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TRENTU.CA / Philosophy / Program / Course Listing

Course Listing

Please visit the Academic Timetable to see which courses are presently being offered and in which location(s). Not all courses listed below run every term or in all locations. For specific details about program requirements and degree regulations, please refer to the Academic Calendar.

No results found.
100 level courses (3)
Course Code Description
PHIL-1000H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Intro Phil Knowledge & Reality

An introduction to philosophy through a study of fundamental philosophical problems concerning the nature of reality, knowledge, and the mind, as presented in contemporary writings and/or classical texts. Complements PHIL 1100H. Excludes PHIL 1001Y, 1003H.

Cross-listed: PHIL-1000H

PHIL-1100H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Intro to Phil Moral & Political

An introduction to philosophy through a study of fundamental philosophical problems in moral and political philosophy, as presented in contemporary writings and/or classical texts. Complements PHIL 1000H. Excludes PHIL 1001Y, 1002H.

Cross-listed: PHIL-1100H

PHIL-1200H

Offered:

  • Online
Critical Thinking

An introduction to basic principles of good reasoning and argumentation in everyday life and various academic disciplines. Topics include argument structure and evaluation, clarity of expression, common mistakes in reasoning, inductive and deductive reasoning, and formal logic. Excludes PHIL 1004H, 1005Y, UNIV 1002H.

200 level courses (15)
Course Code Description
PHIL-2010H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Love & Desire

An exploration of philosophical treatments of love and desire, in order to consider fundamental questions of human nature, happiness and moral practices. Readings in classic and contemporary texts may include such topics as the nature of love, the relationship between what we value and what we desire, and the ethics of relationships. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

PHIL-2020H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Philosophy of Sport & Recreation

A philosophical study of sport and recreation. Topics include conceptual, ethical, political, and aesthetic perspectives on sports, games, play, and leisure. Specific attention will be paid to philosophical issues concerning human movement and physical activity, embodiment and the mind-body relationship, and well-being and quality of life. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: PHIL-2020H

PHIL-2030H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Death

An exploration of philosophical treatments of death and dying, including their implications for a meaningful life. Readings in classical and contemporary texts may include such topics as the nature of death, our attitudes toward mortality, and end-of-life issues. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: PHIL-2030H

PHIL-2110H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Moral Issues

An engaged study of philosophical responses to ethical problems in contemporary society. Topics may include abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, animal rights, censorship and pornography, poverty and civil disobedience, and war and terrorism. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL 2300Y.

Cross-listed: PHIL-2110H

PHIL-2141H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Discovering Feminist Thought

What is feminist theory, and what does it have to do with making/practicing social change? This course explores some of the key historical and contemporary feminist theories, inviting debate about the many different ways that feminists have explained and analyzed social inequalities, imagined alternatives, and strategized for gender justice. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO or WMST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor. Excludes WMST 2141H.

Cross-listed: WMST-2141H

PHIL-2150H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Philosophy of Law

A study of philosophical theories concerning the nature of law, legal systems, and legal reasoning. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL-POST 2032Y.

Cross-listed: POST-2150H

PHIL-2200H

Offered:

  • Durham GTA
Philosophy of Education

Education is one of the most significant human occupations, in both the formal and informal understandings of the concept. In this course, we explore philosophical enquiries related to education, focusing on the nature, purpose, and aims of education, effective teaching and learning, issues of social justice, equity, and access. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: EDUC-2200H

PHIL-2270H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Philosophy of Mind

An introduction to some of the central themes in philosophy of mind. Answers to ontological questions (what kinds of things are minds?) and epistemological questions (can we know that we and others have minds?) are used to focus discussions concerning personal identity, responsibility for action, animals' minds, and artificial intelligence. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL-PSYC 2770Y.

Cross-listed: PSYC-2270H

PHIL-2320H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Existentialism

A study of selected figures in Existentialism. Topics may include nihilism, creation, the birth of the individual, the meaning of life, freedom, choice, and commitment. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL 2140Y, 2340H, 2360H.

Cross-listed: PHIL-2320H

PHIL-2351H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Political Imagination 1

Political thought as it appears in a diversity of sources-e.g., literature, film, theatre-as well as established texts of political theory. With the classical and modern worlds as points of reference, this course opens a particular route of access to political thought. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of instructor. Excludes POST-PHIL 2350Y.

Cross-listed: POST-2351H

PHIL-2352H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Political Imagination II

Political thought as it appears in a diversity of sources- e.g., literature, film, theatre-as well as established texts of political theory. With the contemporary political world as its point of reference, this course opens a particular route of access to political thought. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of instructor. Excludes POST-PHIL 2350Y.

Cross-listed: POST-2352H

PHIL-2390H

Offered:

  • Online
Biomedical Ethics

An examination of central issues in the field of biomedical ethics. Topics may include abortion; euthanasia and assisted suicide; stem cell research; genetics; reproductive technologies; scarce resources; research using human subjects. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

PHIL-2420H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Ancient Philosophy I

A study of early Greek philosophy focusing on Socrates, Plato, and their most influential predecessors. Complements PHIL-AHCL 2430H. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL-AHCL 2400Y.

Cross-listed: AHCL-2420H

PHIL-2430H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Ancient Philosophy II

A study of Greco-Roman philosophy focusing on Aristotle and the Hellenistic philosophers including the Epicureans and Stoics. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Recommended: PHIL-AHCL 2420H. Excludes PHILAHCL 2400Y.

Cross-listed: AHCL-2430H

PHIL-2790H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Art and Beauty

An introduction to philosophical issues related to art and beauty. Topics may include definitions of art; concepts of beauty, ugliness, horror, taste, and sublimity; the value and diversity of aesthetic experience; differences between authentic artwork and forgery; relations between morality and art; and art as an institution. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

300 level courses (11)
Course Code Description
PHIL-3020H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Philosophy of Emotion

An examination of theories of emotion in classical and contemporary philosophical texts. Topics may include the relation of emotion to belief, motivation, and desire; the rationality of emotion; emotions, self-knowledge and self-deception; the relations between different emotions and between emotions and the body. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: PSYC-3020H

PHIL-3030H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
The Meaning of Life

An examination of ways of thinking about and ways of answering the question, "What is the meaning of life?" Classical attempts to account for the meaning of life in Eastern and Western philosophies, religious thought, and Indigenous knowledge systems are considered in relation to accounts defended in contemporary philosophical literature. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

PHIL-3110H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Ethical Theory

A study of texts in the foundations of morals and particular ethical theories, including virtue ethics, Kantianism, and utilitarianism. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL 3380Y.

PHIL-3140H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Justice & Rights

A study of the nature and value of rights in relation to competing theories of justice. Attention is given to the nature of power and oppression in relation to social change; topics may include class, ability, age, gender, and race. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL-POST 2032Y.

Cross-listed: POST-3140H

PHIL-3180H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Social & Political Philosophy

An examination of philosophical theories related to political institutions and practices. Topics may include the foundations of the state, justified use of force, and limits to freedom. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL 3390Y.

Cross-listed: POST-3180H

PHIL-3301H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Environmental Ethics

Provides a consideration of the moral dimensions of human/nonhuman relationships. We critically examine a range of systems of thought that address such ethical questions, including deep ecology, ecofeminism, Indigenous perspectives, and animal rights, with specific cases on each philosophical orientation. Deals explicitly with the ethical dimensions of ecological restoration. Prerequisite: 1.0 ERST or PHIL credit at the 2000 level or beyond. Excludes ERST 3300Y.

Cross-listed: ERST-3301H

PHIL-3302H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Animals and Society

Provides an introduction to animal studies. Topics considered include the constructed divide between humans and non-human animals, societies' use of animals-for food, clothing, entertainment, companionship, research-and the implications of these relationships. The course will also discuss animal rights, animal protection, and posthumanist perspectives. Prerequisite: 1.0 ERST or PHIL credit at the 2000 level or beyond.

Cross-listed: ERST-3302H, SAFS-3302H

PHIL-3370H

Offered:

  • Online
Cyberethics

Enables students to develop their own positions about the most important social and moral problems raised by computer use and technologies, including the fragmentation of society into computer "haves" and "have-nots," Internet censorship, pornography, intellectual property rights, and software piracy. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: COIS-3370H, MDST-3370H

PHIL-3400H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Feminism and Disability

Introduces students to critical perspectives that push thinking about disability beyond medical and social models. Focuses on connections between gender and disability. Explores feminist challenges to ableism. Other topics include bodies, race, sexuality, education, creativity, access, eugenics, intersections, and austerity. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits. Excludes WMST 3300H, 3400H.

Cross-listed: WMST-3400H, SOCI-3400H

PHIL-3420H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Early Modern I Reason and Revolution

The seventeenth century in Western Europe was an era of important revolutions in scientific, religious, and political thinking. This course studies the role that philosophers and their works played in these revolutions. Authors may include, but are not limited to, Descartes, Princess Elisabeth, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Conway. Complements PHIL 3430H. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Excludes PHIL 3100Y.

Cross-listed: PHIL-3420H

PHIL-3430H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Early Modern II the Enlightenment

The eighteenth century in Western Europe witnessed the rise and then critique of the intellectual movement called the "Enlightenment," characterized by its promotion of freedom, equality, and the scientific method. This course studies philosophers sympathetic to and critical of the Enlightenment, such as Locke, Voltaire, Hume, Rousseau, and Kant. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair. Recommended: PHIL 3420H. Excludes PHIL 3100Y.

400 level courses (6)
Course Code Description
PHIL-4210H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Adv. Epistemology-Metaphysics

A seminar devoted to in-depth investigation of selected central metaphysical and epistemological themes. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: PHIL-4210H

PHIL-4310H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Adv. Topics in Value Theory

A study of central themes in value theory, to be chosen among issues in moral theory and political theory. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including PHIL 3110H, or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: PHIL-4310H

PHIL-4530H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
19th Century Philosophy

A study of some central themes and important philosophers of the nineteenth century. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including both 3420H or 3430H, or permission of instructor.

PHIL-4540H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Twentieth Century Philosophy

A study of some central themes and important philosophers of the twentieth century. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including both 3420H or 3430H, or permission of instructor.

PHIL-4610H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
  • Durham GTA
Major Texts

A close study of one or more central texts by one or more important philosophers. Texts and philosophers to change annually. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 1.0 PHIL credit at the 3000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor.

Cross-listed: PHIL-4610H

PHIL-4901H

Offered:

  • Peterborough
Reading Course

Students will be encouraged to pursue a special interest, largely through independent study, for a half- or full-course credit. Details must be arranged in consultation with the staff in Philosophy at least one month prior to the start of the semester in which the course is to be started. Subject to departmental and decanal approval. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

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