DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

Fall 2025 Class Schedule

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

Fall 2025 course descriptions

PHIL 101-7-20: College Seminar: Logicians, Leftists, Fascists, and Mystics

Modern logic came of age in the run-up to World War II. This course will read some popular histories of those advancing the new logic and their lives in the midst of the impending Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938. Logic, at least as practiced by a group of philosophers in Vienna, was seen as a threat by the Nazis. We'll read some accounts of why, along the way meeting some curious characters in philosophy, mathematics, and literature, and learning of how their politics and outlooks interacted (often in surprising ways): W.H. Auden, Rudolf Carnap, Kurt Gödel, Martin Heidegger, Iris Murdoch, Rainer Maria Rilke, Bertrand Russell, Susan Stebbing, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, among others.

PHIL 101-7-21: College Seminar:  The State of Nature

In the social contract tradition in political philosophy, exemplified by theorists like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, the idea of the "state of nature" plays an important role. The state of nature refers to the condition of human beings prior to the development of formal political institutions. For social contract theorists, the justification of political authority hinges on the state's ability to solve the problems that befall us in our natural, pre-political condition. Perhaps needless to say, there have been some developments in our understanding of non-state societies since the heyday of the social contract tradition some three hundred years ago. In this seminar, we will read the classic social contract theorists alongside recent work from anthropologists, historians, and political scientists. Our aim will be to better understand the pre-political condition of our species and to explore the moral and political implications of that condition for us today.

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 & what makes it valuable? Is it a form of government, a value, an ideal, a political system, a form of life, a bit of all this? Is it government by the majority or by all the people all the time? 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 & could all citizens in a democracy participate in politics? By direct self-government of the people or only 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: Data, Technology, and Society

Through technologies like smartphones, social media, and Large Language Models, we produce digital traces of our everyday lives. Most of this data is collected and analyzed by governments, businesses, and scientists who use algorithms and data analytics to make decisions that impact our lives. There are two broad narratives about the societal implications of big data and technology. On one hand, technologies can improve health, increase access to education, produce economic efficiency and growth, and stimulate more green energy projects. On the other hand, when governments or companies use algorithms and machine learning to supplement or even supplant human decision-making, fundamental values like responsibility, fairness, and authenticity may be at risk. Will Big Data and machine learning usher in a new age of enlightenment and prosperity or undermine our values and result in an erosion of autonomy, self-determination, and workers’ rights?

In addition to the academic content, this College Seminar will focus on improving the critical reading, thinking, writing, and time-management skills that will serve you well in your future Northwestern courses. We will also focus on setting and evaluating your own academic goals for the quarter. This seminar may serve as a space of social and advising support to aid in your transition to university and the increased academic expectations of college-level work. We will discuss grades and perfectionism, resources for help during challenges, unwritten professional norms in professor-student interactions, maintaining academic integrity, and identifying credible sources.

PHIL 110: Introduction to Philosophy

In this course we will be exploring several traditional topics within philosophy. 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: Elementary Logic I:

In a slogan, logic is about what follows from what. It concerns when information is guaranteed to be true because of how it is related to other true information. To learn a logic is to learn a formal language with its own rules (like a math or programming language), and to develop skill using this formal language. A logic is then used to figure out whether arguments are good or bad in roughly two steps. First, the argument is represented in a logic. Second, the argument is assessed by seeing whether it is constructed in a way where the argument's conclusion follows. Good arguments are structured so that their conclusions are guaranteed to be true when the premises are true; bad arguments are not. In this course, you will learn two logics: truth-functional logic and first-order logic. Truth-functional logic concerns arguments involving "and," "or," "if," and "not." First-order logic builds on truth-functional logic to concern complex arguments involving "every", "none," and "some." Since this course satisfies the FD-EDR degree requirement, students should expect a rigorous class with weekly assignments and quizzes.

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, & Philosophy: 

This course is an introduction to feminist philosophy, with a focus on broadly political questions. What is gender oppression? Why is it wrong? What are its causes? And how could we overcome it? We will read and critically discuss both historical and contemporary texts addressing these questions. The course is divided into three parts. In the first part, we will study some fundamental concepts of feminist theory, including oppression and its structural character; intersectionality and the heterogeneity of social groups; and culture, universalism, and imperialism. In the second part of the course, we will study a classic of feminist philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. In the third part of the course, we will explore one topic within feminist philosophy in greater depth: the relation between gender and work. We will study sociological theories of capitalism and gender divisions of labor as well as political-philosophical debates about gestational labor and sex work.

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 269 Bioethics:

This course is a study of moral and political problems related to biomedicine and biotechnology. In the first part of the course, we will study the ethics of the physician-patient relationship. We will consider what values ought to govern that relationship, how those values may conflict, and how such conflicts are best resolved. In the second part of the course, we will turn to some specific ethical challenges related to biotechnology, including abortion, genetic manipulation, and physician-assisted suicide. We will close the course by surveying the field of public health ethics, with particular attention to ethical issues related to global pandemic preparedness and response.

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

PHIL 280 Introduction to the Philosophy of Art: 

In this class we will consider some foundational questions in the philosophy of art and aesthetics: Is aesthetic value objective or subjective? Can one give a 'theory of art'? What is the relationship between art and morality? Might art be dangerous? What is art, anyway? We will explore these questions through careful engagement with a range of historical and contemporary texts, beginning with Plato's famous attacks on the arts, and ending with present-day authors discussing the role of art within our contemporary world.

PHIL 324 Studies in African American Philosophy: Charles Mills: 

African American Philosophy can be understood as philosophical engagement with African American experiences. And since African Americans (and thus their experiences) are a Western people, African American Philosophy is often theorized as, even if contentiously, engaged with Western philosophical traditions and methodologies. African American Philosophy thereby tends to apply Western traditions and methodologies to issues such as slavery, integration/self-segregation, assimilation/separatism, reparations, collective identity and efficacy, intersectionality, etc., and concepts such as respect, alienation, oppression, citizenship, forgiveness, art, progress, etc. as they are either conceptualized or reimagined through African American experiences. This course introduces students to African American Philosophy, but centers the work of one of the great pioneers of African American Philosophy—namely, Charles W. Mills. And so students will engage many issues and concepts pertinent to African American Philosophy by looking deeply into Mills’ philosophical corpus.

PHIL 327 Philosophy of Psychology: 

What is the nature of implicit bias and does the Implicit Association Test have sufficient validity? Are psychiatric kinds best investigated through the methods of psychology or neuroscience? Are other species conscious and how would we know? What can computational and machine learning models tell us about the human mind/brain? Psychologists appeal to tools of scientific reasoning, such as validation, operational definitions, and replication to evaluate when methods provide evidence about the objects of inquiry and support stable knowledge claims.

We will analyze these tools as well as typical methods employed in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. These methods include: comparative animal studies, computational modeling, controlled lab experiments, and replication. Using this analysis as background, we will evaluate particular cases of scientific reasoning about animal cognition, consciousness, implicit bias, and psychiatric kinds. 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: Social and Political Philosophy: Should Some Things Not Be for Sale?:

The goal of this course is to provide you with a philosophical foundation for thinking clearly and sensitively about the ethics of markets. Markets perform vital coordinating functions in modern societies and are rapidly penetrating into ever more aspects of our lives and society. But some markets—for example, those in human organs and in human reproductive and sexual capacities—are highly controversial. Are these markets special? Are they objectionable? If so, what features make them special or objectionable? Are these features essential or contingent? And what can this investigation tell us more generally about the promises and moral limits of markets?

PHIL 397: HONKOL Advanced Research Methods in Philosophy Honors Colloquium: 

This is the Colloquium for the discussion of senior thesis projects or similar advanced undergraduate research in which each participant presents and discusses each other participants' work in progress.

Enrollment Requirements: Req: Either (1) enrollment in PHIL 398-1 or PHIL 398-2, or (2) enrollment in a 3rd or 4th year PHIL 399-0 approved by Convener upon petition to participate in PHIL 397-0.

PHIL 401-1 Proseminar: 

PHIL 402-1 Proseminar II: Reason and Doubt in the Polity

This course will investigate the ways in which doubt and dogmatism have played a role in political theorizing. Readings will be drawn from historical sources, both ancient and early modern, as well as from present-day philosophical work.

PHIL 410-1 Epistemic Injustice and Recognition Theory: 

This seminar will explore the relationship between epistemic injustice and the concepts of recognition and misrecognition in critical theory. We will examine how the lack of epistemic recognition involved in epistemic injustices can be properly identified and fought against from the epistemic vantage points of vulnerable subjects and grassroot social movements. The issues we will address include: What are the different kinds of epistemic recognition harm? How should we understand responsibility for recognition harms? How should we resist and prevent the occurrence of those harms? The authors in critical social epistemology and recognition theory we will read include: Miranda Fricker, Axel Honneth, José Medina, Ezgi Sertler, and Rebecca Tsosie.

PHIL 410-2 Normative Dimensions of the Common Ground:

In this course we will be exploring the normative dimensions of the common ground of a conversation. We will focus on Stalnaker's model of the common ground, and we will be exploring what norms there are on the construction and update of common ground. Likely reading will include philosophers as well as linguists and cognitive psychologists.

PHIL 426: Seminar in Philosophy of Mind:

What are minds and what do they do?  In this course, we will survey contemporary work in the philosophy of mind that navigates this question in one way or another. The topics covered will be decided upon during the first day of class by the students in coordination with the instructor. Among others,  possible topics include emotion, event cognition, the perception/cognition boundary, object files, mindreading,  representational format, and attention.