2000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2011-2012
- Philosophy 2003E - Asian Philosophies (Distance Studies)
- Philosophy 2006 - The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Witchcraft
- Philosophy 2020 - Basic Logic (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2020 - Basic Logic (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2030G - Philosophy of Science
- Philosophy 2032G - Einstein for Everyone
- Philosophy 2033A - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
- Philosophy 2033B - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
- Philosophy 2035F - Nature, Ecology, and the Future
- Philosophy 2065F - Evil (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2065F - Evil (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2065G - Evil
- Philosophy 2070E - Ethics and Society
- Philosophy 2071E - Biomedical Ethics (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2071E - Biomedical Ethics (Distance Studies)
- Philosophy 2073F - Death (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2073F - Death (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2073G - Death
- Philosophy 2074F - Business Ethics (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2074F - Business Ethics (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2074G - Business Ethics (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2074G - Business Ethics (Distance Studies)
- Philosophy 2077F - Gender and Sexuality
- Philosophy 2077G - Gender and Sexuality (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2080 - Philosophy of Law (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2080 - Philosophy of Law (Distance Studies)
- Philosophy 2083F - Terrorism (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2083G - Terrorism (Section 002)
For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service.
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 2003E - Asian Philosophies (Distance Studies)
Instructor: TBA
Basic philosophical ideas in Indian, Chinese and Japanese thought. Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism and Zen are compared as life-philosophies, with special emphasis on their relation to the root categories of Western philosophy.
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2006 - The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Witchcraft
Instructor: Sean Coughlin
Witches: who they were, why they were thought to be witches by themselves and others, what was done to them and why? The course will treat a number of standard philosophical issues (the mind-body problem, causation, free-will, theories of knowledge) through a study of Renaissance and early modern material.
PHILOSOP 2020 (Section 001) - Basic Logic
Instructor: Nicholas McGinnis
Modern formal logic including argument structure, propositional logic and elementary quantification. Applications to everyday reasoning and to computer "thinking" are considered, along with related issues in semantics and the philosophy of logic. Intended primarily for students not planning further studies in Philosophy or Logic.
PHILOSOP 2020 (Section 002) - Basic Logic
Instructors: Molly Kao and Sarah Hogarth Rossiter
A basic introduction to modern formal (i.e., symbolic) logic. Using both Sentential Logic (SL) and Predicate Logic (PL), students learn how to translate English sentences and arguments into symbolic language, and how to formally analyse and evaluate arguments using various techniques. Philosophical implications are considered along the way. Intended primarily for students not planning further studies in Philosophy or Logic.
PHILOSOP 2030G - Philosophy of Science
Instructor: Nicholas Fillion
An introductory discussion dealing with such issues as the demarcation between science and pseudo-science, the notion of scientific explanation, the structure of scientific theories and their relation to an empirical base, and the significance of revolutions in science.
PHILOSOP 2032G - Einstein for Everyone
Instructor: C. Smeenk
Astronauts age more slowly. Time can have a beginning. Space and time are curved. All these surprising claims are consequences of Einstein's revolutionary theories of relativity. This course explains these and related ideas in historical context and explores their philosophical significance. No physics and only grade 11 mathematics required.
PHILOSOP 2033A - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
Instructor: Alain Ducharme
We live in a time in which the headlines are full of reports of extreme weather, which climate scientists tell us is due, in part, to global warming caused by greenhouse gases we’ve released into the atmosphere. A time in which we hear of the imminent end of oil as a fuel resource. A time in which deforestation is occurring at unprecedented rates.
Are such things an inevitable by-product of the presence of nearly 7 billion human beings, or are they rooted in some fact about our culture? Is it the Western attitude towards the natural world? Is it something about our economic system? If we want to protect our environment, what is it that is worth saving, and why? Do we have a duty to protect Nature which is independent of its benefits to human beings? This course is an invitation to think about and discuss these philosophical questions and others, and to investigate what others have said about them.
PHILOSOP 2033B - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
Instructor: TBA
An examination of several key issues arising out of the present environmental crisis. Sample topics include: to what extent the environmental crisis is a scientific, religious, or ethical problem; the Gaia hypothesis; deep and shallow ecology; the land ethic; ecofeminism; the environment and economics; and sustainable development.
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2035F - Nature, Ecology, and the Future
Instructor: G. Barker
Our changing relationship to the natural world, and ability to affect Earth's future, bring urgent philosophical questions with real-world implications. This course draws on ideas from ethics, political philosophy, biology, psychology, economics and philosophy of science to explore the moral and epistemological dimensions of climate change, species extinction, and biotechnology.
PHILOSOP 2065F (Section 001) - Evil
Historically, the problem of evil has been bound up with the question whether evil forms part of the basis for an argument against the existence of God. Though we will certainly touch on the problem of evil in the philosophy of religion, we will focus on the problem of identifying the extension of the concept of evil.
PHILOSOP 2065F - Evil (evening)
Instructor: Christopher Young
A study of philosophical approaches to evil from the Enlightenment to the present day. Topics include the existence of evil as a challenge to religious belief, understanding the nature of evil in the context of such events as the Holocaust and 9/11, and moral philosophical issues related to evil.
Course Outline
PHILOSOP 2065G (Section 001) - Evil
Instructor: Amy Wuest
Historically, the problem of evil has been bound up with the question whether evil forms part of the basis for an argument against the existence of God. Though we will certainly touch on the problem of evil in the philosophy of religion, we will focus on the problem of identifying the extension of the concept of evil.
Course Outline
PHILOSOP 2070E - Ethics and Society
Instructor: Nicholas Fawcett
Techniques of moral analysis and evaluation are studied in the context of practical moral issues concerning the good life, the rights of the individual and the quest for social justice, etc. Classical and contemporary philosophical sources are examined, but the emphasis is on independent critical thought.
PHILOSOP 2071E - Biomedical Ethics
Instructor: K. Okruhlik
An introduction to ethical issues that arise in the delivery of health care such as human experimentation, informed consent, and the allocation of scarce resources. A case study approach is used with students offering and defending solutions to moral problems in these areas.
PHILOSOP 2071E - Biomedical Ethics (Distance Studies)
Instructor: Alex Manafu
An introduction to ethical issues that arise in the delivery of health care such as human experimentation, informed consent, and the allocation of scarce resources. A case study approach is used with students offering and defending solutions to moral problems in these areas.
PHILOSOP 2073F (Section 001) - Death
Instructor: James Southworth
The meaning and moral importance of death will be explored through a series of questions: What is death? Is death a bad thing? Do people survive death? What do we mean when we say that someone is "dying"? Should knowledge of death change the way we live our lives?
PHILOSOP 2073F - Death
Instructor: Aviva Shiller
The meaning and moral importance of death will be explored through a series of questions: What is death? Is death a bad thing? Do people survive death? What do we mean when we say that someone is "dying"? Should knowledge of death change the way we live our lives?
PHILOSOP 2073G - Death
Instructor: Zach Monroe
The meaning and moral importance of death will be explored through a series of questions: What is death? Is death a bad thing? Do people survive death? What do we mean when we say that someone is "dying"? Should knowledge of death change the way we live our lives?
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2074F Section 001 - Business Ethics
Instructor: Dean Proessel
Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment.
PHILOSOP 2074F Section 002 - Business Ethics
Instructor: Michel Hebert
Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment.
PHILOSOP 2074G - Business Ethics
Instructor: Dean Proessel
Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment.
Course Outline Pending.
PHILOSOP 2074G - Business Ethics (Distance Studies)
Instructor: Amanda Porter
Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment.
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2077F - Gender and Sexuality
Instructor: Jennifer Epp
An investigation of ways that contemporary philosophers deal with concepts of gender and sexuality, addressing such issues as the regulation and production of normative sexuality, the question of essentialism, the construction and disciplining of the gendered body, and the effects of new media on sexual identity.
PHILOSOP 2077G - Gender and Sexuality
Instructor: Jason Marsh
An investigation of ways that contemporary philosophers deal with concepts of gender and sexuality, addressing such issues as the regulation and production of normative sexuality, the question of essentialism, the construction and disciplining of the gendered body, and the effects of new media on sexual identity.
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2080 - Philosophy of Law
Instructor: James Hildebrand
A study of some main problems in legal philosophy. Emphasis is given to actual law, e.g. criminal law and contracts, as a background to questions of law's nature. Specimen topics: police powers in Canada, contractual obligation, insanity defence, judicial reasoning and discretion, civil liberties, legal responsibility, natural law and legal positivism.
PHILOSOP 2080 - Philosophy of Law (Distance Studies)
Instructor: James Hildebrand
A study of some main problems in legal philosophy. Emphasis is given to actual law, e.g. criminal law and contracts, as a background to questions of law's nature. Specimen topics: police powers in Canada, contractual obligation, insanity defence, judicial reasoning and discretion, civil liberties, legal responsibility, natural law and legal positivism.
PHILOSOP 2083F - Terrorism
Instructor: Ryan Robb
A study of contemporary philosophical discussions of terrorism, including different perspectives on the question of whether terrorism is morally justifiable. Related issues such as just war and civil disobedience will also be touched upon.
PHILOSOP 2083G - Terrorism
Instructor: Devon Suderman
A study of contemporary philosophical discussions of terrorism, including different perspectives on the question of whether terrorism is morally justifiable. Related issues such as just war and civil disobedience will also be touched upon.
Course Outline (pending)
