Spring 2023

PHIL 1101 - Introduction to Philosophy (multiple sections)
Kas Saghafi
Gerald Azike
James Bahoh
Sam Munroe
Timothy Roche
Marda Kaiser-Rehnelt
Daniel Smith
Mary Beth Mader (honors)

Course Description 
Introduction to critical exploration of such issues as knowledge, reality, consciousness and the good life; readings from Plato, Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, or more recent sources.

PHIL 1102 - Introduction to Ethics (multiple sections; online courses available)
Steph Butera
Amit Sen
Bernardo Alba
Zachary Auwerda
Lindsey Stewart
Jessica Soester
Ashleigh Morales
Salman Khawaja
L. Manning Garrett (at Lambuth)

Course Description
Introduction to such social and ethical questions as, “What makes a happy life? What justifies ideas of good and evil? How should we live with others? What is the role of gender and race in society?” The subjects of justice, racism, and oppression, especially as they figure into the American context, are highlighted. 

PHIL 1611 - Elementary Logic (multiple sections; online courses available)
Amit Sen
Sila Ozkara

Course Description
In this course we will cover topics in both formal and informal logic. Studying logic trains the mind to reason well. Logic has played a foundational role in education for over two thousand years because reasoning well is essential to any intellectual endeavor, whether it be in the sciences, the arts, or the humanities. We will explore everyday uses of logic, historical systems of formal reasoning, and some modern formal logic.

Required Textbook (M50 online versions; always consult your syllabus or instructor before purchasing textbooks)
MindTapV2.0 for Hurley/Watson's A Concise Introduction Logic, 1 term Printed Access Card. 2019. ISBN: 9780357419410 

PHIL 3002 - History of Modern Philosophy
CRN 12088
TR 
9:40 - 11:05am
Daniel Smith

Course Description
History of philosophy from late Middle Ages through 19th century structured around major themes that shaped the modern period; attention to cultural and historical setting in which they arose and to which they contributed; readings from philosophical and nonphilosophical sources.

PHIL 3451 - Existentialism
CRN 12089
MW
2:20-3:45pm
Kas Saghafi

Course Description
Historical and comparative study of different existentialist writers and their relation to literature, religion, and psychology; readings from such writers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus.

PHIL 3452 - Feminist Theory 
CRN 12091
MW
12:40-2:05pm
Sila Ozkara

Course Description
Selected ideas from the history on women from the Greeks to the present; developing methods and ideologies within contemporary theoretical approaches to feminist studies; diversity, equality and difference discussed by drawing on different epistemologies, such as existentialism and poststructuralism.

PHIL 3514 - Biomedical Ethics (multiple sections; online courses available)
Kevin Taylor
Amy Nigh
Thomas Nenon
Salman Khawaja
L. Manning Garrett

Course Description
Discussion of ethical problems raised by contemporary medical practices and biological innovations from standpoint of contemporary ethical theories including abortion, euthanasia, human experimentation and genetic engineering.

Course Description (M50 online versions)
In this course we will begin by learning about moral theory, logic/argumentation, and concepts related to biomedical ethics such as autonomy, paternalism, informed consent, and more. We will then explore case studies in the modules that follow. Such topics include human research, pandemic ethics, abortion, euthanasia, and health care. You will be expected to apply moral theory to cases studies as well as identify relevant concepts.

Required Textbooks (M50 online versions; always consult your syllabus or instructor before purchasing textbooks)
Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases by Lewis Vaughn (multiple editions available)

PHIL 3515 - Climate Change, Ethics, and Environment
CRN 22050
ONLINE

Course Description
This course is intended as a survey of the topics addressed in environmental ethics: non-anthropocentric ethics and the deep ecology movement, animal ethics and the use of animals for biomedical research, ecofeminism, environmental racism, indigenous environmental philosophy, social ecology, and the ethics of climate change economics and technology.

PHIL 3516 - Philosophy of Law 
CRN 18994
TR
11:20-12:45pm
Remy Debes

Course Description
Philosophical analyses of nature and justification of law, legal reasoning, legal institutions, practices such as punishment.

PHIL 3701 - Human and the Divine
CRN 12101
TR
1:00-2:25pm
Lindsey Stewart

Course Description
This course will examine one or more major religious movements regarding their origins, doctrines, and philosophical significance; contrasting conceptions of deity, worship, and the role of religion in how we think about ourselves and our roles in society according to race, class, and gender.

PHIL 4823-M50 - ST: Confucianism
CRN 28687
ONLINE
Kevin Taylor

Course Description
This course will provide an overview of the history of Chinese philosophy with an emphasis on Confucianism. We will focus primarily on the “classical period” of Chinese philosophy which developed during the seminal Warring States Period in Chinese history. This period begins with Confucius and culminates with Han Feizi at the end of the Warring States Period and the beginning of the Qin Dynasty. 

Every week we will explore a specific topic related to Confucianism whether that be methodology and historical context or individual figures such as Kongzi (Confucius), Mengzi (Mencius), or Xunzi (Hsun Tzu), or even figures opposed to Confucian thought such as Laozi (Lao Tzu), Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), or Han Feizi (Han Fei Tzu). By the end of the semester, you will be expected to identify the basic traits of Confucian thought, recognize the distinctive traits of competing schools of thought from within the Warring States Period, and understand the relevance of Chinese thought today.

Required Texts
Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, trans., Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2005). *Please note this text is available as an ebook via the University of Memphis Library.
Edward G. Slingerland, trans., Confucius: Analects, with Selections from Traditional Commentaries (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2003).
Bryan W. Van Norden, Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2011).

PHIL 4211/6211 - Studies in Ancient Philosophy: Ancient Greek and Roman Moral Psychology
<History>
CRN 12106/12118
TR
1:00-2:25pm
Timothy Roche

Course Description
The course involves the study of the Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic theories in moral psychology. We examine, compare, and contrast their views on such topics as desire for good, moral motivation, pleasure and pain, weakness of will, moral reasoning, moral decision, moral responsibility, moral identity, moral action, moral character, moral evil, moral development, moral emotion, division (or lack of division) of the soul, psychological and ethical eudaimonism, and the natures of happiness and unhappiness.

Texts
TBD.

Course Requirements
Regular attendance and participation in class discussions, a midterm paper (or class presentation), and a final research paper.

PHIL 4421/6421 - Philosophy of Mind
<Theoretical>
CRN 21386/21387
Monday
2:30-5:30pm
Shaun Gallagher

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course will cover some of the major issues and debates in recent philosophy of mind. We’ll begin with some historical background and examine basic concepts and standard cognitivist views. Topics include reductive, non-reductive, and eliminative versions of materialism; functionalism; notions of representation; computational models; mental causation; action, free will, notions of self, and more recent 4E (embodied, ecological, enactive and extended) models of the mind.

PHIL 7020/8020 - Seminar in Major Figures: Kant’s Practical Philosophy
<History>
CRN 12123/12131
Monday
5:35-8:35pm
Thomas Nenon

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will provide an introduction to and critical analysis of Kant’s major works in moral philosophy, namely the Groundwork for a Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, and Metaphysics of Morals, along with selected passages from Religion within the Bounds of Reason Alone.
The primary work in the class will center around close readings and critical discussion of these works against the background of a few key interpretive issues raised in the secondary literature on them.

Texts
No specific translations will be required. The three main texts are collected together in one volume as Kant, Practical Philosophy, translated by Mary Gregory in the Cambridge Edition. You may use any translation (or German edition) you choose as long as it has the Akademie-Ausgabe pages listed in the margins so we can literally get on the same page.

Course Requirements:
Regular attendance and extensive reading. A mid-term and a final paper, with the paper weighted slightly more highly than the mid-term. One in-class presentation as part of a team that will lead the discussion for one half session sometime during the second half of the semester.

PHIL 7030/8030 - Seminar: Continental Philosophy (Heidegger's Critique of Metaphysics).
<Theoretical>
CRN 12125/12132
Thursday
2:30-5:30pm
James Bahoh

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar will focus on Martin Heidegger’s critique of metaphysics. Heidegger portrayed metaphysics as a powerful but deeply flawed historical, conceptual, and programmatic framework, a framework in which all those under the purview of Western discourse live, act, and think. Philosophically, this portrayal defines a set of tasks he argues are necessary: to radically problematize the foundations of metaphysics, to rethink them in terms of a bettergrounded ontology, and thereby to develop revisionist accounts of things like the nature of human existence, our social worlds, history, thought, death, time, being, ground, identity, and so on. His assessment of problems with metaphysics, moreover, has played a major role in shaping many philosophical ideas and goals at issue in a large section of continental philosophy from the 1920s to today. We will read and critically evaluate a variety of Heidegger’s shorter texts and excerpts that address metaphysics, specific metaphysical concepts, or significant historical metaphysical systems. These texts will range from his early work in the 1920s to his late work in the 1960s and early 1970s. We will aim to gain clarity about (1) what exactly Heidegger means by the term “metaphysics,” (2) some core problems with metaphysics that he identifies, and (3) the position of metaphysics relative to Heidegger’s methodology. We will also (4) look a bit into Heidegger’s approaches to solving some of these problems and (5) work to evaluate whether or not his critiques are convincing.

TEXTS
We will read a variety of roughly article-length texts and excerpts by Heidegger. I will post these on Canvas. Since it will be an important point of reference, I would recommend acquiring a paper copy of Being and Time, trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson (New York: Harper and Row, 1962).

REQUIREMENTS
Class participation (includes preparing at least one protocol), a short paper due before the middle of the term, and a 5,000-8,000-word research paper. Protocols: on a rotating basis, each week one student will be tasked with writing a condensed two-page summary of our class discussion. The following week, this protocol will be read at the beginning of the session.

PHIL 7541/8541 - Social/Political Philosophy: Social Identity, Phenomenology, and Liberation
<Practical>
CRN 18167/18168
Tuesday
2:30-5:30pm
Michael Monahan

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Current debates surrounding social identities tend to revolve around the relation between categories such as race, gender, or sexuality (among others) and the status of such categories as “natural.” Whether they are natural (often understood as biological) or a mere social construct sets the stage for much of the debates about the moral and political merits of social identities and their relation to oppression and projects of liberation. If they are natural, then they are mind-independent parts of the physical world, and if they are not, then they are cultural artifacts. Most of the current work on these topics deals with the implications of social identities being cultural constructions, and what this means for their role in our lives (both descriptively and normatively). Phenomenology, however, draws our critical attention to the unquestioned commitment to the nature/culture divide (Husserlian phenomenology, for instance, effectively begins with a “bracketing” of the “natural attitude”). In calling to account this neat division between the natural and the cultural, we unsettle the standard landscape of these political debates in a profound way. This seminar will explore the implications of this phenomenological approach by engaging with recent texts examining questions of oppression, social identity, and liberation using the resources of the phenomenological tradition.

TEXTS:
Sara Ahmed - Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others (Duke University Press, 2006)
Linda Alcoff - Visible Identities: Race, Gender, and the Self (Oxford University Press, 2005)
Helen Ngo – The Habits of Racism: A Phenomenology of Racism and Racialized Embodiment (Lexington Books, 2017)
Mariana Ortega – In-Between: Latina Feminist Phenomenology, Multiplicity, and the Self (SUNY Press, 2016)
Additional texts by Alia al-Saji, Sonia Kruks, Lewis Gordon, and George Yancy, among others.

REQUIREMENTS:
Students will be assessed on class participation (including weekly online written responses to the reading), one class presentation, and a final research paper (15-20 pages).

PHIL 7514/8514 - Cognitive Science Seminar- Agents: Why should they act?
CRN 21695/21696
Wednesday
2:20-5:20pm
Alistair Windsor

Title: Agents: Why should they act?

Description: In the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), anything that can perceive its environment and act on that environment is called an agent (Russell & Norvig, 2020). In this view, humans, most living organisms, autonomous vehicles, and thermostats are agents. A key question to understand for the design of agent models is -- why do living organisms act? In AI, there are two leading theories that strive to answer this question: (1) to maximize expected reward (a.k.a. reinforcement learning), which is the dominant view in AI, and (2) to minimize the brain's prediction error (a.k.a. predictive coding or free energy principle). A number of other theories have been extensively researched in the natural and applied sciences. In this Cognitive Science Seminar course, we will discuss papers and invite speakers from AI, robotics, psychology, neuroscience, biology, and philosophy to understand the influential theories spanning over a century of research regarding why living organisms act.

Note: The course does not count as a class that fulfills Philosophy core course requirements.