What is the right thing to do? What makes a life good? The purpose of this course is to critically examine some of the key theoretical approaches to answering these questions. We will focus on three main ethical theories: (1) virtue ethics, which focuses on the importance of good character; (2) utilitarianism, which focuses on promoting the happiness of all; and (3) Kantianism, which focuses on an agent's reasons for acting. We will also discuss contemporary alternatives to and criticisms of these traditions.

This course develops a symbolic system that can be used as the basis for inference in all fields. It will provide syntax and semantics for the language of this system and investigate its adequacy. It provides the basis for all further work in logic or in the philosophical foundations of mathematics. Much of the course has a mathematical flavor, but no knowledge of mathematics is necessary.

Modernity has brought with it scientific and technological wonders, but it has also uprooted millennia-old convictions about God, morality, and humanity's place in the universe. In a secular society, how should we choose which values to adopt, or what path in life we should follow? How can we be authentic or true to ourselves in a culture that rewards conformity? What, moreover, is the meaning of life? Existentialism, a philosophical movement that flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, is unique in trying to provide answers to these questions.

This course focuses on the relationship between minds and bodies (the 'mind-body problem'), and the nature of mental phenomena. We will discuss the nature of mental features such as thoughts, sensations, emotions and consciousness, and consider their relationship to the seemingly unthinking, unfeeling, grey matter of the brain. We will read some historical responses to these issues but will focus on insights provided by contemporary philosophy and sciences of the mind, including neuroscience.

Intended for advanced Film, Media, Theater students, this course will explore fictional narrative filmmaking through a rigorous script-to-screen process. Students will write, shoot and edit a short fictional narrative film in small groups. In addition to weekly screenings of short and feature narrative films, the class will consist of lectures on advanced narrative filmmaking techniques, working with actors, film discussions, script readings and critiques of footage and various cuts.

This course take students through the theatrical process of creating clothing and accessories for the stage. Topics covered are hand sewing techniques, working from commercial patterns, and basic pattern drafting and draping.

Intended for advanced film/video production students, this course will focus on the cinematic directorial skills needed for a successful collaboration with actors. Through discussions, exercises, film director workshops and audition/casting sessions, students will cast, rehearse and shoot short scenes (both original and adapted) from an array of cinematic genres. We will build upon our skills of script and character analysis and creating dramatic conflict. Though we will be collaborating with theater student actors, all students in the class will be expected to direct as well as act.

An introduction to the art and practice of lighting and sound design for the theater. This course will cover the basic tools and techniques of designing light and sound and provide an understanding of the designer's role in the collaborative process of producing a show. Students will have the opportunity to create their own lighting and sound designs in the Black Box classroom and present them to the class.

This is a projects-based course, taught by faculty in film/video production, theater, and media, which builds towards a final presentation of one large-scale project involving all members of the class. The course will draw on and build skills students have developed in their respective foci in the FMT major. For example, students might create a film in multiple parts, a multi-media performance which could include live performance, projected image, and interactive sound, or a hybrid play with projected images.

This course offers an historical survey of film theory, from the work of its earliest authors and practitioners at the birth of the 20th century (who first struggled to define the medium), to those who are working still to elucidate the place of the cinema in relation to new media in its ever-evolving and ever more complex place in culture. As a way of focusing the discussion of the various theoretical positions, we will watch and discuss films that represent that most modern of phenomena--the city.