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: Women and Early 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:
Wittgenstein and Carnap
Instructor: Dr. Katalin Bimbó TR 11:00-12:20
Ludwig Wittgenstein and Rudolf Carnap were two highly influential philosophers in the 20th century. This course will focus on some of their main works such as Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations and Carnap's Meaning and Necessity. We will read and attempt to understand these and other primary texts, and then try to trace their impact in the sciences and within philosophy.
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 436/536 Topics in Medieval Philosophy/ Topics in Medieval Philosophy: John Buridan: Philosophy and Science in the 14th Century
Instructor: Dr. Jack Zupko TR 12:30-13:50
John Buridan (c. 1300-61) was a philosopher active at the University of Paris in the second and third quarters of the 14th century. Unusually for a philosopher of his reputation, he remained a teaching Master in the Faculty of Arts for his entire career, never moving on to seek a higher, doctoral degree in the Faculties of Theology, Medicine, or Law. Over the course of his 30+ years teaching Aristotle to undergraduates, he both challenged and developed the Aristotelian curriculum in logic, metaphysics, natural philosophy, and ethics, as well as contributing original solutions to longstanding philosophical problems. Along the way, he also advanced – perhaps unintentionally at first but then quite explicitly – the idea of philosophy as a secular enterprise, distinct from theology and worthy of study in its own right. We will read and discuss a range of texts (in translation) from Buridan’s philosophical corpus, creating a picture of philosophical inquiry in the later Middle Ages which, as we’ll see, can also be described as proto-modern.
Requirements: seminar presentation + short discussion paper; longer research paper written in two drafts.
PHIL 450/550: Topics in Ethics / Moral Philosophy
Well-Being, Tradeoffs, and the Structure of Ethical Theory
Instructor: Howard Nye
Much important recent work in ethics depends upon pressing theoretical questions about what we should prioritize in trying to minimize harm to others and trying to promote their well-being. In this class we will examine these issues, including
- The nature of well-being, including what well-being consists in and what kinds of factors affect the extent to which an individual can be better- or worse-off ;
- How from an impartial perspective we should trade-off the well-being of different individuals, including whether we should give priority to those who are worse-off and whether small benefits to many can outweigh large benefits to a few;
- Topics in population ethics about our reasons to promote the well-being of those who do or will exist in relation to those who might or might not exist depending upon what we do; and
- Questions about the form an ethical theory should take, including whether it should recommend a practical decision procedure that takes into account not only an ideal criterion of rightness but also the cognitive and motivational limitations of real-world agents; and how the theory should prioritize (or de-prioritize) and understand evaluations of acts as morally wrong to perform.