100 Level Courses
PHIL 100: Introduction to Philosophy. 3 credits.
Introduction to the nature of philosophical reasoning and some of the main problems of philosophy. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 110: Ethics Lab. 1 credit.
Focuses on contemporary moral problems and case studies of real world situations involving complex ethical issues. Examines different ways of identifying, analyzing and responding to such issues based on different approaches to ethical thinking. Allows students to develop their capacities for moral perception, and ethical decision-making and action in a global setting. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 112: Ethics and the Cybersociety. 1 credit.
Examines ethical issues associated with new developments in information technology, including privacy rights, intellectual property rights, and the effect of information technology on society. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 151: Introduction to Ethics. 3 credits.
Considers some perennial issues in ethical theory. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 156: What Is Art?. 3 credits.
Introduction to philosophical reflection on the arts by looking at the critical issues in the history of aesthetics. Applies considerations to specific works and explores these works in terms of their historical contexts and influences. Concentrates on one form of art or one period and always emphasizes questions of critical evaluation and art historical analysis. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 173: Logic and Critical Thinking. 3 credits.
Basic concepts and techniques of deduction, emphasizing the modern treatment of such topics as quantification and rules of inference, with study of the classical treatment. Basic principles of induction, informal fallacies, and uses of logic in everyday life. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
300 Level Courses
PHIL 301: History of Western Philosophy: Ancient. 3 credits.
Classical Greek philosophy, including pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 303: History of Western Philosophy: Modern. 3 credits.
Figures and problems of modern philosophy. Study of philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Hegel. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 305: Business Ethics. 3 credits.
Examines some moral problems that arise with regard to the responsibilities of various segments of the business community, including employers, management, stockholders; to one another; to the consumer; and to society at large. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 306: Philosophy Internship. 3-6 credits.
Gives students the opportunity to apply philosophical skills in real-world settings. Internships arranged and supervised by faculty in the Department of Philosophy. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.
PHIL 309: Bioethics. 3 credits.
Examines some major moral issues involved in practice and research in medicine and health care. Topics to be chosen from medical experimentation, definition of death, physician-assisted dying, genetics and human reproduction, distribution of scarce resources, fertility, and organ transplants. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 311: Philosophy of Law. 3 credits.
Investigation of theories of natural law, legal positivism, and legal realism as they pertain to some of the central philosophical questions about law. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 313: Philosophy of Religion. 3 credits.
Study of classical appeals to philosophy in support of belief in god's existence (Philo, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes); the fideism of Hume and the metaphysical agnosticism of Kant; the concept of religious experience in the philosophies of Hegel, Schleiermacher, and Kierkegaard; and the problem of religious language in contemporary empirical philosophy. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 323: Classical Western Political Theory. 3 credits.
Exploration through lecture and discussion of developments in the Western tradition of political thought from the time of the Greek city-state to late medieval Christendom, focusing on such topics as the nature and purpose of politics, the relationship between the individual and the state, the political significance of religion and tradition, and the concept of natural law. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts. Equivalent to
GOVT 323.
PHIL 324: Modern Western Political Theory. 3 credits.
Exploration through lecture and discussion of developments in the Western tradition of political thought from the Renaissance to the middle of the 19th century, focusing on such topics as the rise of individualism in political theory, early developments in social contact theory, theories of radical popular sovereignty, and early criticisms of liberal theory. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts. Equivalent to
GOVT 324.
PHIL 325: Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought. 3 credits.
Study and evaluation of Marx's social and political ideas based on writings selected from several phases of his career. Examination of relation of Marx's thought to post-Marxian socialist theory and practice. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 327: Contemporary Western Political Theory. 3 credits.
Exploration through lecture and discussion of recent developments in the Western tradition of political thought from the middle of the 19th century to today. Different sections focus on one or another of the various political theories that have been influential during this period such as liberal, libertarian, conservative, communitarian, Marxist, feminist, and postmodern thought. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits. Equivalent to
GOVT 327.
PHIL 329: Philosophy after Auschwitz. 3 credits.
Examines the philosophical questions that arise in the wake of the Nazi concentration camps concerning genocide, political modernity, and conceptions of the human. Investigates how the logic of the camp made possible systematic genocidal violence against the Jews and other groups, and the ways in which that logic manifests in other forms and on other bodies before and after Auschwitz. Draws on writers and philosophers such as Primo Levi, Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Maurice Blanchot, and/or Adriana Cavarero to analyze the ethical and political questions posed by the camps, and uses literature, film and art to engage with the complexities of bearing witness to horror and the unrepresentable. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 332: Twentieth-Century Analytic Philosophy. 3 credits.
Examination of the attempts of 20th-century philosophers to solve philosophical problems by an analysis of language. Figures and movements covered include Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, logical positivism, and ordinary language philosophy. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 333: American Philosophy: Pragmatism. 3 credits.
Examines the philosophical movement of American Pragmatism, with emphasis on its origin in the late nineteenth century. Figures covered include Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 335: Nineteenth-Century Philosophy. 3 credits.
Development of German Romanticism and Idealism during a brilliant period in the history of the West rivaled only by ancient Greece. Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche mount a revolt against the rationalism and scientism of the modern world. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 336: Twentieth-Century Continental Thought: Existentialism. 3 credits.
Examination of existential philosophy from its 19th-century origins to its 20th-century expressions. Philosophers studied include Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, De Beauvoir, and Buber. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 337: Twentieth-Century Continental Thought: Phenomenology. 3 credits.
Examines the phenomenological way of doing philosophy, its findings in regard to the "life-world," questions of "first philosophy," and the subject matter of the social sciences, as well as critical difficulties in its development. Texts by Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Schutz, and Derrida. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 338: Philosophy, Race, and Gender. 3 credits.
Examines how concepts of gender, sexual difference, and race structure key philosophical ideas and put such ideas into question. Analyzes the ways in which patriarchal, colonial and racialized structures intersect to produce concepts of the human, the subject, and the ‘Other’. Explores alternative approaches to subjectivity, sexuality, the body, and knowledge drawn from feminist philosophy, queer theory, and philosophies of race and decoloniality. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 340: Hermeneutic Philosophy. 3 credits.
Study of the development of hermeneutic philosophy in works by Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur, as an effort toward coming to terms with the historicity of human experience. Implications for interpretive understanding of artworks, institutions, events, texts, and the human condition. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 343: Topics in Environmental Philosophy. 3 credits.
An in-depth examination of selected environmental issues from a philosophical perspective. Such issues might include the value of nature, the moral status of animals, duties to protect wilderness areas, economics and environmental protection, environmental justice, and environmental aesthetics. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 344: Ethical Issues in Global Health. 3 credits.
This course will consider ethical questions that arise in global health policy, practice and research. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 355: Theories of Ethics. 3 credits.
A critical examination of a variety of different types of classical, modern, and contemporary ethical theories, including consequentialist theories, deontological theories, and virtue theories. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.
PHIL 356: Philosophy of Art. 3 credits.
Basic problems that arise from an inquiry into meaning and value of art and our response to art. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 357: Philosophy of the Social Sciences. 3 credits.
Philosophical issues relating to competing methodologies for the social sciences. Analysis and critique of mainstream positivism and behaviorism; paradigm theory and scientific revolutions; interpretive understanding and hermeneutical science; phenomenology and the social construction of reality; ethnomethodology and situational meaning; analytic philosophy and action theory; the "idea" of a social science; sociology of knowledge and theory of ideology; and Western Marxism and critical theory. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 358: Ethics and Economics. 3 credits.
Examines issues at the intersection of ethics and economics. Looks at the different ways in which ethics and economics impact each other. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 371: Philosophy of Natural Sciences. 3 credits.
One semester of logic recommended. Study of aims and methodology of science. Among the questions of concern are: What constitutes a good scientific explanation? What grounds are used for comparing rival theories? Is there a special method of scientific discovery? Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 373: Theory of Knowledge. 3 credits.
Discussion of basic problems concerning the nature of knowledge, with study of the relation of knowledge to perception, belief, and language. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 374: Philosophy of Mind. 3 credits.
Investigation of such theories as dualism, behaviorism, and materialism as they pertain to some of the central philosophical questions about mind. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 376: Symbolic Logic. 3 credits.
Study of predicate calculi by means of a step-by-step construction of artificial languages. Topics include procedures for constructing a calculus, proof techniques, significant properties of predicate calculi, and procedures for recognizing phrases. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 377: Darwin: Biology and Beyond. 3 credits.
Introduction to and philosophical examination of the theory of evolution in its historical perspective. Examines Darwin's theory of evolution as a scientific theory, connects it to its context in the history of science, and surveys its wider cultural impact. In particular, examines implications of the theory of evolution for religion and morality. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 379: Perspectives on Time. 3 credits.
Examines the variety of ways time is conceptualized in different disciplines. Influential conceptions of time from the history of philosophy are studied in order to provide a comparative framework within which to consider specialist conceptions of time drawn from the sciences and humanities, including relativistic time, geological deep time, life cycles, and time in historical narrative. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 391: Special Topics in Philosophy. 1-3 credits.
Examines topics of current interest such as death and dying, rights of children, and philosophical controversies in modern physics. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
PHIL 393: Humanities College to Career. 1 credit.
Focuses on career choices and effective self-presentation for soon-to-be graduating students with majors in the humanities. Explores how skills typically learned In humanities majors can be leveraged for a successful transition to post-graduation employment. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts. Equivalent to
ENGH 303,
FRLN 309,
HIST 385,
UNIV 420.
PHIL 398: Study Abroad. 3 credits.
Study abroad under supervision of Mason faculty. Course topics, content and locations vary. Notes: A maximum of 6 credits may be applied to the BA in philosophy. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 12 credits.
400 Level Courses
PHIL 411: Theories of Decision. 3 credits.
Examines from a philosophical perspective descriptive and normative theories of individual decision, with particular focus on the strengths and weaknesses of theories of rational choice, and attempts to incorporate insights from psychology into theories of decision. Explores theoretical developments and a variety of applications. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts.
PHIL 421: Seminar. 3 credits.
Explores topics in current philosophical research in a seminar format. Topics vary. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 18 credits.
PHIL 422: Honors Seminar. 3 credits.
Seminar for students enrolled in the honors program in philosophy. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 18 credits.
PHIL 425: Independent Study. 1-3 credits.
Independent study under supervision of faculty member. Students and faculty agree on program of study to include at least a reading list and final written project. Students must arrange for independent study in the semester before they wish to enroll. Requires approval of department. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
PHIL 460: Senior Seminar in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. 3 credits.
Covers issues in the philosophy, economics, and political science of institutions, information, and collective action. Through case studies of existing legal and political institutions, applies the insights to problems in politics, policy making, social-choice theory, and social, moral, and political philosophy. (Specific content varies). Notes: Serves as the capstone course for the PPE program. Offered by
Philosophy. Limited to three attempts. Equivalent to
ECON 460,
GOVT 469.
600 Level Courses
PHIL 600: Proseminar in Philosophy. 1 credit.
Introduces MA students to the areas and methods of philosophical scholarship. Notes: Graduate students outside of the philosophy program may take this course with permission of the department. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 603: Aristotle: Selected Works. 3 credits.
Close study of Aristotle's work and its place and future in history of philosophy. Topics vary by semester and include Aristotle's metaphysics, natural sciences, ethics, political thought, logic, epistemology, and psychology. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.
PHIL 608: Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit. 3 credits.
A study of the philosophy of Hegel through a reading of the text that presents an introduction to his system. Special attention is paid to Hegel's background in the work of Kant and the German Idealists. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 615: Postmodernist Thought. 3 credits.
In recent decades, the term "postmodern," first used by art critics in the late 19th century, has been taken up by prominent contributors to the arts, social thinkers, and philosophers, to describe developments as well as the current period. Examines three thematic concerns found in work that is identified with postmodern issues: what modernity defines itself in contrast to or against, the status of "man," and status of "subjectivity." Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 616: Phenomenology. 3 credits.
This major approach in philosophy is studied in regard to its basic features, the tasks to which it has been set by major contributors, certain findings of phenomenology in practice, as well as crucial problems that develop as phenomenology proceeds and how they are addressed by phenomenologists. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 617: Movements and Issues in the History of Political Philosophy. 3 credits.
Explores themes, movements, and periods in the history of political theory. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 6 credits.
PHIL 640: History of Ethical Theory. 3 credits.
Examines history of Western ethical theory from ancient Greece to the present day, including virtue theory, consequentialism, deontological theory and contemporary feminism. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 642: Biomedical Ethics. 3 credits.
Explores the application of ethical theories and principles to issues in contemporary health care. Cases central to the development of the field will be examined. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 643: Environmental Ethics. 3 credits.
An examination of human interactions with the natural environment from an ethical perspective. Emphasis will be placed on the strengths and weaknesses of various ethical theories and the different conceptions of the proper relationship between humans and their environment. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 644: Business and Organizational Ethics. 3 credits.
Examines the application of ethics in business and organizational settings, and the necessity for ethical development wihin organizational culture. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 645: Research Ethics. 3 credits.
Examines how ethical theories, concepts, and principles shape research guidelines. Students learn to identify ethical issues in research, to reflect on them critically, and to respond effectively. Designed for students in the humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and health sciences. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 658: Feminist Theory. 3 credits.
Analysis of the critique of patriarchy offered by contemporary continental feminist philosophers. Examines contemporary moral, political, and epistemological issues in feminist theory. Offered by
Philosophy. May not be repeated for credit.
PHIL 681: Figures and Topics in Ancient Philosophy. 3 credits.
Examines major philosophical authors, texts, and topics of the ancient period and their influence on philosophical thought. May cover Plato, Aristotle, or the pre-Socratic philosophers. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 12 credits.
PHIL 682: Figures and Topics in Early Modern Philosophy. 3 credits.
Examines major philosophical authors, texts, and topics of the early modern period and their influence on philosophical thought. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the degree for a maximum 12 credits.
PHIL 683: Contemporary Philosophical Figures. 3 credits.
Examines major recent philosophical authors, texts, and topics, and their influence on philosophical thought. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 6 credits.
PHIL 693: Directed Readings in Philosophy. 3 credits.
Directed readings and research on a specific topic in philosophy chosen by student and instructor. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
PHIL 694: Special Topics in Contemporary Philosophy. 3 credits.
Topics vary. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. Offered by
Philosophy. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 9 credits.