Hoos’ List

Introduces a broad spectrum of philosophical problems and approaches. Topics include basic questions concerning morality, skepticism and the foundations of knowledge, the mind and its relation to the body, and the existence of God. Readings are drawn from classics in the history of philosophy and/or contemporary sources. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/

This class explores the intersection of philosophy with issues concerning VR, computer simulation, AI, etc. Can traditional philosophical problems be seen through the lens of VR and AI- and do VR and AI raise new and distinctive philosophical issues? This will show how reflection on modern technologies can help with ancient philosophical questions and how philosophy can help in the development of new technologies and society's response to them.

Analyzes the structure of informal arguments and fallacies that are commonly committed in everyday reasoning. The course will not cover symbolic logic in any detail. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Discussion groups devoted to some philosophical writing or topic. Information on the specific topic can be obtained from the philosophy department at course enrollment time. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Examines a wide variety of theories of human nature, with the aim of understanding how we can fulfill our nature and thereby live good, satisfying and meaningful lives. Focuses on the questions of whether it is in our nature to be rational, moral and/or social beings. Readings are taken from contemporary and historical sources. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Examines some of the central problems of moral philosophy and their sources in human life and thought. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Studies the fundamental principles underlying contemporary and historical discussions of such issues as abortion, euthanasia, suicide, pacifism, and political terror. Examines Utilitarian and anti-Utilitarian modes of thought about human life and the significance of death. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

What is the meaning of life? Does a meaningful life presuppose the existence of a divine being, or can human beings somehow create meaning? Does the certainty of death rob life of meaning, or provide it? These and related questions will be pursued through contemporary and classic texts by such authors as Sartre, Nagel, Nietzsche, Bernard Williams, and Epicurus.

Art permeates our lives, yet it is hard to define what makes something a work of art, or what the purpose of art is. In tis course we will explore the philosophy of art. We will look at what some of the great philosophical figures of the past have thought about art, as well as looking at contemporary approaches.

Examines and evaluates some basic practices and principles of Anglo-American law. Discusses the justification of punishment, the death penalty, legal liability, good samaritan laws, and the legal enforcement of morality. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Knowledge and Reality. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Survey of the history of philosophy from the Pre-Socratic period through the Middle Ages. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Surveys the history of modern philosophy, beginning with Descartes and extending up to the nineteenth century. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Do computers think? Can a persuasive case be made for the claim that the human mind is essentially a sophisticated computing device? These and related questions will be examined through readings in computer science, the philosophy of mind, logic, and linguistics. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

This course will address the effects of rapid technological advances on a number of new & traditional philosophical topics (potential changes in our concept of personal identity as a result of biological & cognitive enhancements the loss of privacy changes in the status of scientific evidence & the diminution of the role of human scientists as a result of automated instrumentation, computationally based simulations, and computer proof methods).

This course surveys foundational issues in the philosophy of cognitive science. Part 1 asks, what is a mind? Are minds brains? Computers? Do minds extend into the body & environment? What it would take to make a machine with a mind? Part 2 turns to the problem of personal identity over time. Once you were a kid, now you're an adult, and one day you'll grow old. What (if anything) makes you the same person over your life.

Introduces the concepts and techniques of modern formal logic, including both sentential and quantifier logic, as well as proof, interpretation, translation, and validity. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Introduces the philosophy of science. Topics include experiment, casual inference, models, scientific explanation, theory structure, hypothesis testing, realism and anti-realism, the relations between science and technology, science versus non-science, and the philosophical assumptions of various sciences. Illustrations are drawn from the natural, biological, and social sciences, but no background in any particular science is presupposed. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

A lecture series on the various topics central to Philosophy.

Seminars aimed at showing how philosophical problems arise in connection with subjects of general interest. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

In this class, we will examine philosophical puzzles about our ability to make rational choices that affect or determine our own happiness. How can we rationally decide to undergo a significant experience - such as having a child or moving to a new country - when have no way of knowing what that experience will be like? How can we rationally choose to make decisions about our future?

Examines whether our actions and choices are free and whether or to what extent we can be held responsible for them. Includes the threat to freedom posed by the possibility of scientific explanations of our behavior and by psychoanalysis, the concept of compulsion, moral and legal responsibility, and the nature of human action. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Other species seem to represent objects in their environments, think about the thoughts of their conspecifics, and perhaps even use language. Some seem to have long-term memory, emotion, and self-awareness. Do they in fact do all of these things, and if so, how, and in what sense? We will engage philosophically with the best scientific evidence available to answer these and similar questions before considering their ethical implications.

Considers the problems raised by arguments for and against the existence of God; discussion of such related topics as evil, evidence for miracles, and the relation between philosophy and theology. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

A detailed examination of the philosophical concept of God and also of diverse arguments for and against His existence, including various ontological arguments, causal arguments, the arguments from design, and the argument from evil.

This course will study philosophical issues arising from the encounter and conflict between different cultures. Focusing on the Spanish conquest of the Americas will address the general question of whether there is a just war, relating this discussion to fundamental questions in contemporary ethics and political philosophy.

Considers some of the perennial questions in political philosophy through an examination of classical works in the field, including some or all of the following: Aristotle's Politics, Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Second Treatise of Government, and Rousseau's On the Social Contract. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

This course will consider three central questions in political philosophy: Why do political societies exist? What kind of political society is best? And, what is the proper role of the state in the social and economic affairs of its citizens? Rather than a comprehensive overview of the subject, this course will offer a chance to carefully examine some of the most influential attempts to answer to these core questions.

Almost simultaneously some 2500 years ago thinkers in Greece (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) & China (Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, others) worked through what became the foundational philosophies of 2 great civilizations. Although at the time they enjoyed no contact whatsoever, the questions posed about the nature of the world & how human beings may best live within it are strikingly complementary and serve as something of a mirror for each other.

A survey of the political ideas and theories of the ancient Greeks and Romans, including such works as Plato's REPUBLIC, Aristotle's POLITICS and Cicero's DE RE PUBLICA. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

In this class, we'll discuss philosophical theories of health and explore difficult issues in the measurement and treatment of health-related issues

Examines pressing issues of the examined life, especially those ethical (How should I live?), epistemological (how and what can I know?) & overlapping both. Authors include Plato, Mencius, Marcus Aurelius, Gautama, & Laozi. Topics include testimony; virtue; skepticism; the value of knowledge, society & systematic world views; moral progress; and epistemic injustice. Combines classics with contemporary work. Argumentative essays & creative writing.

This course investigates the history and the scientific and philosophical implications of Darwin's revolutionary idea that the wholly unguided process of natural selection could explain the magnificent variety and adaptedness of living things and their descent from a common ancestor. One of the philosophical topics we will explore is how scientific theories are supported by evidence and how science yields knowledge

Introduces the philosophy of Plato through careful examination of selected Platonic dialogues. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

An introduction to the philosophy of Aristotle, covering his major works in ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, and literary theory. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Examines the continued development of philosophy from after Aristotle to the end of the Middle Ages. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Studies the central philosophers in the rationalist tradition.

Studies the central philosophers in the empiricist tradition.

Primarily a study of Kant's metaphysics and epistemology, followed by a brief look at the views of some of Idealist successors. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

A comprehensive study of the philosophy of Nietzsche, with an examination of his views on life, truth, philosophy, art, morality, nihilism, values and their creation, will to power, eternal recurrence, and more. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: instructor permission (previous course in philosophy preferred)

Examines central metaphysical issues such as time, the existence of God, causality and determinism, universals, possibility and necessity, identity, and the nature of metaphysics. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Studies problems concerned with the foundations of knowledge, perception, and rational belief. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Studies some basic problems of philosophical psychology. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

An introduction to systems of non-classical logic, including both extensions and revisions to classical logic.

Topics change from semester to semester and year to year. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Studies some recent contemporary philosophical movement, writing, or topic. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Critically investigates central philosophical issues raised by artistic activity: To count as an artwork must a thing have a modicum of aesthetic value, or is it enough that it be deemed art by the community? Is aesthetic value entirely in the eye of the beholder or is there such a thing as being wrong in one's judgment concerning an artwork? including Wittgenstein, Sartre, and Pears.

Science fiction is a distinctively philosophical genre. Science fiction stories can cause us to question the bounds of what is possible, explore ethical questions that arise in alien circumstances, explore the nature of the self and the very nature of reality, and so on. This course will investigate philosophical questions via science fiction literature, and use philosophy to explore the nature of science fiction.

This course will consider three central questions in political philosophy: Why do political societies exist? What kind of political society is best? And, what is the proper role of the state in the social and economic affairs of its citizens? Rather than a comprehensive overview of the subject, this course will offer a chance to carefully examine some of the most influential attempts to answer to these core questions.

Philosophical account of health care practices and institutions viewed against the backdrop of leading theories of justice (e.g., utilitarianism, Rawlsian contractarianism, communitarianism, libertarianism). Topics include the nature, justifications, and limits of a right to health care; the value conflicts posed by cost containment, implicit and explicit rationing, and reform of the health care system; the physician-patient relationship in an era of managed care; and the procurement and allocation of scarce life-saving resources, such as expensive drugs and transplantable organs. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: course in ethics of political philosophy from any department, such as RELG 2650, PHIL 1740, PLPT 3010, etc.

What is a normal human being? What is the natural course for the human species? What does justice have to do with our genes? The emergence of technology allowing the manipulation of the human genome raises a number of ethical social, and political problems. This class will explore these challenges through philosophical argument. In particular, we will attempt to wrestle with notions such as natural, human being, perfection, enhancement and cure. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

This course will examine the moral status of non-human animals and what the major ethical theories imply for our treatment of animals, including in scientific research and food. In an effort to examine their moral status, we will explore the questions of whether and to what extent animals experience pain and emotions.

History of modern ethical theory (Hobbes to Mill) with especial emphasis on the texts of Hume (Treatise, Book III) and Kant, (Grundlegung), which will be studied carefully and critically. Among the topics to be considered: Is morality based on reason? Is it necessarily irrational not to act morally? Are moral standards objective? Are they conventional? Is it a matter of luck whether we are morally virtuous? Is the morally responsible will a free will? Are all reasons for acting dependent on desires? For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Studies Anglo-American ethics since 1900. While there are selected readings from G. E. Moore, W. D. Ross, A. J. Ayer, C. L. Stevenson and R. M. Hare, emphasis is on more recent work. Among the topics to be considered: Are there moral facts? Are moral values relative? Are moral judgments universalizable? Are they prescriptive? Are they cognitive? What is to be said for utilitarianism as a moral theory? What against it? And what are the alternatives? For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

The focus of the course will be the exploration of various moral, legal and policy issues posed by efforts to curtail or enhance fertility through contraception, abortion, and recent advances in reproductive technology. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: One prior course in ethics from any department.

Canvasses the history of research scandals (e.g., Nuremberg, Tuskegee) resulting in federal regulation of human subjects research. Critically assesses the randomized clinical trial (including informed consent, risk/benefit ratio, randomization, placebos). Examines the ethics of research with special populations, such as the cognitively impaired, prisoners, children, embryos and fetuses, and animals. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: One course in ethics or bioethics, or instructor permission.

In this class, we'll first examine the question 'What is gender?' Then we'll look at ways in which gender can interact with traditional philosophical topics, including epistemology, philosophy of language, political philosophy, etc.

In this class, we'll be talking about philosophical issues at the intersection of sexuality, sexual experience, and gender experience. What is sexual consent? What is the relationship between sexual consent and sexual morality? What is sexual orientation, and what is its relationship to sex and gender? Is there such a thing as biological sex? Is there a difference between sex and gender?

This class explores philosophical issues in the nature of mental health and mental illness. Topics may include: What is the difference between a mental illness and a physical illness? How do we understand the difference between mental difference and mental dysfunction? Does our current approach to understanding mental health overly pathologize or medicalize people? What is a social contagion? What does it mean to be mentally healthy?

Examination of the nature and function of liberty in social theorists such as Adam Smith, JJ Rousseau, Ayn Rand, John Rawls, Robert Nozick. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Topic changes from year to year. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: Philosophy majors.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: Enrollment in the departmental honors program.

Independent study under the direction of a faculty member. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Independent study under the direction of a faculty member. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Examines various results in metalogic, including completeness, compactness, and undecidability. Effective computability, theories of truth, and identity may also be covered. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: PHIL 2420 or equivalent.

Logical analysis of the structure of theories, probability, causality, and testing of theories. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Comparison of various schools in the philosophy of mathematics (including logicism, formalism, and conceptualism) and their answers to such questions as 'Do numbers exist?' and 'How is mathematical knowledge possible?' For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/. Prerequisite: Some familiarity with quantifier logic or instructor permission.

A survey of the political ideas and theories of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A survey of the most important philosophers of the Modern Age.

Seminar on an Ethics Topic

A seminar on the ethical implications of biomedical research.

A seminar on political theory and how the topics of rights and freedoms are incorporated.

A seminar on the nature of being and the world

A seminar on the nature and scope of knowledge.

A seminar on logic features and reasoning.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Seminar for First Yr graduate students. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Tutorial instruction. The student will attend lectures and cover the subjects of an undergraduate course, but will do additional reading and/or written work to strengthen their understanding of that philosophical area.

With the permission of the instructor, a student may arrange to take an undergraduate course for graduate credit under this designation. The student will attend lectures and cover the subjects of the undergraduate course, but will do additional reading and/or written work; the student's work in the course will be graded on a scale appropriate for graduate course work.

A survey of the political ideas and theories of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A survey of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages.

A survey of the most important philosophers of the Modern Age.

A survey of ethical theory and moral status.

A seminar on political theory and how the topics of rights and freedoms are incorporated.

A seminar on the nature of being and the world

A seminar on the various topics with in the Philosophy of Science.

A seminar on logic features and reasoning.

This seminar will examine the nature of and possible justifications for claims of right. Readings will be from both classical and contemporary sources. The works we read will be authored principally by philosophers, with a few pieces by political and legal theorists.

This course examines arguments for and against moral and legal "positive" duties (to assist others). We consider possible duties to give emergency aid (rescue), to improve the condition of the needy (charity), and to impose more equitable distributions of goods within and between nations (justice).

This seminar will examine philosophical debates concerning the duty to obey the law (or political obligation) and the grounds for various kinds of legal disobedience. Readings will be from contemporary sources in political philosophy and legal theory.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

Philosophy of Mind. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

The course addresses recent literature on the following questions: (1) what is the ontological nature of experience? (sense-data theories vs. state theories vs. disjunctivism); (2) is the phenomenal character of experience exhausted by its representational content? (representationalism vs. qualia realism); (3) does experience contain any nonconceptual representational content? (4) are the intrinsic features of experience introspectible?

A survey of the political ideas and theories of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A survey of the most important philosophers of the Modern Age.

A survey of ethical theory and moral status.

A seminar on political theory and how the topics of rights and freedoms are incorporated.

A seminar on the nature of being and the world

A seminar on the nature and scope of knowledge.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.For master's research, taken before a thesis director has been selected.

For master's thesis, taken under the supervision of a thesis director. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

This course is designed for graduate students in their third or fourth year. It focuses on dissertation writing and the various skills relevant to professional development.

For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.

For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at http://www.virginia.edu/philosophy/.