Fall 2026 Course Descriptions

This is an historical introduction to philosophy. We will consider a broad range of philosophical questions, including the nature of ethical truth, the relationship between the mind and body, our knowledge, and the existence of God. We will read a wide range of famous philosophers.

The course materials will be available through Canvas, so no textbook purchase is required. The course requirements include two exams and a paper.

The course may be used to satisfy either ACE 5 (Humanities) or ACE 8 (Civics/Ethics/Stewardship).

We will examine a range of important topics that have been discussed by philosophers through the ages: the concept of knowledge, and whether we have any knowledge of the world around us; the nature of the mind and its relationship to the body, and how the two are related to the self; determinism, free will, and moral responsibility; whether morality is objective; and conflicting accounts of what makes an action right or wrong. These topics cover a lot of ground, but they are united by a couple of broad themes: Who are we, and how do we fit into the world?

This course is certified for both ACE 5 (Humanities) and ACE 8 (Ethics). You will be able to choose which one of these two requirements you want this course to count for.

Textbook: Gideon Rosen, Alex Byrne, Joshua Cohen, Elizabeth Harman, and Seana Shiffrin (eds.), The Norton Introduction to Philosophy, 3rd ed. (W. W. Norton & Co., 2026). When you register for the course, you will automatically be signed up for a 180-day rental of an electronic version of the textbook through the Inclusive Access Program, at a discounted price. You may opt out of the e-rental but are strongly recommended not to do so, as the e-book may be used during exams and quizzes but hard copies may not.

Major assignments: two exams and two short papers. Smaller assignments due weekly.

Historical-cultural introduction to philosophy. Considers a broad range of philosophical problems in relation to the major historical and cultural conditions which have influenced their formulations and proposed solutions. Topics: the principles of rational inquiry; the nature of knowledge; the metaphysics of mind, world, and God; and the sources and authority of morality.

Required Book: The Outward Path: the Wisdom of the Aztecs, Sebastian Purcell [ISBN: 978-1-324-02056-1]

Other reading/etc. will be provided online via Canvas.

ACE Certification: This course can be used to satisfy ACE 8 (Ethics).

This course involves a wide-ranging examination of the philosophical, political, social, and economic aspects of food, its production and consumption. Topics include the metaphysics of

food, our knowledge of food, the ethical treatment of animals, factory farming, food justice, the relation of food to social and religious identity, and climate change. This course satisfies both Ace 8 (Civic/Ethics/Stewardship) and ACE 5 (Humanities).

The class will focus on a number of ethical topics of current political interest, most likely four of the following world hunger, war, economic inequality, rights to privacy, censorship, and racial justice. Each of these issues presents various choices between different and even conflicting individual and social policies. The class will focus on reasons for and against adopting various courses of action, and will explore the cogency of the reasons offered. Students will work out their own positions and, hopefully, come to better understand opposing views. In the course of examining these reasons, we will become more familiar with a very general distinction between various forms of ethical justification - the distinction between consequentialist justifications and nonconsequentialist justifications. We will explore how various positions about the specific issues are amenable to either form of justification. Readings for the class will encompass both classic texts and current articles from philosophy journals, but most of these will be available on line and on reserve so there will be very little if any reading to buy. 

Major Assignments: Two tests; likely one or two papers; clicker participation.

This course explores the complexities of current issues primarily through the lens of freedom, liberation, and individual and collective moral responsibility. In particular, we will explore, envision, and evaluate the extent to which our political, economic, and social freedoms are tied to things like schooling, the reliance on prison, the U.S. health care system, immigration policies, wage labor, apartheid, and other current issues. 

Required Books: Provided through Canvas.

ACE Certification: This course can be used to satisfy ACE 8 (Ethics).

Reasoning well is essential to forming accurate beliefs about the world and making informed decisions about how to live. However, all too often, we reason in ways that merely confirm the beliefs we antecedently hold or justify the decisions we’ve already made. Especially when it comes to issues of central importance—like our political views and moral stances—our tendency to confirm our antecedent positions and decisions can be quite strong and hard to overcome.

We begin the semester with a general discussion of the nature of reasoning and the potential biasing sources that can lead reasoning astray. Next, we discuss the nature of arguments and the support relationships that can hold between premises and conclusions. The ability to understand how arguments function and how the premises of an argument can support a given conclusion is essential to reasoning well. The bulk of the class will then be spent learning formal means of representing and assessing arguments. Throughout the course, we will use our methods of assessment to analyze various arguments to gain practice with our new evaluative tools.

This online course covers a wide variety of moral issues in the ethics of medicine and the allocation of healthcare. These issues include the moral status of the embryo and fetus (abortion, stem cell research, genetic enhancement), the role of information (confidentiality, informed consent, scientific research), the limits in a medical context of what can be bought and sold (commercial surrogacy, organ sales), the role of rights and fairness in a healthcare system (rights to healthcare, allocation of scarce resources), and the proper extent of control over one’s own body (assisted suicide, euthanasia, advance directives). The focus of the course is on assessing arguments for and against different positions on these moral issues, with background information provided as needed.

Requirements consist of writing assignments, participation in small-group videoconferences, and exams taken at the DLC. This course may be used to satisfy either ACE 5 (Humanities) or ACE 8 (Ethics).