2200 Level Courses
- Philosophy 2200F - Ancient Philosophy (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2200F - Ancient Philosophy (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2202G - Early Modern Philospohy (Section 002)
- Philosophy 2250 - Introduction to Logic
- Philosophy 2251 - Conceptual Development of Mathematics
- Philosophy 2260F - Introduction to Philosophy of Language
- Philosophy 2300F - Philosophy of Science
- Philosophy 2350G - Philosophy of Biology
- Philosophy 2370F - Science and Values
- Philosophy 2400F - Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
- Philosophy 2410F - Issues in Philosophy of Emotion
- Philosophy 2500F - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
- Philosophy 2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge (Distance Studies)
- Philosophy 2555F - Phenomenology and Existenial Philosophy
- Philosophy 2661F - Philosophy of Religion
- Philosophy 2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory (Section 001)
- Philosophy 2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory (Distance Studies)
- Philosophy 2700G - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
- Philosophy 2701E - Modes of Normative Reasoning
- Philosophy 2715G - Health Care Ethics
- Philosophy 2720G - The Ethics of Professional Relationships
- Philosophy 2730F - Media Ethics
- Philosophy 2750G - Ethics in Action
- Philosophy 2800F - History of Political Philosophy
- Philosophy 2810G - Global Justice and Human Rights
- Philosophy 2821F - Philosophy of Law
For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service.
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 2200F - Ancient Philosophy
Instructor: D. Henry
A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle.
PHILOSOP 2200F - Ancient Philosophy
Instructor: K. Nielsen
A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle.
PHILOSOP 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy
Instructor: C. Dyck
A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries.
PHILOSOP 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy
Instructor: L. Falkenstein
A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries.
PHILOSOP 2250 - Introduction to Logic
Instructor: L. Falkenstein
A study of sentential and predicate logic designed to train students to use procedures and systems (trees, natural deduction, axiomatic systems) for determining logical properties and relations, and to give students an understanding of syntactic and semantic metatheoretical concepts and results relevant to those procedures and systems.
PHILOSOP 2251 - Conceptual Development of Mathematics
Instructor: J. Bell
This course is a survey. at an elementary level, of some of the most important concepts of mathematics, in which particular attention will be paid to their historical development and broader philosophical significance. Each of the various branches of mathematics treated will be discussed separately, but their interdependence will be emphasized throughout. No more than a knowledge of high school mathematics is presupposed. Topics may include Greek mathematics, algebra, geometry, the theory of numbers, set theory and the philosophy of mathematics.
PHILOSOP 2260F - Introduction to Philosophy of Language
Instructor: Emerson Doyle
This course is concerned with philosophical issues related to language as they have developed since the beginning of the twentieth century. We will focus our attention on attempts to answer several questions central to contemporary analytic philosophy, including: What does the meaning of a name, predicate, or sentence consist in? What is the relationship between meaning and truth? How can an analysis of language help us address epistemological, metaphysical, mathematical, and scientific problems?
PHILOSOP 2300F - Philosophy of Science
Instructor: W. Myrvold
Philosophy of science addresses questions such as: What is the difference between science and non-science? What sort of knowledge can we expect from science? Does it give us objective knowledge of the world? If so, can this knowledge extend beyond knowledge of what is directly observable? What is the proper role of science in society, and what are the ethical obligations of scientists?
We will address these questions in connection with two case studies of scientific revolution: the Copernican revolution at the birth of modern science, and the Darwinian revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will look at writings of the scientists involved, as well as major works by philosophers of science. The aim is for students to form their own thoughts on the questions to be addressed.
PHILOSOP 2350G - Philosophy of Biology
Instructor: E. Desjardins
An historical introduction to the Philosophy of Biology examining the development of evolutionary theory from Aristotle to Darwin and the ways in which past ideas have helped shape contemporary debates (e.g. species concepts, adaptation, levels of selection). Philosophy 2350F/G is recommended background for those interested in Philosophy 3340F/G.
PHILOSOP 2370F - Science and Values
Instructor: K. Okruhlik
A study of the relationships between scientific practice, cultural institutions, and human values. Attention will be devoted to such topics as the commercialization of research, military research, genetically modified organisms, and the study of race and gender.
PHILOSOP 2400F - Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
Instructor: Sheldon Chow
We study the classical doctrines of Plato and Aristotle on the place of the mind in the material world, and the transformation of the debate in the course of the Scientific Revolution of the early modern period, with the work of Descartes, Locke and others We proceed to critically examine 20th and 21st century conceptions of the relation of mind and body, including those of Behaviorists, Linguistic Philosophers, Identity Theorists, Functionalists and the Computational Theory of Mind. In conclusion, we examine the notion of ‘content’ in mental representations and the surprising difficulty we have in saying what exactly the problem of consciousness even is.
PHILOSOP 2500F - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
Instructor: G. Barker
This course will be an introduction to the main problems of epistemology or theory of knowledge. The course will focus on the core questions of epistemology: What is knowledge? What, if anything, do we know? How do we know it? More specific topics include the nature of perception, belief, knowledge justification and truth, and skeptical questions concerning the extent of our knowledge, including the problem of induction.
PHILOSOP 2555F - Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
Instructor: Dean Proessel
This course focuses on challenges to subject/object and mind/body dualisms taking into account the relationship between thought, meaning, truth and the ways that the world appears to us. We consider questions such as: How does the world become meaningful to me in my everyday life? What is freedom? To what extent am I responsible for my own life and the life of others? What does it mean to be ethically responsible in a secular society? And finally who is the other and how is otherness shaped by race and sex?
PHILOSOP 2661F - Philosophy of Religion
Instructor: Katie Paxman
As the twenty-first century enters its stride, many of the major fault-lines in the world are tied up with religion, whether it be tensions between different religions, or those between religion and secularism. This course will consider twelve major traditional issues in the philosophy of religion: the nature of God, including the relationship between God and time; the existence of God (ontological argument; cosmological arguments; teleological arguments; moral argument); faith and reason; the problem of evil; religious experience; miracles; evolution; religious pluralism; death and afterlife.
PHILOSOP 2700G - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
Instructor: Anthony Skelton
Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories.
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
Instructor: Ryan Robb
Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories.
PHILOSOP 2701E - Modes of Normative Reasoning
Instructor: B. Hoffmaster
Approaches to ethical decision making will be examined to see how they can assist practical ethical reasoning and enhance our understanding of morality. Approaches to be studied include casuistry, interpretation, the construction of narratives, and the application of moral theory to real life situations.
PHILOSOP 2715G - Health Care Ethics
Instructor: TBA
An examination of key concepts in health care ethics, such as respect for patient autonomy, medical paternalism, patient competence, justice in health care, "death with dignity," "sanctity of life," commodifying human life. Goals are to understand these ideas and how to apply them to practical issues in health care.
Course Outline (pending)
PHILOSOP 2720G - The Ethics of Professional Relationships
Instructor: B. Hoffmaster
Professionals have special rights and duties that attach to their professional roles. This course will focus on the special ethical obligations that professionals have to themselves, to their clients, to their employers, to third parties, to their professions, and to society at large.
PHILOSOP 2730F - Media Ethics
Instructor: Katie Paxman
A study of ethical issues in media, including such topics as: the reasonable limits of free expression; intellectual property and the public domain; official secrets and access to information; regulating online content; commercial databases and informational privacy; cameras in the courtroom; plagiarism and piracy; defamation; hactivism and the hacker ethic.
PHILOSOP 2750G - Ethics in Action 
Instructor: TBA
This course examines individual and societal obligations in two complementary ways: first, through the study of philosophical work on moral obligations and, second, through service learning projects. In written work students will be required to integrate what they have learned in the classroom and in volunteer work in the community.
Course Outline
PHILOSOP 2800F - History of Political Philosophy
Instructor: D. Klimchuk
A survey of political philosophy in the Western tradition. We will read Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Mill and Marx with a focus on the question: What justifies political authority? Themes and topics will include equality, freedom, property and, toward the end of the course, domination.
PHILOSOP 2810G - Global Justice and Human Rights
Instructor: A. White
This course critically examines theoretical responses to basic issues about human rights and global justice including: What are human rights? What makes them important? What duties and obligations do human rights generate, and for whom? How should respect for human rights be promoted or enforced, particularly given such widely diverse values and beliefs in the world? A primary aim of this course will be to understand the strengths and limitations of contemporary human rights theories developed to address global justice issues.
PHILOSOP 2821F - Philosophy of Law
Instructor: A. Botterell
An introduction to the philosophy of law. Topics typically covered include responsibility and punishment, freedom of expression, the constitutional protection of fundamental freedoms, and jurisprudence (the study of the question, “What is law?)
