300-Level Courses (25-26)

2025-26 Fall/Winter 300-level courses

Note about Prerequisites:
All 300-series courses have a a general prerequisite of 7.5 courses (in any field) and a prerequisite of three half courses (or equivalent) in philosophy. The courses PHL345H1 to 349H1, PHL354H1, PHL356H1, and PHL357H1 are exempt from the latter rule (the philosophy prerequisite). See a list of specific course prerequisites in the academic calendar of the Faculty of Arts & Science. Students who do not meet the prerequisite for a particular course but believe that they have adequate preparation must obtain the permission of the instructor to gain entry to the course.

PHL301H1F — EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Michael Arsenault
Wednesdays 10:00-13:00

In this course we will explore the first Greek philosophers we know anything about, known as the ‘Presocratics’. These figures hail from an exciting period of cultural exchange between east and west, when few (if any) of the philosophical theories we are familiar with today had been worked out or set down in writing. Everything was up for grabs: the nature and structure of the world and everything in it—including even the existence of things like change and plurality—the nature of the gods, how we should live together, learn, and how we can know about any of this. Coming as they do at the very beginning of a tradition that has changed and developed for more than 2,000 years, the views of the Presocratics can be challenging to reconstruct and understand. But this challenge is part of the charm and the value of studying them: It takes thoughtful reading, creativity, and critical thinking to work out what is going on, together with a discerning eye for the credibility of sources that is just as valuable in modern life outside the classroom as inside it. We will practice all these skills in this class. And it is worth the effort: By taking the first steps in the tradition, the Presocratics set the agenda for subsequent figures with whom we are more familiar, like Plato and Aristotle, in ways we are only beginning to understand.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL302H1F— PHILOSOPHY AFTER ARISTOTLE

Prof. Andriy Bilenkyy
Thursdays 18:00-21:00 – to be confirmed

A study of selected themes in post-Aristotelian philosophy. Topics may include Stoicism, Epicureanism, Neoplatonism, and various forms of scepticism.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL303H1S — PLATO

Prof. Rachel Barney
Mondays 13:00-15:00; Wednesdays 13:00-14:00

Selected metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical themes in Plato’s dialogues.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL304H1S — ARISTOTLE

Prof. Mike Arsenault
Tuesdays 10:00-13:00

Selected anthropological, ethical and metaphysical themes in the works of Aristotle.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL305H1S – CLASSICAL ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Jon McGinnis
Tuesdays 10:00-13:00

Prof. Peter King
Thursdays 10:00-13:00

Augustine thought that the human mind is best revealed in its attempt to plumb the basic mystery of the universe: the nature of God. In particular, Augustine thought that reflecting on the human mind in its attempts to know God as a Trinity was the best way to grasp the structure and nature of the human mind itself. We’ll try to get a handle on this curious notion by looking at two of Augustine’s most famous works: the semi-Autobiographical Confessions and the intricate treatise The Trinity. There is a great deal going on in each work that we won’t cover, but we’ll read extensively and carefully the parts of each that deal directly with human psychology.

Students are expected to attend class regularly and to prepare for class by reading the assignments listed below. Students will write three papers in all: two short papers, each about 1000 words, each worth 25\% of your course grade; and a final longer paper, about 2500 words,  worth 40% of your course grade. The remaining 10\% will take participation, attendance, and improvement into account. Note that all requirements must be met to pass this course. The University regulations governing plagiarism apply.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prof. Simona Vucu
Tuesdays 10:00-13:00

Different by Nature: Medieval Thought on Women, Slaves, and Animals

In medieval philosophy, the status of animals, women, and slaves was a topic of ongoing debate. Influenced by Aristotle, many thinkers agreed that while humans are animals, they are distinct because of their capacity for reason. But this raised a challenging question: how should we understand the intelligent behavior observed in animals? Bees build intricate hives, ants coordinate their work, and wolves live in complex social groups. These examples suggest a kind of intelligence that complicates the idea that rationality is unique to humans.

Meanwhile, women and slaves were clearly recognized as human, yet—again following Aristotle—medieval philosophers often argued that they should not fully participate in political life. This raises another important question: what was believed to disqualify them? Was it a perceived lack of rationality, an excess of emotion, or an assumed inability to develop the virtues required for civic engagement? These questions highlight some of the deeper tensions in medieval thought about who belongs in society and on what grounds.

Possible Readings:
William of Auvergne, Albertus the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Giles of Rome, Christine de Pizan, Bartolomé de las Casas.

Possible grading scheme: Final Exam: 30%; Midterm: 25% ; Essay: 25%;  Participation and Attendance: 20%

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL310H1F — THE RATIONALISTS

Prof. Brian Bitar
Thursdays 18:00-21:00

This course examines the concept of power in the rationalist line of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophers. The early moderns develop the idea of power as a central term of analysis for the external world and the self. What is power? How, if at all, can we know power (or force, capacity, or other such kindred words)? What does power mean in the new rationalist metaphysics, especially in relation to causality? In what sense do metaphysical conceptions of power ground explanations of human phenomena in terms of power or powers? How is power conceived as an element or even principle of human psychology­—are reason and desire directed to power? Does this period’s revolutionary and technological science shape philosophical notions of power, or vice versa? How do the rationalists engage dialectically with traditional philosophical and theological notions of power?

After looking briefly at ancient and medieval sources in Aristotle and Aquinas, we will consider Descartes as a beginning of the modern rationalist inquiry on power. We will explore development of the concept of power in Hobbes’s De Corpore and Leviathan, Spinoza’s Ethics, and Leibniz’s Monadology, Specimen of Dynamics, and other works.

Evaluation: TBD

Reading: TBD

PHL311H1S — THE EMPIRICISTS

Prof. Brian Bitar
Thursdays 18:00-21:00

This course examines conceptions of the passions in the empiricist line of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophers. What precisely is a passion or emotion? Are passions constituted by feelings, perceptions, drives, beliefs, or evaluative judgments? Do they belong to the mind or body or some mixture? How can we know the passions? How clearly can we distinguish passions within ourselves and others? Are the passions one or many­—are the different emotions typically discerned in experience distinct, or ultimately reducible to forms of one unified passion or desire? What is the relation of emotion to reason and will in human consciousness and action? Are some or all passions good or bad­­—what is their place in ethics or moral psychology? Does reason order and regulate the passions, or do the passions guide reason? In what sense are passions social or intersubjective? How may empiricism involve an increased centrality and affirmation of the passions in philosophical psychology?

After looking briefly at a medieval source in Aquinas, we will consider Descartes’ avowedly new account in Passions of the Soul, a modern starting point in the commonly termed rationalist line. We will explore empiricist responses and development of the concept of the passions principally in Hobbes’s Elements of Law and Leviathan, Locke’s Essay, and Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature, with further passages from authors such as Elisabeth of Bohemia, Hutcheson, and Smith.

Evaluation: TBD

Reading: TBD

PHL314H1F — KANT

Prof. Nick Stang
Tuesdays 14:00-17:00

This will be an in-depth study of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. The first Critique is Kant’s answer to the question: how is metaphysics possible as a science? In it, Kant attempts to steer a middle ‘Critical’ path between, on the one hand, rationalist dogmatism (e.g., Leibniz) and, on the other, empiricist skepticism (e.g., by Hume). Topics to be studied include: the nature of space and time; transcendental idealism; the categories; their deduction from the logical functions of judgment; self-consciousness; why categories apply to spatiotemporal objects; and the structure of experience. This course will focus on the first half of the Critique, roughly the Transcendental Aesthetic and the Transcendental Analytic.

Reading: Kant, Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. Guyer & Wood. Cambridge.

Evaluation (tentative): Participation (10%), Midterm essay (25%), Quizzes (25%), Final Exam (40%)

PHL315H1S — TOPICS IN 19TH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Nick Stang
Mondays 14:00-17:00

German Idealism

The publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason inaugurated a far-reaching revolution in German philosophy, leading to the movement now known as ‘German idealism.’ While the German idealists endorsed Kant’s demand that reason be self-critical, they thought that Kant had not taken this far enough. They aimed to complete Kant’s revolution by producing a truly self-critical (i.e., non-dogmatic) rational system of philosophy. In this course we will examine some of the main moments in the development of German idealism, from the publication of Kant’s first Critique in 1781 to, roughly, the publication of Hegel’s ‘Encyclopedia’ system in 1817. Our guiding thread through this extraordinarily rich, but difficult, period in philosophy will be the question: what form should a system of ‘first’ philosophy (or ‘transcendental’ philosophy) take? After a crash course in Kant’s Critical system, we will turn to influential criticisms of Kant by his earliest readers (e.g., Jacobi, Schulze, Maimon) and Reinhold’s attempt to reestablish Kantian transcendental philosophy on a systematic basis. Next, we will look at Fichte’s criticisms of Reinhold and his formulation of the project of a Wissenschaftslehre. Then we will turn to Schelling’s rejection of Fichte’s allegedly ‘subjective’ system in favor of ‘identity philosophy.’ Finally, we will end with Hegel’s mature system, as presented in the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences. Questions to be considered include: What is knowledge, and how is it possible? What is metaphysics, and how is it possible? Is Kant’s transcendental philosophy consistent? Must philosophy be systematic, and if so, what form should the system of philosophy take? Should the ‘first principle’ of philosophy be subjective (the I), objective (Nature), something neither subjective nor objective (Schelling’s ‘indifference point’), or something both subjective and objective (Hegel’s pure thinking)?

Reading: TBD

Evaluation (tentative): Participation (10%), Essay 1 (25%), Essay 2 (25%), Final Exam (40%)

PHL317H1S — MARX AND MARXISM

Prof. Peter King
Thursday 10:00-13:00

An examination of some of the leading themes in the philosophy of Karl Marx. Developments of Marxist philosophy by later thinkers, and critics of Marxism, may also be considered.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL319H1S — PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Instructor: TBD
Fridays 14:00-17:00

A study of the fundamentals of psychoanalytic theory from a philosophical perspective, focusing on the works of Freud and others. Topics include mind (conscious and unconscious), instinctual drives, mechanisms of defence, the structure of personality, civilization, the nature of conscience, and the status of psychoanalysis.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL320H1F — PHENOMENOLOGY

Prof. Robert Gibbs
Mondays 11:00-12:00; Wednesdays 11:00-13:00

Phenomenology explores how the things themselves appear in consciousness, and while this is not a reduction to psychological experience, there is a series of key questions about how other people can appear as phenomena for phenomenological philosophy. That is, we face a complicated question about intersubjectivity. In several cases, that is also linked to time consciousness—not as a private psychic construction of experience, but rather as essentially related to other people.

This course will read a series of important texts in the phenomenological tradition, but we will study them in-class in student groups and so the experiment in phenomenology is the attempt to think with other people about the place of other people in phenomenology itself. Something like ‘practical research in phenomenology’—not so much to determine action, as to do philosophy with others about what that could mean.

Our readings will include works by Husserl, Stein, Heidegger, and Levinas—a set of people who collectively produced some of the texts that we read here.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL321H1F — HEIDEGGER

Prof. Dave Suarez
Wednesdays 13:00-16:00

Some work from the 1920s (either Being and Time or contemporary lectures) and selections from Heidegger’s later work on poetry, technology, and history are studied. Heidegger’s position within phenomenology and within the broader history of thought is charted.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL323H1F — SOCIAL AND CULTURAL THEORY

Prof. Willi Goetschel
Wednesdays 14:00-17:00

This course introduces to the critical thought of Georg Simmel and the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and how their critique of modernity and secularization addresses questions such as the impact of the role of art, technology, economy, culture industry, and mass media. Readings include texts by Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Benjamin, Kracauer, Fromm, and Simmel. We will look at their views on concepts such as critique, history, freedom, individuality, emancipation, culture industry, and aesthetic experience.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL325H1S — EARLY ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Cheryl Misak
Thursdays 11:00-13:00

*This is a hybrid course – there will be one hour of online asynchronous class per week*

We will discuss some of the major early analytic philosophers: Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rudolf Carnap, Frank Ramsey, and C.I. Lewis, with an eye to insights and lessons for contemporary truth theory, metaphysics, and epistemology. A theme running through the course will be: what kinds of statements (definitional, logical, mathematical, philosophical, moral, causal) are candidates for truth and falsity?

Readings: All on the course website

Evaluation: Exam I 30% in class; Exam II 30% in class; Essay 25%, due last day of classes; Class Participation 15%

PHL328H1S — METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY IN SANSKRIT PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Alessandro Graheli
Thursday 14:00-17:00

This course covers topics in Sanskrit philosophy, with a special focus on metaphysics and epistemology (and related issues in philosophy of language and logic). Students will investigate specific primary texts (in translation) and will learn how to recognize and analyze the philosophical arguments they contain. Example texts and ideas include: the Upaniṣads, the Mahābhārata, the Buddhist dialogues, the Nyāya- and Vaiśeṣika-sūtra, the works of Dignāga, and others.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL331H1F — METAPHYSICS

Prof. Yonathan Fiat
Mondays 14:00-17:00

Imagine that you build a model out of Lego blocks. Do you create something new, or do you simply reorganize things that were already there? Similarly, suppose that you carve a figurine out of a piece of wood. Do you merely expose something that was always there, or do you create a new object? In this class, we’ll discuss those and related questions regarding the metaphysics of ordinary objects. We’ll ask when, if ever, objects have parts; how, if at all, objects persist through time; and whether in addition to the ordinary objects around us, such as pens, cups, and computers, there’s a plentitude of other objects that happen to share their location. We’ll also turn those questions towards ourselves; we’ll ask if we have parts, if and how we persist through, and what, if anything, it tells us about how we ought to live our lives.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL332H1S — EPISTEMOLOGY

Prof. David Barnett
Tuesdays 11:00-13:00; Thursdays 11:00-12:00

Can you know something even if you have no evidence that it is true? Is it rational to hold political or religious beliefs that you would have rejected if you were raised in a different family or culture? In this introductory course in epistemology, we will examine these and other questions about what you really know and what you can rationally believe. In addition to these sorts of questions, we will step back and consider the general question of what it is to know something, and when and why it is rational to believe. We will even consider skepticism, the philosophical view that you do not know anything at all.

Evaluation: 30% final paper, 20% midterm exam, 25% final exam, 25% written and oral discussion participation

Reading: TBA

PHL333H1S — PUZZLES AND PARADOXES

Prof. Michael Caie
Mondays 11:00-13:00; Wednesdays 11:00-12:00

Time travel, truth, infinity, rational decision making: each of these topics gives rise to philosophical puzzles and paradoxes. In this class we’ll consider a variety of such paradoxes. Using logic and other philosophical tools, we’ll show how these paradoxes can lead to deep and important philosophical conclusions.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL337H1S — CLASSICAL CHINESE ETHICS

Instructor: TBD
Mondays 14:00-17:00

This course explores and critiques personal and social ethical ideals as presented in early Chinese Confucian, Mohist, and Daoist writings and considers their relevance to issues in contemporary ethics. Major texts discussed include the Analects, Mèngzǐ, Xúnzǐ, Mòzǐ, Dàodéjīng, and Zhuāngzǐ. Central questions examined include: What is the way (dào)? What standards can guide us in following the way? What grounds can we have for confidence that these are the correct standards? What kind of person should we strive to be? What is virtue (dé)? What values take priority in a life of virtue? How does the person of virtue act?

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prof. Michael Rosenthal
Tuesdays 11:00-13:00; Thursdays 11:00-12:00

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of some of the central questions and themes in Jewish thought and philosophy. After having discussed the problem of the relation between reason and revelation, we shall proceed topically, examining such central issues as proofs for the existence of God, the nature of miracles, the problems of free will and evil, the nature of Jewish identity, the role of Israel in Jewish life, and questions of Jewish ethics and politics. We will discuss many canonical texts and modern critiques of these views. We will ask whether catastrophic modern events, such as the Holocaust, might force us to re-evaluate the answers to central philosophical questions of religious belief formulated in earlier times. We will focus on the role of reason in Jewish life but also consider skeptical perspectives such as mysticism and gender critiques.

Evaluation: TBD

Reading: TBD

Prof. Allison Balin
Mondays 18:00-21:00

Typical issues include: the mind-brain identity theory; intentionality and the mental; personal identity.

Readings: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL341H1F — FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND HUMAN ACTION

Prof. Martin Pickave
Mondays 11:00-13:00; Wednesdays 11:00-12:00

It is a common view that responsibility presupposes freedom; that we are only responsible for those actions we were free to perform or not to perform. But what exactly does it mean to be free to do or not to do something? Do we really always have a capacity to do otherwise, and if so, in what sense do we have such a capacity? Or isn’t human action rather determined (by beliefs and desires or even by the material processes in the brain)? Maybe freedom is after all an illusion? These issues and other related topics will be the subject of this course. In examining some of the traditional answers to the questions above we will also address some core notions of moral psychology: motivation, volition, reasons for action, and weakness of will.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL341H1S — FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND HUMAN ACTION

Prof. Simona Vucu
Tuesdays 14:00-17:00

Most of us would agree that we have free will, but it is not clear what this amounts to. This course focuses on three issues that are central to contemporary discussions about how we are free. In the first part of the course, we will inquire into views about freedom that focus on the human ability to choose and whether this ability is compatible or incompatible with determinism. That is, how can we be free when everything is caused and thus determined or necessitated? In the second part, we will inquire into views about freedom that focus on our capacity to identify with the choices we make and our capacity for self-determination. We will look into how we should understand this notion of identification: for example, to what extent can we think that a person raised in a very messed up environment genuinely identifies with her choices? This scenario also raises a question about the role of other people in how we are free: we think usually that being free is something about myself alone–I am the one who identifies with her choice, I am the person who can make choices in agreement with my values, but is it possible that my relations with other people can enhance my freedom or do these relations restrict it? The core notion that these views analyze is that of autonomy. In the last part of the course, we will look closer into discussions about the conditions for being morally responsible. We will consider how responsibility is related to other people’s expectations of us and to the contexts in which we live. Especially in the second and third parts of the course, we will touch upon issues of autonomy and responsibility in conditions of oppression.

Possible grading scheme: Participation and Attendance 20%; Essay 25 %;  Midterm 25%; Final exam 30%

PHL342H1S — MINDS AND MACHINES

Prof. Dave Suarez
Tuesdays 13:00-15:00

An investigation of philosophical questions raised by contemporary cognitive science and artificial intelligence (AI). Possible topics to be addressed: whether machines could think and be conscious; the computational theory of mind; embodied cognition and the extended mind hypothesis; the “singularity”; and moral and political implications of machine learning research.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL344H1S — PHILOSOPHY OF EMOTIONS

Prof. Matthew Scarfone
Fridays 14:00-17:00

A survey of philosophical topics related to the emotions, from a range of philosophical perspectives. Questions to be considered may include the following: What exactly is an emotion? Are emotions feelings? What emotions are there, and how are they shaped by culture and society? How are emotions related to reason, the brain and the body? What role do — and should — the emotions play in decision-making? Can an emotion be morally right or wrong, and what makes it so?

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

GER345H1F — NIETZSCHE

Prof. Willi Goetschel
Tuesdays 15:00-17:00

Notorious for The Will to Power, a book he did not write but his sister put together from a stash of notes, Nietzsche presents the exemplary enfant terrible of modern philosophy. Provocation and inspiration alike, his interventions continue to be an enduring challenge to modern thought. This course examines the central ideas of his philosophy and their epistemological, cultural, and political significance.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL345H1F — INTERMEDIATE LOGIC

Instructor: TBD
Mondays 18:00-21:00

A continuation of PHL245H1, requiring no other prior knowledge of philosophy or mathematics. First-order logic, including basic metalogical results such as soundness and completeness. An introduction to basic set theory and metalogic. Topics may include the Loewenheim-Skolem theorems for first-order logic, Goedel’s incompleteness theorems.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL349H1S — SET THEORY

Instructor: TBA
Fridays 09:00-12:00

An introduction to set theory emphasizing its philosophical relevance as a unifying framework for mathematics and logic. Topics examined may include the paradoxes of the ‘naïve’ conception of sets and their resolution through axiomatization, the construction of natural numbers and real numbers in set theory, equivalents of the axiom of choice, and model theory.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL351H1F — PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

Prof. Imogen Dickie
Tuesdays and Thursdays 17:00-18:30

The nature of language as a system of human communication, theories of meaning and meaningfulness, the relation of language to the world and to the human mind.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL354H1F — PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS

Prof. Eamon Darnell
Friday 09:00-12:00

Platonism versus nominalism, the relation between logic and mathematics, implications of Gödel’s theorem, formalism and intuitionism.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL355H1F — PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Prof. Alex Koo
Tuesdays 13:00-15:00; Fridays 10:00-11:00

This course will explore some key debates in the philosophy of science that can broadly be grouped under epistemic and metaphysical issues.

Epistemic issues include questions on what the status of our scientific theories are and what our state of belief in them should be. Is the aim of science to generate true theories? Or merely useful ones? Should we believe that our best scientific theories are true, or approximately true? Or is such a belief philosophically suspect?

Metaphysical issues include questions on how to interpret what science says about the universe. What is the nature of causation? What does it mean to be a law of nature? What is a scientific explanation of a fact? Is everything just physics?

This course has a pre-reading to post-reading structure. A week will begin with a 1-hour pre-reading lecture where we will situate the weekly topic and cover all background information needed to understand the reading. Students will do the reading over several days and we will finish the week with a 2-hour discussion heavy post-reading class. A short assignment will wrap-up each week.

Readings: A selection of primary sources made available online.

Evaluation: TBD

PHL355H1S — PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Prof. Stephen Menn
Tuesdays and Thursdays 18:00-19:30

This is a course on History and Philosophy of Ancient Science, designed equally for students of philosophy, classics, the sciences, and the history of science. Graduate auditors are welcome. Each term that we teach History and Philosophy of Ancient Science (as PHL 355 to begin with, although we hope to be able to give the course its own dedicated number and catalog-listing) we will focus on a different ancient scientific discipline, usually a mathematical discipline (geometry, number theory, astronomy, mathematical music theory, optics, mechanics) although perhaps sometimes medicine. The course will normally focus on an ancient Greek discipline, but we may explore medieval through early modern Arabic and/or Latin developments from (and criticisms of) the Greek starting-point, and we may look comparatively at non-Greek (perhaps most often Babylonian) ancient developments of the same discipline. We will start by studying the science from the inside, in the way that an ancient or medieval student (up through about 1600) would have studied it; we will then pose philosophical and historical questions that such a student might not have, but we will earn the right to do that only once we have studied the science from the inside. The course (except when on medicine) will be mathematically rigorous: it will not presuppose any mathematical background beyond a good high school training, but it will depends on an ability and willingness to work through problems rigorously, and is not for people with math anxiety. The course will function best with a mix of philosophy (or classics or history of science) students who have a good basic math background and the patience to do the math, with students from math or the relevant science departments (or music when the topic is mathematical music theory) who have the patience for some old-fashioned science. In 2025-26 the topic will be a mathematical discipline: details to follow.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL356H1F — PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS

Prof. Mike Miller
Wednesdays 14:00-17:00

Introduction to philosophical issues which arise in modern physics, especially in relativity and quantum mechanics. This course will be accessible to students without a significant background in physics, but with an interest in the philosophical challenges that modern physics poses.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL357H1S — PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY

Instructor: TBD
Fridays 14:00-17:00

Philosophical issues in the foundations of biology, e.g., the nature of life, evolutionary theory; controversies about natural selection; competing mechanisms, units of selection; the place of teleology in biology; biological puzzles about sex and sexual reproduction; the problem of species; genetics and reductionism; sociobiology; natural and artificial life.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL365H1S – POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Andrew Franklin-Hall
Wednesdays 09:00-12:00

The Political Philosophy of Immigration

Immigration is one of the most urgent and polarizing issues in contemporary politics around the world. And yet it is also an issue that received little attention in the history of political philosophy. In this course, we will study three recent books on the subject: Joseph Carens, The Ethics of Immigration, David Miller, Strangers in Our Midst, and Sarah Song, Immigration and Democracy. We will ask questions like the following: Is there a right to immigrate? How much discretion to states have to control immigration and to select criteria for admission? Who should count as a refugee and what obligations do states have to admit them? Finally, what rights do new immigrants have and what responsibilities do they have to integrate into their new societies?

Readings: TBD

Marking scheme: TBD

PHL366H1F — TOPICS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Andrea Lanza
Tuesdays 09:00-12:00

Obedience, disobedience; dependence, independence

What does it mean to obey, and what does it mean to disobey? Does living in a society entail a condition of obedience and dependence? What might acts of disobedience reveal about our relationship to social norms and legal authority?

This course explores these questions through the work of Western thinkers such as Étienne de La Boétie, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Hannah Arendt, each of whom offers a distinct perspective on the dynamics of power, freedom, and civic responsibility.

Weekly readings: selected texts by La Boétie, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and Arendt will be available on Quercus.

Tentative marking scheme: TBD

PHL367H1F — PHILOSOPHY OF FEMINISM

Prof. Simona Vucu
Thursdays 10:00-13:00

In this course, we will examine some key issues in contemporary feminist philosophy. We will start with a discussion of some central concepts of feminist philosophy such as identity, oppression, and intersectionality. The rest of the course will be spent on two issues: relational autonomy and epistemic injustice. What unites these two topics is the idea that our social location determines not only what we want but also what we know, transmit to others and learn from others. Autonomy has to do with acting based on one’s own values and views: I am an autonomous being to the extent that my choices and actions reflect my own values and ideas. Feminist philosophers have questioned this understanding of autonomy because it seems to be an ideal that overlooks the situations of people under oppression. They reconceptualized autonomy in relational terms, drawing attention to how our values are constituted through our relations with other people. Epistemic injustice refers to harms done to people insofar as they are knowers. Feminist philosophy has argued that epistemic injustice is a result of systemic identity prejudice.

 Possible grading scheme: Participation and Attendance 20%; Essay 25 %;  Midterm 25%; Final exam 30%

PHL370H1F — ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW

Prof. David Dyzenhaus
Mondays 14:00-17:00

The rule of law is in peril everywhere. In the UK and the USA, it is being contested from within by influential scholars at leading law schools, notably Oxford and Harvard. This contestation often happens in the name of the ‘common good’, where the content of the common good seems to be determined by a very conservative understanding of the Catholic natural law tradition, adopted by some Canadian lawyers and judges, and which is deeply opposed to the liberal idea of autonomy–that individuals should decide for themselves about how best to live. At the same time, these scholars argue for a definition of the rule of law that excludes human rights and respect for international law. We will focus in this course on a set of debates in the UK prompted by the Rwanda Act, enacted in 2024, which required that individuals who sought asylum in the UK be rendered to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed and where they would remain even if their claims were denied.  As we will see, this concrete focus provides a terrain on which the more theoretical debates about the rule of law can be adjudicated as well as the more political debates about the common good. All readings will be posted to the course site or will be accessible on the internet.

Evaluation will be by three in class tests, each worth 20%, class participation-10%, and one term paper due on the last day of classes-30%.

Readings: TBD

PHL373H1F — ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Prof. Joseph Heath
Tuesday 14:00-17:00

Responding to Climate Change

This course will introduce students to some of the more difficult normative issues that arise in our attempts to develop an effective policy response to the problem of anthropogenic climate change. We will begin with an introduction to the basic institutional dimensions of the problem, along with the major policy options available. This will include the analysis of collective action problems, the rationale for carbon pricing, and the primary institutional mechanisms available for achieving emissions reductions. We will then focus on the two major normative issues that arise, namely, how much mitigation should be undertaken, and how the benefits and burdens of this should be distributed. Difficult questions to be addressed include: determining how we should balance the interests of present and future generations and deciding what, if any, role “historical emissions” or current economic inequality should play in determining future emission entitlements.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBD

PHL375H1F LEC 0101 – ETHICS

Prof. Allison Balin
Thursdays 10:00-13:00

An intermediate-level study of selected issues in moral philosophy, or of influential contemporary or historical works in ethical theory.

Evaluation: TBD

Reading: TBD

PHL375H1S LEC 0101 – ETHICS

Prof. Allison Balin
Mondays 10:00-13:00

An intermediate-level study of selected issues in moral philosophy, or of influential contemporary or historical works in ethical theory.

Evaluation: TBD

Reading: TBD

PHL375H1S LEC 5101 ETHICS

Prof. Jordan Thomson
Thursdays 17:00-20:00

We live our lives against a background of global poverty, much of which can be addressed or prevented by effective charities and aid organizations. Many argue that this fact implies demanding duties of beneficence on the part of the relatively well-off: instead of spending our money on stylish clothing, hobbies, and travel, they believe, we are morally obligated to give that money to charities. We will spend much of this class examining the most compelling arguments for this conclusion and the ways in which philosophers have attempted to respond to those arguments, both directly and indirectly. We will then turn to discussing the “effective altruism” movement.

Reading: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL376H1F LEC0101 — TOPICS IN MORAL PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Matthew Scarfone
Thursdays 18:00-21:00

Our topic is the ethical issues arising out of friendships, dating, marriages, and parent/child relationships. Some of the questions we will look at include: what makes someone a friend? is it problematic to have certain dating preferences? are married couples owed any unique privileges? is it wrong to have kids? do children owe anything to their parents? As we will see, relationships are full of philosophical complexity, but these issues also significantly impact everyday life. For this reason, our course will be heavy on discussion, in the hope of sparking insights that go beyond the classroom.

Evaluation:  TBD

PHL376H1F LEC0101 — TOPICS IN MORAL PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Gwen Bradford
Thursdays 13:00-16:00

This course looks at a “hot topic” in recent analytic moral philosophy: well-being and ill-being. While well-being (or happiness) is hardly a new topic for philosophers (indeed it’s one of the oldest), ill-being, its opposite, has received relatively little philosophical attention in its own right until recently. Ill-being is surprisingly complex. Is it really simply the opposite of well-being? Can a privation of the good of well-being be robustly bad? Is pain always intrinsically bad and if not, why? Readings drawn from two recent volumes of papers by contemporary analytic philosophers, all experts on the main theories of well-being.

Readings: From Ill-Being: Philosophical Perspectives (Christine Tappolet and Mauro Rossi, eds), Oxford University Press 2025; and Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. 46: Ill-Being, 2022.

Evaluation: Includes an oral presentation, midterm test, and essay.

PHL376H1S — TOPICS IN MORAL PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Shruta Swarup
Mondays 18:00-21:00

A focused examination of a selected issue in moral philosophy.

Readings: TBD

Evaluation: TBD

PHL381H1F — ETHICS AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

Prof. Cheryl Misak
Mondays 09:00-12:00

This course will examine issues in biomedical research. Topics include:

• politics and medical research
• randomized clinical trials and evidence-based medicine
• innovation versus risk
• research leading to more virulent pathogenicity
• lab leaks
• informed voluntary consent in research contexts
• the principle of equipoise in clinical trials

We will have three guest lectures/engagements, by experts in various fields, with an assignment around each guest lecture/engagement.

Readings: All on the course website

Evaluation: Assignment 1 – 25%; Assignment 2 – 25%; Assignment 3 – 25%; Test on last day of classes 25%

PHL382H1F — DEATH AND DYING

Prof. Jennifer Gibson
Thursday 14:00-17:00

An intermediate-level study of moral and legal problems, including the philosophical significance of death, the high-tech prolongation of life, the definition and determination of death, suicide, active and passive euthanasia, the withholding of treatment, palliative care and the control of pain, living wills, recent judicial decisions.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL383H1S — ETHICS AND MENTAL HEALTH

Prof. C. Dalrymple-Fraser
Tuesdays 18:00-21:00

An intermediate-level study of moral and legal problems, including the concepts of mental health and illness, mental competence, dangerousness and psychiatric confidentiality, mental institutionalization, involuntary treatment and behaviour control, controversial therapies; legal issues: the Mental Health Act, involuntary commitment, the insanity defence.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL384H1S — ETHICS, GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION

Prof. Jennifer Gibson
Thursday 14:00-17:00

An intermediate-level study of moral and legal problems, including the ontological and moral status of the human embryo and fetus; human newborn, carrier and prenatal genetic screening for genetic defect, genetic therapy; reproductive technologies (e.g., artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization); recent legislative proposals and judicial decisions.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL385H1S — AESTHETICS

Prof. Peter King
Wednesdays  13:00-16:00

Selected topics in the philosophy of art. Such issues as the following are discussed: whether different arts require different aesthetic principles; relations between art and language; the adequacy of traditional aesthetics to recent developments in the arts; art as an institution.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL388H1S — LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Rebecca Comay
Tuesdays 13:00-16:00

“Theory” and “theater” share a common root (“to see”) but their conjunction is far from simple.  Ever since Plato decided to banish the tragic poets from the city, the relations between philosophy and theater have been fraught.  This course will explore some of these frictions, starting with the question: why is philosophy so obsessed with tragedy, while philosophers themselves usually get to appear on stage only as comic characters?   As well as reading philosophical writings on theater, and reading (and viewing, to the extent possible) some plays, we will also think about the theatrical dimensions of philosophy itself.  Despite or because of the diversity of its genres (dialogue, meditation, treatise, manifesto, etc), philosophy has always entertained an uneasy relationship with its own dramaturgical conditions– its stagecraft, its protocols, its real or imaginary audience.  This will inevitably prompt us to reflect on the institutional aspects of philosophy as an academic practice and its relationship to other social practices. Authors will include: Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Nietzsche, Brecht, Benjamin, Adorno, Beckett

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL394H1F — MARKETS AND MORALS

Prof. Jordan Thomson
Tuesdays 18:00-21:00

Markets in commodities and labour significantly shape our lives in obvious and non-obvious ways. This fact raises several ethical questions that we will pursue in this class: Does respecting property rights require free markets, or should the effects of markets be controlled to mitigate the poverty of those who do not “compete” as well as others for jobs or profits? Is socialism preferable to capitalism? Does the fact that sweatshop work is better than the alternatives in places where sweatshops operate mean that sweatshop operators aren’t doing anything wrong? Are pregnancy surrogates baby sellers? Would it be wrong to sell your vote? In this class, we’ll examine these questions and related issues.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA