400/500 level
Courses at the 400 level (often taught in conjunction with 500 level graduate courses) are smaller topics seminars. They allow students to engage in sustained conversations around more specialized topics and pursue original avenues of research. Most 400 and 500-level topics courses may be taken more than once if the course content is different from year to year, or section to section.
To enroll in a course at the 400 level, you must have complete 6 credits in philosophy, 3 of which must be at the 200 level or higher.
Fall 2025
PHIL 442/546: Topics in 17th- and 18th-Century Philosophy /Topics in Modern Philosophy
Instructor: Dr. Amy Schmitter T 14:00-16:50
The 17th and 18th centuries in Europe saw an explosion in the number of women working in philosophy, sometimes in unusual formats, as well as much (proto-)feminist work seeking to expand women’s educational and intellectual opportunities. This course will examine the work of a number of early modern women and feminist philosophers, covering topics in philosophy of mind, education, emotions, social and political philosophy, metaphysics, religion, and philosophy of science. Throughout, we will try to identify the main questions and theme of their works, and how they relate to their broad intellectual contexts. We will also consider how and to what degree women, sex and gender were themes of philosophic discussion. Besides the inherent interest of these works, we will look at them to shed light on various meta-historical questions: did women practice philosophy in ways distinctively different from men? How have the “canons” of philosophy changed over time? In what ways is our understanding of the main currents of philosophy shaped by a sex-selective history? How might sex and class intersect in forming different institutions for the practice of philosophy?
PHIL 446/547 Early Analytic Philosophy/Topics in 20 th Century Philosophy
Instructor: Dr. Katalin Bimbó TR 11:00-12:20
PHIL 492/547 Topics in Phenomenology/ Topics in Phenomenology: Feminist and Queer Phenomenology
Instructor: Dr. Kim Q. Hall W 14:00-16:50
This course offers an advanced introduction to two important areas in critical phenomenology: feminist and queer phenomenology. Themes discussed will include embodiment, intersubjectivity, orientation, temporality, otherness, precarity, normalization, power, and privilege.
PHIL 470/570—Topics in Social and Political Philosophy / Social and Political Philosophy: Latin American Philosophy
Instructor: Dr. Jorge Sanchez Perez M 14:00-16:50
In this seminar, students will be introduced to some of the main debates in Latin American Philosophy, a relatively new field of study in Western Philosophy. The discussions will include topics such as the philosophical identity of Latin American thought, colonialism, imperialism, race, and domination.
Winter 2026
PHIL 400/500: Metaphysics/Topics in Metaphysics: Causation
Instructor: Dr. Philip Corkum T 14:00-16:50
Little could be more familiar in our day to day lives than causation. We are continuously bumping into things, trying to avoid bumping into things, praising our friends for their influence on us, blaming our friends for their influence on us, and so on. But causation is weird. Case in point: I say that my not watering the plants caused them to die – but if my not watering the plants is an event at all, it’s nowhere near the plants. A second example: Caesar’s birth and his assassination are both parts of the same causal chain of Caesar’s life leading to his death – but while we might say that Brutus’ stabbing caused Caesar’s death, we don’t say that Caesar’s birth caused his death. This is a seminar on causation. We’ll begin by quickly surveying the historical background and contemporary theories of causation. We’ll then study a variety of problem cases for these theories. Finally, we’ll discuss some of my work in progress. Students will gain both greater facility with the techniques of contemporary philosophy and exposure to a broad range of issues in metaphysics.
PHIL 405/505: Topics in Philosophy of Mind/Philosophy of Mind: Dennett’s Dangerous Ideas
Instructor: Dr. Luke Kersten TR 11:00-12:20
Daniel C. Dennett (1942 – 2024) stands tall in contemporary philosophy and cognitive science. He is remembered by many as one the most prominent and influential thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries. From the nature of the mind to the origins of life and meaning, there were few questions and topics to which Dennett did not apply his philosophical talents. This course will provide an in-depth and systematic exploration of Dennett’s impressive legacy, beginning with his early work on consciousness and content and ending with his work on free will and artificial intelligence.
PHIL 412/510 Topics in Philosophy of Science/ Philosophy of Science: Biological and Social Kinds
Instructor: Dr. Ingo Brigandt TR 12:30-13:50
In this seminar, we will take a look at different concrete kinds (categories) from the biological, biomedical, and social sciences. We will especially address kinds that include a mutual influence of biological and social factors, which one therefore could call ‘biosocial kinds’ or ‘human kinds,’ when they classify humans. Examples to be covered include sex, gender, race, emotions, and mental disorders. The general philosophical issues we will address are natural vs. nominal kinds, realism vs. social constructivism, essentialism about kinds, different types of kinds, how kinds and classification in the social sciences differ from the biological sciences, and whether scientific ontology (a scientific account of something as a kind) is dependent on human aims and values.
PHIL 450/550: Topics in Ethics/Moral Philosophy
Instructor: Howard Nye