Course Description: Introductory examination of major concepts, themes, and issues in philosophy. Special attention will be paid to traditional problems in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.
Course Delivery: Fully Remote
Course Description: A study of what it can mean to think freely and critically, given the multiple social and cultural influences on our thinking. Topics to be addressed include the political significance of critical thinking, the processes by which ideology gains cultural power, the role of emotion and imagination in both ideology and critical thinking, and the ways that popular culture (e.g., music, videos, and comedy) can serve ideology critique. Readings include works by Kant, Marx, Barthes, and theorists of popular culture, such as Aldous Huxley, Arundhati Roy, and Eduardo Galeano. Theories of ideology and ideology critique will be applied to contemporary social problems.
Course Delivery- Hybrid: The course will be delivered in-person with remote links (via Zoom, Collaborate, or Meet) for students who cannot attend in person. Because I have some concerns about remote synchronous participation in this course, I'm also recording lectures for all course content that will be available as supplements to the in-person meetings.
Course Description: A study of what it can mean to think freely and critically, given the multiple social and cultural influences on our thinking. Topics to be addressed include the political significance of critical thinking, the processes by which ideology gains cultural power, the role of emotion and imagination in both ideology and critical thinking, and the ways that popular culture (e.g., music, videos, and comedy) can serve ideology critique. Readings include works by Kant, Marx, Barthes, and theorists of popular culture, such as Aldous Huxley, Arundhati Roy, and Eduardo Galeano. Theories of ideology and ideology critique will be applied to contemporary social problems.
Course Delivery- Hybrid: The course will be delivered in-person with remote links (via Zoom, Collaborate, or Meet) for students who cannot attend in person. Because I have some concerns about remote synchronous participation in this course, I'm also recording lectures for all course content that will be available as supplements to the in-person meetings.
Course Description: This course is designed (a) to introduce the student to some of the central philosophical questions that have been raised by philosophers thinking about religion, especially in the West, and (b) to examine some of the key answers that have been given to those questions. We will examine the basis and justification of a variety of common religious claims and cover such issues as the attempt to prove God's existence, the nature and attributes of God, the problem of evil, the status and interpretation of religious language, the nature of religious experience, the relation of faith to reason, religious ethics, miracles, the fate of the soul and the meaning of death, and religious pluralism. Also listed as REL 372.
Course Delivery: Fully Remote
Course Description: A study of major philosophical figures of 19th-century Europe, emphasis falls on the social and moral philosophy of the century. We will pay special attention to the ideals of autonomy and authenticity in modern life, in light of the recession of traditional sources of authority. Figures covered include Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche.
Course Delivery- Hybrid: This course will be begin fully in-person, with a Zoom (or Collaborate, or Meet) option for students to participate in class discussion remotely. There won't be much asynchronous content beyond handouts, though I intend to record the in-class sessions at least as audio files for students to reference later.
Course Description: This course construes bioethics broadly to encompass medical ethics, biological research, and health-related public policy. Topics covered typically include abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, medical paternalism, obligations of medical personnel to tell the truth, confidentiality, medical experimentation and informed consent, genetic control, intervention and research, reproductive technology, allocation of medical resources, alternative and complementary therapies, medical capitalism, and the right to health care.
Course Delivery: Fully Remote
Course Description: What is beauty? Why does art give us pleasure? How can musical sounds express human emotions? How are the aesthetic, the erotic and the political spheres of human experience interrelated? This course explores these questions and others concerning the production, criticism, and appreciation of the arts. Theorists considered include Plato, Aristotle, Burke, Nietzsche, Langer and Freud. The course also examines many art-works, constantly testing aesthetic theories in light of actual aesthetic experience. Examples considered range from Greek tragedy to Renaissance painting to rock music. (Writing option)
Course Delivery- Hybrid: I will offer the course in the classroom in my usual fashion to students attending in-person. I will meet with my remote students regularly via Zoom and will teach the material in as close to my normal fashion as possible on Zoom, including lecture and class discussion.