Quantitative Approaches

Science blends physical knowledge with mathematical knowledge. This blending changes the meaning attached to math and even the way mathematical equations are interpreted. Learning to think about physics with math involves a number of scientific thinking skills that are rarely taught in introductory classes. Students in this course explicitly learn and practice these skills through individual and group work in a small class setting. Students are recommended for this course on the basis of a short placement test available before registration and again at the start of classes.

Living Physics II

Second semester of an algebra-based introductory physics course with an emphasis on biological and chemical systems. Topics include: thermal energy, enthalpy and Gibbs free energy; probability and the Boltzmann distribution; electric fields, capacitance and potential differences across cell membranes; electric currents and charge flow, including electrical properties of nerve cells; oscillations and waves, including biochemical oscillations; the ray model of light and optics; the wave model of light and the electromagnetic spectrum; the photon model of light, including fluorescence.

Living Physics II

Second semester of an algebra-based introductory physics course with an emphasis on biological and chemical systems. Topics include: thermal energy, enthalpy and Gibbs free energy; probability and the Boltzmann distribution; electric fields, capacitance and potential differences across cell membranes; electric currents and charge flow, including electrical properties of nerve cells; oscillations and waves, including biochemical oscillations; the ray model of light and optics; the wave model of light and the electromagnetic spectrum; the photon model of light, including fluorescence.

Sem:T-Consciousness&Abnormal

This course examines the nature of consciousness, emphasizing the challenges abnormal states of the brain present for the understanding of consciousness. Questions raised include: What is consciousness and its nature? Can consciousness be shared between individuals? Can consciousness be divided within an individual? In answering these questions, students engage with leading theories of mind and self.

T-Feminist PHI of Language

Feminist philosophy of language in the analytic tradition seeks to understand how language may contribute to gendered patterns of oppression. It also proposes interventions to disrupt that oppression. This class surveys major topics in feminist philosophy of language, for example, the semantics of generics like "man" or "woman," the meaning of slurs, the silencing effects of speech, the influence of gendered metaphor, the grammatical encoding of gender into natural language, and more. Students read both foundational and contemporary works of analytic philosophy.

Intro Philos of Law

This is an introductory course to the field of philosophy of law. This course introduces students to both contemporary legal theory and a critical philosophical approach to the law from a decolonial and critical race theory. The course is structured into three parts: investigating the nature of law; studying the connection of normative notions (e.g., "authority," "rights," and "powers") with the realm of morality; and focusing on issues of race and the law, and alternative conceptions of property rights. Enrollment limited to 30.

Sex and Love

What is sex? What is love? How are sex and love integral to the experience as a human being? This course serves as an exploration of historical and contemporary philosophical perspectives of sex and love through ethics, social and political philosophy, phenomenology, existentialism, and feminist and queer theory. The course investigates central philosophical debates surrounding consent, pornography, gay marriage, friendship, the nature and meaning of sex, and motherhood.

Philosophy of Education

Ideas about the aims, guiding concepts, and practice of education are broad and constantly evolve due to human experiences in educational contexts. This introduction to the philosophy of education addresses questions including: What are the overall goals of education? What are the social, cultural, moral, and political influences on education? Can the process of education be liberatory? The course explores these questions with special attention to ethical, epistemological, existential, and decolonial philosophical perspectives.

Intro Latin American PHI

This course provides a survey of different Latin American philosophical traditions and figures. Against some regimes of knowledge that doubt whether or not such philosophy does exist or could have its own status, the course considers from the very beginning the existence of a Latin American philosophy in its own right and its contributions to theorizing about the very idea of philosophy.

Ethics

An examination of the works of some major moral theorists of the Western philosophical tradition and their implications for understanding the nature of the good life and the sources and scope of moral responsibilities. Enrollment limited to 30.
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