Courses for Fall 2025 | Department of Philosophy

	Title	Instructor	Time	Description	Cross Listings	Fulfills	Syllabus URL
PHIL 0902-301	High School Ethics Bowl	Dustin C. Webster	TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	In this course, teams of Penn undergraduates, each joined by a graduate student in philosophy, will coach teams of high school students for participation in the National High School Ethics Bowl, an annual competitive yet collaborative event in which teams analyze and discuss complex ethical dilemmas. Cases for the Ethics Bowl will will serve as a foundational starting point for the undergraduate students' investigations into ethical theory, and the study of the Ethics Bowl itself will develop the capacities to provide coaching and mentorship to the teams of high school students from West Philadelphia and across the city. Undergraduates will travel to these school as part of the course, and there will be one or two Saturday sessions. This course will introduce the ethics bowl to many new Philadelphia School District schools and students, and it will provide Penn students with the opportunity to develop their teaching and communication skills, build collaborative relationships with community schools, and solidify their knowledge of ethical theory through coaching.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202530&c=PHIL0902301
PHIL 1000-001	Introduction to Philosophy	Michael Weisberg	MW 10:15 AM-11:14 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 1252-401	Introduction to Indian Philosophy	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	Sukaina Hirji	MW 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)	https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202530&c=PHIL1330601
PHIL 1380-301	Aesthetics		MW 5:15 PM-6:44 PM	This course examines philosophical issues centering on the nature and value of the arts. What is art? What does it mean to have an aesthetic experience? How are aesthetic experiences different from non-aesthetic ones? What is the relation between art and truth? How do the moral qualities in a work of art affect its aesthetic qualities? Why are emotions important in our interpretations of artworks? What is the relation between art and expression? Do forgeries necessarily have less aesthetic value than original artworks? What are aesthetic judgments, and are they merely expressions of taste? Lecture and discussion will center on both classical and contemporary works in aesthetics.		Arts & Letters Sector (all classes)
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, Marxism, and the Culture of Revolution	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 1582-401	The German-Jewish Experience: Philosophy, Literature, Religion in the early Twentieth Century	Liliane Weissberg	MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	Yuri Slezkine described the twentieth century as a "Jewish Age"-to be modern would essentially mean to be a Jew. In German historical and cultural studies, this linkage has long been made--only in reference to the last years of the German monarchy and the time of the Weimar Republic. Indeed, what has become known as "modern" German culture-reflected in literature, music, and the visual arts and in a multitude of public media-has been more often than not assigned to Jewish authorship or Jewish subjects. But what do authorship and subject mean in this case? Do we locate the German-Jewish experience as the driving force of this new "modernity," or is our understanding of this experience the result of this new "modern" world?	COML1220401, GRMN1220401, JWST1220401
PHIL 1710-401	Introduction to Logic	Quayshawn Nigel Julian Spencer	MW 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This course provides an introduction to some of the fundamental ideas of logic. Topics will include truth functional logic, quantificational logic, and logical decision problems.	LGIC1710401, PHIL5710401	General Requirement in Formal Reasoning & Analysis
PHIL 1800-301	Philosophy of Science		MW 1:45 PM-3:14 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 1831-301	Evolution's Laboratory	Michael Weisberg	MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	This Global Seminar is a version of PHIL 1830 and will conclude with field work in the Galapagos Islands. This course is a Penn Global Seminar, which includes a travel component. An application is required. For more information and to apply, visit: https://global.upenn.edu/pennabroad/pgs		Nat Sci & Math Sector (new curriculum only)
PHIL 1840-401	Introduction to Cognitive Science	Russell Richie	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, emotion and consciousness. 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 2200-001	Continental Philosophy	Daniele Lorenzini	CANCELED	This course is an introduction to 20th-century continental European philosophy, focusing on the origins and development of phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction. The centrality of phenomenology to an understanding of these movements and other contemporary trends in European thought will be emphasized throughout. No previous background in philosophy is required.
PHIL 2201-301	Existentialism: Sartre and Beauvoir	Sabina Bremner	MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	An introduction to the philosophy and literature of Existentialism. Readings from philosophers such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, de Beauvoir, Camus, Sarte, and writers such as Dostoyevsky, Ibsen, Kafka, and Beckett.
PHIL 2221-301	Philosophy East and West	Kok-Chor Tan	CANCELED	Our goal in this course is to bring Western Philosophy and Eastern Philosophy into dialogue. Topics will include skepticism and knowledge, ethics and the good life, moral responsibility and personal relationships, and political obligations and justice. Do the Western and Eastern philosophical traditions approach these topics in the same way? Do they even share an understanding of what the problems and issues at stake are? And what can we learn from comparative philosophy? This seminar does not presuppose prior knowledge of philosophy. Examples of authors we will study include Descartes, Aristotle, Mencius, and Confucius.
PHIL 2381-301	Philosophy and Film: Film and Literature	Ege Yumusak	CANCELED	Film allows us to explore and reflect on our everyday reality, our ordinary problems, and our bodily existence, while also incessantly blurring the boundaries between the ordinary and the extraordinary, the everyday and the fantastic. How is it able to do that? The course will begin by addressing the specific features of the medium of film and its peculiar ontology: What becomes of things and people on film? Do movies present us with images of reality or with reality itself? The response to these questions will substantiate the course’s main hypothesis: movies “think” and, as a result, far from just providing a repertoire of examples that philosophy can use for its own aims, they are themselves a form of philosophy. Through a combination of film screenings, philosophical readings, and seminar discussion, the course will test this hypothesis by addressing the contributions of classical and contemporary movies to metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and political questions that philosophy has been tackling for thousands of years.
PHIL 2382-301	Philosophy of Visual Art	Errol D Lord	MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	This course is an introduction to the philosophy of art, with a focus on the philosophy of visual art. We will cover central issues in the philosophy of art, including the nature of art, the relationships between art and beauty, and the relationships between art and morality. We will investigate these topics through the visual arts. In addition, we will consider some philosophical issues specific to the visual arts, including the nature of depiction and the nature of expression.
PHIL 2450-301	Justice, Law and Morality		MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	The course will focus on the philosophical background to the individual rights protected by the U.S. Constitution, including 1st Amendment freedoms of religion, expression, and association; the 14th amendment guarantee of Due Process and the rights of privacy, abortion, assisted suicide, and marriage; the Equal Protection clause and equal political rights and the legitimacy of affirmative action; and the Takings and Contract clauses and their bearing on rights of private property and economic freedoms. In addition to Supreme Court decisions on these issues, we will read works by political philosophers and constitutional theorists, including J.S. Mill, Ronald Dworkin, Cass Sunstein, Martha Nussbaum, Katherine MacKinnon and others.
PHIL 2510-301	Philosophy of Race		TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	Historically, philosophical questions about race have been about the nature and reality of race, the nature of racism, and social or political questions related to race or racism. In fitting with that history, the first part of the course will focus on the nature and reality of race, as understood in biology and as understood by ordinary people. We will begin by looking at biological race theories from Francois Bernier in 1684 to Pigliucci and Kaplan in 2003. Next, we will look at the philosophical work that has been done on the nature and reality of race as ordinarily understood in the contemporary United States. We will discuss racial anti-realism, social constructionism about race, and biological racial realism from well-known philosophers of race like Anthony Appiah, Sally Haslanger, and Joshua Glasgow. The second part of the course will focus on the nature of racism and social or political questions related to race or racism. In our discussion of racism, we will cover, at least, intrinsic racism, extrinsic racism, and institutional racism. In our discussion of social or political issues related to race or racism, we will look at whether any US racial groups should be used to diagnose, study, or treat genetic disorders.
PHIL 2540-001	Philosophical Issues around Love and Sex	Sukaina Hirji	MW 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This is a course on philosophical topics surrounding love and sex. We will touch on issues in all areas of philosophy including ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and epistemology. You will develop the sorts of skills fundamental to philosophy: understanding and reconstructing arguments, evaluating arguments, and developing your own argumentative abilities. You will also acquire theoretical tools that might be useful for thinking about your own love and sex lives, and the lives of those around you.
PHIL 2620-001	Introduction to Epistemology 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 2851-001	Philosophy of Economics	Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo	TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	In this course, general philosophy of science issues are applied to economics, and some problems specific to economics are tackled. While analytical questions like "What is economics?" or "What is an economic explanation" must be pursued, the ultimate goal is practical: What is good economics? How can economists contribute to a better understanding of society, and a better society? How can we make economics better? Topics to be discussed include the following: specific object and method of economics as a social science; its relation with other disciplines (physics, psychology and evolutionary theory); values in economics (welfare, freedom, equality and neutrality); the role of understanding and possible limits of a quantitative approach to human behavior (purposefulness, freedom, creativity, innovation); prediction, unpredictability and the pretension of prediction; causation in econometrics and in economic theory (equilibrium); selfishness and utility maximization (cognitive and behaviorist interpretations); economic models and unrealistic assumptions (realism and instrumentalism); empirical basis of economics (observation and experiment); microeconomics and macroeconomics (reductionism and autonomy); pluralism in economics (mainstream economics and heterodox schools).			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202530&c=PHIL2851001
PHIL 2991-301	Topics in Philosophy: Philosophy of the City	Carlos Santana	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This seminar is open to all undergraduates. Topic will vary by semester.
PHIL 2991-302	Topics in Philosophy: Issues in Political Philosophy	Kok-Chor Tan	MW 8:30 AM-9:59 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=202530&c=PHIL2991302
PHIL 3170-301	Modern Philosophical Figures	Karen Detlefsen	TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM	This seminar for philosophy majors will study selected topics, texts, and figures from 17th and 18th century European philosophy.
PHIL 3991-401	Topics in Philosophy: AI in Work, School, and Research	Daniel Singer	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This seminar is restricted to philosophy majors (all others require a permit). Topic will vary by semester.
PHIL 4330-401	Metaethics	Errol D Lord	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This course is an investigation of the main questions and problems in metaethics since the turn of the 20th century. We will investigate questions about the metaphysics of morality, the philosophy of language of moral talk, the philosophy of mind of moral thought, the epistemology of morality, and the objectivity of morality.	PHIL6330401
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=202530&c=PHIL4720401
PHIL 4721-401	Logic and Computability 1	Henry Piers Towsner	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 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	Philosophy of Mathematics	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=202530&c=PHIL4770401
PHIL 5150-401	Topics: Renaissance Culture		F 1:45 PM-3:44 PM	Please see department website for a current course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/graduate/courses	CLST7704401, COML5450401, ITAL5400401
PHIL 5172-301	Topics in History of Philosophy: Kant's Third Critique	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 5200-301	Topics in Continental Philosophy: Language and Performativity	Daniele Lorenzini	M 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	This graduate seminar will examine different traditions and topics in contemporary Continental philosophy, such as phenomenology, structuralism and post-structuralism, hermeneutics, genealogy, and deconstruction. Examples of authors we will read can include Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Gadamer, and Foucault.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202530&c=PHIL5200301
PHIL 5455-401	Law and Philosophy	Kimberly Ferzan Daniel Wodak	R 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	This graduate seminar explores recent work at the forefront of legal philosophyand adjacent fields, particularly moral, social, and political philosophy. In two-week units, seminar participants will discuss a recently published paper (in the first week) and in the second week, participants (along with other faculty) will meet with the paper's author for further discussion in which students will be given priority. The goal is to explore new work in the field in great depth, and in so doing develop students' analytic skills and their knowledge of the present state of the literature.	LAW9730401
PHIL 5650-301	Topics in Philosophy of Mind: Critical Psychology	Ege Yumusak	T 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This is a graduate-level course focused on select topics in the Philosophy of Mind.
PHIL 5710-401	Introduction to Logic	Quayshawn Nigel Julian Spencer	MW 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This graduate-level course provides an introduction to some of the fundamental ideas of logic. Topics will include truth functional logic, quantificational logic, and logical decision problems.	LGIC1710401, PHIL1710401
PHIL 6000-301	Proseminar	Jennifer Morton	W 8:30 AM-11:29 AM	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 6330-401	Metaethics	Errol D Lord	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This graduate course is an investigation of the main questions and problems in metaethics since the turn of the 20th century. We will investigate questions about the metaphysics of morality, the philosophy of language of moral talk, the philosophy of mind of moral thought, the epistemology of morality, and the objectivity of morality.	PHIL4330401
PHIL 6720-401	Topics in Mathematical 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		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202530&c=PHIL6720401
PHIL 6721-401	Logic and Computability 1	Henry Piers Towsner	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 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	Philosophy of Mathematics	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		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202530&c=PHIL6770401
PHIL 7000-301	Dissertation Workshop	Carlos Santana	T 3:30 PM-6:29 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.