Search Results
Your search for courses · during 25FA, 26WI, 26SP · taught by jdecker · returned 8 results
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CGSC 396 Comps Proposal in Cognitive Studies 3 credits
Senior majors in cognitive studies will work with the instructor to develop a thesis proposal for their comps project.
- Fall 2025
- No Exploration
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Student has completed all of the following course(s): CGSC 130 and PSYC 200/201 and CGSC/PSYC 232 and CGSC/PSYC 233 with a grade of C- or better and is a senior CGSC major.
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CGSC 396.01 Fall 2025
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤
- Size:6
- M, WWillis 114 1:50pm-3:00pm
- FWillis 114 2:20pm-3:20pm
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CGSC 399 Senior Thesis in Cognitive Science 6 credits
The organizing and writing of a senior thesis in cognitive science, overseen by a CGSC faculty member and in cooperation with other seminar members. Students will present drafts of their theses to the class for feedback and will offer one another constructive criticism on the writing and organization of each paper. Students will be expected to produce a 25-40 page paper that will eventually serve as a capstone to their CGSC major during CGSC 400.
Open only to Senior CGSC majors
- Winter 2026
- WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student has completed the following course(s): CGSC 396 with a grade of C- or better AND is a Cognitive Science major AND has Senior Priority.
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CGSC 399.01 Winter 2026
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤
- Size:8
- M, WWillis 114 1:50pm-3:00pm
- FWillis 114 2:20pm-3:20pm
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PHIL 100 Science, Faith and Rationality 6 credits
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.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2025
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
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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.
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PHIL 100.02 Fall 2025
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- T, THLeighton 301 1:15pm-3:00pm
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PHIL 210 Logic 6 credits
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.
- Winter 2026
- FSR, Formal or Statistical Reasoning
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PHIL 210.01 Winter 2026
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 426 11:10am-12:20pm
- FLeighton 426 12:00pm-1:00pm
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PHIL 225 Philosophy of Mind 6 credits
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?
- Spring 2026
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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PHIL 225.01 Spring 2026
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤
- Size:25
- M, WLeighton 305 1:50pm-3:00pm
- FLeighton 305 2:20pm-3:20pm
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PHIL 319 Self-Knowledge 6 credits
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.
- Fall 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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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.
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PHIL 319.01 Fall 2025
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤 · Daniel Groll 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- T, THHasenstab 105 10:10am-11:55am
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PHIL 320 Surviving Death 6 credits
“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.
Students must also register for PHIL 321.
- Spring 2026
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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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.
- PHIL 321: Surviving Death: Writing Lab
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PHIL 320.01 Spring 2026
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤 · Daniel Groll 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- M, WLeighton 303 9:50am-11:00am
- FLeighton 303 9:40am-10:40am
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PHIL 321 Surviving Death: Writing Lab 2 credits
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.
Students must also register for PHIL 320.
- Spring 2026
- No Exploration
- PHIL 320: Surviving Death
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PHIL 321.01 Spring 2026
- Faculty:Jason Decker 🏫 👤 · Daniel Groll 🏫 👤
- Size:15
- Grading:S/CR/NC
- M, WLeighton 303 3:10pm-4:20pm