DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

Fall 2024 Class Schedule

Courses are subject to change. Check Caesar for the most up-to-date list of the current quarter.

Fall 2024 course descriptions

PHIL 101-7-20: College Seminar: Philosophy of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

To borrow a phrase from Aristotle: sex is said in many ways. The word "sex" can refer to the domain of the erotic, that is, to sexual desire and sexual activity. It can also refer to certain biological categories related to an animal's reproductive role, such as female, male, or intersex. Among humans, "sex," along with the nearby term "gender," can also refer to cultural or social categories like woman, man, or nonbinary. And there is also "sex" in the sense of sexual orientation, a set of categories describing an individual’s typical pattern of sexual attraction, such as lesbian, gay, straight, or bisexual. Needless to say, things get complicated pretty quickly. <paragraph break> In this seminar, we will read and discuss recent philosophical attempts to make sense of all this. The course will cover a wide range of topics, including: What is sexual desire? What (if anything) is sexual perversion? What is the best account of concepts like gender identity or sexual orientation? How (if at all) do those concepts relate to biological sex? What about the ethics and politics of sex? Is there anything wrong, morally speaking, with casual sex, or with the buying and selling of sex? Readings for this course will be drawn mostly from contemporary philosophical sources.

PHIL 101-7-22: College Seminar: What is Democracy?

In this seminar we will examine some of the fundamental ideas and questions behind democracy and provide a reading of their "inventors". Some of the questions are: What is democracy? Is it a form of government, a value, an ideal, a political system, a form of life, a bit of all this? Is democracy always the best political solution (in wartime? general starvation?)? Why should the whole of the people decide and not the specialists in the respective questions? Are all democratically taken decisions automatically legitimate (what about minorities\' rights?)? How should all citizens in a democracy participate in politics? By direct self-government of the people or by voting representatives? Is everything democratically decidable or does the individual have unalterable rights? Is tolerance and/or free speech necessary for democracy and how far can it go?

PHIL 101-7-23: College Seminar: Plato on Self-Knowledge and Self-Care

Plato’s Apology and Alcibiades focus on the themes of self-knowledge, self-care, and self-cultivation. In this class we work slowly and methodically through these texts. Some of the questions we will discuss are: What is self-knowledge and what is it good for? What makes for a good education? How can we know the limitations of our own understanding? What is the connection between self-knowledge and self-care? How can self-knowledge contribute to a good life?

PHIL 110: Introduction to Philosophy

In this course we will be exploring several traditional topics within philosophy, including free will, the nature of morality and justice, and existential issues pertaining to the meaning of life and the significance of death.  Students will be expected (i) to comprehend the various philosophers’ arguments on these topics, (ii) to develop their own views on the topics, and (iii) to present their own views, as well as the views of the philosophers we read, in clear, succinct, and forcefully argued thesis papers.  Special attention will be paid to questions concerning disagreements over values.

PHIL 150: Introduction to Logic

This course acquaints students with both the power and limitations of formal deductive logic. We want true premises to lead to true conclusions---that is, we want the truth of the conclusions to follow from the truth of the premises. When this happens, we say that the premises entail the conclusions. Logic examines this “follows from”, or entailment, relation, and how to represent sentences in an idealized way that captures (at least some) of that relationship. Logic makes subtle mistakes easier to spot—and this is useful in philosophy where arguments can be quite intricate! The first step is learning how to represent sentences in natural language in a symbolic language, which allows for step-by-step reconstruction of natural language arguments. The second step is determining whether the argument, so represented, has features that mark it as an entailment. When it does, conclusions follow from premises! When it doesn't---either the conclusions don’t follow, or we need to refine our formal representation of the argument. The course begins by examining truth-functional logic: a system for treating arguments involving “and”, “or”, “not”, and “if…then” constructions. We'll then show how this logic is inadequate, but how its main shortcomings are met by first-order logic, which also accommodates arguments involving quantifier words like “all”, “none”, and “some”.

PHIL 210-1: History of Philosophy: Ancient

How can we make our lives and our communities better? Why should we act justly, when being unjust can be profitable? What makes someone a true friend, how many kinds of friendships are there, and how many friends should we aim to have? These kinds of questions preoccupied ancient Greek philosophers, and their contributions to these topics continue to influence contemporary thought. We will investigate different proposed answers to these and other questions with a view to better understanding ancient Greek ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. This course strongly emphasizes the development of close reading and writing skills. No prior exposure to ancient philosophy is required.

PHIL 221: Gender, Politics, and Philosophy

This course is an introduction to philosophical problems concerning gender and politics. What is gender and what is its relation to sex and sexuality? What is gender injustice and why is it wrong? What are the causes of gender injustice and how could we overcome it? And what is the relation of feminist theory to lived experience and to political action? We will read and critically discuss both historical and contemporary texts addressing these questions.

PHIL 222: Introduction to Africana Philosophy

Philosopher Lucious Outlaw understands Africana philosophy as a “gathering notion used to cover collectively particular articulations, and traditions of particular articulations, of persons African and African-descended that are to be regarded as instances of philosophizing.” Broadly, Africana philosophy considers work from diverse areas in Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Central questions discussed herein include very common philosophical questions such as: “What does it mean to be a human being?”; “how do we account for the past (or time, more generally)?”; and “how is knowledge about ourselves—as thinking subjects—possible?” However, what makes these questions unique to Africana philosophy is their being asked in light of Western modernity, colonialism, and slavery by or about African-descended people. This is so since, as Louis Gordon tells us, “there was no reason for the people of the African continent to have considered themselves as Africans until that identity was imposed upon them through conquest and colonization.” So the question: “What does it mean to be a human being?” is raised in light of the humanity of African descended peoples that was called into question beginning with Western modernity, colonialism, and slavery. This course introduces students to philosophical work done by African and African descended people on a plethora of issues, many of which are intersecting. In so doing, it highlights the impact of racialized and racist conditions, historical and present social and political structures, and linguistic and cultural formations of African-descended groups throughout the world. 

PHIL 225: Minds and Machines

This course will take up a number of philosophical questions about generative artificial intelligence. Are generative AI models agents? Do they pose unique existential risks to humans? What does the surge in AI-generated content mean for art, social media, and politics? We will explore these questions through readings from philosophers, computer scientists, and others in the cognitive and social sciences.

PHIL 253: Introduction Philosophy of Language

This is an introduction to the philosophy of language taught through academic texts from philosophy and the cognitive sciences as well as selections of short fiction. Some questions we will ask include: What is meaning? Can we ever really communicate with one another and, if so, how?
How do we acquire a language? How do the languages that we learn shape our minds and the ways that we live? Do non-human animals use language? And how does figurative language work?

PHIL 259: Introduction to Metaphysics

Metaphysics concerns the structure of reality. It asks questions like: Do entities like electrons and minds exist in the same way as a tree or a water bottle? What distinguishes kinds like H2O and lions from kinds like ‘animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo’? Are race and gender real and in what way? Are groups like the Supreme Court more than a collection of their members? How should we understand claims about possibilities, such as ‘If kangaroos did not have tails, they would fall over’? And how do social structures (that is, social practices, social roles, institutions) cause social outcomes? In this course, we will cover philosophical views on ontology (what exists), fundamental levels of reality, the composition of social groups, natural and social kinds, the nature of race and gender, possibility and necessity, and social structural causation. There will be particular emphasis on social aspects of reality.

PHIL 262: Ethical Problems/Public Issues

This course is a study of ethical problems arising in public policy, as well as philosophical approaches to addressing these problems. In this course we will think within, and critically examine, contemporary philosophical theories of morality such as utilitarianism, contractualism, virtue ethics, and care ethics. We will examine these moral theories through the lens of disputed moral issues such as punishment, immigration, racial integration, climate change, and freedom of speech, paying special attention to these issues as they figure in the contemporary social and political landscape of the United States. We will explore historical and contemporary structures of inequality in the US, particularly related to race, gender, and class, and we will critically reflect on our own positions within these structures.

PHIL 273-1: The Brady Scholars Program: The Moral Life

What does morality require of us? Does acting morally amount to consistently bringing about the best consequences that we can? Or are there other important considerations that we should take into account when thinking about how to act well? When we are trying to figure out how to act, what questions should we be asking ourselves? Drawing on both classic and contemporary readings in philosophy, as well as our own experiences, we will ask what it means to live a moral life in different spheres and situations. Do we have, or can we justify, special obligations to our friends and family? Do our professional and other roles shape what we have reason to do? How do we understand our obligations towards strangers? Is there some unified way to understand the reasons that should guide us in all of these spheres, or do they operate independently?

PHIL 312: Studies in Modern Philosophy: Belief and Doubt

This course will consider the ways in which philosophers have understood the life of the mind to unfold, from belief and doubt an individual may experience to disagreement and the need for toleration in a community.

PHIL 314: Studies in German Philosophy: Marx

This course is a reading-intensive seminar on the social and philosophical thought of Karl Marx. We will study Marx's earlier and later writings, as well as relevant background material from Marx's Hegelian predecessors (including Hegel himself) and the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century political economists.

PHIL 315: Introduction to French Philosophy

The course begins with a foundational competency in main concepts from the French philosopher Michel Foucault, including discipline and biopower, the productivity and plurality of power; normalization and its dependence on "abnormality;" the conditions under which freedom is also a form of subjection; disciplinary and punitive societies, the historical a priori. We review many of the aspects of Foucault's work  that have strongly impacted inquiry in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Turning, in the course’s second section,  to the  work of French Martinian philosopher and decolonial theorist Frantz Fanon, we will critically compare Foucault’s and Fanon’s approaches to power, psychiatric medicine, families, biopolitics, self-surveillance, knowledge, selfhood, alterity, and colonization. Challenging both thinkers we will ask how these approaches both reinforce each other and, at times,  call each other into question. Students will have the opportunity to write on each of the two French philosophers jointly or separately.

The course is reading intensive. It will include weekly contributions to class debate including online postings.  your critical responses to the readings,  and to  each other are encouraged. The course is open to both undergraduates and graduates and includes a lecture component and separate discussion sections at the undergraduate and graduate level.

PHIL 327: Philosophy of Psychology

What is the nature of short-term memory or implicit bias? Are our moral judgments impacted by emotional states? How do we know that tests like the n-back task, implicit association test, or fMRI studies produce evidence about memory, implicit attitudes, or emotional states? Psychologists appeal to tools of scientific reasoning, such as validation, construct development, and operational definitions, to evaluate when methods provide evidence about the objects of inquiry. We will analyze these tools as well as typical methods employed in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. These methods include: introspection, comparative animal research, controlled lab experiments, and functional neuroimaging. Using this analysis as background, we will evaluate particular cases of scientific reasoning about animal cognition, implicit bias, short-term and spatial memory, and moral judgment. At the end of this course, we will evaluate the role of replication and integration of results in producing knowledge about the mind/brain.

PHIL 361: Topics in Social & Political Philosophy: Philosophy of Punishment and Incarceration

The United States is currently home to 5% of the world's population but 25% of its incarcerated population. With close to 2 million people under the control of the American criminal legal system, the United States has more total people who are incarcerated than any other country in the world. Moreover, the United States has one of the most punitive approaches to criminal justice, imposing lengthy prison sentences, forcing people who are incarcerated to spend years—sometimes even decades—in solitary confinement, and providing very few educational, vocational, and recreational programs in prisons.

Punishment and incarceration also disproportionately impact people of color. Black Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites. While Black Americans and Hispanics make up about 32% of the US population, they constitute 56% of the incarcerated population.

This course will use a philosophical lens to examine the causes and consequences of this crisis of mass incarceration in the United States, along with possible solutions to it, with a particular emphasis on the theories of punishment grounding our criminal legal system and, thus, our prisons. The course will include students from the Evanston campus and incarcerated students in the Northwestern Prison Education Program.

*Note: This course will take place inside Sheridan Correctional Center in Sheridan, IL. On class days, students will leave Evanston at 8 AM and will return by 3:30 PM. Enrollment is limited to 10 students from Evanston, is by permission only, and requires an application.

In no more than 500 words each, please respond to the following two questions:
What do you think you would contribute to a class of this kind?
What do you think you would gain from a class of this kind?
Please submit responses to Professor Jennifer Lackey at j-lackey@northwestern.edu by May 31, 2024. Admissions decisions will be made by June 10th.

PHIL 373-1: The Civically Engaged Life: The Good Work

Brady Scholars in their senior year will meet frequently throughout the quarter to move ahead with the collaborative project they have chosen as their service to the Evanston community.

PHIL 390: Special Topics in Philosophy: Feminist Philosophy

Very broadly, feminism is both a political movement and a theoretical commitment to ending gender-based oppression. Feminists have contributed important work to every area of philosophy, posing distinctive questions and developing distinctive critiques, views, and concepts. In this course we will learn about feminist contributions to various “core” areas of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and social philosophy. Issues we may consider include: ‘what is gender?’ (metaphysics), ‘how does gender impact our standing as knowers’ (epistemology), ‘how do and how should gender norms operate in our moral theories?’ (ethics), ‘what are sexism and misogyny, and how can we counteract them?’ (social philosophy). We’ll also think about the commitments, assumptions, and aims shared by feminists across philosophy and what it is that connects this work across philosophy.

PHIL 422: Studies in Modern Philosophy: Spinoza

We will examine Spinoza's views in a variety of areas, including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind and language, ethics, and political philosophy.

PHIL 423: Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy: Alain Locke

Most commonly studied for his work in the Harlem Renaissance, Alain Locke developed a critical pragmatism that was a response to William James’ pragmatism and developed a cosmopolitan theory that led him to democratic, race, value, art, education, and religious theories. This seminar will examine each of these areas of Locke's philosophical work, showing how they connect to each other.  

PHIL 468: Seminar in Epistemology

 The topic of this seminar is epistemic normativity. We will discuss the sources of epistemic normativity and the nature of epistemic norms. After discussing various accounts of these matters, we will explore applications to topics such as evidence and reasons, rationality, and (alleged) epistemic duties and responsibilities.

PHIL 402-1: Second-year Proseminar