Philosophy is the endeavour to understand the basic questions that arise
for us in our world, and to formulate this understanding in a critical manner.
Traditionally, these questions have touched upon what can be known, what can be valued,
what our own position is socially and individually- above all, how we can know what we
think we know.
The Department believes that careful study of the great works of the past
and present provides the best access to philosophical questions. Thus many of our courses
concentrate the student on developments in the history of philosophy, from the sixth
century B.C. to the twentieth century. Courses in logic, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of
science and the philosophy of mind examine special issues in these developments and are
compared to the formulation of these same issues in Asian philosophy.
The study of
philosophy invites critical and imaginative consideration of the questions themselves.
Only thereby can the student learn to appreciate their force, and the variety of responses to
them. Since philosophical questions are deeply imbedded in the development of western
civilization, one can study philosophy in conjunction with a wide range of other
disciplines. Moreover, our students have found it a useful background for subsequent
endeavours in fields such as law, civil service, medicine, theology, and further graduate
study.
The Humanities 1600-series is intended to provide an introduction to
Humanities disciplines. These three-credit courses offered by the participating disciplines
of Classics, History, Philosophy and Religious Studies are designed to acquaint beginning
students with the methodologies typical of these disciplines and to familiarize them with
the approaches taken, as well as the sorts of themes pursued and questions raised in these
disciplines.
Note: The listing of a course in the Calendar is not a guarantee that the
course is offered every year.
Note: Students must obtain a grade of at least C- in all courses used to
fulfill prerequisite requirements. Otherwise, written permission of the
appropriate Department Head or Program Co-ordinator must be obtained.
PHIL 1601 (3CR)
PLATO'S REPUBLIC
Format: lecture 3 hours
A study of Plato's The Republic can serve as an introduction to almost all the
issues that are central to our western philosophical tradition. The problems of virtue
(temperance, courage, wisdom), justice, order (social, political and cosmological),
knowledge, the nature of the psyche, beauty, and of reality in general will all arise in
the study of this text, providing a good basis for discussion.
PHIL 1611 (3CR)
IMAGES OF THE SELF
Format: lecture 3 hours
Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1611 previously offered with a different title
An inquiry into the meaning of the word 'person', drawing on cultural theory, contemporary film, and
key moments in the western philosophical tradition. Issues to be discussed may include self-identity
and self-fragmentation, freedom and responsibility, the role of myth and symbol in self-knowledge,
individuation, otherness, and religious experience.
PHIL 1651 (3CR)
THE CHANGING IMAGE OF NATURE
Format: lecture 3 hours
Our intellectual heritage is laced with shifting and conflicting attitudes towards
"Nature" which impact everything from how we can come to know about nature,
scientifically, to ethical implications for how human beings relate to other natural
beings. This course will use readings from the history of western philosophy, especially
from the early modern era, to assess the extent to which we have inherited these
convictions or developed alternatives to them.
PHIL 2401 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY AESTHETICS
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from the Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the
Department
An introduction to the idea of beauty in such thinkers as Plato, Aquinas, Kant, and
Heidegger. Topics to be discussed include the relationship of beauty to truth, the experience
of the sublime, and the philosophy of art.
PHIL 2511 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the
Department
Successful science claims to give us knowledge of what exists in the universe, and
it claims to explain why what happens in a given localized system happens. The italicized
words in the last sentence indicate philosophical assumptions within science which this
course will explore. Based on historical cases, philosophical interpretations will be
compared from logical positivism to Kuhnian paradigms, and the most recent critiques from
social constructivism and feminism.
PHIL 2611 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department
Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 2611 previously offered with a different title, PHIL 2621
A general introduction to the study of logic. The course will begin by examining
the basic structure of arguments, common reasoning fallacies, and issues central to inductive
and deductive reasoning. Further topics may include Mill's methods, syllogistic reasoning, Venn diagrams,
truth tables, sentential logic, and an introduction to quantification theory.
PHIL 2701 (3CR)
INTRODUCTORY ETHICS
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the
Department
An introduction to the history and philosophical problems of ethics in the western
tradition. This will acquaint the student with a number of received traditions based on
metaphysical, religious, rational, and pragmatic grounds, as well as introduce certain
fundamental perennial problems of moral decision-making.
PHIL 2801 (3CR)
INTRODUCTION TO METAPHYSICS
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the
Department
An introduction to the study of metaphysics understood broadly as the study of the
fundamental nature of reality. This will include the study of various themes including
the nature of substance, divinity, causation, appearance and reality, the one and the
many, mind and matter.
PHIL 3000 (6CR)
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the
Department
The issues which develop before and with Plato establish the framework for all
subsequent philosophic reflection. This course will examine some of these issues as they
appeared prior to Plato and will employ these "pre-Socratics" as an entry into Plato's
philosophy. Subsequently, aspects of Aristotle's thought will be explored as alternatives
to and developments of Plato's philosophy.
PHIL 3221 (3CR)
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: THE RATIONALIST TRADITION
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the
Department
An investigation of the leading seventeenth century continental thinkers who
formulated the great a priori systems. The capacity and function of human reason fully to
understand the world is a theme common to these thinkers, and constitutes one of the
major concerns of the course, a concern balanced by investigation of why these systems
have reached such diverse answers to the substantive issues of how the world is to be
understood.
PHIL 3231 (3CR)
MODERN PHILOSOPHY: THE EMPIRICIST TRADITION
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the
Department
An investigation of the thought of the English language thinkers of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. These authors, among whom are to be counted Locke, Berkeley and
Hume, in part may be understood as reacting to the a priori tradition examined by
Philosophy 3111. But they also make claims that are not merely reactive, and the extent
to which one or more of them proposes a coherent interpretation of the extent and the
limitations of human understanding will be investigated.
PHIL 3240 (6CR)
KANT
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from PHIL 2801, 3221 or 3231; or permission of the Department
Exclusion: PHIL 4200
An examination of Kant's Critical project, including the arguments for the
existence of God, freedom and immortality to which it led. This will involve, among other
things, a close study of the Critique of Pure Reason, The Groundwork for the Metaphysics
of Morals, The Critique of Practical and Religion Within the Bounds of Mere
Reason.
PHIL 3250 (6CR)
19TH CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from PHIL 2801, 3221 or 3231; or permission of the Department
Idealism is the doctrine that reality is mind-dependent. This course charts the rise and fall
of idealism in nineteenth century Germany, from the post-Kantian system builders, Fichte, Schelling,
and Hegel, through the anti-idealist reactionaries, the later Schelling, Schopenhauer, and Kierkegaard,
to the ascendency of suspicion in Freud, Marx and Nietzsche.
PHIL 3511 (3CR)
PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Normally Philosophy 2511 is expected. However B.Sc. students already doing
3/4000 level work in their own field, and students in either the Environmental Science or
Environmental Studies or Cognitive Science programs, will be admitted; or permission of the
Department
In recent decades the philosophical assumptions underlying the life sciences have
been seen increasingly as distinct from the physical sciences. This course will examine
this difference as well as the linkage between them, then turn to the philosophical
issues within evolutionary theory, the notion of species and problems of classification,
persistent controversies surrounding sociobiology, genetic control, use of animals in
research, and the application of bioethics.
PHIL 3631 (3CR)
SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the
Department
This is a basic course in Symbolic Logic, concentrating on the nature of logic,
methods of deduction, quantification theory, and the logic of relational
statements.
PHIL 3711 (3CR)
BIOMEDICAL ETHICS
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Philosophy 2701; or permission of the Department
This course will consist of the examination of a number of contemporary issues,
such as gene therapy, abortion, reproductive technologies, euthanasia, HIV testing and
confidentiality, organ retrieval, and advanced directives. In a framework of health, we
will discuss larger philosophical questions such as: the possibility of assigning and
comparing values, the nature of the human self, the possibilities of agency and
responsibility, duties to society, gender and health, the meanings of technology, and
social justice. While the focus of this course is not on ethical theory, we will make use
of classical moral theories and principles to frame our analyses.
PHIL 3721 (3CR)
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: PHIL 2701; or permission of the Department
After reviewing traditional attitudes toward the environment, this course will
explore recent attempts to "apply" ethical analysis to such problems as pollution and
conservation. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which problems of
preservation challenge us to extend our traditional norms and values. To what extent, for
example, does growing sensitivity to our natural environment require of us a new
"environmental ethic" and oblige us to recognize "animal rights"?
PHIL/RELG 3891 (3CR)
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the
Department
Note: This course is cross-listed as RELG 3891 and may therefore count as three credits
in either discipline.
A study of selected primary sources in the Indian philosophical tradition, from the
Vedas and Upanishads to the recent work of thinkers like
S. Radhakrishnan. Topics usually include the nature of reality, moral obligation, Divinity, selfhood and freedom,
the philosophy of love, and various social and political issues.
PHIL 4101 (3CR)
ADVANCED ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Permission of the Department
Advanced study of one or more of the main philosophers of these periods, or one or
more philosophic questions they address.
PHIL 4211 (3CR)
SELECTED TOPICS IN CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Permission of the Department
An exploration of the variety of twentieth-century philosophical schools inspired
by Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, which attempted to turn philosophy into a rigorous science
by giving an unprejudiced, descriptive account of consciousness. Topics may include
Heidegger's response and reaction to Husserl, the existentialism of Marcel and Sartre,
Levinas' phenomenological ethics, the hermeneutic turn in Gadamer and Ricoeur, and
Derrida's deconstructionism.
PHIL 4311 (3CR)
19TH & 20TH CENTURY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Permission of the Department
A careful study of some representative texts in 19th and 20th century social
and political philosophy in the light of their relevance for contemporary issues. Selections
will typically be drawn from the works of G.W.F. Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx,
Leo Strauss, Theodor Adorno, Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, and John Rawls.
PHIL 4511 (3CR)
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Permission of the Department
A study of the contemporary philosophical arguments which attempt to resolve the
real nature of mental states vis à vis the physical states of the brain; how it is
we have knowledge of our own sensations, beliefs, desires, our own consciousness and how
we gain knowledge of other minds; and also the more general questions of how we should
best proceed to resolve these issues.
PHIL 4611 (3CR)
SELECTED TOPICS IN ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Format: lecture 3 hours
Prereq: Permission of the Department
This is an examination of contemporary themes in the analytic tradition of philosophy.
Topics may include truth, logicism, the nature of reference, skepticism, the realism/anti-realism
debate, historicism and the collapse of positivism or contextualism.
PHIL 4950/4951 (6/3CR)
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN PHILOSOPHY
Format: Independent Study
Prereq: Permission of the Department/Program Advisor. Students must obtain
consent of an instructor who is willing to be a supervisor and must register
for the course prior to the last day for change of registration in the term
during which the course is being taken.
Note: A program on Independent Study cannot duplicate subject matter covered through
regular course offerings.
Note: Students may register for PHIL 4950/51 more than once, provided the subject
matter differs.
This course permits senior students, under the direction faculty members,
to pursue their interest in areas not covered, or not covered in depth, by other
courses through a program of independent study.
PHIL 4990 (6CR)
HONOURS TOPIC
Format: independent study/thesis
Prereq: Permission of the Department
The content of study is to be determined by the student in conjunction with one or
more supervisors of the course. The format of the course is described in the Departmental
Handbook.
PHIL 1991/2991/3991/4991 (3CR)
SPECIAL TOPIC IN PHILOSOPHY
Format: Variable
Prereq: Set by the Department/Program when the topic and level are announced
Note: When a Department or Program intends to offer a course under this designation,
it must submit course information, normally at least three months in advance, to the Dean.
Note: Students may register for PHIL 1991/2991/3991/4991 more than once, provided the
subject matter differs.
This course either focuses on topics not covered by the current course offerings
in a department or program or offers the opportunity to pilot a course that is being
considered for inclusion in the regular program.