PHL200H5 F – Ancient Philosophy
Instructor: TBD T R 12-1 PM
Though philosophy had no single beginning in place or in time, we use the ancient Greek term, ‘philosophy’, meaning the love of wisdom, because of the explosion of intellectual activity that began in the Greek-speaking world in the 6th century BCE and persisted for centuries thereafter. The terms ‘metaphysics’ ‘ethics’ and ‘logic’, which remain part of the common language of philosophy, were likewise derive from language first used by the ancient Greek philosophers Our introduction to this flourishing and influential era in the history of philosophy will concentrate on the ideas and arguments of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, which we will approach through the careful study of selected readings from the writing of the latter two. (Because Plato had much to say about his teacher and inspiration, Socrates, who wrote nothing himself, his dialogues also serve to acquaint us with Socrates’ ideas, and because these philosophers were engaged with the ideas of their predecessors, the so-called pre-Socratics, we shall also pay some attention to the ideas of thinkers like Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Parmenides and Democritus.)
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHL200Y5 or PHL202H5 or PHLB31H3
PHL204H5 F – Philosophy in Everyday Life
Instructor: TBD M 5-7 PM & W 5-6 PM
This one-semester course covers philosophical topics that most people talk about, or at least think about, in their everyday lives,—e.g., during conversations with friends, or while watching the news, or when deciding how to vote in an election. Such topics include, for example, the difference between art and pornography, the possibility of life after death, the evolution vs. creationism debate, the ethics of abortion and doctor-assisted suicide, and the possibility of intelligent robots. Each topic will be introduced via relevant public/social media, AI and other popular sources and then pursued in several accessible readings from the philosophical literature. A shared “library” of readings for the course will be built up by the instructors and students and updated as new issues of popular interest arise.
Note: PHL204H5 does not count for credit toward any minor, major, or specialist program in philosophy, but can be taken to fulfill the Humanities breadth/ distribution requirement.
PHL204H5 S – Philosophy in Everyday Life
Instructor: TBD W 9-10 AM & F 9-11 AM
This one-semester course covers philosophical topics that most people talk about, or at least think about, in their everyday lives,—e.g., during conversations with friends, or while watching the news, or when deciding how to vote in an election. Such topics include, for example, the difference between art and pornography, the possibility of life after death, the evolution vs. creationism debate, the ethics of abortion and doctor-assisted suicide, and the possibility of intelligent robots. Each topic will be introduced via relevant public/social media, AI and other popular sources and then pursued in several accessible readings from the philosophical literature. A shared “library” of readings for the course will be built up by the instructors and students and updated as new issues of popular interest arise.
Note: PHL204H5 does not count for credit toward any minor, major, or specialist program in philosophy, but can be taken to fulfill the Humanities breadth/ distribution requirement.
PHL210Y5 Y – 17th and 18th Century Philosophy
Instructor: TBD T 12-1 PM & R 10-11 AM
17th and 18th century discussions of topics like causation, knowledge, mind-body dualism in philosophers like René Descartes, Princess Elisabeth, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Anne Conway, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Émilie du Chatelêt, David Hume, Immanuel Kant.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHLB35H3
Recommended Preparation: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5
PHL218H5 S: Philosophy of Mythology
Instructor: TBD M 11 AM -1 PM & W 11-12 PM
“Love makes the world go round,” as the saying goes. But what is love? This course will provide an introduction to myths of love that have influenced philosophers, poets, and artists up to the present day. We’ll begin with Plato’s dialogue, the Symposium, which offers a rich account of both the mythology and philosophy of love in ancient Greek times. We’ll then move to Dante’s Christian account of love presented in The New Life from the High Middle Ages, which introduces the idea of the divine feminine and eternal love in human form. In a final section, we’ll turn to the tradition of German Romanticism in the late nineteenth century, which blends together both Greek and Christian conceptions of love in a new synthesis. This will bring us to two major works of philosophical fiction, Tieck’s Franz Sternbald’s Wanderings and Novalis’s Heinrich von Ofterdingen. Through close readings of these texts, students in this course will discover why love has remained one of the most powerful and transformative ideas in Western intellectual history.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits
PHL220H5 F – Existentialism
Instructor: TBD W 2-3 PM & F 1-3 PM
An introduction to existential themes in philosophy. Topics will vary from year to year, including the search for meaning, the purpose of life, faith, freedom, death, sexuality, art, and the imagination. Philosophical texts may be supplemented with literature, poetry, and film.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHLB30H3
PHL237H5 S: Introduction to East Asian Philosophy
Instructor: TBD M 1-2 PM & W 1-3 PM
An introduction to the main systems of East Asian philosophy, including Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Neo-Confucianism; the challenge of Western thought; the development of modern East Asian Philosophy.
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits
Exclusions: EAS241H1 and PHL237H1
PHL239H5 F – Critical Reasoning
Instructor: TBD T 1-3 PM & F 1-2 PM
The purpose of this course is to help you get good at reasoning critically in your everyday life. By the end of this course, you will have the tools to distinguish between good arguments and bad ones; determine the acceptability and adequacy of the reasons that people use to support their conclusions; recognize common errors in reasoning; and thoughtfully reconstruct the arguments of others. Topics include criteria for the critical assessment of arguments as logically strong or merely persuasive; different types of argument and techniques of refutation; and their use and abuse.
Exclusions: ( PHL145H5 and PHL247H5) or TRN200Y1
PHL239H5 S – Critical Reasoning
Instructor: TBD M 3-5 PM & W 4-5 PM
The purpose of this course is to help you get good at reasoning critically in your everyday life. By the end of this course, you will have the tools to distinguish between good arguments and bad ones; determine the acceptability and adequacy of the reasons that people use to support their conclusions; recognize common errors in reasoning; and thoughtfully reconstruct the arguments of others. Topics include criteria for the critical assessment of arguments as logically strong or merely persuasive; different types of argument and techniques of refutation; and their use and abuse.
Exclusions: ( PHL145H5 and PHL247H5) or TRN200Y1
PHL240H5 F – Minds and Machines
Instructor: TBD Times M 1-3 PM & W 1-2 PM
Can machines think and feel? Are human beings simply very complicated organic machines? These questions are discussed in the light of recent work on the simulation of intelligence and purposive behaviour.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHL342H5 or PHLB81H3
PHL241H5 F: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Instructor: TBD T 1-3 PM & R 1-2 PM
This course examines ethical issues relating to artificial intelligence (AI), such as algorithmic bias, explainability and accountability in AI decision-making, trust in AI systems, relationships between humans and AI, the effects of AI on human labour, and the alignment between AI and human values.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits
Exclusions: PHLB18H3
PHL244H5 S – Human Nature
Instructor: TBD W 12-1 PM & F 11 AM -1 PM
Theories of human nature, e.g., psychoanalysis, behaviourism, sociobiology. Current issues, e.g., egoism and altruism, instincts, I.Q., rationality, sanity and mental illness.
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL105Y5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHLB91H3
PHL245H5 F – Modern Symbolic Logic
Instructor: TBD W 11 AM -1 PM & F 1-2 PM
Modern Symbolic Logic is a technical course in first-order logic. Students will learn the meaning of logical symbols and develop the skills for performing derivations in both sentential and predicate logic. We will begin with truth tables of basic logical operators and end with polyadic predicates, identity, and operations. Mastering these tools foster critical thinking skills, lead to a precise understanding of natural language, and result in better reading and writing skills. All of these skills are essential to the practice of philosophy and other academic disciplines, critical for excelling on standardized tests such as the LSAT, and are useful in everyday life.
Exclusions: PHL245H1 and PHLB50H3
PHL245H5 S – Modern Symbolic Logic
Instructor: TBD In Person T 1-3 PM & F 3-4 PM; Online W 1-3 pm & F 3-4 PM
Modern Symbolic Logic is a technical course in first-order logic. Students will learn the meaning of logical symbols and develop the skills for performing derivations in both sentential and predicate logic. We will begin with truth tables of basic logical operators and end with polyadic predicates, identity, and operations. Mastering these tools foster critical thinking skills, lead to a precise understanding of natural language, and result in better reading and writing skills. All of these skills are essential to the practice of philosophy and other academic disciplines, critical for excelling on standardized tests such as the LSAT, and are useful in everyday life.
Exclusions: PHL245H1 and PHLB50H3
PHL246H5 S – Probability and Inductive Logic
Instructor: TBD T R 11 AM-12 PM
The elements of axiomatic probability theory, and its main interpretations (frequency, logical, subjective). Reasoning with probabilities in decision making and science.
PHL255H5 F – Philosophy of Science
Instructor: TBD T 11 AM -1 PM & R 10-11 AM
This course is an introduction to contemporary topics in the philosophy of science which serves as preparation for more advanced study in general philosophy of science and philosophy of the particular sciences. Topics may include the rise and fall of logical positivism, the problem of demarcation, falsificationism, confirmation, the connection between theory and observation, the value free ideal, and the epistemic authority of scientists.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHL252H5 or PHL255H1 or PHLC72H3
PHL258H5 S – Puzzles and Paradoxes
Instructor: TBD M 11 AM -12 PM & W 3-5 PM
Philosophy often begins with a puzzle or paradox. Zeno of Elea seemed to give a convincing argument that motion was impossible, but people continue to move. The “liar’s paradox” seems to show that everything is both true and false, but that cannot be right. In this course, we will examine how puzzles and paradoxes drive philosophical inquiry into their solutions.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHLB55H3
Recommended Preparation: PHL245H5
PHL265H5 F – Social and Political Philosophy
Instructor: TBD M W 10-11 AM
A survey of the major political theorists/theories. Questions to be addressed include: Why obey the law? What is justice? What is the best form of government?
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL105Y5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHL277Y5 or PHLB16H3 or PHLB17H3
PHL271H5 S – Ethics and the Law
Instructor: TBD T R 10-11 AM
Moral issues in the law, such as civil liberties and police powers, censorship, civil disobedience, the death penalty, inequality, paternalism and the constitutional protection of human rights. Case studies from Canadian law.
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL105Y5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHLB11H3
PHL273H5 F – Environmental Ethics
Instructor: TBD W 9 AM -1 PM & F 9 AM – 10 AM
Environmental ethics is a relatively new development in philosophical thinking which focuses on the ethical and value questions arising from our relation to nature. Focal question of the area asks: Is the non-human world of ethical significance only insofar as it is connected with human well-being, or is ethically significant in itself? This course investigates and evaluates anthropocentrism, ecofeminism and radical biocentric theories of the deep ecologists.
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL105Y5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHLB02H3
PHL274H5 S – Ethics and Society
Instructor: TBD T 11 AM -12 PM & R 12-1 PM
The course explores ethical problems posed by social issues such as inequality, poverty, war, corporate responsibility, the treatment of animals, and social media, against the background of major ethical and political theories.
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL105Y5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
PHL283H5 S – Bioethics
Instructor: TBD M 11 AM -1 PM & W 12-1 PM
We will explore ethical questions that arise in health care, many of which students in the class can expect to face at some point in their lives whether as patients, medical practitioners, or family decision makers. These include the following topics: What counts as a fair allocation of health-care resources? What are the responsibilities that health care providers and recipients of health care have to one another? What counts as death? Is assisted dying ever appropriate? What ethical issues are raised by the availability and use of reproductive technologies on the one hand, and abortion and maternal-fetal conflict on the other? Is it appropriate to devote considerable resources to organ transplantation when other kinds of health care go unfunded? When organ transplants are available, who should receive them?
Prerequisites: PHL101H5 or PHL102H5 or PHL103H5 or PHL105Y5 or PHL113H5 or 4.0 credits.
Exclusions: PHL281Y1 or PHL281H1 or PHLB09H3
