Philosophy

Philosophy asks fundamental questions about anything and everything: for any X, there is the philosophy of X! We ask questions about the nature of reality, how we should live together, what makes actions right or wrong, whether value is objective, the nature of art, the nature of reason and reasoning, the relationship between language and thought, the nature of the mind and many other things.

The Philosophy Major

The major is designed to ensure students are exposed to the variety of traditions, methods, and topics while giving students generous latitude about how to navigate the major requirements. It does this by identifying seven categories that all students must take courses in, while not dictating which courses students must take within those categories:

Traditions: Courses that contribute to this category largely focus on texts of historical significance.

Value Theory: Courses that contribute to this category largely focus on the nature of value, morality and the question, “How should I live?”

Social and Political Theory:  Courses that contribute to this category largely focus on questions about how society should be structured, the nature of justice, the nature of law, and the nature of social categories.

Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind (aka “LEMMings”): Courses that contribute to this category largely focus on questions about the nature of language, the nature of knowledge, the nature of reality and the nature of the mind.

Logic and Formal Reasoning: Courses that contribute to this category largely focus on the nature of reasoning itself.

Continental Philosophy:  Courses that contribute to this category largely focus on texts that are dominant in the “continental” tradition of philosophy, eg. Hegel, Derrida, Foucault.

Interdisciplinary: Courses that contribute to this category largely focus topics, texts and methods from another field but which directly intersect with issues of philosophical concern.

While students must accumulate a certain number of credits in the major, they must also accumulate a certain number of points within the above categories. Students accumulate points by taking courses that contribute points to one or more of the categories above. For example, PHIL 213: Ethics: Ethics contributes 2 points to Value Theory and 1 point to Traditions. The point totals needed in each category are explained below.

Major Requirements – 72 Total Credits

72 Credits, 12 of which are from the comps sequence (PHIL 398: Comps Proposal, PHIL 399: Senior Thesis, PHIL 400: Integrative Exercise)

Distribution of Levels

• Up to 12 credits from 100-level courses can count toward the major.
• Students must take at least two courses at the 300-level other than 398 and 399.
• With some few exceptions (e.g. a cognitive science seminar taught by Jason Decker), the two seminars must be taught in the philosophy department. 

Distribution of Areas

Below are the areas students must accumulate points in and the number of points they must accumulate in each area.

• For a complete list of all courses offered and how many points that contribute to different categories see the Course Points OFFICIAL document.
• The Carleton Philosophy Course Points Calculator is a tool that will easily show you what your point totals are based on what classes you take. The link will prompt you to make a copy of the sheet, which you can then save.

Traditions: 4 Points, two of which must be from the same course

Value Theory: 4 points, two of which must be from the same course

Social and Political Theory: 4 points, two of which must be from the same course

Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind: 4 points, two of which must be from the same course

Logic and Formal Reasoning: 2 points

Continental Philosophy: 2 points 

Interdisciplinary: 2 points 

Senior Integrative Exercise – Required 12 credits

All students must completed the Philosophy Comps sequence in order:

• PHIL 398: Comps Proposal (a 3 credit S/Cr/NC class offered each fall devoted to developing a proposal for a comps project)
• PHIL 399: Senior Thesis (a 6 credit graded course offered each fall devoted to writing a substantial piece of philosophy)
• PHIL 400: Integrative Exercise (a 3 credit S/NC class offered each spring devoted to presenting one’s project to peers and the public)

Additional Departmental Notes

Courses from outside Philosophy

Students may count up to 12 credits from other departments toward the major. The department will keep a list of courses from outside the department that can count toward our major and assign points for these courses. We will consider other courses on a case-by-case basis.

Minor Requirements – 36 Total Credits

Category Courses – Required 18 credits

18 credits, with 6 credits from each of the following category-clusters. The classes that fulfill this requirement must each contribute 2 points toward the relevant category.

• Traditions OR Continental Philosophy (at least 2 points from one class)
• Value Theory OR Social and Political Theory (at least 2 points from one class)
• Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind OR Logic and Formal Reasoning (at least 2 points from one class)

300 Level Course – Required 6 credits

Elective Courses – Required 12 credits

Additional Departmental Notes

Due to the relatively minimal requirements for getting the minor, we will not accept courses from outside the department to the minor. This applies to courses taught by philosophy department members in other departments. The course must be coded PHIL.

• PHIL 100.01 Utopias

  What would a perfect society look like? What ideals would it implement? What social evils would it eliminate? This course explores some famous philosophical and literary utopias, such as Plato's Republic, Thomas More's Utopia, Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed, and others. We will also consider some nightmarish counterparts of utopias, dystopias. One of the projects in this course is a public performance, such as a speech or a short play.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.

  • Tags: CL: 100 level PHIL Social and Political Theory 1 PHIL Traditions 1
  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤

• PHIL 100.02 Science, Faith and Rationality

  This seminar will introduce the student to the study of philosophy through a consideration of various epistemic and metaphysical issues surrounding science and religion. What distinguishes scientific inquiry from other areas of inquiry: Its subject matter, its method of inquiry, or perhaps both? How does scientific belief differ from religious belief, in particular? Is the scientist committed to substantive metaphysical assumptions? If so, what role do these assumptions play in scientific investigation and how do they differ from religious dogma (if they do)? Our exploration of these questions will involve the consideration of both classic and contemporary philosophical texts.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.

  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 100 level
  • Faculty: Jason Decker 🏫 👤

• PHIL 100.03 This Course is About Discourse: An Introduction to Philosophy Through Dialogues

  Most philosophy comes in the form of books or articles where the author expounds their view over the course of many pages. But there is a long tradition of writing philosophy as a dialogue between multiple characters. These dialogues are a hoot to read and philosophically illuminating. This course is an introduction to philosophy through dialogues from various philosophical traditions around the world. The dialogues we'll read ask questions like: What is justice? Is there a God? What is the nature of personal identity? What is the nature of reality? What do we owe to nature? How does science work?

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.

  • Tags: CL: 100 level
  • Faculty: Daniel Groll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 104 Thought Experiments

  Thought experiments, whether in the humanities or the sciences, offer a unique way to investigate reality through the imagination. In philosophy, proponents of thought experiments suggest that simulated experiences can give us insight into issues of knowledge, justice, happiness, perception, language, evil, and more. We will analyze how thought experiments can confirm, or disconfirm, abstract philosophical claims via imagination of a concrete scenario, rendered vividly with sensory details. Our text will be Helen De Cruz’s Philosophy Illustrated. Students will have the option to create their own original philosophical thought experiment and accompanying narrative for their final project.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 100 level PHIL Pertinent

• PHIL 111 Bullshit: How To Spot It and Protect Yourself

  Bullshit is all around us. A potent mix of lies, half-truths, clickbait, AI-generated content, and half-baked reasoning makes it difficult to separate truths from falsehoods. We’ll categorize different kinds of bullshit and study the strategies bullshit artists use to confuse and deceive us. We’ll learn how to distinguish good and bad reasoning–and the psychological mechanisms that trick even trained scientists and philosophers into being snookered by poor reasoning. That knowledge will help us devise strategies to protect our communities from misinformation and determine whether politicians, AI, and professors are giving us good reasons to believe their claims–or just bullshitting us.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 100 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Social and Political Theory 1
  • Faculty: Andrew Knoll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 112 Intelligence, Agency and Autonomous Machines

  What exactly is artificial intelligence (AI)? We will engage this question by reading foundational texts in the philosophy of AI to clarify what things in the world are, or should be, classified as “AI”. This foundation will help us think about what it might mean to be autonomous, intelligent, or agential. We will consider some of the conditions that might lead us to believe certain technologies are (or could be) moral agents or moral patients, and whether (or to what extent) these conditions bear on the AI systems of the present and those of the future.

  • Offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 100 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 DGAH Critical Ethical Reflection DGAH Humanistic Inquiry
  • Faculty: Jessie Hall 🏫 👤

• PHIL 114 Love and Sex

  From Disney fairytales to blockbuster rom-coms; dating apps to hook-up culture; and ongoing debates in mainstream media concerning reproductive, trans, and LGBTQ rights— love and sex are ever-present concepts in our day-to-day lives. This course offers an opportunity to critically explore, discuss, and challenge our understanding of love and sex through an interdisciplinary lens. We will explore questions like: What is the difference between the way we love our friends, parents, and lovers? How do intersections of race, gender, class, and ability affect experiences of love and sex? How does technology affect the future of love and sex?

  GWSS 114 is cross listed with PHIL 114.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
  • Tags: CL: 100 level GWSS Elective PHIL Interdisciplinary 2 PHIL Value Theory 1
  • Faculty: Cynthia Marrero-Ramos 🏫 👤

• PHIL 116 Sensation, Induction, Abduction, Deduction, Seduction

  In every academic discipline, we make theories and argue for and against them. This is as true of theology as of geology (and as true of phys ed as of physics). What are the resources we have available to us in making these arguments? It’s tempting to split the terrain into (i) raw data, and (ii) rules of right reasoning for processing the data. The most obvious source of raw data is sense experience, and the most obvious candidates for modes of right reasoning are deduction, induction, and abduction. Some philosophers, however, think that sense perception is only one of several sources of raw data (perhaps we also have a faculty of pure intuition or maybe a moral sense), and others have doubted that we have any source of raw data at all. As for the modes of “right” reasoning, Hume famously worried about our (in)ability to justify induction, and others have had similar worries about abduction and even deduction. Can more be said on behalf of our most strongly held beliefs and belief-forming practices than simply that we find them seductive—that we are attracted to them; that they resonate with us? In this course, we’ll use some classic historical and contemporary philosophical texts to help us explore these and related issues.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 100 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Logic and Formal Reasoning 1 SDSC XDept Elective

• PHIL 119 Meaning of Life

  Does life have a meaning? To answer this, we will explore various cross-cultural approaches to the meaning of life, both those that affirm meaning and deny it. We will cover, for example, approaches to the meaning of life grounded in divinity, creativity, striving, and more. We will also inquire into related questions about agency: Is fate compatible with meaning in life? Is meaning distinct from happiness? Is meaning a moralized concept? In addition, there will be room for student choice of topics.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CL: 100 level PHIL Traditions 1 PHIL Value Theory 2

• PHIL 123 Topics in Medical Ethics

  This course examines a variety of topics in medical ethics. We begin with a unit on pandemic ethics: Who should get ventilators when there aren't enough for everyone? Do medical providers have a duty to treat during a pandemic? We then turn to the question "When is someone dead?" and consider how different answers to that question affect arguments over organ procurement. Our third unit is on the place of race, and racial judgments, in medicine. Is there a place for racial judgments in medicine? Finally, we turn to the question of how to think about decision making in a clinical context: what values are at play? And how should we think about disagreements between clinicians and patients? What about disagreements between patient's past wishes and their current wishes?

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 100 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Value Theory 2 SDSC XDept Elective

• PHIL 124 Friendship

  What is friendship? Are there different types of friendships? What makes a friendship good? While this course will familiarize you with a variety of scholarly views on friendship from both historically canonical and contemporary sources, our main goal is to become more reflective about our lived experience of friendship here and now.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 100 level PHIL Social and Political Theory 1 PHIL Value Theory 2
  • Faculty: Allison Murphy 🏫 👤

• PHIL 201 Fables, Stories, and Philosophy

  Storytelling is a universal human activity. We enculturate and educate children through picture books, fables, and fairy tales. How? Do they make us morally better? Epistemically better (even though they are, strictly speaking, false)? What makes a story or fairy tale effective (whatever that means) as opposed to boringly didactic? And how can non-semantic modes of communication like music and visual art amplify or complicate the ways stories impart lessons for humanity? This course will explore the nature of stories from a philosophical perspective. Among others things, students will work together to update a classic story, fable or fairy tale for a contemporary audience.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: 200 level

• PHIL 202 Philosophy Lab: Leading a Pre-Collegiate Philosophy Program

  In this course, Carleton students will collaborate with local high school students from the Area Learning Center (ALC) to develop and articulate views on philosophical issues of interest to Carleton students and students at the ALC. Our overarching objectives are to promote the joy of doing philosophy and to foster skills among Carleton and ALC students for having good philosophical conversations. These skills include, but are not limited to listening, empathy, intellectual humility, and flexibility. 

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): Two Philosophy (PHIL) courses with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: ACE Applied CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Value Theory 1
  • Faculty: Daniel Groll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 203 Bias, Belief, Community, Emotion

  What is important to individuals, how they see themselves and others, and the kind of projects they pursue are shaped by traditional and moral frameworks they didn’t choose. Individual selves are encumbered by their social environments and, in this sense, always ‘biased’, but some forms of bias are pernicious because they produce patterns of inter and intra-group domination and oppression. We will explore various forms of intersubjectivity and its asymmetries through readings in social ontology and social epistemology that theorize the construction of group and individual beliefs and identities in the context of the social world they engender.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CGSC Elective CL: 200 level PHIL Social and Political Theory 2 PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Value Theory 1 EDUC 2 Social Cultural Context
  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤

• PHIL 207 Japanese Philosophy: No Mind, No Life

  This is an interdisciplinary class about embodied practice. It will draw upon theories of embodiment and skill mastery in both Japanese Philosophy and Embodied Cognitive Science. One major theme of the course will be the notion of no-mind [mushin] and its relationship to practice, expertise, and lived experience. We will ground our inquiry in contemporary works in aesthetics, martial arts like Kyudo, and bodily mechanics. The course will also create opportunities for students to practice skills of interdisciplinary research and cross-cultural philosophical writing.

  PHIL 207 is cross listed with CGSC 207.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Traditions 2

• PHIL 208 Improv: Acting and Thinking Collectively

  In improv, performers spontaneously create characters and their relationships from which a narrative grows. This class will perform improv theater exercises and then use that performance perspective to help us better understand, or even challenge, different philosophies that focus on relationships. To let experience take the lead, half of our meetings will be taught by a local improviser. The other half of our meetings will be devoted to reflection on those experiences as well as discussion of complementary readings on relational world philosophies, including, but not limited to, Lakota, Stoic, and Daoist approaches.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: ARP, Arts Practice
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2
  • Faculty: Hope Sample 🏫 👤

• PHIL 209 Philosophy of Theater: Actors, Characters, Performances

  Ian McKellen explains that when he acts on stage, “I pretend to be the person I’m portraying.” But how do you pretend to be a person? Is it different from playing make-believe or code-switching your behavior between family, friends, and classmates? Is it different from what writers do when they write about fictional people? And just what is a person, anyway? A particular body? A set of beliefs and desires? Is an actor’s race and gender independent of those of the person they portray? We’ll evaluate competing answers to such questions from philosophers, cognitive scientists, and theater practitioners.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Prac/Value Theory

• PHIL 210 Logic

  The study of formal logic has obvious and direct applicability to a wide variety of disciplines (including mathematics, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, and many others). Indeed, the study of formal logic helps us to develop the tools and know-how to think more clearly about arguments and logical relationships in general; and arguments and logical relationships form the backbone of any rational inquiry. In this course we will focus on propositional logic and predicate logic, and look at the relationship that these have to ordinary language and thought.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: FSR, Formal or Statistical Reasoning
  • Tags: CGSC Core CL: 200 level LING Pertinent LING Related Field PHIL Core Courses PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Logic and Formal Reasoning 2
  • Faculty: Jason Decker 🏫 👤

• PHIL 211 Being, Time and Identity

  The aim of metaphysics has traditionally been to identify the nature and structure of reality. The topics of this course are the topology of time, identity of things and individuals, causality, free will, and the referents of general terms. We will read a variety of classic and contemporary texts, which are organized topically.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One Introductory (100-199) PHIL course with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 1

• PHIL 213 Ethics

  How should we live? This is the fundamental question for the study of ethics. This course looks at classic and contemporary answers to the fundamental question from Socrates to Kant to modern day thinkers. Along the way, we consider slightly (but only slightly) more tractable questions such as: What reason is there to be moral? Is there such a thing as moral knowledge (and if so, how do we get it)? What are the fundamental principles of right and wrong (if there are any at all)? Is morality objective?

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Core Courses PHIL Traditions 1 PHIL Value Theory 2 PPOL Ethics SDSC XDept Elective
  • Faculty: Daniel Groll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 215 Objectivity in Science

  It is often thought that science is aimed at ‘objective’ knowledge. Philosophers of science have tried to pin down exactly what ‘objectivity’ means– is it a feature of scientific methods, or theories? Is it one property or many different properties? Supposing we can pin down a satisfactory account of objectivity, do our theories, current or past practices obtain that property? Is it even possible in principle to have objective knowledge? We will explore these and related questions from both a historical and contemporary philosophical lens, from the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle to contemporary feminist epistemology of science. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Traditions 1
  • Faculty: Jessie Hall 🏫 👤

• PHIL 217 Reason in Context: Limitations and Possibilities

  Our reflection on significant human questions is often (perhaps always) embedded within a larger set of cultural or personal theoretical commitments. Such embeddedness suggests our reflection cannot achieve the standard of objectivity characteristic of a traditional ideal of rationality. Is this realization to be welcomed insofar as it weakens traditional dogmatic claims to truth and the associated implication that certain views or frameworks are superior to others? Or, in spite of the unmooring of the philosophical tradition from set criteria, do we still find ourselves committed to some ordering of rank and, if so, how do we make sense of this? In this course we’ll examine these questions as they arise in the writings of Nietzsche, Heidegger and other continental philosophers. We will devote part of the course to the ancient sources (Plato and Aristotle) with whom the continental philosophers are in conversation.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 200 level PHIL Continental Philosophy 2 PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 1

• PHIL 218 Virtue Ethics

  What is a good human life? Who is a good person? From the time of Plato and Aristotle onwards, many philosophers have thought about these questions in terms of two central ideas. Virtues, such as justice or courage, make us a certain type of person (they give us a certain character). Wisdom enables us to make good judgments about how to act. How do virtue and wisdom work together to produce a good human life? Is a good life the same as a happy life? We will reflect on these and related questions as we read texts from Alasdair MacIntyre, Philippa Foot, and other significant thinkers in the contemporary virtue ethics tradition. We will also consider the application of virtue ethics to specific areas, such as environmental ethics, as well as the parallels between Western virtue ethics and the tradition of Confucianism in ancient China.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Traditions 1 PHIL Value Theory 2
  • Faculty: Allison Murphy 🏫 👤

• PHIL 219 American Pragmatism

  The class is a survey of this distinctly North American tradition, which understands knowing the world as inseparable from exercising one’s agency within it. We will especially focus on the tradition’s directedness towards various dimensions of social improvement and the notion that philosophy is a tool in the realization of an inclusive American democracy.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical AMST Democracy Activism CL: 200 level PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Social and Political Theory 1 PHIL Traditions 2

• PHIL 221 Philosophy of Law

  This course provides students with an opportunity to engage actively in a discussion of theoretical questions about law. We will consider the nature of law as it is presented by natural law theory, legal positivism and legal realism. Then we will deal with responsibility and punishment, and challenges to the idea of the primacy of individual rights from legal paternalism and moralism. We will next inquire into the explanations of why individuals should obey the law, and conditions under which civil disobedience is justified. Finally, we will discuss issues raised by feminist legal theory and some theories of minority rights.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Social and Political Theory 2 PPOL Ethics
  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤

• PHIL 222 Fairness, Transparency, Privacy, Dread

  This course examines certain ethical dimensions of current and frontier algorithmic technologies, particularly those we call “AI”. We will explore issues that arise from the very nature of these technologies as statistical signal(s) processors. How much can we know about the provenance of the outputs of algorithmic technology? Are they free from bias? Can we identify and/or intervene on sources of bias in algorithmic technologies? What do we want our technologies to do, and what do we want them not to do? Finally, we will consider some technological hopes and fears and consider whether they are reasonable or probable.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Social and Political Theory 2

• PHIL 223 Philosophy of Language

  In this course we will look at how philosophers have tried to understand language and its connection with human thought and communication. The course will be split into two parts: Semantics and Pragmatics. In the first part, we’ll look at general features of linguistic expressions like meaning and reference. In the second part, we’ll look at the various ways in which speakers use language. Topics to be considered in the second part include speech acts, implicature, and presupposition.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: CX, Cultural/Literature HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 200 level LING Related Field PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 1

• PHIL 224 The Self

  When one is told, “Take good care of yourself!” the reflexive ‘yourself’ refers to both the object and agent of care. What is it, this ‘self’, and how do you take good care of it? This course will discuss historical and contemporary answers to these questions, as well as the related notions of identity, personhood, agency, and self-knowledge. Moreover, some philosophical traditions deny the existence of the self; in their account of living well, what is experiencing the living? Or, if we understand the self as relational, does one need to take care of others to take care of oneself? Finally, if one’s self is socially constructed, how do we change society to avoid its possible disfiguring influences on the self and to enable every self’s flourishing?

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100, 200 or 300 level PHIL course NOT including Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Social and Political Theory 1

• PHIL 225 Philosophy of Mind

  What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? Are they identical? Or is there mental “stuff” in addition to physical stuff? Or perhaps some physical stuff has irreducibly mental properties? These, and related questions, are explored by philosophers under the heading of “the mind-body problem.” In this course, we will start with these questions, looking at classical and contemporary defenses of both materialism and dualism. This investigation will lead us to other important questions such as: What is the nature of mental representation, what is consciousness, and could a robot have conscious states and mental representations?

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 200 level LING Related Field NEUR Elective PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 1
  • Faculty: Jason Decker 🏫 👤

• PHIL 232 Social and Political Philosophy

  We will study several prominent late twentieth century philosophers writing about social and political justice and representing a variety of views, such as liberalism, socialism, libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism and postmodernism. The following are some of the authors we will read: John Rawls, Gerald Cohen, Robert Nozick, Charles Taylor, Iris Marion Young, Seyla Benhabib, Jurgen Habermas, Jean-Francois Lyotard.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Social and Political Theory 2 PPOL Social Policy & Welfare

• PHIL 255 Comparative Philosophy

  Philosophical problems are motivated by human concerns that are often shared across cultures. In this course, we will analyze how philosophers from different traditions have approached problems concerning the structure of reality, the nature of knowledge and experience, and how we ought to live. We will identify how their cultural context impacts their resolution of metaphysical, epistemic, and ethical problems. Moreover, beyond comparing and contrasting, we will consider how philosophers from different philosophical traditions could have learned from or inspired one another if they had engaged with one another. By engaging in this cross-cultural investigation inquiry, we will gain a broader view of how philosophy has been used to make sense of the world and its limitations and prospects philosophy.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 1

• PHIL 257 Contemporary Issues in Feminist Philosophy

  We will analyze different theories about the distinction between sex and gender. Then we will turn to contemporary issues in feminism for the remainder of the course. These issues include, but are not limited to, conservative feminism, reproductive justice, fetishes, disability, ethics of pronouns, whether men are oppressed, and responsibility for oppression. We will read selections from Oyèrónké Oyewùmí, Robin Dembroff, Karina Ortiz Villa, Robin Zheng, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Audre Lorde, and more. In addition, there will be room for student choice of topics.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 200 level GWSS Elective PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Social and Political Theory 2

• PHIL 260 Critical Philosophy of Race

  What is race? Is “race” real? Is it a biological fact, a social category, or a cultural production? How do we define racism? This course introduces students to the major issues and debates from the emergent subfield referred to as the “Critical Philosophy of Race.” Throughout the course, we will examine the ways in which philosophers first defined the concept of race, how the definition of this concept has evolved since its introduction, and the philosophical/societal implications of these shifts. In doing so, we will investigate how race relates to issues of identity, culture, knowledge, and social difference.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
  • Tags: AFST Humanistic Inquiry CL: 200 level PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Social and Political Theory 1 PHIL Value Theory 2 AMST Race Ethnicity Indigeneity
  • Faculty: Cynthia Marrero-Ramos 🏫 👤

• PHIL 261 The Individual and the Political Community

  Are human beings by nature atomic units or oriented towards community? What does the difference amount to, and why does it matter for our understanding of the ways in which political communities come into existence and are maintained? In this course we will explore these and related questions while reading two foundational works in political theory, Plato’s Republic and Hobbes’s Leviathan, as well as several related contemporary pieces.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Social and Political Theory 2 PHIL Traditions 1
  • Faculty: Allison Murphy 🏫 👤

• PHIL 270 Ancient Greek Philosophy

  Is there a key to a happy and successful human life? If so, how do you acquire it? Plato and Aristotle thought the key was virtue and that your chances of obtaining it depend on the sort of life you lead. We’ll read texts from these authors that became foundational for the later history of philosophy, including the Apology, Gorgias, Symposium, and the Nicomachean Ethics, while situating the ancient understanding of virtue in the context of larger questions of metaphysics (the nature of being), psychology, and ethics.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level MARS Supporting PHIL Core Courses PHIL Traditions 2 PHIL Value Theory 1 CLAS XDept Elective
  • Faculty: Allison Murphy 🏫 👤

• PHIL 272 Early Modern Philosophy

  This is a course in global early modern philosophy. We will study the work of American Revolution era enslaved poet Phillis Peters, née Wheatley. Peters offers an account of how imagination works in our perception, and a reconciliation of evil given the assumption of a loving creator. In addition, we will analyze the writings of Im Yunjidang and Gang Jeongildang, Korean Neo-Confucians who focused on living well. Finally, we will read Margaret Cavendish’s natural philosophy and reply to European experimental philosophy. Throughout the course we will raise methodological issues, such as how the genre of a contribution impacts disciplinary categorization.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level MARS Supporting PHIL Core Courses PHIL Traditions 2 PHIL Value Theory 1 EUST Transnational Support
  • Faculty: Hope Sample 🏫 👤

• PHIL 274 Existentialism

  We will consider the emergence and development of major themes of existentialism in the works of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, as well as “classical” existentialists such as Heidegger, Sartre and De Beauvoir. We will discuss key issues put forward by the existentialist movement, such as “the question of being” and human historicity, freedom and responsibility and look at how different authors analyzed the nature and ambitions of the Self and diverse aspects of subjectivity.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Continental Philosophy 2 PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Theoretical Area EUST Transnational Support
  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤

• PHIL 276 Existentialism and Literature

  Against the background of the Industrial Revolution, the rise of secularism, the spread of mass consumption and technocracy, and the devastation of war, the question of the human being’s place in the world became increasingly pressing. ‘Existentialism’ became the term associated with intellectuals and artists who grappled with questions of authenticity, freedom, and our responsibilities to others, all while seeking new forms of meaning and value that were not rooted in traditional sources of authority. We’ll read texts that give voice to modernity’s social upheaval and alienation as well as works of philosophy and literature that responded to this predicament. Authors include Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Camus, and Viktor Frankl.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Continental Philosophy 2 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Value Theory 1
  • Faculty: Allison Murphy 🏫 👤

• PHIL 289 Death, Dying and Discussion

  We’re all going to die. We all know that. But we seem to spend a lot of our lives avoiding thinking and talking about it. This course aims to remedy that. We will meet weekly to talk about death. Students will engage with an array of media (readings, speeches, documentaries) that deal with death and dying, both in America and abroad. We will partake in various activities that help us think about death in abstract, the death of those we love, and our own death. Be ready to talk and to listen! We’ll provide the Kleenex.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Value Theory 1

• PHIL 297 Kant’s Philosophy of Mind

  Kant’s contributions to philosophy of mind cover a diverse array of aspects of consciousness and have deeply influenced the history of philosophy of mind. His phenomenological reflections on the perception of space and time and the basic categories through which we judge inspired subsequent Kantian philosophers and even contemporary debates about the role of concepts in perception. Further, Kant’s account of judgments of beauty and the sublime provide essential background for contemporary aesthetics. Finally, Kant’s universal law formulation of his central moral principle provides an innovative way to understand moral decision making in terms of collective rationality.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 200 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 2

• PHIL 299 Ethics Bowl

  This course will prepare a team or two from Carleton to participate in the regional Ethics Bowl tournament. Ethics Bowl teams prepare analyses of contemporary moral and political issues which they present, and defend, at the competition, while also engaging with the analyses of other teams. While Ethics Bowl is a competition, the focus in our course will be on doing the research necessary to understand the cases and then thinking through the cases together. Students do NOT have to partake in the Ethics Bowl tournament in order to take (and pass!) the course. The class will meet once a week. Previous Ethics Bowl experience is not required.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    This course requires permission from the instructor.

    To request permission, follow the instructions for requesting a prerequisite override.

    Please note: the link will open in a new window. Once you have received permission from the instructor, you will be able to return to this page to register for the course.

  • Tags: CL: 200 level PHIL Social and Political Theory 1 PHIL Value Theory 1

• PHIL 302 Anne Conway’s Principles

  This course will focus on 17th century British philosopher Anne Conway’s The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy. Philosophical interlocutors for her work include Aristotle, Plato, Plotinus, Descartes, Hobbes, and Spinoza. Conway’s work raises issues about love, embodiment, suffering, time, divine versus human freedom, and the purpose of creation.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Traditions 2

• PHIL 304 Decolonial Feminisms

  This course familiarizes students with major issues and debates within the emerging field of decolonial feminist philosophy. We will start by considering some of the historical, geopolitical, and theoretical underpinnings from which decolonial feminisms emerged. We will then investigate core concepts and problems pertaining to decolonial feminisms as a critical methodology and as a practice to build solidarity between and across anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-sexist, anti-capitalist schools of thought and/or political coalitions. We will pay particular attention to Latina feminist philosopher María Lugones and her development of the “colonial modern gender system” and her articulation of “decolonial feminism.” Recommended preparation: One prior course in Philosophy or a relevant area of studies.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
  • Tags: ACE Theoretical AMST America in the World AMST Space and Place CL: 300 level GWSS Elective LTAM Electives PHIL Advanced PHIL Prac/Value Theory AMST Race Ethnicity Indigeneity

• PHIL 317 Objectivity in Science

  It is often thought that science is aimed at ‘objective’ knowledge. Philosophers of science have tried to pin down exactly what ‘objectivity’ means– is it a feature of scientific methods, or theories? Is it one property or many different properties? Supposing we can pin down a satisfactory account of objectivity, do our theories, current or past practices obtain that property? Is it even possible in principle to have objective knowledge? We will explore these and related questions from both a historical and contemporary philosophical lens, from the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle to contemporary feminist epistemology of science.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One Philosophy course excluding Independent Studies or Directed Research courses with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Traditions 1
  • Faculty: Jessie Hall 🏫 👤

• PHIL 318 Buddhist Studies India Program: Buddhist Philosophy

  This course introduces students to major trends in Buddhist philosophy as it developed in India from the time of the Buddha until the eleventh century CE. The course emphasizes the relationships between philosophical reasoning and the meditation practices encountered in the Buddhist Meditation Traditions course. With this in mind, the course is organized into three units covering the Indian philosophical foundations for the Therav?da, Zen, and Tibetan Vajray?na traditions. While paying attention first and foremost to philosophical arguments and their evolution, we also examine the ways in which metaphysics, epistemology and ethics inform one another in each tradition.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: IS, International Studies No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Buddhist Studies in India program.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Interdisciplinary 2 PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 SAST Support Humanities
  • Faculty: Arthur McKeown 🏫 👤

• PHIL 319 Self-Knowledge

  Inscribed above the entry of Apollo’s temple at Delphi is the imperative “Know Thyself!” But what does it mean to know yourself and how do you go about acquiring such knowledge? Is it fundamentally the same as coming to know other people? Or is self-knowledge fundamentally different – both in terms of content and how we come to acquire it – from other kinds of knowledge (including knowledge of other people)? Finally, how does self knowledge relate to questions about agency? Can it sometimes be rational to decide to do something that one's self-knowledge suggests one is unlikely to succeed in doing? This course will explore all these issues by reading Richard Moran’s Authority and Estrangement and/or Barislav Marusic’s Evidence and Agency: Norms of Belief for Promising and Resolving.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One Philosophy course excluding Independent Studies or Directed Research courses with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Value Theory 1
  • Faculty: Jason Decker 🏫 👤 · Daniel Groll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 320 Surviving Death

  “Death is the great leveler; if the good and the bad [person] alike go down into oblivion, if there is nothing about reality itself that shores up this basic moral difference between their lives, say by providing what the good deserve, then the distinction between the good and the bad is less important. So goodness is less important.” This is the challenge Mark Johnston articulates and aims to answer in his book Surviving Death, where he argues, “with no recourse to any supernatural means”, that a good person “quite literally survives death.” We will make our way through Johnston’s book, which covers copious ground in general metaphysics, the metaphysics of personal identity, and ethics.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One Philosophy course excluding Independent Studies or Directed Research courses with a grade of C- or better.

  • Co-requisites: PHIL 321: Surviving Death: Writing Lab
  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Value Theory 1
  • Faculty: Jason Decker 🏫 👤 · Daniel Groll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 321 Surviving Death: Writing Lab

  This lab is devoted to teaching students in PHIL 320 the ins-and-outs of writing longer-form philosophy papers as well as providing supervised time for students to do all the writing for the course they will be assessed on.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 2
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Co-requisites: PHIL 320: Surviving Death
  • Tags: CL: 300 level
  • Faculty: Jason Decker 🏫 👤 · Daniel Groll 🏫 👤

• PHIL 322 Mortals Seeking Immortality

  Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics all pattern the good human life on certain divine ideals, paradoxically suggesting that our finite and imperfect lives can only be ultimately understood in terms of what is unlimited and perfect. Readings will include both primary texts and contemporary scholarship.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Traditions 2 PHIL Value Theory 1

• PHIL 323 Living Wisely

  For Aristotle, and many following him, practical wisdom (phronesis) guarantees both goodness and happiness. Sounds like a deal! Unfortunately, it’s not clear how we go about getting, or even recognizing, this intellectual virtue. Its insights cannot be demonstrated like a mathematical proof or captured in abstract rules. But we’re not stuck with undefended intuitions or a relativism that makes what is good or beneficial up to us. What is this wisdom supple enough to navigate between such extremes? We’ll read original thinkers in the broader Aristotelian tradition and scholars interpreting Aristotle’s texts as we think about this and related questions.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100, 200 or 300 level PHIL course NOT including Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Traditions 1 PHIL Value Theory 2

• PHIL 324 The Self

  When one is told, “Take good care of yourself!” the reflexive ‘yourself’ refers to both the object and agent of care. What is it, this ‘self’, and how do you take good care of it? This course will discuss historical and contemporary answers to these questions, as well as the related notions of identity, personhood, agency, and self-knowledge. Moreover, some philosophical traditions deny the existence of the self; in their account of living well, what is experiencing the living? Or, if we understand the self as relational, does one need to take care of others to take care of oneself? Finally, if one’s self is socially constructed, how do we change society to avoid its possible disfiguring influences on the self and to enable every self’s flourishing?

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100, 200 or 300 level PHIL course NOT including Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: ACE Theoretical CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 2 PHIL Social and Political Theory 1

• PHIL 338 Philosophy East and West

  This course will cover philosophical themes within seventeenth and eighteenth century Eastern and Western philosophical traditions and put them in conversation with one another. Some examples of topics that may be covered include, but are not limited to, the following: nature, divinity, knowledge, virtue, animal ethics, philosophy of mind, change, and education. Further, we will analyze methodological issues of translation. We will also evaluate problems for comparative work such as incommensurability, anachronism, ideological imperialism, ethnocentrism, and more. The aim of this course is to gain a contextual understanding of these philosophical traditions to promote the creation of new dialogues.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 100, 200 or 300 level PHIL course NOT including Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Prac/Value Theory PHIL Theoretical Area PHIL Traditions 2

• PHIL 373 Reptiles and Demons

  Skeptical arguments—like Descartes’ malignant demon argument—threaten to completely undermine our claim to have any knowledge of this world. Philosophers (and non-philosophers) have often met our apparent inability to answer these skeptical arguments with a shrug. The skeptical scenarios exert no gravitational pull on most minds and can be safely filed under “philosophical curiosities.” Meanwhile, global conspiracy theories—like David Icke’s theory that the world’s governments are overrun with shapeshifting reptilians from the constellation Draco—also threaten to undermine our knowledge of the world.  Trying to answer them runs us into the very same cognitive and epistemic roadblocks that we run into with philosophical skepticism. We can’t, however, meet these theories with a shrug. Conspiracy theories—even the wilder ones—do attract adherents and do have real-world (and sometimes devastating) consequences. Intensifying our predicament is the undeniable fact that we live in a world that is rife with conspiracies—some of them rather wild. In this seminar we will examine the cognitive architecture and evidential conditions that contribute to our predicament and then ask whether cognitive science or formal epistemology can offer any useful tools or strategies for confronting philosophical skepticism and conspiracy theories.

  Not offered in 2025-26

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry QRE, Quantitative Reasoning WR2 Writing Requirement 2
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 200 level PHIL course NOT including Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.

  • Tags: CGSC Elective CL: 300 level PHIL Advanced PHIL Interdisciplinary 1 PHIL Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Mind 1 PHIL Logic and Formal Reasoning 1 PHIL Theoretical Area

• PHIL 398 Comps Proposal

  This is the first part of the philosophy comps sequence. It is a five-week independent study to be enrolled in at the end of the Fall term Senior Year (or the year you will be compsing). The purpose is to give you the chance to do more reading on your comps topics and to start doing a bit of writing. By the last day of classes of Fall Term, you will turn in an official comps proposal (approximately 1500 words). The proposal will (a) articulate the main philosophical problem or puzzle that will be addressed in your comps; (b) describe some of the main moves that have been made in the relevant literature; and (c) include a bibliography.

  • Offered: Fall 2025
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a Philosophy major AND has Senior Priority.

  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤

• PHIL 399 Senior Thesis

  The planning, preparation, and completion of a philosophical paper under the direction of a member of the department and as part of a seminar group.

  • Offered: Winter 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a Philosophy major AND has Senior Priority.

  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤

• PHIL 400 Integrative Exercise

  A colloquium in which seniors defend their senior theses and discuss the senior theses of others.

  • Offered: Spring 2026
  • Grading: S/NC
  • Credits: 3
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Prerequisites:

    Student is a Philosophy major AND has Senior Priority.

  • Faculty: Anna Moltchanova 🏫 👤