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PHIL 1611: Self, Society, and Freedom 

Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden
 

This course investigates ideas about the self in the western philosophical tradition, including work in contemporary philosophy. Issues may include freedom and responsibility, otherness, the relationship between mind and body, the relationship between humans and animals, the impact of trauma, suffering or oppression on self- identity, and the existence or non-existence of the soul. 

 

PHIL 1621: Reason, Will, and World 

Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course is an introduction to the study of philosophy that looks at some major thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition. We examine fundamental and enduring questions raised about human beings and the world. The specific topics to be discussed include the nature of the universe, human knowledge and desire, goodness and morality, the existence of a divine being, human flourishing and freewill, and the nature of philosophy. Students learn about and compose essays on these themes to discover the interconnections among theories of reason, will, and world.

PHIL 2511: Introductory Philosophy of Science

Instructor: Dr. M. Silk

This course explores competing philosophical explanations of scientific theory and practice. Based on historical and contemporary cases, it compares philosophical theories including logical positivism, scientific realism, scientific pluralism, sociology of scientific knowledge, and the most recent critiques from social constructivism and feminism.

PHIL 2701: Introduction to Ethics 

Instructor: Dr. S. Feldman

This course introduces current western ethical theories (such as consequentialism, deontology, feminist, and virtue ethics) from historical sources (such as J. S. Mill, Kant, and Aristotle) as well as contemporary ones. In addition, material normally includes non-western texts (for instance, from Africana, Chinese, and Indian traditions) whose continuities and tensions with standard western theories and texts will usefully expand the scope of the discussion. Themes discussed may include: the nature of moral agency and the good life, the role of pleasure, power and desire in ethics, the relation of the ethical and the political, of the right and the good, and of reason and emotion


PHIL 2801: Introduction to Metaphysics
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

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. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

PHIL 3000F: Ancient Philosophy
Instructor: Dr. S. Feldman
 

This course examines the philosophical developments in the Ancient era within the thought of the Pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle. Topics may include themes from metaphysics, epistemology, moral and political philosophy, and aesthetics. Full year, 6 credits.

PHIL-3301 Analytic Phil. in Origin
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser
 

This course is an introduction to major figures and topics in the analytic philosophical tradition throughout the twentieth century. Topics include philosophical analysis, logical empiricism, American pragmatism, the shifting conceptions of ethics and metaphysics, and projects for and against naturalization of philosophical subject matter.


RELG 3991A: Land and the Enlightenment
Instructor: M. Léger

This course will trace the longstanding influence of Enlightenment thinking on property rights, land claims, and resource extraction. We will start our investigation with John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, which we will contextualize in Locke’s broader political philosophy and colonial entanglements. We will then consider countervailing Enlightenment views, like Thomas Paine’s, and the Lockean legacies in influential nineteenth-century political thinkers like John Francis Bray and Henry George. We will conclude with some critiques of Enlightenment framings of land and property, paying particular attention to the ways this tradition intersects with colonialism and environmental exploitation. Some key questions will include: How has private property been conceived of in European thought, and why are these conceptions still so influential today? How should we think of property? How should we think of “land” and “natural resources,” in particular? How should we organize ourselves with regard to the material world? What are moral wrongs of dispossession? (Prereq: 3 credits from PHIL; 3 credits from PHIL at the 2000 level excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.)

PHIL 3991C: Ethics of the New Space Age
Instructor: Dr. M. Silk

Recent developments in outer space including the Artemis Accords, commercial spaceflight and space tourism, increasing geopolitical competition, and the prospect of mining in outer space make it clear that humanity will increasingly be operating in outer space. Therefore, we must begin seriously considering how we ought to respond to the ethical challenges these developments raise. This course will consider the unique properties of outer space which challenge traditional ethical assumptions, and it will explore the many ethical issues which arise when humans operate in outer space. This includes everything from the ethics of maintaining orbital pathways and the dangers of space junk, the legal and moral status of outer space as a shared domain, indigenous perspectives on exploration and stewardship. It will also consider the ethical issues involved with resource extraction and colonization, weapons in space, sending life to other bodies, and the ethical implications that expanding human activity in space may have for life on Earth.


PHIL 4211: Constructions of Self

Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

This course will examine contemporary ontologies of the self and personhood, exploring questions like: what is a “person” or a “self”? Do “selves” have neat boundaries, or are they interconnected with others? Is “personhood” a term inescapably mired in atomistic ontologies of self? How do we figure out who and what we are? The course will draw on existentialism and phenomenology, narrative identity theory, theories of recognition, and recent work on personhood. The course will likely include the following figures: María Lugones, Mariana Ortega, Lisa Heldke, Ladelle McWhorter, Linda Martín Alcoff (with cameos from Hegel, Heidegger, and Foucault). (Prerequisite: Permission of Department)

PHIL 1601: Plato’s Republic

Instructor: Dr. S. Feldman

Plato's Republic is a seminal text that originates, discusses and unifies important philosophical concerns that are perennially relevant. In addition to giving us an introduction to issues such as the nature of morality, mind, God, reality and knowledge, it provides us with an excellent point of departure for examining how other traditions of the world have originated and discussed these issues in their own contexts. Grounding our wide-ranging examination in the Republic will allow us to examine these issues in a dialogical fashion. More importantly, the use of non-western sources will throw light on some of the central presuppositions and concerns of the western philosophical tradition that are still with us today.

 

PHIL 1651: Knowledge, Nature, and Science
Instructor: Dr. M. Silk

This course introduces the study of philosophy in the Western tradition through an investigation of how and why humans come to know the natural world. Readings will include historical and contemporary sources. Specific topics may include the development of science, the relation between humans and nature, the relation between science and technology, and the nature of ideas like progress, realism, truth, pseudoscience, explanation, objectivity, responsibility, and justice. 

PHIL 2301: Intro to Feminist Philosophy

Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

This course provides an overview and introduction to the critique of traditional philosophy undertaken by feminist philosophers who argue that philosophy, along with other human endeavours, is shaped by the prejudices and assumptions of its practitioners. They do not reject philosophy as a discipline but explore new ways of doing philosophy. The aim of this course is to explore these new approaches in order to examine how feminist philosophers have combined the tools and methods of philosophy with their insights and values.

PHIL 2611: Introductory Logic

Instructor: Dr. M. Silk

This course introduces the study of logic, examining the basic structure of arguments, common reasoning fallacies, truth tables, and propositional logic. Further topics may include an introduction to quantification theory, syllogistic reasoning, Venn diagrams, Mill's methods, and issues central to inductive and deductive reasoning. 

PHIL 3000W: Ancient Philosophy
Instructor: Dr. S. Feldman

This year-long course examines the philosophical developments in the Ancient era within the thought of the Pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle. Topics may include themes from metaphysics, epistemology, moral and political philosophy and aesthetics.


PHIL 3311: Analytic Philosophy in Progress
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course is an introduction to contemporary philosophy in response to the twentieth century analytic tradition. We will read thinkers discussing topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Topical focus may include experience, meaning, rationality, value, and accounts of the nature and practice of philosophy.


PHIL 3711: Biomedical Ethics
Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

This course will examine ethical issues involved in medicine and health and explore assumptions that we tend to make about health, the good life, and human functioning. We will cover a range of ethical theories used in bioethics, such as deontological, utilitarian, virtue, feminist, and disability-centered approaches. Issues covered may include medical assistance in dying, patient autonomy and welfare, medical research practices, and the history of eugenics in Canada. The course may use case studies and usually focuses on the Canadian context.
 

PHIL 3721: Environmental Ethics
Instructor: Dr. M. Silk

This course explores the interconnected ethical obligations that we have to other humans, to non-human life, and to the environment, within current ethical frameworks. Topics covered may include: animal welfare, industrial agriculture, the relations of ethical, political, aesthetic and economic value, global hunger, intergenerational and environmental justice, food security, and climate change.


PHIL 3991B: Skeptical Paradoxes

Instructor: Dr. S. Feldman

This course traces the “paradox of inquiry” through ancient, modern and contemporary texts. In its classic formulation in Plato’s Meno, the paradox looks something like this. “Given that we see the world from a limited, contingent vantage point, can we even begin to search for knowledge? Or is every inquiry bound simply to reaffirm beliefs that we already hold?” We will deal with two (often overlapping) set of questions in this course. The first set of questions concern the impact of species-relative physiologies on the search for knowledge. What are the implications of the fact that my thoughts about the world are always mediated by human perceptual organs, nervous systems and brains? Or the fact that the world must appear in very different ways to many nonhuman animals? The second set of questions that we will address concerns the impact of lived experience, including education and upbringing, on the search for knowledge. What if the truth turned out to be at odds with the beliefs and values that shaped my choices and my identity from earliest childhood? Could I even make sense of such a truth? Would I want to? Some of the thinkers that we may cover include: Semonides, Plato, Sextus Empiricus, Montaigne, Descartes, Hume, Wittgenstein, Kafka, Nagel.

PHIL 4511: Philosophy of Mind
Instructor: Dr. R. Moser

This course is 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. The course involves introduction to some basic problems and positions in the philosophy of mind. Here we examine traditional questions such as: What is a conscious mental state? Is it reducible to a physical (i.e. brain/body) state? How should we conceptualize and model perception and mind? What is thinking? Can a machine think? More generally, we critically examine how we should best proceed to resolve these questions, considering especially whether & where the explorations of psychology and the cognitive sciences may be used to take up or abandon philosophical positions.

PHIL 4891: Philosophy of Place (Capstone Seminar in PPE)
Instructor: M. Léger

This course is about places: what they are, how we contribute to creating them, and the pressing ethical considerations they bring about. We will think through these questions by paying particular attention to where we find ourselves: Mi’kma’ki/the Maritimes. Drawing on a range of philosophical traditions, we will formulate a few frameworks for theorizing places, and then we will explore three related topics that are particularly salient to our region of interest: tourism, environment, and belonging. Our exploration of these topics will help us tease out the practical challenges and ethical concerns arising from different kinds of placial relations and configurations, including colonial domination, (dis)orientation, commodification, climate crisis, and displacement. In keeping with the spirit of the PPE program, our philosophical discussions will engage closely with the economic and political dynamics at play in the topics and regions discussed.  (This course is cross-listed as ECON 4891 and POLS 4891 and therefore may count as 3 credits in any of the three disciplines. Prereq: fourth year standing; 6 credits from PHIL at the 3000 level or 6 credits from ECON at the 3000 level or 6 credits from POLS at the 3000 level; or permission of the PPE Program Convenor.