PHILOSOPHY Note: See beginning of Section H for abbreviations, course numbers and coding. Introductory and Intermediate Level Courses These 1000 and 2000 level courses have no prerequisites, and except where otherwise noted, each may be taken as a first course in Philosophy. PHIL 1101 Critical Thinking Improves the ability to analyse and evaluate arguments and assertions met with in everyday life, and hence sharpens skills of reasoning to sound conclusions from available evidence. Does this by studying the classic fallacies that people often commit and using elementary formal logic to explore differences between deductive and inductive reasoning. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 1101 and PHIL 1005. PHIL 1201 Ethics of Life and Death Introduces various ethical theories and examines moral problems including abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 1201 and PHIL 1001. Deleted: PHIL 1202 The Rights of the Individual Introduces various ethical theories and examines moral problems including pornography, discrimination and affirmative action. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 1202 and PHIL 1002. Deleted: PHIL 2074 Introduction to Classics in Aesthetics (A) A study of writings in the Philosophy of Art by authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Schopenhauer, Hanslick, Tolstoy, and Bullough. PHIL 2201 Introduction to Ethical Classics Happiness, freedom and value. Their treatment in the writings of some of the following philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Butler, David Hume, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, J.S. Mill and Friedrich Nietzsche. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 2201 and PHIL 2104. Deleted: PHIL 2202 Environmental Ethics (O) This course covers a range of thinking on a variety of issues concerning the environment. Specific issues addressed are: Do species other than human beings have value in themselves, or only because humans value them? Do non-organic entities possess value? What problems beset attempts to formulate an environmental ethic? Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 2202 and PHIL 2106. 1 of 6
PHIL 2203 Ethical Issues in Business An introduction to moral problems arising in business. The course is designed to introduce the student to ethical theory and its relevance for business decision making. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 2203 and PHIL 2153. Prerequisite: Students enrolled in the Faculty of Business Administration must have completed 30ch, including ECON 1013 and ECON 1023. PHIL 2204 Introduction to Contemporary Issues in the Philosophy of Law An introduction to contemporary philosophy of law, as treated by some of the following philosophers: Austin, Holmes, Frank, Hart, Kelsen, Finnis, Raz, Dworkin, Posner, Unger, MacKinnon. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 2204 and PHIL 2702. Students cannot get credit for both 2702 and 2703. PHIL 2205 Rights: Individuals and Communities This course examines the philosophical foundations of rights and some of the controversies surrounding them. Issues considered may include: the objectivity and universality of rights; economic rights; traditional individual rights and claims concerning the rights of groups, i.e., ethnic minorities; tension between rights claims and concern for the common good; debates concerning hate speech laws, privacy legislation and national security, same-sex marriage, and drug laws. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 2205 and PHIL 1004. PHIL 1301 Introduction to the History of Philosophy I This course offers a general survey of philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to Scholasticism. It will concentrate upon issues central to ancient and medieval philosophy through a look at such figures as Parmenides, Plato, Augustine and Aquinas. PHIL 1302 Introduction to the History of Philosophy II This course offers a general survey of philosophy from Rationalism to German Idealism. It will concentrate upon the concerns of modern philosophy by looking at the philosophies of such figures as Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel and Marx. Designed to bridge the gap for upper year students. Deleted: 2 Deleted: 2 PHIL 2303 Introduction to 19th and 20th Century Existential Philosophy Examines the major themes of existential philosophy developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries such as the self, existence, freedom, relationships with others, etc.. References are made to selections from some of the important existential thinkers -- e.g. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Simon Weil, Camus, Arendt, Heidegger. Students cannot get credit for PHIL 2303 and PHIL 2023 or PHIL 2024. Advanced Level Courses PHIL 3101 Introduction to Symbolic Logic 3 ch (3C) The techniques of natural deduction, including conditional proof, indirect proof and separation of cases. Emphasizes applications in sentence logic and in the logic of quantification up to the logic of relations. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3101 and PHIL 2113. 2 of 6
PHIL 3201 Philosophy of Technology Examines technology and its social impact. Topics include: Does living in a technological society impact the way that we look at ourselves and at the world around us? What are the positive and negative effects of the continuing incorporation of computers into our lives? Does biotechnology offer the promise of better and healthier lives for human beings and other organisms, or is it an ethically suspect means of interfering with natural development? Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3201 and PHIL 3101. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3202 Philosophical Foundations of Feminism (O) The philosophical foundations of modern feminism, including such topics as human nature, sexual division of labour, gender, sexuality, marriage, reproductive freedom, rationality, equality, justice, violence and care. Familiarity with basic ethical theory is recommended. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3202 and PHIL 3103. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3203 Contemporary Issues in Bioethics An examination of the ethical issues raised by problems in Bioethics, such as experimentation with human subjects, euthanasia, assisted suicide and cessation of medical treatment, patients' rights, informed consent, and tissue transplantation. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3203 and PHIL 3105. PHIL 3211-19 Selected Topics in Ethical Theory Examines in detail a particular ethical theory or tradition and assesses it in light of arguments made by its proponents and critics. The focus of the course will vary from year to year but may cover areas such as utilitarianism and its critics, feminist ethics, virtue ethics, ancient Greek ethics, moral realism, social contract theory and Kant's ethics. May be taken for credit more than once. Title of topic will appear on transcript. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3211-19 and PHIL 3111-9. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3221-19 Selected Topics in Environmental Philosophy (Cross Listed: POLS 3203-9) Examines methods and philosophical ideas associated with accounts of how we ought to think of the natural environment and how we should act with regard to the environment. Possible topics include: deep ecology, ecological feminism and social ecology, globalization, modern conceptions of property rights, overpopulation, consumption, and the placing of an economic value on nature. May be taken for credit more than once. Title of topic will appear on transcript. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3221-19 and PHIL 3203-9. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3231-9 Philosophy of Law Seminar (Cross Listed: POLS 3803-9) 3 ch [W] Recent work in the philosophy of Law. Topic will vary from year to year. Possible topics include constitutional argument, natural law theory, conceptual problems in criminal and civil law, legal positivism, and legal realism. May be taken for credit more than once. Title of topic will appear on transcript. This course replaces PHIL 3703 and PHIL 3704. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3231-9 and PHIL 3803-9. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. 3 of 6
PHIL 3301 Early Greek Philosophy 3 ch (3C) The period of philosophy beginning with Thales and culminating with Plato. Stresses the development of certain key themes and problems in this period and their influence on later philosophical thought. Half the course is devoted to examining philosophical thought prior to Plato; the other half focuses on Plato's thought. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3301 and PHIL 3033. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3302 Later Greek Philosophy Focuses on Aristotle and subsequent developments in Greek philosophy. Half the course examines different aspects of Aristotle's thought, the other half considers post-aristotelian schools of thought. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3302 and PHIL 3034. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3303 Modern Philosophy I (A) Introduction to some of the philosophical issues of 17th-century philosophy, such as: philosophical method; the nature, scope and limits of knowledge; the nature of reality; the question of the nature and existence of God. Reference is made to selections from some of the important philosophers of the era--e.g., Descartes, Locke. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3303 and PHIL 3053. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3304 Modern Philosophy II (A) Introduction to some of the philosophical issues of 17th- and 18th-century philosophy, such as: philosophical method; the nature, scope and limits of knowledge; the nature of reality; the question of the nature and existence of God. Reference is made to selections from some of the important philosophers of the era--e.g., Leibniz, Hume. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3304 and PHIL 3054. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 3311-19 Selected Topics in Existential and Postmodern Philosophy This course exposes students to various features of the methods of pure phenomenology, existential analytics, figures central to the history of Continental philosophy, and to the postmodern critique of the above. Some of the philosophers considered are: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Husserl, Sartre, Heidegger, Foucault, Levinas. May be taken for credit more than once. Title of topic will appear on students transcript. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3311-19 and PHIL 3633-9 or PHIL 3651-9. PHIL 3320 Michel Foucault s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (O) Formatted: Space After: 0 Formatted: Font: Not Italic This course concentrates on two central themes: the first is Foucault s perception of the genealogy of the social sciences in relation to the practices of incarceration and punishment in mid-eighteenth century Europe. The second follows his perception of contemporary interpretations of self-identity as they have been generated by: the continued growth of penal institutions, the social sciences as disciplines of subjectivity, the distinction between torture and punishment, and subjective vs objective surveillance. PHIL 3401 Philosophy of Religion 4 of 6
Explores some of the traditional issues associated with belief in God, including: the arguments for God's existence, the problem of evil, the meaningfulness of religious language, and how the divine attributes are to be understood. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 3401 and PHIL 3173. Prerequisite: A course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. 5 of 6
PHIL 3401-9 Selected Topics in Metaphysics At the discretion of the instructor, a topic in metaphysics is selected and studied in depth. Possible topics may include the mind-body problem, free will and determinism, the nature of causality, etc. Each topic will be given a number and the title of the topic studied will appear on students transcripts. Students may take more than one topic for credit. PHIL 3431-9 Selected Topics in Philosophy of Religion 3 ch [W] This course is an in depth examination of issues as such miracle, models of divine agency and other concerns within the area of philosophy of religion. The title of the selected topic will appear on students transcripts. Different topics may each be taken for credit. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Students can not get credit for both PHIL 3431-9 and PHIL 4174 or PHIL 4175. PHIL 4301 Introduction to the Philosophy of Kant (O) 3 ch (3S) [W] Examines the argument of the Transcendental Analytic in Kant's pivotal work, The Critique of Pure Reason. Introduces Kant's philosophical method and his transcendental philosophy. Considers their implications for an understanding of the problems of metaphysics and the theory of knowledge. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 4301 and PHIL 4053. Prerequisite: 6 ch in Philosophy or permission of the instructor. PHIL 4311-19 Topics in Continental Philosophy: Advanced Seminar (O) 3 ch [W] In this course, students are required to provide well researched seminars dedicated to explicating how the text being investigated by the class articulates features of the history of continental philosophy or anticipates features of postmodern thought. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 4311-19 and PHIL 4041-9. Prerequisite: PHIL 3311-19, or permission of the instructor. PHIL 4601-9 Individual Studies in Philosophy 3 ch (T) [W] Courses of independent study of specified texts or topics in Philosophy under the supervision of a member of the Department. These courses will normally be given only between May and August inclusive and with the agreement of the supervisor. They require the approval of the Chair of the Department and the Dean of the student's Faculty, and are subject to the regulations for individual Studies published in the Intersession/Summer Session Calendar. Students cannot get credit for both PHIL 4601-9 and PHIL 4953-9. Prerequisite: 30 ch, including at least 6 in Philosophy. 6 of 6