Graduate Courses

PHIL 674/676 — SEM 001: Epistemology of Ignorance

Have you ever wondered why White people tend to be so ‘good’ at not knowing about racism? Why the medical community didn’t know that heart disease was a significant cause of death for women until so recently? Or why still, 60 years after the development and marketing of The Pill for people who can become pregnant, there is no readily available, parallel form of birth control for people who can impregnate others? According to the Epistemology of Ignorance understanding how knowledge is produced is aided by the reciprocal investigation of the production of ignorance. This class studies ways that ignorance can be actively produced and maintained to create and reinforce systems of domination and oppression.

PHIL 402/674/676/ GSJ 402 — SEM 002: Care Ethics

Care is central to our lives. It sustains us and our communities, and is as a central dimension of solidarity. This course provides an introduction to feminist care ethics. We will study the foundation of “care” as a distinct ethical approach in philosophy, as well as its political and economic significance. Further, we will compare and contrast a Western feminist care approach with other philosophical traditions and explore innovations in care ethics from activism and theory in queer, trans, and disability studies. 

PHIL 422/674/676 — SEM 003: Formal Methods for Social Good: Inequity, Injustice, and Idealization

This course will examine recent research applying formal models and methods such as game theory to social and political questions, especially questions about explaining and addressing social injustice. For example, Cailin O’Connor’s work uses game theory models to understand the emergence of gender and racial inequity and to explore the minimal conditions under which inequity emerges. O’Connor, Bright, and Bruner use game theory to explain the emergence of intersectional disadvantage. Fard uses formal methods including computational simulations to develop a theory of change in response to social injustices. Complicating critiques of “ideal theory,” Hancox-Li and Táíwò argue that idealization in social and political philosophy can be apt and useful, depending on the context and the research question. Philosophically, we will examine methodological, social, and political questions such as: When and how are the explanations in formal models applicable to the actual world? What are the benefits or risks of using simple, abstract formal models where reality is complex and multifaceted? Idealizations can lead to improved theory or can represent failure to see important details; how can we tell the difference?

PHIL 680 A  — SEM 001: Argument from Analogy

Arguments from analogy—which argue for a conclusion on the grounds that the case under consideration is similar in relevant respects to other cases—have a long history in philosophy and a broad scope of application across the discipline. Arguments from analogy are also employed in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. An important philosophical question is how to distinguish good arguments from analogy from bad ones. In this course, we will examine philosophical accounts of analogical reasoning as well as case studies of arguments from analogy. 

PHIL 674/676 — SEM 001: Cosmology: Plato to Galileo

Responding to their naked-eye observations of the world and divergent philosophical commitments, ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians constructed competing theories of the cosmos’ composition and structure.  This course examines the variety of cosmological theories advanced by ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians as well as their reception from the medieval Islamic tradition to early modern Europe.  Analyzing texts by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Ptolemy in English translation, students will familiarize themselves with the content and range of ancient Greek cosmologies as well as their relation to various epistemological and metaphysical theories.  In addition, students will examine these cosmologies’ reception by Ibn Tufayl, Copernicus, and Galileo, who responded to earlier cosmologies in light of their own philosophical commitments and, in the case of Galileo, the observation of phenomena inaccessible before the invention of the telescope. 

PHIL 674/676 3SEM 002: Racial Justice Movements

Using Black racial justice movements across the globe as our guide, this seminar will examine the philosophical foundations of the fight for racial equity through the lens of three racial justice movements: 

1. Negritude Movement
2. Black Lives Matter
3. Black Class Action

Grounded in social-political thought and drawing upon Black scholars, popular culture icons, academics, and philosophers, this course will explore various “modes of resistance” including but not limited to letters, interviews, radio, television and film, the creative arts, and public speeches to help us think through broader philosophical ideas about racial justice and the ongoing struggle for racial equity in the Canadian context.

PHIL 673 — SEM 003: Thinking Through Gender: Feminist Perspective on Language

In this course we will explore feminist philosophy of language.  Topics are not yet settled, but may include gendered language, language referring to gender, sexual communication, speech acts and oppression, dogwhistles, and hermeneutical injustice.  The main large piece of writing for the course will be a self-chosen case study of real-world communication (or failure of communication), applying concepts from the class.

PHIL 680 B — SEM 001: Arguments from Analogy (continued)

Arguments from Analogy—which argue for a conclusion on the grounds that the case under consideration is similar in relevant respects to other cases—have a long history in philosophy and a broad scope of application across the discipline. Arguments from analogy are also employed in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. An important philosophical question is how to distinguish good arguments from analogy from bad ones. In this course, we will examine philosophical accounts of analogical reasoning as well as case studies of arguments from analogy.