Courses for Spring 2027 | Department of Philosophy

	Title	Instructor	Time	Description	Cross Listings	Fulfills	Syllabus URL
PHIL 0991-301	Topics in Philosophy: Effective Altruism and Its Critics	Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo	TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	This first-year seminar presupposes no background in philosophy. Topic will vary by semester.		Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 0991-302	Topics in Philosophy: Debating Human Nature	Gregory David Brown	M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This first-year seminar presupposes no background in philosophy. Topic will vary by semester.		Society sector (all classes)
PHIL 1000-001	Intro to Philosophy	Karen Detlefsen	MW 12:00 PM-12:59 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 1000-601	Introduction to Philosophy	Raul Ibarra Herrera	TR 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 1330-301	Ethics	Raul Ibarra Herrera	TR 1:45 PM-3:14 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 1360-301	Philosophy of Sport	Milton W. Meyer	TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	This is an introductory philosophy course that uses philosophical tools to understand and answer questions that arise in and about sports. Is there a principled basis for determining which methods of performance enhancement are acceptable? Developing a framework to answer this question will take us through: 1) questions about rules: what is their point in sports and what are appropriate reasons to change them; 2) questions about the point of participation in a sport; 3) questions about the kinds of virtues sports participants can demonstrate; and 4) questions about integrity of participants and a sport itself. A related set of questions concerns the appropriate competitors in sporting events: Should competition be restricted to single sex categories; Should competition be divided into disabled and non-disabled categories?
PHIL 1433-001	The Social Contract	Daniel Wodak	MW 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 1450-601	Philosophy of Law	Carlin P. Romano	M 7:00 PM-9:59 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 1581-401	Introduction to Jewish Philosophy	Michael Weisberg	TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	What is a good human life? Does the universe have a purpose, and do we? Can we be free if the future is already known? Is there a God, and what could we truly say about such a being? For almost three thousand years, Jewish thinkers have argued with their predecessors and with each other about questions like these. This course invites you into those arguments and asks you to join them. We will not simply survey what Jewish philosophers have believed. We will do Jewish philosophy ourselves, analyzing the ideas, testing the arguments, and pressing on them with the tools of contemporary philosophy. Our readings span the full tradition: the stories and laws of the Hebrew Bible, the debates of the Talmud, the great medieval philosophers who fused the Bible and Talmud with Greek and Islamic philosophy, the systematic philosophers of the early modern period, and the philosophers writing today. Our questions may include the problem of evil, divine foreknowledge and human freedom, the nature of the soul, the origins of the cosmos, prophecy and revelation, and the meaning of a life lived under a law that claims to be divine. No background is assumed, but students will find the course more accessible with some grounding in either philosophy or Jewish texts.	JWST1581401
PHIL 1710-401	Introduction to Logic	Daniel Singer	TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	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 1800-001	Philosophy of Science	Maja Sidzinska	MW 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	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 1800-301	Philosophy of Science: AI in Science	Maximilian James Gebauer	TR 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 2510-301	Philosophy of Race	Gwendalynn Carlene Roebke	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 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 2540-301	Philosophical Issues around Love and Sex	Shawn Xavier Hernandez	MW 12:00 PM-1:29 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 2560-301	Philosophy of Education		TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	The philosophy of education asks questions about the foundational assumptions of our formal institutions for the reproduction of culture. It ranges therefore, from epistemology and philosophy of mind to ethics and political philosophy. For instance: What is the nature of learning and teaching? How is it possible to come to know something we did not know already--and how can we aid others in doing that? How, if at all, should formal institutions of education be concerned with shaping students' moral and civic character? What is the proper relation between educational institutions and the state? We also ask questions more specific to our own time and context. For example: how, in a multicultural state, should we educate students of varied social identities, like race, gender, and religion? What is the relationship between education and justice.
PHIL 2640-402	Introduction to Philosophy of Mind	Raul Ibarra Herrera	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	This course will survey several central topics in philosophy of mind, as well as investigate how philosophy of the mind interacts with scientific study of the mind. Among the questions we'll be asking are: What is it to have a mind? What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? Can there be a science of the mind? What can it tell us? What can philosophy contribute to a science of the mind? What is consciousness? What is it to think, to perceive, to act? How are perception, thought, and action related to one another?	VLST2210402
PHIL 3201-301	Existentialism	Sabina Bremner	MW 8:30 AM-9:59 AM	A majors seminar of 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 3430-301	Topics in Political Philosophy	Kok-Chor Tan	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This majors seminar will focus on various topics in political philosophy. Topics will vary from term to term.
PHIL 4112-401	Plato's Selected Dialogues	Sukaina Hirji	R 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	A graduate-level study of selected dialogues of Plato. All texts will be read in translation. No prior experience in Plato is required, but students should have some background in philosophy. Dialogues studied will vary from term to term.	PHIL6112401
PHIL 4172-401	Topics in History of Philosophy: Mind, Education, Autonomy	Karen Detlefsen	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This is an advanced level seminar in select topics of history of philosophy.	PHIL6172401
PHIL 4181-401	Kant I	Sabina Bremner	W 10:15 AM-1:14 PM	The course will concentrate on the Critique of Pure Reason and discuss in detail Kant's conception of knowledge and experience, his criticism of traditional metaphysics and the resulting project of a system of transcendental philosophy.	GRMN5510401, PHIL6181401
PHIL 4431-401	The Methodology of Political Philosophy	Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo	R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	As the story goes, political philosophy experienced a rebirth with the publication of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice. But after decades of working under the methodological paradigm presupposed in that work, political philosophers and theorists have started to become more reflective about what they are supposed to be doing and how they are supposed to be doing it. As a result, considerable effort has been devoted in the new millennium to debates concerning the relative merits of “ideal” vs. “nonideal” theory, “political moralism” vs. “political realism,” “practice-dependent” vs. “practice-independent” theorizing, and so on. Even political philosophers not directly involved in these debates are increasingly expected to justify their theoretical choices in terms set by them. This seminar will be a survey of these contemporary methodological debates. It will be organized around three clusters of questions that will help us disentangle what is at stake in them: (1) At the most general level, we will be asking what the proper aims of political philosophy are. Some hold that its primary or ultimate aim should be to achieve knowledge about political concepts, principles, or ideals. Others hold that its primary or ultimate aim should be to guide the actions of political actors. What would count as an adequate defense of either of these positions? Furthermore, are these our only options? Are there other possible aims, and if so, what are they, and how might they be related to the more familiar ones? (2) Regardless of the view they take with regards to (1), most political philosophers think that part of what they are supposed to do is identify fundamental ideals or principles that bear on political life. One question we will take up in this regard is whether such ideals or principles depend on facts or not. The answer to this metanormative question is related to more obviously methodological ones concerning, e.g., the extent to which political philosophy can be conducted independently of input from, and dialogue with, related disciplines in the social sciences. A related question here concerns the nature of political ideals or principles: Is there something distinctively political about them, or are they the same as moral ideals and principles? As some put it, is political philosophy just “applied ethics”? (3) A common and increasingly popular answer to the general question in (1) is that political philosophy should aim, in the first instance, to guide action. If that is the case, then political philosophers must answer a number of related questions. One of them concerns the fruitfulness of “idealization” in the construction of normative political theories. Another concerns the role feasibility judgments ought to play in the justification of action-guiding prescriptions. A further one concerns background theories of political agency: If the aim is to guide action, then presumably philosophers have an agent or group of agents in view whose action is to be guided, and presuppose some account of how their agency is to be effective. Note. The seminar is intended primarily (though not exclusively) for students with interest and some background in political philosophy or normative political theory, though many of the questions we will take up bear more broadly on what is sometimes called ‘practical philosophy’ and, therefore, on normative ethics as well.	PHIL6431401
PHIL 4722-401	Logic and Computability 2	Henry Piers Towsner	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	The course is a continuation of PHIL 4721. Cross-list with MATH5710 and LGIC3200.	LGIC3200401, MATH5710401, PHIL6722401
PHIL 4801-401	Topics in Philosophy of Science: Philosophy of Psychedelic Science	Gray Santana	T 12:00 PM-2:59 PM	This is an advanced-level seminar in selected topics in Philosophy of Science.	PHIL6801401
PHIL 5200-301	Topics in Continental Philosophy: Ideology and Geneaology	Daniele Lorenzini	W 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.
PHIL 5340-401	Beyond Production: Marxism and Alternative Logics of Value	David C Kazanjian Siarhei Biareishyk	R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	In this seminar we will examine capitalism from the perspective of the production of value. Guided by Karl Marx's Capital, we will examine the processes of the extraction of value from labor, conversion of value into profit, forms of subsumption of labor under capital, and elaborate on the kind of social relations these dynamics produce. We will also learn how capitalist social relations break down previous forms of value and institute new value forms on a global scale. We will seek to extend Marx's analysis and go beyond it in two ways: by investigating alternative forms of value that could be said to persist alongside the capitalist value form; and by interrogating the value extraction in contemporary informatized capitalism that takes place beyond the site of production. For instance, do provision grounds among the enslaved in the 19th century, milpa among indigenous people in the Americas, planned economy and black markets in the Soviet Union, squatting in contemporary urban centers, or networks of mutual care supplement capitalist social relations or oppose them? Or, alternatively, how does contemporary capitalist accumulation appropriate our life-activity beyond the workplace, such as in the reproductive domain, leisure time, education, health, and nature? We will ask whether and how alternative forms of value and its extraction are subsumed by or antagonistic with capitalism. What forms of opposition to the value form can we discern?	COML6178401, ENGL5961401, FIGS6178401, REES6178401
PHIL 5470-301	Social Philosophy	Sukaina Hirji	M 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	Selected topics in social philosophy.
PHIL 5651-301	Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence	Daniel Singer	T 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	This is a graduate-level seminar focused on select philosophical questions raised by artificial intelligence. Potential questions that might be covered include: How should AI reshape work, education, research, art, and human relationships, and what would be gained or lost if it replaced humans in those domains? What are the implications of AI for society, democracy, and the long-term future of humanity? Can (non-human) machines think, understand, or be conscious? Can AI systems mean things by what they say, be creative, or make genuine scientific discoveries? What are algorithms, and can we know things on the basis of systems whose workings we cannot explain? Could a machine be morally responsible or have moral status of its own? Drawing on philosophy of mind, epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and ethics, the course examines both what AI is and what it means for human life. Specific topics vary by semester. No technical background is required.
PHIL 5710-401	Intro Logic	Daniel Singer	TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	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 5956-640	MLA Seminar Philosophy & Psychoanalysis: Freud & the Interpretation of Culture	Stephen P Steinberg	W 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	MLA proseminar. More than a century after Sigmund Freud transformed - for better or worse - our understanding of what it means to be human, Freudian psychoanalysis still exerts a profound influence in our culture. This seminar course is an exploration of the philosophical issues raised by Freudian psychoanalysis as a theory of mind and culture. After a close reading of Freud's theoretical writings on the nature of the mind and human behavior, we will explore why Freud's theories - despite more than a century of criticism - remain highly influential as a framework for the interpretation of art, literature, religion, society, politics, and history. Readings from Freud's "meta-psychological", cultural, and social writings, Paul Ricoeur's Freud and Philosophy, and other contemporary authors in philosophy, psychoanalysis, and other fields. No previous knowledge of psychoanalysis, psychology, or philosophy required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202710&c=PHIL5956640
PHIL 6112-401	Plato's Selected Dialogues	Sukaina Hirji	R 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	A study of selected dialogues of Plato. All texts will be read in translation. No prior experience in Plato is required, but students should have some background in philosophy. Dialogues studied will vary from term to term.	PHIL4112401
PHIL 6172-401	Topics in History of Philosophy: Mind, Education, Autonomy	Karen Detlefsen	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This is an advanced level seminar in select topics of history of philosophy.	PHIL4172401
PHIL 6181-401	Kant I	Sabina Bremner	W 10:15 AM-1:14 PM	The graduate course will concentrate on the Critique of Pure Reason and discuss in detail Kant's conception of knowledge and experience, his criticism of traditional metaphysics and the resulting project of a system of transcendental philosophy.	GRMN5510401, PHIL4181401
PHIL 6431-401	The Methodology of Political Philosophy	Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo	R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	As the story goes, political philosophy experienced a rebirth with the publication of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice. But after decades of working under the methodological paradigm presupposed in that work, political philosophers and theorists have started to become more reflective about what they are supposed to be doing and how they are supposed to be doing it. As a result, considerable effort has been devoted in the new millennium to debates concerning the relative merits of “ideal” vs. “nonideal” theory, “political moralism” vs. “political realism,” “practice-dependent” vs. “practice-independent” theorizing, and so on. Even political philosophers not directly involved in these debates are increasingly expected to justify their theoretical choices in terms set by them. This seminar will be a survey of these contemporary methodological debates. It will be organized around three clusters of questions that will help us disentangle what is at stake in them: (1) At the most general level, we will be asking what the proper aims of political philosophy are. Some hold that its primary or ultimate aim should be to achieve knowledge about political concepts, principles, or ideals. Others hold that its primary or ultimate aim should be to guide the actions of political actors. What would count as an adequate defense of either of these positions? Furthermore, are these our only options? Are there other possible aims, and if so, what are they, and how might they be related to the more familiar ones? (2) Regardless of the view they take with regards to (1), most political philosophers think that part of what they are supposed to do is identify fundamental ideals or principles that bear on political life. One question we will take up in this regard is whether such ideals or principles depend on facts or not. The answer to this metanormative question is related to more obviously methodological ones concerning, e.g., the extent to which political philosophy can be conducted independently of input from, and dialogue with, related disciplines in the social sciences. A related question here concerns the nature of political ideals or principles: Is there something distinctively political about them, or are they the same as moral ideals and principles? As some put it, is political philosophy just “applied ethics”? (3) A common and increasingly popular answer to the general question in (1) is that political philosophy should aim, in the first instance, to guide action. If that is the case, then political philosophers must answer a number of related questions. One of them concerns the fruitfulness of “idealization” in the construction of normative political theories. Another concerns the role feasibility judgments ought to play in the justification of action-guiding prescriptions. A further one concerns background theories of political agency: If the aim is to guide action, then presumably philosophers have an agent or group of agents in view whose action is to be guided, and presuppose some account of how their agency is to be effective. Note. The seminar is intended primarily (though not exclusively) for students with interest and some background in political philosophy or normative political theory, though many of the questions we will take up bear more broadly on what is sometimes called ‘practical philosophy’ and, therefore, on normative ethics as well.	PHIL4431401
PHIL 6722-401	Logic and Computability 2	Henry Piers Towsner	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	A continuation of PHIL 6721.	LGIC3200401, MATH5710401, PHIL4722401
PHIL 6801-401	Topics in Philosophy of Science: Philosophy of Psychedelic Science	Gray Santana	T 12:00 PM-2:59 PM	This is an advanced-level seminar in selected topics in Philosophy of Science.	PHIL4801401
PHIL 6998-301	Pre-Dissertation Workshop	Errol D Lord	T 12:00 PM-2:59 PM	This workshop is designed for graduate students in their second or third year of a doctorate program who want to refine a paper or chapter. Participants will discuss how to develop an effective writing practice, understand the elements of good academic writing, and both receive and provide detailed feedback on 1-2 pieces of academic work.