UPCOMING COURSES, SUMMER 2025
Summer Session I, Tufts University: online asynchronous format
AESTHETICS
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
What counts as a work of “art?” What kind of value do art works possess? Are judgments of beauty subjective? Do we have special reasons, or even obligations, to create and preserve things with aesthetic value, for instance by providing public funding for the arts? We will consider these, and related, questions through a critical reading of both classic texts and contemporary readings in aesthetics. The course will be offered virtually. We will have once-weekly live virtual seminar discussions (Tuesdays, noon-1:30 pm, Eastern time). Additional readings, assignments, and moderated discussions will be conducted asynchronously. No previous background in philosophy is required.
(Also open to students who are not regularly enrolled Tufts undergraduates)
6-week course begins May 21, 2025
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Summer Session II, Tufts University: online asynchronous format
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
​COURSE DESCRIPTION:
What makes an action morally right? For instance, is the rightness of an action determined by the tangible consequences of that act? Or is it determined by the agent’s guiding motives? What does it mean to live a good life? How can we know what is morally required of us? What should we make of the prevalence of disagreement over moral issues? In this course, we will critically examine some of the answers that have been proposed to these enduring philosophical questions. The course will be offered virtually. We will have once-weekly live virtual seminar meetings (Tuesdays, noon-1:30 pm, Eastern time). Additional readings, assignments, and moderated discussions will be conducted asynchronously. No previous background in philosophy is required.
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(Also open to students who are not regularly enrolled Tufts undergraduates)
6-week course begins July 1, 2025
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CURRENT COURSES, SPRING 2025
Undergraduate (also open to MA students), Tufts University
HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY
PHIL 0152
PHIL 0152 History of Modern Philosophy: Development of the main themes in Western philosophy since the seventeenth century through a reading of major texts by such philosophers as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Recommendations: PHIL 2 or junior standing.
Spring 2025 Theme: “Certainty & Doubt in Early Modern Philosophy”
The early modern period (roughly the span of the 17th and 18th centuries) in Europe was a time of enormous intellectual upheaval. Recent scientific discoveries (and their perceived threat to a traditional religious worldview) inspired a great deal of speculation regarding what, if anything, we can know for certain. In this course, we will critically examine the answers offered by some of the major philosophers of the period to questions including the following: How can we be sure that the world around us is orderly and predictable? How do we discover the laws of nature? Do we have any innate ideas? What entitles us to be confident that other minds, or even material objects, exist? Can we prove that God exists? How do we know that we are not radically deceived by the way things appear to us? We will also compare a few short excerpts by contemporary philosophers in response to these questions.
The course is open to MA students as well as undergraduates. One previous philosophy course is recommended but not required; students are welcome to email the instructor (michelle.dyke@tufts.edu) to learn more.
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Undergraduate Seminar, Tufts University
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
PHIL 0002
​COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Standard description for all sections of Introduction to Philosophy: The major types of philosophical thought and the central problems of philosophy are presented through study of some classic texts of the great philosophers. Offered each term. (May be used to satisfy the second half of the college writing requirement by students with credit for ENG 1.)
In this section, we’ll cover a variety of philosophical topics including epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy. The texts we’ll read span several hundred years of the history of (Western) philosophy from the early modern period to the present day. We’ll consider questions including the following: What is knowledge? Do we know anything with absolute certainty? Are you the same person now that you were 10 years ago? What kind of control over your actions do you need to be morally responsible for them? How do we learn what morality requires of us? Is it ever appropriate to form beliefs in the absence of compelling evidence? Should you believe in God? What would a just society look like? What rights do we have?
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PREVIOUS COURSES, SPRING 2023
Undergraduate Seminar, New York University
TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY: "PHILOSOPHY OF MIND IN THE EARLY MODERN AND MODERN PERIODS"
PHIL-UA 101
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
When I will to raise my hand, how does my mind, or soul, causally interact with my body? When I look at a tree, how do I form an idea that represents that object in nature? How do I become aware of other minds? How might these processes be dependent upon the will of an all-knowing and all-powerful God? Does God’s involvement in these processes render God responsible for what I think and do? In this course, we will critically examine historical answers to these questions about the nature of the mind and its faculties from authors including Descartes, Spinoza, Malebranche, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
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Prerequisite: one course from those listed in Group 1: History of Philosophy. May be repeated once for credit as topics change.
For more information on these requirements for NYU undergrads, click here.
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Undergraduate, The City College of New York, CUNY
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY 102
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COURSE DESCRIPTION (for all CCNY sections):
An introduction to some of the central questions of philosophy, concerning our knowledge of the external world, causation, God, mind and body, freedom, justice, and moral judgment, via analysis of classical and contemporary philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Mill, Kant, Russell, Wittgenstein and Rawls.
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PREVIOUS COURSE, FALL 2022
Undergraduate Seminar, New York University
GREAT WORKS IN PHILOSOPHY
PHIL-UA 2
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course provides a general introduction to western philosophy through the study of some of the most influential writings in its history (up to the present day). Some of the questions to be discussed include the following: Can we know that there is an external world outside of our minds, or are there any reasons for skepticism? Can we prove the existence of God? Can we know anything with absolute certainty? What is the self? Are we free to act, and believe, at will? What obligations do we have to other people? What makes for a just society? We will discuss answers to these questions from authors including Epicurus, Descartes, Pascal, Locke, Hume, Mill, James, Rawls, Nozick, and Korsgaard.
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