{"id":12239,"date":"2025-12-04T14:49:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/?page_id=12239"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:00:26","slug":"fourth-year-seminars-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/fourth-year-seminars-2026-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth-Year Seminars 2026-27"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Fourth-Year Seminars 2026-27\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Please note: Cross-listed seminars in Political Science and Humanities will be listed closer to the registration period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall 2026:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Annie Larivee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHIL 4100: Special Topic: Philosophy as a Way of Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philosophy as a Way of Life (PWL), a meta-philosophical movement originating in the work of historian Pierre Hadot (1922\u20132010), has become an influential way of rethinking the aims and methods of philosophy. Not to be confused with Public Philosophy, it offers an alternative to philosophy as a purely theoretical, professionalized activity, while remaining firmly anchored in the history of philosophy (esp. Greek and Roman). Different versions of the paradigm have been developed, and critical work has taken place from within. Yet despite its growing influence inside and outside academia, PWL has rarely been examined critically from outside its own conceptual horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prepare for this external assessment, the seminar will first examine competing versions of PWL, each engaging ancient philosophy differently: Hadot\u2019s spiritual exercises; Nussbaum\u2019s therapy of desire; Foucault\u2019s practice of care for the self; Sellars\u2019 art of living; Cooper\u2019s reasoned life; and Telo\u2019s strengthening of reason. We will identify points of convergence and divergence among these versions and consider their (in)compatibility with academic philosophy, the criteria by which they might be assessed, and whether philosophy as a way of life (in one or multiple versions) can be coherently integrated into contemporary practice. Participants, including the instructor, will be encouraged to clarify their own philosophical commitments in light of these discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh Redstone<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHIL 4220:<\/strong> Transhumanism; or, the Ethics of Enhancement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Transhumanist movement advocates enhancing the human mind, the human body, and society. Within the movement, philosophers and scientists alike argue that the human condition can \u2013 and should \u2013 be improved using such enhancements as brain-machine interfaces, nootropics, genetic engineering, etc. In this seminar, we\u2019ll explore the ethics of human enhancement by discussing the nature of the human being, our relationship with technology, and the ethical and empirical claims of transhumanist thinkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter 2027:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gabriele Contessa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHIL 4230:<\/strong> Echo Chambers (and Other Epistemic Communities)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blurb: Social epistemologists are increasingly aware that the communities we belong to shape what we know and believe\u2014determining which information reaches us, which sources we trust, and ultimately what we take to be true. They also recognize that certain communities are epistemically unhealthy. Echo chambers are one of the paradigmatic examples of epistemically unhealthy communities. This seminar explores questions like: What exactly are echo chambers, and how do they differ from epistemically healthier communities? Can someone trapped inside an echo chamber recognize their situation or find a way out? And to what extent are people responsible for the beliefs they hold because they are in an epistemically unhealthy community?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyla Bruff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHIL 4007: Adorno’s Critique of Modern Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Course description coming soon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please note: Cross-listed seminars in Political Science and Humanities will be listed closer to the registration period. Fall 2026: Annie Larivee PHIL 4100: Special Topic: Philosophy as a Way of Life Philosophy as a Way of Life (PWL), a meta-philosophical movement originating in the work of historian Pierre Hadot (1922\u20132010), has become an influential way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[],"class_list":["post-12239","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12239"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12705,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12239\/revisions\/12705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/philosophy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=12239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}