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Consideration of issues that arise when one thinks philosophically about religion. These include arguments for the existence of God, the need (or lack of need) for such arguments, the divine attributes, the problem of evil, the nature of religious experience, and the relation of religion to science.

This course will offer systematic examination of a variety of philosophical issues raised by the existence of gender roles in human society: Is the existence or content of such roles determined by nature? Are they inherently oppressive? How does the category gender interact with other socially significant categories, like race, class, and sexual orientation? What would gender equality look like? How do differences among women complicate attempts to generalize about gender?

Selected topics from the philosophy of physics and (perhaps) the philosophy of biology. Philosophy of physics topics may include: is the geometry of space a matter of convention? Do space and time exist? Is there action at a distance? Philosophy of biology topics may include: Is "survival of the fittest" a tautology? Does the theory of evolution show that altruism is impossible? Is Intelligent Design a scientific theory? Along the way we will also discuss more general questions in the philosophy of science about the nature of scientific theories and scientific explanation.

This course addresses central questions in contemporary epistemology concerning the nature of knowledge and justification, the 'a priori'; perceptual knowledge; and skepticism.

This course examines some answers philosophers have given to important questions in metaphysics, including: Why is there something rather than nothing? Do we have free will? Could we survive tele-transportation?

An introduction to the main themes of Existentialism through seminal writing by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. (Gen.Ed. AL)

An introduction to the main themes of Existentialism through seminal writing by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. (Gen.Ed. AL)

Consideration of British and American philosophy in roughly the first half of the 20th century. Topics include philosophical analysis, logical form, logical atomism, logical positivism, and "the linguistic turn" in philosophy. Readings include works by Russell, Wittgenstein, Moore, Austin, Ayer, and others.

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