2020-2021 Catalog

Major Requirements

Ten courses (40 units) in philosophy are required for the major.

COURSEWORK

Students are required to complete the courses listed below and seven additional electives.

Courses

PHIL 101Introduction to Philosophy

4 units

PHIL 150Formal Logic

4 units

PHIL 490Senior Seminar

4 units

Electives

Three of these courses must be at the 300-level, and students must meet the following distribution requirements: one course in the history of philosophy, one course in diversity in philosophy, one course on philosophical questions of self and community, and one course on philosophical questions of mind and world. Students must also take at least one philosophy course designated as experiential learning.

History of Philosophy

Courses in the History of Philosophy directly study the views and arguments that have shaped the discipline over thousands of years, through engagement with primary philosophical texts.

PHIL 210Modern Philosophy

4 units

PHIL 211Historical Foundations of Moral Theory

4 units

PHIL 212Existentialist Philosophy

4 units

PHIL 310Topics in Modern Philosophy

4 units

PHIL 311Wittgenstein

4 units

PHIL 313The Brothers Karamazov

4 units

Diversity in Philosophy

Although diverse perspectives are represented across our courses, Diversity in Philosophy courses focus on philosophical topics, authors and texts that have traditionally been marginalized within the Western philosophical tradition due to a lack of socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, gender, and intersectional diversity in academic philosophy.

PHIL 220Philosophy of Race

4 units

PHIL 221Feminist Theories

4 units

PHIL 222Knowledge and Power

4 units

PHIL 320Health and Social Justice

4 units

PHIL 321Philosophy of James Baldwin

4 units

PHIL 322Latinx Philosophy

4 units

Self and Community

Self and Community courses examine questions that arise when we consider how to live a good life and how to relate to human beings, non-human animals, and other aspects of the world around us.  

PHIL 230Happiness, Meaning, and the Good Life

4 units

PHIL 231Environmental and Animal Ethics

4 units

PHIL 232Philosophy of Religion

4 units

PHIL 233Bioethics

4 units

PHIL 299Ethics Bowl: Contemporary Debates on Ethical Issues

4 units

PHIL 330Law and Morality

4 units

PHIL 331Contemporary Moral Philosophy

4 units

Mind and World

Mind and World courses apply the methods of philosophy to examine questions that arise when considering the fundamental nature of the world and our place in it. Courses that meet this requirement explore the conceptual foundations of our theories of the world or explore the nature of our knowledge of or representations of the world.

PHIL 241Paradoxes

4 units

PHIL 242Minds, Agents, and Persons

4 units

PHIL 243Representation and Reality

4 units

PHIL 340Evidence, Reasoning, Science, and Truth

4 units

PHIL 341Philosophy of Space and Time

4 units

PHIL 342Theory of Knowledge

4 units

PHIL 344Language, Translation, and Meaning

4 units

PHIL 345Consciousness and Cognition

4 units

PHIL 346Metaphysics

4 units

PHIL 350Metalogic

4 units

Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning can be understood as learning through reflection on doing. Within philosophy, experiential learning may take many forms, but primarily:

(a) Work with community partners or meaningful engagement with a real-world context, where student experiences in these spaces are central to, and necessary for, course objectives.

(b) Courses which centrally revolve around a pedagogical approach other than classroom lecture and/or discussion, specifically courses in which students are provided with structured, active experiences and/or creative opportunities, and students learn philosophical sensitivity and analytic abilities through the engagement, itself, and by reflecting on these experiences.

PHIL 230Happiness, Meaning, and the Good Life

4 units

PHIL 299Ethics Bowl: Contemporary Debates on Ethical Issues

4 units

PHIL 320Health and Social Justice

4 units

PHIL 360Beauty

4 units

PHIL 361Philosophy and Children

4 units