As you begin to look forward at the Winter semester, look no further than the Philosophy Winter 2025 Seminars!
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Iva Apostolova
PHIL 5000 – Issues in Philosophy of Memory
The main objective of the course is to give a historical as well as topical overview of the rapidly gaining popularity field of philosophy of memory. Philosophy of memory is intimately linked to philosophy of mind, and more specifically, the personal identity debate. The seminar will combine two elements: a historical and a topical one. For the first part, we will look into the classical theories of memory of Aristotle, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Thomas Reid, as well as some contemporary theories of memory as developed by Bertrand Russell, and Henri Bergson. The topics that will be explored in the seminar range from memory and meaning construction, memory and self, memory and time, to memory and morality, and memory and society.
Andy Brook
PHIL 5200 – Seminar in Philosophy of Mind or Cognition
The seminar will focus on one or two central, difficult topics in the philosophy of mind or cognition such as consciousness, free will, or intentionality, or a major theorist such as Daniel Dennett. Students will be consulted before the final selection of topics.
Kyla Bruff
PHIL 5350 – The Politics of German Idealism
This course will explore the political philosophies of Kant, Fichte, Hegel and Schelling. Key political texts from these thinkers will be read in relation to the changing German political context from 1770-1850. We will explore the development of each thinker’s perspectives on right, the law, citizenship, revolution, religion, and the relationship between the state and the community. We will critically investigate how the law and the state relate to the realization of human freedom, asking: in which political configuration did the classical German philosophers think we would be most free? How did they think we would get there?
Myrto Mylopoulos
PHIL 5751 – Winter 2025 Colloquium
Students attend each talk in the departmental colloquium series, preparing by doing mandatory background readings, and submit in writing a critical analysis of some aspect of the presentation.
Gordon Davis
PHIL 5900 – Research Seminar (MA students)
Mandatory seminar course for all first-year MA students. The primary objective of this seminar is to develop topics for theses or research essays. Students will consult with potential supervisors during this process.