A general introduction to some of the main topics, texts, and methods of philosophy. Topics may include the existence of God, the nature of mind and its relation to the body, causation, free will, knowledge and skepticism, and justice and moral obligation. Readings may be drawn from the history of philosophy and contemporary philosophical literature.

Full details for PHIL 1100 - Introduction to Philosophy

This First-Year Writing Seminar is about using philosophy and everyday life and provides the opportunity to write extensively about these issues. Topics vary by section.

Full details for PHIL 1110 - FWS: Philosophy in Practice

This First-Year Writing Seminar discusses problems in philosophy and gives the opportunity to write about them. Topics vary by section.

Full details for PHIL 1111 - FWS: Philosophical Problems

This First-Year Writing Seminar offers the opportunity to discuss and write about philosophy. Topics vary by section.

Full details for PHIL 1112 - FWS: Philosophical Conversations

This course introduces students to political theory as a distinctive mode of political inquiry. By surveying the wide range of forms through which political theory has been practiced-such as treatises, dialogues, plays, aphorisms, novels, manifestos, letters, speeches, illustrations, and films-we explore the ways in which political theory reflects upon, criticizes, and reshapes the basic concepts, habits of perception, and modes of feeling through which people make sense of the political world, from big events like wars and revolutions to everyday experiences of felt injustice or alienation. Our approach will be both historical and conceptual, attending to the force of each theoretical intervention in its context, while also drawing out the broader philosophical and political questions it continues to pose to us now.

Full details for PHIL 1920 - Introduction to Political Theory

A survey of Western philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries: Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. We focus largely on epistemology (ideas, skepticism, belief, knowledge, science) and metaphysics (bodies, minds, God, causation, natural laws, afterlife, and personal identity). Some of the ethical implications of these systems will also be mentioned in passing.

Full details for PHIL 2220 - Modern Philosophy

This course will survey a number of famous paradoxes about the nature of time, identity, logic, science, belief, decision, and value. Some of these paradoxes have widely accepted answers, but many do not. Paradoxes include (but are not limited to) Zeno's paradoxes, the sorites paradox, the liar paradox, paradoxes of probability, the doomsday and simulation arguments, Newcomb's puzzle, and the trolley problem. These paradoxes will be used as a stepping stone to deeper philosophical questions. Some of the questions we'll tackle include: Is time real? What is a person? Is infinity coherent? How is science possible? What is knowledge? What is it to be rational? What should we do? Does God exist? And finally, why is death bad?

Full details for PHIL 2300 - Puzzles and Paradoxes

Covers sentential languages, the truth-functional connectives, and their logic; first-order languages, the quantifiers every and some, and their logic.

Full details for PHIL 2310 - Introduction to Deductive Logic

This course is an introduction to the moral mind from philosophical and psychological perspectives. Many traditional philosophical problems about morality are being illuminated by current work in cognitive science. In this course, we will look at several of these problems. In each case, we will begin with a presentation of the philosophical problems, and we will proceed to examine recent empirical work on the topic. A wide range of topics will be covered, including moral judgment, agency, the self, and punishment.

Full details for PHIL 2415 - Introduction to Moral Psychology

Bioethics is the study of ethical questions raised by advances in the medical field. Questions we'll discuss will include: Is it morally permissible to advance a patient's death, at his or her request, to reduce suffering? Is there a moral difference between killing someone and letting someone die? What ethical issues are raised by advance care planning? What is it to die? What forms of cognitive decline or physical change could you survive (and still be you)? On the flip side, were you ever a fetus? How should the rights of pregnant women be balanced against those of the fetus? Should parents be given control over the genetic make-up of their children? Are some forms of human enhancement morally troubling? Should we aim to be better than well? What is it to be disabled? How should scarce health care resources or costly therapies be allocated to those in need? Should organ sales be permitted? Should medical treatment (or health insurance!) ever be compulsory, or is mandating treatment unacceptably paternalistic? Should doctors or hospitals be permitted to refuse to provide certain medical services that violate their consciences?

Full details for PHIL 2455 - Introduction to Bioethics

This course surveys a range of ethical issues that arise in professional engineering, and provides discussion-based practice in analyzing and addressing them. Using normative frameworks from professional codes, philosophical ethics, value-sensitive design, feminist theory, and science & technology studies, the course engages with a series of historical, current, and fictional case studies, across a wide variety of engineering disciplines. Specific topics to be discussed may include: privacy, consumer rights, smart cities, geoengineering, artificial intelligence, and cloning. Instruction is through a mix of lectures and discussions.

Full details for PHIL 2471 - Ethical Issues in Engineering Practice

This course will survey the rich and sophisticated tradition of Indian philosophical thought from its beginnings in the speculations of Upanishads, surveying debates between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and materialistic philosophers about the existence and nature of God and of the human soul, the nature of knowledge, and the theory of language. (RL)

Full details for PHIL 2540 - Introduction to Indian Philosophy

This course will introduce students to some central questions in epistemology (often defined as the philosophical study of knowledge), using both contemporary and historical readings. For example, we will examine our reliance on experts and testimony for our knowledge, the status of reports concerning miraculous or 'scientifically impossible' events, and the epistemology of conspiracy theories. We will also consider questions of disagreement and pluralism when it comes to controversial matters such as politics and religion.

Full details for PHIL 2611 - Knowledge and Belief

This course is an introduction to some of the central questions in metaphysics--the study of what there is and how it works. Possible topics include persistence through change, freedom of the will, the nature of time (and the possibility of time travel), causation, properties, and necessity.

Full details for PHIL 2640 - Introduction to Metaphysics

This course offers an introduction to the philosophy of race. It canvasses key debates in the field concerning the metaphysical status of race, the relationship between the concept of race and racism (and the nature of the latter), the first-person reality of race, and the connections and disconnections between racial, ethnic, and national identities.

Full details for PHIL 2650 - Philosophy of Race

This course examines controversies in the theory and history of civil disobedience. Do citizens have obligations to obey unjust laws? Can law breaking ever be civil rather than criminal? Do disruptive protests endanger democracy or strengthen the rule of law? How do acts of protest influence public opinion and policy? How is the distinction between violence and nonviolence politically constructed and contested? We will study classical writings and contemporary scholarship in pursuit of answers to these questions and related debates concerning the rule of law, conscientious objection, the uses of civility and incivility, punishment and responsibility, as well as whistleblowing, direct action, strikes, sabotage, hacktivism, and rioting.

Full details for PHIL 2945 - Civil Disobedience

Politicians, scientists, and citizens worldwide face many environmental issues today, but they are neither simple nor straightforward. Moreover, there are many ways to understand how we have, do, and could value the environment from animal rights and wise use to deep ecology and ecofeminism. This class acquaints students with some of the challenging moral issues that arise in the context of environmental management and policy-making, both in the past and the present. Environmental concerns also highlight important economic, epistemological, legal, political, and social issues in assessing our moral obligations to nature as well as other humans. This course examines various perspectives expressed in both contemporary and historical debates over environmental ethics by exploring four central questions: What is nature? Who counts in environmental ethics? How do we know nature? Whose nature?

Full details for PHIL 2960 - Ethics and the Environment

This course explores the meaning of Law and Society, which is an interdisciplinary study of the interactive nature of legal and social forces. A law and society perspective places law in its historical, social, and cultural context, studying the dynamic way in which law shapes social norms, policy, and institutions, and conversely, the way that social forces shape the law. This Foundations of Law and Society course is structured as a series of four modules, each taught by a faculty member from a different discipline. The modules will introduce students to a range of disciplinary methods and content related to the study of the interaction of law with social, political, and economic institutions and relationships.

Full details for PHIL 2990 - Foundations of Law and Society

We will study several of Plato's major dialogues, including the Apology, the Meno, Phaedo, and Republic. Topics include knowledge and reality, morality and happiness, and the nature of the soul.

Full details for PHIL 3202 - Plato

A selective survey of Western philosophical thought from the fourth to the 14th century. Topics include the problem of universals, the theory of knowledge and truth, the nature of free choice and practical reasoning, and philosophical theology. Readings (in translation) include Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. Some attention will be given to the development of ideas across the period and the influence of non-Western traditions on the West.

Full details for PHIL 3210 - Medieval Philosophy

This course introduces students to Kant's moral philosophy, focusing on his normative ethics. We will pay special attention to how Kant's emphasis on virtue in his later ethical writings enables a response to many of the historical and contemporary criticisms leveled against him. We will also discuss some remaining worries about his theory; for example, those stemming from his rigorism or his views on race and gender.

Full details for PHIL 3231 - Kant's Ethics

A mathematical study of the formal languages of standard first-order propositional and predicate logic, including their syntax, semantics, and deductive systems. The basic apparatus of model theory will be presented. Various formal results will be established, most importantly soundness and completeness.

Full details for PHIL 3310 - Deductive Logic

This course is about the surprisingly intricate relationship between humor and morality. We will investigate several theories of humor (theories of what makes things funny), we then turn our attention to what the general relation between humor and morality might be: does immorality in a joke or wisecrack eliminate its funniness, dampen its funniness, have no effect on its funniness, or increase its funniness? Then the focus will turn to specific types of morally troublesome humor, including racist and sexist jokes, stereotype-exploitation more generally, mockery, jokes about disability and assault, and punching up and down. The course will conclude by investigating what makes for a good or bad sense of humor, as well as the possible absurdity of life and how that might be funny.

Full details for PHIL 3455 - Humor and Morality

The dominant strains in Euro-American philosophy tend either to erase or underplay the participation in and contributions to the constitution of Western philosophy of philosophers from the global African world. Additionally, dominant philosophical narratives are notorious for excluding African-inflected discourses from explorations of the perennial problems of philosophy. In this class, we seek to fill this absence by spending time studying the contributions to a distinct philosophical tradition-Existentialism-by thinkers from the global African world.

Full details for PHIL 3525 - Africana Philosophy: Existentialism in Black

Concepts are properties of individuals that approximately correspond to word meanings. They play a role in Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Philosophy, and Artificial Intelligence. The course looks at phenomena and accounts of concepts from these different perspectives. Looks at problems in the semantic analysis of natural languages, critically examining work in linguistics and philosophy on particular topics of current interest. Topics vary. Not taught every year.

Full details for PHIL 3700 - Problems in Semantics

To be taken only in exceptional circumstances. Must be arranged by the student with his or her advisor and the faculty member who has agreed to direct the study.

Full details for PHIL 3900 - Independent Study

Moral Psychology in Action is an applied psychology course for students who want to make a difference in the world through ethical leadership and positive contributions in organizations, and who are drawn to scholarly work on psychology, ethics, and morality. The course is experiential and takes place mostly outside the classroom through students' individualized partnerships in community organizations, businesses, and institutions. Learning outcomes include enhanced critical reflection, intercultural competence, ethical practice, and the practice of applied moral psychology research methods.

Full details for PHIL 3915 - Moral Psychology in Action

Reading and translation of Greek philosophical texts.

Full details for PHIL 4110 - Greek Philosophical Texts

Advanced discussion of topics in ancient philosophy. Topics vary by instructors.

Full details for PHIL 4200 - Topics in Ancient Philosophy

Advanced discussion of a topic in medieval philosophy.

Full details for PHIL 4215 - Topics in Medieval Philosophy

Advanced discussion of topics or authors in modern Western philosophy (circa the 17th and 18th centuries).

Full details for PHIL 4220 - Topics in Modern Philosophy

Feminist approaches to questions in metaphysics, epistemology, language, and value theory.

Full details for PHIL 4490 - Feminism and Philosophy

Advanced discussion of a topic in Philosophy of Mind.

Full details for PHIL 4620 - Topics in Philosophy of Mind

What is the relationship between what words mean and how they are used? What is part of the grammar and what is a result of general reasoning? Pragmatics is often thought of as the study of how meaning depends on the context of utterance. However, it can be difficult to draw a line between pragmatics and semantics. In this course, we will investigate various topics that walk this line, including varieties of linguistic inference (including entailment and implicature), the pragmatics and compositional semantics of presupposition, anaphora and dynamic semantics, the semantics and pragmatics of focus, indexicals, and speech acts.

Full details for PHIL 4720 - Pragmatics

Majors in philosophy may choose to pursue writing of an honors thesis in their senior year. Students undertake research leading to the writing of an honors essay by the end of the final semester. Prospective candidates should apply at the Department of Philosophy office, 218 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Full details for PHIL 4900 - Informal Study for Honors I

Majors in philosophy may choose to pursue writing of an honors thesis in their senior year. Students undertake research leading to the writing of an honors essay by the end of the final semester. Prospective candidates should apply at the Department of Philosophy office, 218 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Full details for PHIL 4901 - Informal Study for Honors II

Reading and translation of Greek Philosophical texts.

Full details for PHIL 6010 - Greek Philosophical Texts

Reading and translation of Latin philosophical texts.

Full details for PHIL 6020 - Latin Philosophical Texts

Reading, translation, and English-language discussion of important French philosophical texts. Readings are chosen in consultation with students.

Full details for PHIL 6040 - French Philosophical Texts

Advanced discussion of topics in ancient philosophy. Topics vary by instructors.

Full details for PHIL 6200 - Topics in Ancient Philosophy

We will study several of Plato's major dialogues, including the Apology, the Meno, Phaedo, and Republic. Topics include knowledge and reality, morality and happiness, and the nature of the soul.

Full details for PHIL 6202 - Plato

Graduate seminar covering a topic in medieval philosophy.

Full details for PHIL 6210 - Topics in Medieval Philosophy

Advanced discussion of topics or authors in modern Western philosophy (circa the 17th and 18th centuries).

Full details for PHIL 6220 - Topics in Modern Philosophy

This course will be about the surprising and complicated ways that morality and humor bear on one another. The focus will be on interpersonal humor (banter, teasing, mockery, leg-pulling, etc.) that raises serious moral questions, as it may well involve deception, cruelty, or stereotyping. Humor can hurt, exclude, and divide. Considering its occasional immorality, should we continue to engage in it? This is, surprisingly, a new area of exploration. We will explore literature that can help us to start thinking about the topic on our own, literature that is at least in the general vicinity (what literature on humor there is is just about jokes). It comes from a variety of disciplines, including aesthetics, psychology, metaethics, linguistics, emotion theory, and normative ethics.

Full details for PHIL 6450 - Humor and Morality

Feminist approaches to questions in metaphysics, epistemology, language, and value theory.

Full details for PHIL 6490 - Feminism and Philosophy

Advanced discussion of a topic in Philosophy of Mind.

Full details for PHIL 6620 - Topics in Philosophy of Mind

What is the relationship between what words mean and how they are used? What is part of the grammar and what is a result of general reasoning? Pragmatics is often thought of as the study of how meaning depends on the context of utterance. However, it can be difficult to draw a line between pragmatics and semantics. In this course, we will investigate various topics that walk this line, including varieties of linguistic inference including entailment, presupposition, and implicature), anaphora, indexicals, and speech acts.

Full details for PHIL 6720 - Pragmatics

Uses the techniques introduced in Semantics I to analyze linguistic phenomena, including quantifier scope, ellipsis, and referential pronouns. Temporal and possible worlds semantics are introduced and used in the analysis of modality, tense, and belief sentences. The phenomena of presupposition, indefinite descriptions, and anaphora are analyzed in a dynamic compositional framework that formalizes the idea that sentence meaning effects a change in an information state.

Full details for PHIL 6731 - Semantics II

Addresses current theoretical and empirical issues in semantics.

Full details for PHIL 6740 - Semantics Seminar

Independent study for graduate students only.

Full details for PHIL 7000 - Informal Study

Talks by philosophy graduate students sharing their current work and seeking feedback from fellow graduate students.

Full details for PHIL 7910 - Work in Process Colloquium

Invited talks in philosophy given by both outside speakers and members of the Cornell community. Enrollment for credit is required for first- and second-year philosophy graduate students.

Full details for PHIL 7950 - Philosophy Discussion Club Colloquium