Studies the natures of action, belief and knowledge and the constraint that knowledge imposes on responsible action and belief, both in individuals and across society.
Prerequisites: jr st; Philos 101(P) or 215(P).
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015.
Study of perennial philosophical issues about the nature of the world and our relation to it; realism, idealism, causality, the mind-body problem, time, truth.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2015.
Study of traditional and recent views about the nature, aim and ways of evaluating scientific theories, with reference to both the natural and social sciences.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2012.
Philosophical study of topics in the biological sciences, such as evolutionary explanations, genetic determinism, the definition of life, what constitutes a biological individual.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2010, Spring 2005, Spring 2002.
Theories of environmental ethics, practical application. Responsibilities to nature/future generations; moral value/status of environment and organisms; philosophical issues concerning environmental studies and ecology.
Prerequisites: jr st.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016.
Theories of environmental ethics, practical application. Responsibilities to nature/future generations; moral value/status of environment and organisms; philosophical issues concerning environmental studies and ecology.
Prerequisites: jr st.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016.
Major themes of moral philosophy from Plato and Aristotle to Bentham and Mill, with critical study of the outstanding works.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2012, Fall 2010, Fall 2009, Fall 2008.
Analysis of the nature of religion, of various comparative typological classifications and methodological approaches; basic problems in understanding the varieties of religious experience and expression.
Prerequisites: jr st; Philos 204(P), Philos/Hist/Hebr St 275(P) or Anthro 203(P).
Last Taught: Spring 2006, Spring 2004, Spring 2002, Spring 2000.
Critical study of the nature of mind and its relation to body and matter, with emphasis on recent advances in philosophy and psychology.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2015, Fall 2012, Spring 2012, Spring 2011.
Philosophical doctrines involved in justification of political decisions; analysis of fundamental concepts such as the common good, authority, justice, natural law, and natural rights.
Prerequisites: jr st; Philos 242(P) or a course in ethics.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2014.
The nature of the will, agency, intentional action, and the problem of free will and determinism.
Prerequisites: jr st, 3 cr philos; or grad st.
Last Taught: Spring 2012, Spring 2010, Spring 2006, Spring 2004.
Major issues in the philosophy of perception: the nature of sensation, perception and inference, the relationship of perception and belief.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr in Philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2011, Spring 2010, Spring 2009.
The idea of law and its relationship to morality. Issues of legal obligation, rights, responsibility, and punishment.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr philos or previous course in political theory or law studies recom.
Course Rules: Philos 384 & Pol Sci 384 are jointly offered; they count as repeats of one another.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2014.
An examination of, and engagement with, the thought of some of the major philosophers of the ancient period, including the Pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016.
An examination of, and engagement with, the thought of some of the major philosophers of the ancient period, including the Pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016.
Critical and historical examination of writings of medieval philosophers such as Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Ockham, Al Farabi, Maimonides.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2009, Spring 2008, Spring 2006, Spring 2004.
An examination of the thought of representative philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015.
Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and others. The conflict of idealistic, materialistic, and irrationalist philosophies of the nineteenth century and their influence on its social, literary, and religious movements.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2012, Fall 2010, Spring 2009, Fall 1995.
Comparison of problems and solutions dealt with by currently active movements and philosophers, including Carnap, Croce, Dewey, Heidegger, Husserl, Moore, Russell, Sartre, and Wittgenstein.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr in philos.
Analysis of existentialist thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2011, Fall 2009, Spring 2006.
Husserl's phenomenological method and its impact on recent continental philosophy, e.g. Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Spring 2012, Fall 2003, Spring 1999, Spring 1993.
Problems central to Islamic theology, philosophy, and mysticism, and their relations to the teachings of Islam.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2005, Spring 2002, Fall 1997, Spring 1996.
Analysis of two or more contemporary religious thinkers (e.g., Buber, Heschel, Tillich, Barth, Bultmann, death-of-God theologians, Moltmann, Pannenberg, Rahner, Chardin). Difficulties and objections are discussed.
Prerequisites: jr st, 3 cr in philos.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Intensive study of selected Hindu and Indian Buddhist thinkers and schools of thought, e.g. the Vedanta of Sankara and Ramanuja, Mahayana thought, modern Vedanta, Gandhi.
Prerequisites: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max. Pereq: jr st; 3 cr in philos.
Last Taught: Fall 2005, Fall 2003, Fall 2002, Fall 2001.
Designed to enroll students in UWM sponsored program before course work level, content and credits are determined and/or in specially prepared program course work.
Prerequisites: jr st; acceptance for Study Abroad Prog.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2014.
First-order predicate calculus; formal properties of theoretical systems; chief results of modern mathematical logic; advanced topics such as completeness and computability.
Prerequisites: jr st, either Philos 212(P) or 6 cr math at the 300-level or above; or grad st.
Course Rules: Jointly-offered w/& counts as repeat of CompSci/Math 511.
Last Taught: Fall 2015, Fall 2013, Fall 2011, Fall 2009.
Philosophical issues of the semantics, syntax and pragmatics of language; relations between philosophy of language and metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of science.
Prerequisites: jr st & Philos 101(P) or 432(P).
Last Taught: Fall 2015, Fall 2012.
Philosophical issues of the semantics, syntax and pragmatics of language; relations between philosophy of language and metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of science.
Prerequisites: jr st & Philos 101(P) or 432(P).
Last Taught: Fall 2015, Fall 2012.
In depth study of one or more topics concerning the nature of language; its acquisition, use and formal structures.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr in philos.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic & cons advisor & instr to 6 cr max.
The nature of historical knowledge and belief in terms of the justification of historical narration, explanation and prediction.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Intensive study in such topics as perception, skepticism, induction, mathematical knowledge, universals, causality, substance, determinism, possibility.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2014.
Intensive study in such topics as perception, skepticism, induction, mathematical knowledge, universals, causality, substance, determinism, possibility.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2014.
The nature and function of science; the logic of scientific method; clarification of such concepts as cause, law, theory, probability, determinism, and teleology.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
The nature and scope of the social sciences; explanatory, interpretive, and normative concerns in theory construction, their interconnection, and their methodological implications.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Consideration of one or more of the following: logic of theory construction, theoretical entities, measurement, nature of laws, conventionalism, operationalism, and induction.
Prerequisites: jr st.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2014, Fall 2012, Fall 2010.
Study of selected feminist theorists with an emphasis on past or contemporary thinkers. Attention will be paid to the philosophical importance of the problems raised.
Prerequisites: jr st; a course in philos or women's stds.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 6 cr max. Philos 535 & Wmns 535 are jointly offered; with same topic, they count as repeats of one another.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2014, Spring 2010.
Views on the moral permissibility of punishment and other forms of penalization; the foundations of a general theory of moral responsibility.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos. Philos 241(R) or social science background recom.
Intensive study of one or more of Aristotle's major works or of themes and problems in Aristotle's thought. Particular attention to careful analysis of the texts.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr philos; Philos 430(R).
Last Taught: Fall 2016, Spring 1995, Spring 1990, Spring 1985.
Intensive study of a philosopher, movement, or historical problem in modern philosophy, e.g., Spinoza, British empiricists, Locke's influence upon the Enlightenment, overthrow of Hegelian idealism.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr philos; Philos 432(R); or cons instr.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016.
Intensive study of a philosopher, movement, or historical problem in modern philosophy, e.g., Spinoza, British empiricists, Locke's influence upon the Enlightenment, overthrow of Hegelian idealism.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr philos; Philos 432(R); or cons instr.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016.
Intensive study of one or more philosophers or philosophical movements of the recent past.
Prerequisites: jr st; 3 cr philos.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2005, Fall 2004, Spring 2004, Spring 2001.
Intensive study of issues such as the concept of law, punishment, liberty, civil disobedience, the public good, and the applicability of scientific method to social issues.
Prerequisites: jr st & 3 cr in philos.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015.
Seminar on a philosopher, philosophical movement, issue, or problem for majors and graduate students. Research papers required. Additional prereqs announced in Schedule of Classes each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: sr st & 12 cr in philos at 300-level or above; or grad st.
Course Rules: May be retaken w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015.
A study of basic aspects of contemporary formal logic.
Prerequisites: grad st.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015.
Intensive study of school or movement such as continental rationalism, empiricism; existentialism, phenomenology, etc. Specific topic and any additional prerequisites announced in schedule of classes each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st; cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2017, Fall 2008, Spring 2007, Spring 2006.
Intensive study of the thought or system, or an important part of the thought or system, of a major figure in philosophy. Specific topics and any additional prerequisites announced in schedule of classes each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st; cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015.
Discussion of special advanced topics in Philosophy.
Prerequisites: grad st; add'l prereqs depending on topic.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max. Specific topics may be jointly-offered w/CompSci.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014.
Discussion group with teaching assistants and their supervisor.
Prerequisites: Required for all teaching assistants teaching a Philos course.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016.
Available for graduate students who must meet minimum credit load requirement.
Prerequisites: grad st.
Course Rules: Fee assessed for 1 cr.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Summer 2017, Fall 2013, Summer 2010.
Specific topics and any additional prerequisites announced in schedule of classes each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st; & cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Spring 2013.
Specific topics and any additional prerequisites announced in Timetable each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st & cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2008.
Specific topics and any additional prerequisites announced in Timetable each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st & cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2015, Spring 2011, Spring 2010, Spring 2005.
Specific topics and any additional prerequisites announced in Timetable each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st & cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2014.
Specific topics and any additional prerequisites announced in Timetable each time course is offered.
Prerequisites: grad st & cons instr.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014.
Prerequisites: grad st in option B or in Language & Linguis concentration; cons major prof & committee.
Course Rules: Retakable only once in option B. Not retakable by students in Language & Linguis concentration.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Summer 2016, Spring 2016.
Prerequisites: grad st & cons dept chair.
Course Rules: Retakable w/chg in topic to 9 cr max.
Last Taught: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016.