2022-23
Instructor: Sergio Sismondo
FALL & WINTER - IN PERSON
Are you looking for a broad introduction to philosophy? Here’s a course structured both around some important themes and the broad sweep of philosophy’s history. We’ll explore arguments about reality, knowledge, ethics and politics, from antiquity to the current day. We’ll be dealing with abstract issues about such things as the basis of morality, and then will apply what we learn to some contemporary issues: climate change, poverty, and world hunger, distributive justice, and knowledge production. In the final part of the course, we explore some ethical controversies concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, including some of: concerns about containment and mitigation, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine hoarding and patents, and vaccine inequality.
We’ll also be focusing on writing. Students in this course will be evaluated on the basis of a number of small writing assignments each term. There will be no midterms or exams.
This course will be taught both as an online-only course and as a course with face-to-face components, allowing students maximum flexibility.
- Texts/Readings: multiple readings, mostly available online
- Assessment: multiple small assignments and essays
Learning Hours: online delivery - 240 (72L; 168P)
- Prerequisite: N/A
- Exclusion: No more than 1 course from PHIL 115/6.0; PHIL 127/6.0; PHIL 151/3.0.
- Note: Students considering a Major or Medial Plan in PHIL are strongly urged to take PHIL 111/6.0 or PHIL 115/6.0 in their first year.
PHIL 111-002 A/B
What is Philosophy?
FALL & WINTER - IN PERSON
Instructor: Miller
This full-year course covers an array of topics. The course starts with one of the biggest questions that humans are able to ask themselves: does God exist? This question leads to a number of other questions concerning religion, all of which are addressed in the first half of the fall semester. After concluding this module in the philosophy of religion, the course proceeds to a module in ethics. The core issue here concerns the source(s) of morality: where does ethics come from? We will study three diametrically opposed answers to this question before concluding for the winter break.
At the beginning of the winter semester, we commence with a module in metaphysics. Specifically, we ask whether humans have free will. As time allows, we will also discuss what’s known as the “problem of induction” – more colloquially, what reason do we have to suppose that the future will resemble the past? The next module is epistemology. Here our over-arching concern will be to learn how it is that we obtain knowledge of the external world. We will examine four different explanations of this phenomenon. The final module of the winter semester as well as the course as a whole is political philosophy. Among the issues that we will explore here are the following: when can the state force someone to do something? and what justifies the existence of the state, anyway?
In keeping with the official title of the course, we will use some of history’s most important texts as our guides to addressing the issues before us. The philosophers whom we will read include: Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Hobbes, Kant, and J.S. Mill. The readings are kept short, so as to aid students’ comprehension.
As for assignments, students will have to write four papers – two each semester. There will be tests at the end of each semester. There will also be several quizzes and comment sheets. The precise nature and value of the assignments will be explained at the beginning of the course in September.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
LEARNING HOURS 240 (72L;168P).
Requirements: Prerequisite None. Exclusion PHIL 151. Note Students considering a Major or Medial Plan in PHIL are strongly urged to take PHIL 111 or PHIL 115 in their first year of study.
Course Equivalencies: PHIL111; PHIL111B
PHIL 115 A/B
Fundamental Questions
FALL & WINTER – IN PERSON
Instructor: Bachour
Representative basic philosophical issues will be explored, such as: good and bad arguments, the source of moral obligation, the justification of knowledge claims, free will and determinism, the social enforcement of gender roles, taking responsibility for the environment, and the meaning of life.
LEARNING HOURS 240 (48L;24T;168P).
Requirements: Prerequisite None. Note Students considering a Major or Medial Plan in PHIL are strongly urged to take PHIL 111 or PHIL 115 in their first year of study.
Instructor: Mark Smith
FALL/SUMMER -ASO, WINTER - IN PERSON
Our exploration of some of the classic works of western philosophy will be guided by two main threads. The first is: what can we know, and how? And the other is: how should we live, and why? To address these questions, we will examine some of the works of Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Mill,and see how a critical engagement with their thought brings us to practice philosophy as a living, breathing discipline.
- Texts/Readings: Available via the onQ website
- Assessment: Combination of discussion participation, papers, and tests
- Learning Hours: Blended learning model, combining independent guided reading and in-person discussion:120 (24L;12T;84P)
- Prerequisites: N/A
- Exclusion: PHIL 111/6.0
PHIL 153
State and the Citizen
FALL – IN PERSON
Instructor: Owen Clifton
This course introduces students to the central questions and methods of contemporary political philosophy. The course is structured around two deeply related questions. First, when and why should states exist? Second, what should states (not) do? Via an examination of these questions and how philosophers have attempted to answer them, students will be introduced to other canonical questions of political philosophy. For example: when (if ever) and why should citizens (dis)obey the law? What individual rights should states recognize, and why? Would there be such things as rights (for example, to property) in a world without states? In what respect (if any) should states treat their citizens “as equals”? What does it mean to say that a state is “just”? Is an undemocratic state, as such, “unjust”, “illegitimate”, or otherwise deficient? What is “global justice”? Should there be a global state or federacy?
Texts/Readings:
Assessment
Argument Reconstruction: 10%
Argument Reconstruction + Critical Analysis: 20%
Short Essay: 30%
Take-Home Exam: 30%
LEARNING HOURS 120 (36L;84P).
Requirements: Prerequisite None.
PHIL 157
Moral Issues
FALL – IN PERSON
Instructor: Kumar
An introduction to ethics via an examination of controversial moral issues. Special topics: abortion; animal rights; euthanasia.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
LEARNING HOURS 120 (24L;12G;84P).
Requirements: Prerequisite None.
Instructor: Jacqueline Davies
Instructor: Jacqueline Davies
WINTER - ONLINE (ASO) (3.0)
Diverse philosophers and wisdom traditions respond variously to questions about what it means to live morally, ethically, or, “in a good way”. This course introduces multiple moral frameworks and how they orient us to respond to moral issues, as well as what they might cause us to overlook. We will look at how utilitarianism focuses on the positive and negative effects of an action and rejects fixed ideas about certain actions being always forbidden or always demanded. With Immanuel Kant, and theorists of human rights, we will ask if there are any actions we just should not do no matter how much they might benefit many of us. We will also draw on the insights of feminist ethics of care, African Ubuntu, as well as Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee teachings about interdependence and our responsibilities to all our relations. We will consider how caring is not merely an impulse to be kind, but is a practice that helps us know what is needed and how best to respond individually and/or collectively within webs of relations.
We will test our understanding of diverse moral frameworks and teachings by relating them to selected issues. These issues may include lying and cheating; consensual sexuality; harmful speech; incarceration; climate crisis; public health and wellbeing; our responsibilities to strangers, as well as to the natural environment; and, whether we have a moral responsibility to challenge (our own) ignorance.
Skills emphasized include the careful and reading of philosophical texts, for argument, assumptions and implications; respectful and critical oral discussion and reflective writing to explore and test your intuitions; and, written argumentation. The course is suitable for students in any discipline, and for philosophy concentrators keen to reflect on their own views and reasonable alternatives.
- Texts/Readings: All course readings are available either on the Queen’s Library eReserve for this course, or as links of PDFs on the course website. This includes the Instructor’s Unit Notes. There is no textbook to buy.
- Assessment:
-
- Regular online active-reading assignments (10%)
- Best five out of six multiple-choice reading-comprehension quizzes (20%)
- 4 short writing assignments (10%+ 15%+20%+25%)
- Learning Hours: All lectures and learning activities are available asynchronously, online. To complete the readings, assignments, and course activities, students can expect to spend on average, about 10 hours per week (120 hours per term) on the course. 120 (36L;84P)
- Prerequisites: N/A
- Exclusions: N/A
- Note: The course is suitable for students in any year of any discipline, including philosophy concentrators keen to reflect on their own views and reasonable alternatives. No background in philosophy is assumed.
2021-22
Note that some Fall courses are being taught remotely. Please consult each course description to find out instructors’ plans for how the course will be delivered.
FALL & WINTER - REMOTE/IN PERSON/ONLINE (6.0)
Instructor: Sergio Sismondo (Fall) & Omar Bachour (Winter)
Are you looking for a broad introduction to philosophy? Here’s a course structured both around some important themes and the broad sweep of philosophy’s history. We’ll explore arguments about reality, knowledge, ethics and politics, from antiquity to the current day. We’ll be dealing with abstract issues about such things as the basis of morality, and then will apply what we learn to some contemporary issues: climate change, poverty, and world hunger, distributive justice, and knowledge production. In the final part of the course, we explore some ethical controversies concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, including some of: concerns about containment and mitigation, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine hoarding and patents, and vaccine inequality.
We’ll also be focusing on writing. Students in this course will be evaluated on the basis of a number of small writing assignments each term. There will be no midterms or exams.
This course will be taught both as an online-only course and as a course with face-to-face components, allowing students maximum flexibility.
- Texts/Readings: multiple readings, mostly available online
- Assessment: multiple small assignments and essays
Learning Hours: online delivery - 240 (72L; 168P)
- Prerequisite: N/A
- Exclusion: No more than 1 course from PHIL 115/6.0; PHIL 127/6.0; PHIL 151/3.0.
- Note: Students considering a Major or Medial Plan in PHIL are strongly urged to take PHIL 111/6.0 or PHIL 115/6.0 in their first year.
Instructor: Mark Smith
FALL - REMOTE/ONLINE (3.0) & WINTER - ON CAMPUS (3.0)
Fall:
Our exploration of some of the classic works of western philosophy will be guided by two main threads. The first is: what can we know, and how? And the other is: how should we live, and why? To address these questions, we will examine some of the works of Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Mill,and see how a critical engagement with their thought brings us to practice philosophy as a living, breathing discipline.
- Texts/Readings: A selection of works will be available through the course site.
- Assessment: 3 reading tests; 2 short papers; 1 final assignment; discussion participation
- Learning Hours: Online asynchronous delivery
- Prerequisites: N/A
- Exclusion: PHIL 111/6.0
Winter:
Our exploration of some of the classic works of western philosophy will be guided by two main threads. The first is: what can we know, and how? And the other is: how should we live, and why? To address these questions, we will examine some of the works of Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Mill,and see how a critical engagement with their thought brings us to practice philosophy as a living, breathing discipline.
- Texts/Readings: A selection of works will be available through the course site.
- Assessment: 3 reading tests; 2 short papers; 1 final assignment; discussion participation
- Learning Hours: Blended learning model, combining independent guided reading and in-person discussion:120 (24L;12T;84P)
- Prerequisites: N/A
- Exclusion: PHIL 111/6.0
Instructor: Brennen Harwood
FALL - ON CAMPUS (3.0) & WINTER - ON CAMPUS (3.0)
Fall:
This course introduces students to the central questions of political philosophy through an examination of the relation between state and citizen. We will begin by focusing on the question of political legitimacy. What is the rationale, if any, for the state? How can we justify our political and social arrangements to one another, and what kinds of social arrangements should we consider legitimate as a result? This will take us into an examination of the rights of the individual, and the relationship between justice, property rights, and the market. Where do the rights of the individual begin and the rights of the community end? Are property rights justified, and if so, on what grounds?
Finally, we will examine some of the challenges, oversights, and problems of application that animate contemporary political philosophy, in order to look at how the insights of different philosophical traditions might be brought to bear upon the issues we face today. Topics to be discussed include global justice, our duties to future generations, multiculturalism, and the political legacy of colonialism.
- Assessment: Students will be assessed based on a series of short essay assignments and a final take-home exam.
- Learning Hours: 120 (36L;84P)
- Prerequisite: None
- Texts/Readings: We will be using Jonathan Wolff's An Introduction to Political Philosophy, 3rd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Available at the campus bookstore. We will also read selections taken directly from the different authors we examine in this course. All supplementary readings will be made available through OnQ.
Winter:
Instructor: Kathryn Lawson
This introductory course will examine political philosophy through six units:
- The history of political philosophy
- Rights versus Obligations
- Social Contract
- Abolitionists
- Civil Disobedience (The Bhagavad Gita and its heirs)
- Economic Influences on the Political
Readings will range from ancient philosophy to contemporary thinkers, including works within and beyond the “Western canon,” and will be available on the course website or through the Queen’s library website. Each class will introduce a new thinker and examine how that thinker conceptualizes our rights and responsibilities as members of the larger community.
Grades will be given based on three response papers, a final essay, and a final exam.
Instructor: Jacqueline Davies
FALL - ON CAMPUS (3.0)
Diverse philosophers and wisdom traditions respond variously to questions about what it means to live morally, ethically, or, “in a good way”. This course introduces multiple moral frameworks and how they orient us to respond to moral issues, as well as what they might cause us to overlook. We will look at how utilitarianism focuses on the positive and negative effects of an action and rejects fixed ideas about certain actions being always forbidden or always demanded. With Immanuel Kant, and theorists of human rights, we will ask if there are any actions we just should not do no matter how much they might benefit many of us. We will also draw on the insights of feminist ethics of care, African Ubuntu, as well as Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee teachings about interdependence and our responsibilities to all our relations. We will consider how caring is not merely an impulse to be kind, but is a practice that helps us know what is needed and how best to respond individually and/or collectively within webs of relations.
We will test our understanding of diverse moral frameworks and teachings by relating them to selected issues. These issues may include lying and cheating; consensual sexuality; harmful speech; incarceration; climate crisis; public health and wellbeing; our responsibilities to strangers, as well as to the natural environment; and, whether we have a moral responsibility to challenge (our own) ignorance.
Skills emphasized include the careful and reading of philosophical texts, for argument, assumptions and implications; respectful and critical oral discussion and reflective writing to explore and test your intuitions; and, written argumentation. The course is suitable for students in any discipline, and for philosophy concentrators keen to reflect on their own views and reasonable alternatives.
Texts/Readings: All course readings are available either on the Queen’s Library eReserve for this course, or as links of PDFs on the course website. This includes the Instructor’s Unit Notes. There is no textbook to buy.
- Assessment:
- Regular, online, active-reading assignments (10%)
- Best five out of six multiple-choice reading-comprehension quizzes (20%)
- 4 short writing assignments (10%+ 15%+20%+25%)
- Learning Hours: 120 (24L;12G;84P)
- Prerequisites: N/A
- Exclusions: N/A
- Note: Public health conditions permitting, the class will meet for lectures and discussion.
Instructor: Jacqueline Davies
WINTER - ONLINE (ASO) (3.0)
Diverse philosophers and wisdom traditions respond variously to questions about what it means to live morally, ethically, or, “in a good way”. This course introduces multiple moral frameworks and how they orient us to respond to moral issues, as well as what they might cause us to overlook. We will look at how utilitarianism focuses on the positive and negative effects of an action and rejects fixed ideas about certain actions being always forbidden or always demanded. With Immanuel Kant, and theorists of human rights, we will ask if there are any actions we just should not do no matter how much they might benefit many of us. We will also draw on the insights of feminist ethics of care, African Ubuntu, as well as Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee teachings about interdependence and our responsibilities to all our relations. We will consider how caring is not merely an impulse to be kind, but is a practice that helps us know what is needed and how best to respond individually and/or collectively within webs of relations.
We will test our understanding of diverse moral frameworks and teachings by relating them to selected issues. These issues may include lying and cheating; consensual sexuality; harmful speech; incarceration; climate crisis; public health and wellbeing; our responsibilities to strangers, as well as to the natural environment; and, whether we have a moral responsibility to challenge (our own) ignorance.
Skills emphasized include the careful and reading of philosophical texts, for argument, assumptions and implications; respectful and critical oral discussion and reflective writing to explore and test your intuitions; and, written argumentation. The course is suitable for students in any discipline, and for philosophy concentrators keen to reflect on their own views and reasonable alternatives.
- Texts/Readings: All course readings are available either on the Queen’s Library eReserve for this course, or as links of PDFs on the course website. This includes the Instructor’s Unit Notes. There is no textbook to buy.
- Assessment:
-
- Regular online active-reading assignments (10%)
- Best five out of six multiple-choice reading-comprehension quizzes (20%)
- 4 short writing assignments (10%+ 15%+20%+25%)
- Learning Hours: All lectures and learning activities are available asynchronously, online. To complete the readings, assignments, and course activities, students can expect to spend on average, about 10 hours per week (120 hours per term) on the course. 120 (36L;84P)
- Prerequisites: N/A
- Exclusions: N/A
- Note: The course is suitable for students in any year of any discipline, including philosophy concentrators keen to reflect on their own views and reasonable alternatives. No background in philosophy is assumed.