art has an essence, and of recent attempts to analyze art in light of the critique. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 350
Political Philosophy
A seminar examining one topic in political philosophy, typically either distributive justice or war. If the topic is distributive justice, the focus is on different accounts of the just distribution of social benefits and burdens. Issues include the right to health care and other social goods, as well as accounts of the ideals of equality, liberty, and community. If the topic is war, the focus is on political and moral dilemmas of warfare. Issues include war crimes, nuclear deterrence, the status of non-combatants, the use of economic sanctions, and terrorism. 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 360
Environmental Ethics
An examination of some ethical assumptions that might figure in discussions of environmental policy by economists, legal experts, philosophers, and policy scientists. 6 units. Also listed as Environmental Studies 360. Prerequisite: One course in economics, government, or philosophy; junior standing; or consent of instructor
PHIL 370
Advanced Studies in Bioethics
A seminar examining one particular issue or set of issues in bioethics. 6 units. Also listed as Biomedical Ethics 370. Prerequisite: PHIL 120 or two courses in philosophy
PHIL 400
Philosophy of Language
An examination of major theories of meaning, reference, and cognitive content, and an attempt to understand how language functions to relate “internal” psychological states to things in the “external” world. Contemporary philosophers are emphasized. 6 units. Also listed as Linguistics 400. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor; PHIL 150 recommended
PHIL 410
Philosophy of Mind
An examination of our common sense conception of mental states and processes and of attempts to answer the question, “Is our common sense conception of mental states and processes compatible with the methods and assumptions of cognitive science?” 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, PSYC 340, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 420
Topics in Logic
An investigation of topics selected from among the following: consistency and completeness theorems for both sentential and predicate logic, Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem, logical paradoxes (Russell’s Paradox, the Liar Paradox, and Newcomb’s Paradox), and modal-tense logic and its formal semantics. 6 units. Also listed as Linguistics 420. Prerequisite: PHIL 150 or consent of instructor
PHIL 430
Philosophy of Law
An exploration of questions such as: To what extent may a decision in a legal controversy be deemed uniquely correct (as contrasted with an exercise of the judge’s discretion)? What purposes and assumptions underlie branches of the law such as criminal law or torts? What are the functions of precedent? What are the various relationships between morality and the law? 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 440
Morality, Rationality, and Self-Interest
If acting morally conflicts with my long-term self-interest, what is it rational for me to do? Why be moral? 6 units. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy, junior standing, or consent of instructor
PHIL 190, 390, 590, 690
Tutorial Studies in Philosophy
Senior majors undertaking honors projects should elect one or more terms. Variable units. Prerequisite: Counter registration required
PHIL 699
Independent Study in Philosophy
Advanced students of philosophy may elect one or more terms. Variable units. Prerequisite: Counter registration required
Recent tutorial topics in philosophy
Recent Ethical Theories
Sartre
History of Logic
Medieval Philosophy
Ethics in International Relations