PHL302H5 S: The Philosophy of Aristotle
Instructor: TBD T 9-11 AM & F 10-11 AM
This course explores major themes in Aristotle’s philosophy belonging to the fields of natural philosophy, metaphysics, ethics and epistemology. Readings may include, though are not necessarily confined to, the Nicomachean Ethics, the Physics, the Metaphysics, the Categories, the Analytics and the De anima (On the soul).
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL200H5 or PHL202H5 and PHL210Y5
PHL310H5 F: Topics in 17th and 18th Century Philosophy
Instructor: Marleen Rozemond T 11 AM -1 PM & R 12-1 PM
Leibniz: monads, optimism, and peace on earth.
Leibniz is well-known for striking views in metaphysics, but he was also concerned
with social and political issues. He is famous for holding that the world ultimately
consist of mind-like, immaterial substances; monads. Bodies are not ultimately real. But why
did he think this? And why did he think this is the best of all possible worlds? Leibniz
was very modern in his political outlook. He cared deeply about reconciling various
religious factions, he condemned slavery, had a lot of respect for women philosophers,
and was keenly interested in relations with China. The course requires a 1-2 page paper
every week, a 5-7 page paper, and a 10-12 page term paper. Books: one book containing
selected philosophical writings by Leibniz. Requirements: 6 quizzes, 5 short in-class
writing assignments, midterm, term paper and term test.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL309H5 or PHL310H1 or PHL311H1 or PHL313H5
Recommended Preparation: PHL210Y5
PHL314H5 S: Kant
Instructor: TBD M 3-5 PM & W 3-4 PM
A concentrated study of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy. Topics will vary from year to year, covering issues in metaphysics and epistemology, ethics, religion, or aesthetics. This course may focus on individual texts or include selections from Kant’s canonical writings, such as the Critique of Pure Reason, the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique of Practical Reason, or the Critique of Judgment.
Prerequisites: PHL210Y5 and 0.5 additional credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL312H5 or PHLC37H3
PHL324H5 S: The Continental Tradition
Instructor: TBD T 1-3 PM & F 1-2 PM
A study of 20th century topics and figures in continental philosophy such as phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, critical theory, structuralism, and post-structuralism. Figures discussed may include Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Arendt, de Beauvoir, Fanon, Adorno and Horkheimer (the Frankfurt School), Foucault, Deleuze, Cixous, and Derrida.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL320H1 or PHL321H1
Recommended Preparation: PHL210Y5 or PHL310H5 or PHL312H5 or PHL317H5
PHL327H5 F: Later Analytic Philosophy
Instructor: Byeong-uk Yi M 11 AM -1 PM & W 11 AM -12 PM
An examination of the later analytic tradition from logical positivism to Kripke. The course will cover some of the following topics: meaning and verifiability; the relation between science and philosophy; ordinary language and philosophy; the nature and status of the analytic-synthetic distinction; meaning and theories of meaning; theories of truth; the nature of necessity; and reference and identity.
Prerequisites: PHL 245H5 and 1.5 additional credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL325H5
PHL332H5 S: Metaphysics
Instructor: Byeong-uk Yi M 11 AM -1 PM & W 10-11 AM
Typical topics: ontological categories; ontological commitment; the objectivity of space and time: causality and determinism; mind and body.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL330Y1 or PHL331H1 or PHLC60H3
PHL333H5 F: Epistemology
Instructor: Zain Raza M 3-5 PM & W 4-5 PM
Typical topics: knowledge and belief, perception, the analytic-synthetic distinction, theories of truth, necessity and the a priori.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL330Y1 or PHL332H1
PHL340H5 S: Philosophy of Mind
Instructor: Zain Raza T 10-11 AM & R 9-11 AM
Typical topics: the relationship between mind and brain; consciousness; intentionality and the mental; personal identity; the self; subjective and objective; the nature of human action.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
PHL343H5 F: Freedom and Determinism
Instructor: Philip Clark M 10-11 AM & W 9-11 AM
This course will examine the question of whether determinism is true, and to which extent and whether, determinism is compatible with the possibility that our will is free as well as the relation between freedom and responsibility. In particular, we will look at the plausibility of views such as compatibilism, hard determinism and libertarianism.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL.
Exclusions: PHL241H5
PHL345H5 S: Intermediate Logic
Instructor: Nate Charlow M 2-3 PM & W 1-3 PM
A continuation of PHL245, requiring no other prior knowledge of philosophy or mathematics. Symbolization, natural deduction, and models in polyadic predicate logic with operations and identity. Symbolization, natural deduction, and models for theories of descriptions. Introduction to metatheory, such as soundness and completeness.
Prerequisites: PHL245H5 and 1.0 credits on PHL
Exclusions: PHL345H1 and PHLC51H3
PHL346H5 S: Choice and Chance
Instructor: Jonathan Weisberg T 1-3 PM & R 1-2 PM
An intermediate level look at reasoning and decision making in the face of uncertainty. Topics may include: decision theory, game theory, social choice theory, confirmation theory, foundations of probability and statistics, puzzles of infinity and self-location, and the relationship between knowledge and uncertainty.
Prerequisites: 1.5 PHL credits
Recommended Preparation: PHL246H5 or any first course in probability/statistics/decision-making
PHL350H5 F: Philosophy of Language
Instructor: Byeong-uk Yi M 2-3 PM & W 1-3 PM
Topics may include: Different philosophical approaches to the study of language; the philosophical analysis of central notions (e.g., reference and assertion) in the theoretical description of language; the relation between thought and language; the relation between philosophy of language and other areas of theoretical inquiry (e.g., theoretical linguistics and the philosophy of logic, metaphysics, epistemology, and mind).
Prerequisites: PHL245H5 and 1.5 additional credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL351H1 or PHLC80H3
PHL354H5 F: Philosophy of Mathematics — course cancelled for Fall 2026
Instructor:
Introduction to philosophical issues that arise from mathematics. Topics may include: platonism, logicism, formalism, intuitionism, mathematical application, and mathematical realism vs nominalism. This course will be accessible to students without a significant background in mathematics, but with an interest in the philosophical challenges that mathematics poses.
Prerequisites: PHL103H5 and PHL245H5 and (0.5 credit in PHL or CSC or MAT)
Exclusions: PHL344H5 and PHL354H1
Recommended Preparation: PHL255H5
PHL355H5 S: Issues in Philosophy of Science
Instructor: TBD M 10-11 AM & W 9-11 AM
Central problems and contemporary issues. Topics may include: scientific inference and method; explanation; under-determination; the pessimistic induction; constructive empiricism; entity realism; structural realism; laws of nature.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL355H1
Recommended Preparation: PHL245H5 or PHL255H5
PHL358H5 F: Philosophical Issues in Cognitive Science
Instructor: Logan Fletcher M 5-7 PM & W 5-6 PM
This course examines philosophically controversial topics in cognitive science, such as consciousness, social cognition, communication, and reasoning in biologically and artificially intelligent systems.
Prerequisites: 1.5 additional credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL240H5
PHL360H5 S: Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
Instructor: TBD M 5-7 PM & W 5-6 PM
This course examines contemporary artificial intelligence from a philosophical perspective. Topics include: the nature of intelligence, comparisons between biological and artificial learning, linguistic understanding and grounding in foundation models, moral guidance for AI systems, and the moral status of artificial agents.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
PHL365H5 F: Issues in Political Philosophy
Instructor: Muhammad Velji T 12-1 PM & R 11 AM -1 PM
A study of work by political philosophers, typically both historical and contemporary, on topics such as justice, rights, welfare, and political authority.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL366H1
Recommended Preparation: PHL265H5 or PHL277Y5
PHL366H5 S: The Ethics of Borders and Immigration
Instructor: TBD T 12-1 PM & R 9-11 AM
In this class we will consider the moral standards that govern states rights (if any) to enforce restrictions on immigration, residency, and citizenship and peoples rights (if any) to immigrate and emigrate. Questions to be considered include: Do people have a right to move wherever they want? Do the citizens of a state have a right to choose who will be their co-nationals? Do they have a right to prefer people of particular religious, cultural, ethnic, or political persuasions? Do people have a right to leave the country in which they are born? Do countries have special obligations to refugees who are the victims of human rights violations? Are economic migrants due the same rights? Is it morally permissible to grant lesser rights to would-be migrants than native born citizens? Is it acceptable to sell the right to citizenship or permanent residency?
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL265H5 or PHL271H5 or PHL274H5 or PHL275H5
PHL367H5 F: Issues in Philosophy and Feminism
Instructor: Lindsay Robinson M 11 AM -1 PM & W 11 AM -12 PM
This course will examine selected philosophical topics in feminism, such as multiculturalism and women’s rights, feminist epistemologies, ethics of care, the intersection between sexism and other forms of oppression, pornography.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL267H5 or PHL274H5 or PHL277Y5
PHL368H5 S: The Ethics and Political Philosophy of Historical Injustice
Instructor: TBD M 12-1 PM & W 11 AM -1 PM
This course examines issues in the ethics and political philosophy of historical injustice. What constitutes historical injustice? Is all historical injustice culpable? Can historical injustice be remedied justly, or does remedying historical injustice require perpetrating at least some injustice now? If the victims and perpetrators of historical injustice are no longer around, how can justice be served? Who should benefit from remedying historical injustice, and who should pay?
Prerequisites: PHL265H5 or PHL275H5 and 1.0 PHL credits
PHL370H5 F: Issues in Philosophy of Law
Instructor: Muhammad Velji T 3-5 PM & F 3-4 PM
A study of major issues in the philosophy of law such as the nature of law, responsibility and punishment, the obligation to obey the law, and the moral underpinnings of particular areas of law (e.g. criminal, tort, contract).
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL271H5 or PHL277Y5
PHL370H5 S: Issues in Philosophy of Law
Instructor: TBD T 5-8 PM
A study of major issues in the philosophy of law such as the nature of law, responsibility and punishment, the obligation to obey the law, and the moral underpinnings of particular areas of law (e.g. criminal, tort, contract).
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Recommended Preparation: PHL271H5 or PHL277Y5
PHL374H5 F: Issues in Normative Ethics
Instructor: Sergio Tenenbaum T 1-3 PM & R 1-2 PM
Normative Ethics concerns general questions about what makes actions right or wrong. Topics include, among others, the plausibility of various ethical theories such as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, and questions about the moral significance of distinctions such as doing vs allowing and intending vs foreseeing.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL375H5 or PHL376H1 or PHLC05H3 or PHLC06H3
Recommended Preparation: PHL275H5 or PHL277Y5
PHL376H5 F: Issues in Metaethics
Instructor: Fermin Fulda M 1-3 PM & W 2-3 PM
Metaethics concerns the place of values in the world, and the status of ethics as a field of inquiry. Topics may include: the objectivity of morality; moral psychology; the possibility of ethical knowledge; and meanings of ethical concepts.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL375H5 or PHLC05H3 or PHLC06H3
PHL388H5 S: Philosophy and Literature
Instructor: Owen Ware M 2-3 PM & W 1-3 PM
This course examines how literature raises fundamental philosophical questions about human existence. We will study how writers explore the struggle between good and evil, the dangers of pride and ambition, and the human desire for knowledge and power. Central themes include our wish to be god-like, the difficulty of finding lasting fulfillment, and the crisis of meaning that arises when human limits become clear. The course also considers the problem of theodicy: how the existence of evil can be understood in relation to an all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing deity. Key texts include Goethe’s Faust I, Byron’s Manfred and Cain, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, works that stage the dangers of unchecked ambition and the mystery of human evil. To enrich our engagement, we will also watch Guillermo del Toro’s new film adaptation of Frankenstein (2025). Students will learn to read literature as philosophy in narrative form, analyze symbols and archetypes, and trace how stories of striving and downfall reveal possibilities for personal transformation and growth in the face of despair.
Prerequisites: 1.5 credits in PHL
Exclusions: PHL388H1
