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Courses for Fall 2026

Title Instructor Location Time All taxonomy terms Description Section Description Cross Listings Fulfills Registration Notes Syllabus Syllabus URL Course Syllabus URL
PHIL 1000-001 Introduction to Philosophy Kok-Chor Tan MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM Philosophers ask difficult questions about the most basic issues in human life. Does God exist? What can we know about the world? What does it mean to have a mind? How should I treat non-human animals? Do I have free will? This course is an introduction to some of these questions and to the methods philosophers have developed for thinking clearly about them. Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only)
PHIL 1000-601 Introduction to Philosophy MW 5:15 PM-6:44 PM Philosophers ask difficult questions about the most basic issues in human life. Does God exist? What can we know about the world? What does it mean to have a mind? How should I treat non-human animals? Do I have free will? This course is an introduction to some of these questions and to the methods philosophers have developed for thinking clearly about them. Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only)
PHIL 1110-401 Ancient Greek Philosophy TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM What is philosophy? How does it differ from science, religion, literature, and other modes of human discourse? This course traces the origins of philosophy as a discipline in the Western tradition, looking to thinkers of Ancient Greece and Rome. We will examine how natural philosophers such as Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus distinguished their inquiries from the teachings of poets such as Homer and Hesiod; how ancient atomism had its origins in a response to Parmenides' challenge to the assumption that things change in the world; how Socrates reoriented the focus of philosophy away from the natural world and toward the fundamental ethical question, how shall I live? We will also examine how his pupil, Plato, and subsequently Aristotle, developed elaborate philosophical systems that address the nature of reality, knowledge, and human happiness. Finally, we will examine the ways in which later thinkers such as the Epicureans and Stoics transformed and extended the earlier tradition. CLST1501401 History & Tradition Sector (all classes)
PHIL 1170-001 History of Modern Philosophy Sabina Bremner MW 12:00 PM-12:59 PM This course is an introduction to a few central themes in philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, and to some of the crucial thinkers who addressed those themes. Topics to be covered may include, among others, the nature of the human being (including the human mind), the relationship between God and the created world, the nature of freedom, and the relations among natural sciences, philosophy and theology in this rich period of human history. History & Tradition Sector (all classes)
PHIL 1252-401 Intro to Indian Phil Deven Patel TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This course will take the student through the major topics of Indian philosophy by first introducing the fundamental concepts and terms that are necessary for a deeper understanding of themes that pervade the philosophical literature of India -- arguments for and against the existence of God, for example, the ontological status of external objects, the means of valid knowledge, standards of proof, the discourse on the aims of life. The readings will emphasize classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical articulations (from 700 B.C.E to 16th century CE) but we will also supplement our study of these materials with contemporary or relatively recent philosophical writings in modern India. RELS0055401, SAST0050401 History & Tradition Sector (all classes)
PHIL 1330-001 Ethics Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM Ethics is the study of right and wrong. This introductory course will introduce students to major ethical theories, the possible sources of normativity, and specific ethical problems and questions. Topics may include euthanasia, abortion, animal rights, the family, sexuality, bioethics, crime and punishment, and war. Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 1330-601 Ethics Milton W. Meyer TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM Ethics is the study of right and wrong. This introductory course will introduce students to major ethical theories, the possible sources of normativity, and specific ethical problems and questions. Topics may include euthanasia, abortion, animal rights, the family, sexuality, bioethics, crime and punishment, and war. Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 1342-301 Bioethics MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This course is an introduction to bioethics, focusing on ethical questions arising at the beginning and end of life. Topics will include procreative responsibilities, the question of wrongful life, and prenatal moral status as well as questions of justice related to markets for sperm, eggs and gestation. We will also attend to dilemmas at the end of life, including the authority of advance directives, euthanasia and the allocation of life-saving therapies. Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 1343-301 Environmental Ethics MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM We investigate some of the ethical issues that arise from our relationship with the environment. Topics may include : What are our responsibilities toward the environment, as individuals and as members of institutions? How do our responsibilities toward the environment relate to other ethical considerations? Do non-human animals/species/ecosystems have intrinsic value? What should conservationists conserve? What is the appropriate response to climate change?
PHIL 1433-001 The Social Contract Daniel Wodak TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM This is a critical survey of the history of western modern political philosophy, beginning from the Early Modern period and concluding with the 19th or 20th Century. Our study typically begins with Hobbes and ends with Mill or Rawls. The organizing theme of our investigation will be the idea of the Social Contract. We will examine different contract theories as well as criticisms and proposed alternatives to the contract idea, such as utilitarianism. Besides the above, examples of authors we will read are Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Mill and Marx. Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 1439-401 Marx Siarhei Biareishyk TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM Capitalist society is the object of Karl Marx's analysis and critique—a society that is the product of history and may one day vanish. This course will trace Marx's critique by moving between the fields of philosophy, economics, and politics. We will locate key interventions of Marx's thought that transform modern conceptions of history, the relation between economics and politics, and the limits of struggle and emancipation in capitalist society. We will consider the historical conditions of Marx's writing and the development of his thought to discover many sides of Marx and many divergent Marxisms (humanist, post-structuralist, feminist, and others) that follow, often at odds with each other. Further, we will ask about what kind of horizons Marx's and Marxist interventions open up for critique and analysis of capitalist society with respect to gender, race, class, and nation. "Theory becomes a material force when it has seized the masses," argues the young Marx; indeed, his theories have fueled emancipatory movements and propped up tyrannical regimes, substantiated scientific theories and transformed philosophical debates. In examining Marx's legacy, we will focus on the elaborations and historical limitations of his ideas by examining the challenges of fascism, the communist experiment in the Soviet Union and its collapse, as well as the climate and other crises currently taking place. In conclusion, we will turn to the question of whether and to what extent Marx's ideas remain relevant today, and whether it is possible to be a Marxist in the contemporary world dominated by global capital. COML1020401, GRMN1020401, REES1172401 Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only)
PHIL 1450-301 Philosophy of Law TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM An introduction to some of the central philosophical problems of law: What is law? What makes law? What is the relationship between law and morality? Can laws be unjust? Is there a moral obligation to obey the law? We will look at different theories of law, such as positivism and natural law theory, and discuss topics like civil disobedience, liberty and the law, and punishment and the law, and the special status of constitutional law. Readings from both classic and contemporary philosophers such as Michelle Alexander, Jeremy Bentham, Angela Davis, Ronald Dworkin, John Hart Ely, H.L.A. Hart, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Robert Nozick, Martha Nussbaum, Richard Posner, and Jeremy Waldron. Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 1571-401 Repairing the Planet: Tools for the Climate Emergency Michael Weisberg TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM This course is a comprehensive introduction to the climate emergency and the tools with which we can fight it. It will integrate natural science, social science, philosophy of science, history, ethics, and policy. The course opens with an overview of the historical discovery of global warming and our contemporary understanding of climate change. We then turn to the framework that the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has developed to study climate risks, focusing on both general issues and case studies throughout the world. The existence and severity of these risks raises questions of climate justice at many levels: individuals to individuals, countries to countries, and the present generation to future generations. We will study these issues in detail, and then examine the policy tools developed to address them. Although we will discuss national and sub-national policy and policy proposals such as the Green New Deal, special attention will be given to global policy tools, especially the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. In addition to standard writing assignments, students will have a chance to develop policy proposals that address the core issues of the class. ENVS1043401 Nat Sci & Math Sector (new curriculum only)
PHIL 1800-001 Philosophy of Science Carlos Santana TR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM What counts as a scientific theory? What counts as evidence for a scientific theory? Are scientific inferences justified? Does science give us truths or approximate truths about a world that exists independently of us? How can we know? Does it matter? These are all perennial questions in the philosophy of science, and the goal of this course is to look at how philosophers have answered these questions since the scientific revolution. In addition to reading classic work by philosophers of science, we will read material from living and dead scientists in order to gain a deeper appreciation of the philosophical questions that have troubled the most brilliant scientists in Western science. Nat Sci & Math Sector (new curriculum only)
PHIL 1840-401 Intro Cognitive Science TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM How do minds work? This course surveys a wide range of answers to this question from disciplines ranging from philosophy to neuroscience. The course devotes special attention to the use of simple computational and mathematical models. Topics include perception, learning, memory, decision making, and language. The course shows how the different views from the parent disciplines interact and identifies some common themes among the theories that have been proposed. The course pays particular attention to the distinctive role of computation in such theories and provides an introduction to some of the main directions of current research in the field. It is a requirement for the BA in Cognitive Science, the BAS in Computer and Cognitive Science, and the minor in Cognitive Science, and it is recommended for students taking the dual degree in Computer and Cognitive Science. CIS1400401, COGS1001401, LING1005401, PSYC1333401 General Requirement in Formal Reasoning & Analysis
PHIL 1991-301 Topics in Philosophy Samuel Elgin MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This introductory seminar presupposes no background in philosophy. Topic will vary by semester.
PHIL 2563-301 Community Engaged Philosophy (SNF Paideia Program Course) Karen Detlefsen M 3:30 PM-5:29 PM Topic will vary by semester. This course includes an on-campus seminar and weekly engagement with a community partner in Philadelphia. This is an ABCS course. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202630&c=PHIL2563301
PHIL 2620-001 Intro Epist and Metaphysics Daniel Singer TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM Two basic assumptions of academic research are that there are truths and we can know them. Epistemology is the study of knowledge, what it is, how it is produced, and how we can have it. Metaphysics, the study of the basic constituents of reality, the study of being as such. In this introduction to metaphysics and epistemology, we will ask hard questions about the nature of reality and knowledge. No philosophy background is required for this course.
PHIL 2981-301 Philosophy of Free Speech (SNF Paideia Program Course) Carlin P. Romano M 7:00 PM-9:59 PM This seminar emphasizes the philosophical foundations of free-speech theory while also examining the development of First Amendment jurisprudence in the U.S. and free-speech policies in other countries. The instructor comes to the subject as a longtime philosopher, lawyer and journalist engaged with free-speech issues, and the course will incorporate all three perspectives. Readings will include such authors as Milton, Mill, Stephen, Holmes, Chafee, Meiklejohn, Emerson, Smolla, Schauer, Strossen, Baker, Whittington, Stone, Nossel and McWhorter. Assignments will include watching and discussing a number of classic films about free-speech issues.
PHIL 2991-301 Topics in Philosophy Karen Detlefsen MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This seminar is open to all undergraduates. Topic will vary by semester. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202630&c=PHIL2991301
PHIL 2991-302 Topics in Philosophy Samuel Elgin MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This seminar is open to all undergraduates. Topic will vary by semester.
PHIL 3430-301 Topics in Political Philosophy: Poverty Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This majors seminar will focus on various topics in political philosophy. Topics will vary from term to term.
PHIL 4480-401 Oppression: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (SNF Paideia Program Course) Daniele Lorenzini W 3:30 PM-6:29 PM What is oppression? Does it define a subjective experience or a structural condition? Should we understand it in terms of a restriction on freedom? Or equality? Or our ability to fully express our agency? And how can it be resisted? The course aims to explore these questions through the reading and discussion of the work of philosophers and critical theorists who have addressed them in the past and continue to address them today. We will thus attempt to get a clearer idea of what oppression is, how it works, and how it can be resisted. We will also discuss its difference vis-à-vis and relation with other concepts such as power, domination, submission, exploitation, and alienation. PHIL6480401
PHIL 4620-401 Theory of Knowledge Ege Yumusak MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM Selected topics in Epistemology such as: bridging the gap between mainstream and formal epistemology, the familiar tripartite definition of knowledge (knowledge as justified true belief), basic logical and probabilistic models of knowledge (Hintikka, Aumann, and Bayesian) and their multi-agent variants, logical omniscience and other problems (including the epistemic closure principle), attempts at formalizing joint and common knowledge, resource-bounded knowledge, knowledge under limited logical powers, and empirical knowledge obstructed by system complexity. PHIL6620401
PHIL 4720-401 Topics in Mathematical Logic Scott Weinstein TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM The course focuses on topics drawn from the central areas of mathematical logic: model theory, proof theory, set theory, and computability theory. LGIC4960401, MATH6770401, PHIL6720401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202630&c=PHIL4720401
PHIL 4721-401 Logic and Computability 1 Aaron W Anderson MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This graduate course focuses on topics drawn from the central areas of mathematical logic: model theory, proof theory, set theory, and computability theory. LGIC3100401, MATH5700401, PHIL6721401
PHIL 4770-401 Phil of Math Scott Weinstein TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM The course will focus on the development of the foundations and philosophy of mathematics from the late nineteenth-century through the present day. Topics may include logicism, formalism, intuitionism, and the foundations of set theory. Ample consideration will be given to some of the fundamental results of mathematical logic, such as the Godel incompleteness theorems and the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis from Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory, that have had a profound impact on contemporary approaches to the philosophy of mathematics. PHIL6770401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202630&c=PHIL4770401
PHIL 4800-401 Philosophy of Science Michael Weisberg TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM An advanced introduction to the central philosophical questions concerning the nature of scientific knowledge and its relation to experience, and the metaphysical assumptions underlying the natural sciences. Topics to be covered include: science versus pseudoscience, laws of nature, causation, determinism and randomness, theories and models in science, scientific explanation, underdetermination of theories by observation and measurement, realism and antirealism, reductionism and intertheory relations, objectivity and value judgments in science, hypothesis testing and confirmation of scientific theories, and classical paradoxes in scientific methodology. PHIL6800401
PHIL 5172-301 Topics in History of Philosophy Sabina Bremner W 3:30 PM-6:29 PM This is a graduate-level course focused on select topics in the history of philosophy.
PHIL 5430-301 Topics in Political Philosophy Daniel Wodak R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM This is a topics-based graduate seminar in political philosophy. Examples of topics we can examine in this course include distributive justice, liberty, equality, and global justice. Course readings will be drawn from a combination of classic and more recent works on the selected topics.
PHIL 5955-640 Contemporary Continental Philosophy Stephen P Steinberg T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM This MLA seminar is an introduction to 20th-century continental European philosophy, focusing on the origins and development of phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction. No previous background in philosophy is required. We will begin with an introduction to the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and the contemporary debate over its proper interpretation. Then we will examine three existentialist critics of Husserl, whose philosophies have influenced much of recent continental thought: Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Finally, we will examine the important influence of phenomenology and existentialism on contemporary trends in continental philosophy as exhibited in works by Paul Ricoeur, Hans Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt, and Emmanuel Levinas. Finally, we will examine the important influence of phenomenology and existentialism on contemporary trends in continental philosophy as exhibited in works by Paul Ricoeur, Hans Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt, and Emmanuel Levinas. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202630&c=PHIL5955640
PHIL 6000-301 Proseminar Errol D Lord M 3:30 PM-6:29 PM An intensive seminar for first-year doctoral students, with readings drawn from recent and contemporary eistemology and metaphysics, broadly construed. Students will develop their abilities to present and discuss philosophical texts, and to write and revise their own papers.
PHIL 6480-401 Oppression: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Daniele Lorenzini W 3:30 PM-6:29 PM What is oppression? Does it define a subjective experience or a structural condition? Should we understand it in terms of a restriction on freedom? Or equality? Or our ability to fully express our agency? And how can it be resisted? The course aims to explore these questions through the reading and discussion of the work of philosophers and critical theorists who have addressed them in the past and continue to address them today. We will thus attempt to get a clearer idea of what oppression is, how it works, and how it can be resisted. We will also discuss its difference vis-à-vis and relation with other concepts such as power, domination, submission, exploitation, and alienation. PHIL4480401
PHIL 6620-401 Theory of Knowledge Ege Yumusak MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM Graduate seminar focusing on elected topics in Epistemology such as: bridging the gap between mainstream and formal epistemology, the familiar tripartite definition of knowledge (knowledge as justified true belief), basic logical and probabilistic models of knowledge (Hintikka, Aumann, and Bayesian) and their multi-agent variants, logical omniscience and other problems (including the epistemic closure principle), attempts at formalizing joint and common knowledge, resource-bounded knowledge, knowledge under limited logical powers, and empirical knowledge obstructed by system complexity. PHIL4620401
PHIL 6720-401 Topics in Logic Scott Weinstein TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This graduate course focuses on topics drawn from the central areas of mathematical logic: model theory, proof theory, set theory, and computability theory. LGIC4960401, MATH6770401, PHIL4720401
PHIL 6721-401 Logic and Computability 1 Aaron W Anderson MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM The course focuses on topics drawn from the central areas of mathematical logic: model theory, proof theory, set theory, and computability theory. LGIC3100401, MATH5700401, PHIL4721401
PHIL 6770-401 Phil of Math Scott Weinstein TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM This graduate course will focus on the development of the foundations and philosophy of mathematics from the late nineteenth-century through the present day. Topics may include logicism, formalism, intuitionism, and the foundations of set theory. Ample consideration will be given to some of the fundamental results of mathematical logic, such as the Godel incompleteness theorems and the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis from Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory, that have had a profound impact on contemporary approaches to the philosophy of mathematics. PHIL4770401
PHIL 6800-401 Philosophy of Science. Michael Weisberg TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This graduate seminar is an advanced introduction to the central philosophical questions concerning the nature of scientific knowledge and its relation to experience, and the metaphysical assumptions underlying the natural sciences. Topics to be covered include: science versus pseudoscience, laws of nature, causation, determinism and randomness, theories and models in science, scientific explanation, underdetermination of theories by observation and measurement, realism and antirealism, reductionism and intertheory relations, objectivity and value judgments in science, hypothesis testing and confirmation of scientific theories, and classical paradoxes in scientific methodology. PHIL4800401
PHIL 7000-301 Dissertation Workshop Ege Yumusak M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM Registration required for all third-year doctoral students. Third-year students and beyond attend and present their dissertation work or their preliminary exam prospectus. From time to time, topics pertaining to professional development and dissertation writing will be discussed.