Spring 2022 PHIL Courses
Below are the Philosophy courses being offered at Purdue University in Spring 2022. The courses are listed by their five-digit course number and course title. Underneath the course number and title is information on specific sections being taught in Spring 2022, including the modality (e.g., lectures = ‘LEC’), the enrolment limit of the class, the day(s)/time the class is being taught, the classroom, and the last name of the instructor. Courses that include a recitation section are marked as ‘LEC/REC.’ Details of the recitation sections are not listed. The type ‘DIST’ indicates a fully asynchronous, online course. ‘Grad’ indicates that a graduate student will be the instructor of record. PHIL courses that are cross-listed with other courses are marked as such (e.g., ‘c/l DEPT 10000’). Where multiple sections of a course are being offered, each section is listed separately with the specific instructor's course description where applicable.
Jump to: 100 Level Courses 200 Level Courses 300 Level Courses 400 Level Courses 500 Level Courses 600 Level Courses MA Courses
100 Level Courses
11000 - The Big Questions: Introduction to Philosophy
The basic problems and types of philosophy, with special emphasis on the problems of knowledge and the nature of reality.
- LEC/REC (150): MW, 5:30-6:20pm, WTHR 172, Mariña
- LEC (35): TR, 3:00-4:15pm, BRNG 1268, Grad
- DIST (100): fully asynchronous online, Grad
Description of Dr. Mariña's section (#1 above): This course is an introduction to some basic problems in philosophy. We will conduct our investigation into these problems through both lecture and discussion of the readings. Issues having to do with: a) the nature of the human being, b) the nature of mind, c) knowledge, belief and skepticism, d) ethics and responsibility, and e) ethics and society will be explored. Our class will proceed through careful analysis of classical and contemporary philosophical texts. Part of what you will be doing in this class is learning how to do philosophical analysis. You will learn this skill by engaging in it; as such, you must come fully prepared to discuss the texts each class period.
11100 - Introduction to Ethics
LEC/REC (225): TR, 1:30-2:20pm, CL50 224, Kain
A study of the nature of moral value and obligation. Topics such as the following will be considered: different conceptions of the good life and standards of right conduct; the relation of nonmoral and moral goodness; determinism, free will, and the problem of moral responsibility; the political and social dimensions of ethics; the principles and methods of moral judgment. Readings will be drawn both from contemporary sources and from the works of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Butler, Hume, Kant, and J. S. Mill.
11400 - Global Moral Issues
- LEC/REC (75): TR, 9:30-10:20am, BRWN 1154, Davis
- DIST (100): fully asynchronous online, Grad
A systematic and representative examination of significant contemporary moral problems with a focus on global issues such as international justice, poverty and foreign aid, nationalism and patriotism, just war, population and the environment, human rights, gender equality, and national self-determination.
11500 - Philosophy: What Are You Going to Do with That?
LEC (20): MW, 1:30-2:20pm, BRNG 1268, Kroll
A 1-credit course for philosophy majors designed to help them navigate their progress toward the PHIL degree and what they will eventually apply it to doing. Students will gain an understanding of what the different branches of philosophy explore, plan a path of study through the major requirements, and develop a portfolio of professional documents toward applying to internships and jobs. PHIL majors are encouraged to take this course in the spring of their first year.
15000 - Principles of Logic
LEC (40): TR, 4:30-5:45pm, synchronous online, Tulodziecki
A first course in formal deductive logic; mechanical and other procedures for distinguishing good arguments from bad. Truth-tables and proofs for sentential (Boolean) connectives, followed by quantificational logic with relations. Although metatheoretic topics are treated, the emphasis is on methods.
200 Level Courses
20700 - Ethics for Technology, Engineering, And Design
LEC/REC (75): TR, 10:30-11:20am, BRWN 1154, Davis
This course is designed to increase your understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities in national, international, and cross-cultural environments, helping you to anticipate, understand, and navigate issues that will likely arise in your working life as an engineer or designer. The focus of the course is on developing the ability to apply a general ethical framework to new and unique situations, including those arising from the global cultural context of modern engineering. The course covers how this ethical framework should be constituted, and provides practice in applying this framework to specific, concrete cases. Together, these components work toward your development as a better engineer and a more responsible global citizen. The readings, case studies, and exercises are geared towards the development of a well-researched original case study that you will present to the class, which is informed by your past experiences and future aspirations related to engineering.
23000 - Religions of the East (c/l REL 23000)
LEC (35): TR, 9:00-10:15am, BRNG 1268, Purpura
A study of the history, teachings, and present institutions of the religions of India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. This will include Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Zoroastrianism.
23100 - Religions of the West (c/l REL 23100)
LEC (35): MWF, 11:30am-12:20pm, BRNG 1268, Ryba
The purpose of this course is to provide a systematic survey of those religions variously described, in the West, as ‘Western Religions’ or ‘Religions of the West.’ Immediately, a problem arises because the adjective, ‘Western,’ is questionable. The descriptions ‘Western’ or ‘of the West’ have been understood as designating a problematic geo-cultural location—but also a homogeneous style of religious thought because of their common origins as Abrahamic monotheisms. Contemporary scholars of religion, and indigenous believers, often contest this claimed homogeneity and have pointed to the incredible complexity and fluidity of these traditions, characteristics which resist simplistic classification. Well aware of the challenges such descriptions present, we, in this course, will engage in a comparative study of the systems of belief and thought traditionally termed ‘Religions of the West’ by Western scholars of religions. This will be accomplished through a series of readings on these religious systems’ histories, philosophies, and scriptures (in their classical periods).
24000 - Social and Political Philosophy
LEC (35): TR, 9:00-10:15am, BRNG 1230, McBride
What have been some of the great social aspirations and values of the past, and how are they related to our own? In this course, a number of the major issues and writers in Western social and political thought will be introduced and discussed. There will be “classical” readings from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx, followed by a segment devoted to contemporary writers and issues. During the latter, each student will be asked to select a book to present briefly to the class; this will serve as the basis of a final term paper. (Other requirements, in addition to class participation and meeting with the instructor, will be a shorter paper early in the term and a mid-term and final examination.)
27000 - Biomedical Ethics
LEC/REC (150): TR, 12:30-1:20pm, HCRN 1066, Lambeth
This course is an introduction to biomedical ethics. We will consider the major issues dominating the field, the primary philosophical theories for evaluating those issues, and concrete cases that help us think through those issues. Ethical issues will include: the doctor-patient relationship, gene editing, abortion, euthanasia, and the distribution of limited medical resources during a pandemic. We will consider these topics by engaging with several kinds of sources, including philosophical treatises, case studies, blog posts, and movies.
29000 - Environmental Ethics
LEC (90): TR, 3:00-4:15pm, BRNG 2280, Stringer
This course is about ethics in relation to the environment or, in other words, about moral theory as it applies to the natural environment or the contents therein. What moral value or importance, if any, does the natural environment have? If it has moral value, does it have such value intrinsically, or in its own right? Or is it only instrumentally valuable, or because of its impact on the welfare of humans or non-human animals? What moral duties or restrictions are there in relation to the natural environment? And what rights and liberties do we have toward the natural environment? What does justice demand of us in relation to the environment? What constitutes a just distribution of environmental benefits and burdens? These are some of the questions that we will be thinking about and trying to answer in this course. We will be looking at some traditional ethical theories for guidance here along with some unorthodox theories, including “deep ecology,” that pose critical challenges to some of these traditional ethical views. Some of the sub-topics that we will cover in this course include animal ethics, climate ethics and climate justice, and intergenerational justice (or justice with respect to future generations).
300 Level Courses
30100 - History of Ancient Philosophy
LEC (35): MWF, 2:30-3:20pm, BRNG 1268, Mariña
This class will be an exploration of some of the principle themes and figures of Ancient Greek philosophy. We will be covering weighty issues in physics, metaphysics, epistemology and ethics as they emerged in Ancient Greek thought, especially questions regarding the nature of Being, the nature of the soul, and what justice is. We will spend 3½ weeks on the Presocratics and Socrates, 5½ weeks on Plato, and 6 weeks on Aristotle.
30300 - History of Modern Philosophy
LEC (35): TR, 1:30-2:45pm, BRNG 1268, Cover
The history of philosophy, like logic and ethics and epistemology and metaphysics, is a traditional area of academic philosophy with a history of its own. As practiced in the past, and as we’ll pursue it in this course, it isn’t history (of a certain subject) but philosophy (with a certain focus). The focus is the content of historically important philosophical texts. The contents of texts we examine will be approached not out of special respect for the past, nor for the purpose of uncovering broadly social currents influencing the central figures of early modern philosophy, but simply out of a desire to discover fundamental truths about the world. That is what philosophy is, according to those thinkers most influential in European philosophical thought during the so-called early modern period (roughly 1600-1800). They made claims about how the world is; these claims are either true or false – true if the world is the way they claimed it to be, false if the world isn’t the way they claimed it to be. Of these influential thinkers we shall, time permitting, examine selected writings of five: Descartes, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Readings and lectures will focus primarily on metaphysical and epistemological topics, since those are the philosophical topics of central concern to these thinkers. It's all fun stuff: a bit of history and philosophy of science, a bit of reflection about God, some puzzles about what it takes to know something, some stuff about the nature of minds (done well and safely from our arm-chairs without doing a stitch of neuro-physiology), a bit more about God again, a surprising treatment of “What is a physical object?” (leaving you at least a little worried about how you could have been so…gullible), some knotty thoughts about causation and knowledge (again), and some stray thoughts about vision (i.e., seeing).
32200 - Philosophy and Technology
LEC (35): TR, 12:00-1:15pm, BRNG 1230, Smith
A philosophical examination of the nature and history of technology, as well as its complex impact on humans and the world.
400 Level Courses
42400 - Recent Ethical Theory
LEC (35): TR, 10:30-11:45am, BRNG 1268, Kain
A philosophical examination of significant issues in recent ethical theory and metaethics, such as the nature of value, obligation, virtue, rationality, moral knowledge, the status of ethical sentences, practical applications, and the relationship between ethics and science or religion.
43500 - Philosophy of Mind
LEC (35): TR, 1:30-2:45pm, BRNG 1230, Kelly
The main goal of this course is to explore the nature of the mind. We will consider the relationship between the mind and the body, and the mental to the physical more generally. We’ll ask, and look at some candidate answers to questions like: What is a mind, and what are its component parts? How does a mind work? How are minds related to brains, and to the physical bodies that they seem to animate and control? How do minds represent the world around them? What is a self? What is the nature of consciousness? Could other animals, aliens, computers, robots or other types of entities have minds, or be conscious? How would we know? How can empirical efforts like the cognitive sciences help shed light on these questions? Could scientific theories of the mind supplant our intuitive conceptions of the mind? If so, what would be the implications?
In the course of addressing these questions, we’ll be reading and talking about immaterial spirits; computers the size of China; what it’s like to be a bat; inverted spectrums; factually omniscient neuroscientists who have never seen color at all; doppelgangers living on planets almost identical to our own; a view that suggests your smart phone might, properly speaking, be just as much a part of your mind as your frontal cortex is; an argument that no one really believes anything at all; and a line of thought that concludes that all you really are is the story you make up about your self. We’ll work our way through this theatre of the bizarre not just for kicks, but to see what light each case can help shed on our own nature as beings with mental lives.
500 Level Courses
50300 - Studies in Early Modern Philosophy
LEC (15): W, 2:30-5:20pm, BRNG 1248, Cover
Central metaphysical themes — substance, causation, almost inevitably God — in Descartes and Leibniz.
55300 - Mathematical Logic
LEC (15): T, 6:30-9:20pm, BRNG 1248, Tulodziecki
This class is an introduction to various logical foundations of mathematics as well as the basics of logical metatheory.
58000 - The Imagination and Literature
LEC (15): W, 11:30am-2:20pm, BRNG 1248, Lambeth
In this seminar, we will explore the role of the imagination in the reading of literature, considering both theoretical and moral questions about that role. First, we’ll ask: why do readers experience difficulty imagining some literary claims and not others? Digging into the debate on the phenomenon of imaginative resistance, we will touch on contemporary issues in aesthetics, epistemology, and the philosophy of language. Then, we’ll consider contemporary debates in aesthetics concerning immoral works of art (i.e., works of art that explore immoral points of view). Here, we’ll ask: can imaginatively engaging with immoral works of art make us morally worse – or, conversely, could it make us morally better?
600 Level Courses
60100 - Plato and the Immoralist: The Challenge of Moral Skepticism
LEC (20): M, 2:30-5:20pm, BRNG 1248, Frank
In this seminar we will ask with Plato (and Nietzsche), why be moral? Plato memorably presents compelling characters and arguments that call into question the worth and value of (conventional) morality and the moral life. So does Nietzsche, and in this seminar we shall read and discuss their respective presentations of immoralism. Then we will turn to the Republic for Plato’s own response to the challenge of the moral skeptic. [Spoiler alert: Plato’s defense against the challenge of the moral skeptic is in no way a defense of conventional morality, but of a life as anti-conventional as that of the immoralist.]
M.A. in Philosophy for International Students Courses
56200 - READING TO ARGUE
LEC (10): TR, 10:30-11:45am, BRNG 1248, Dillmann
Closely and critically reading philosophical arguments is the first step to composing your own arguments in philosophy. In addition, developing these skills will help you to orally discuss philosophical ideas, both in classroom discussions as well as when giving presentations. This class aims to prepare students for these tasks by developing the skills of close and critical reading in philosophical discourse. Permission of department required.
57200 - WRITING TO ARGUE
LEC (10): TR, 1:30-2:45pm, BRNG 1248, Dillmann
Writing is a primary mode of communication in philosophy, perhaps the primary mode. This course aims to prepare students for the writing demands of philosophy by having students develop their ability to analyze, interpret, and critique philosophical arguments through written works and, in the process, construct their own philosophical arguments. Students will also learn writing processes that will aid their ability to effectively and clearly compose philosophical arguments, including outlining, drafting, and editing. Finally, the class will also pay attention to genre and rhetorical features of philosophical discourse, such as how philosophers enact criticism and write introductions to research papers. Students can use their course paper as a draft of a writing sample for PhD programs.