About the Department
A Well-Balanced Program
Flexible undergraduate requirements make it easier to double major or pick up one or two minors. Philosophy is ideal for students preparing for Law or Medical School. Minors which include Philosophy, Cognitive Science and Applied Ethics help diversify your education.
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM INFORMATIONWe offer both Masters and Doctoral degrees for graduate students who are supported by Teaching Assistantships and a variety of departmental and university fellowships. Those interested in applied areas will benefit from good working arrangements with the School of Medicine, the S.J. Quinney College of Law, and the David Eccles School of Business, as well as many departments in the colleges of science and social science. A Graduate Certificate Program in Ethics and Public Affairs, jointly administered with the Political Science Department, was instituted in 2002.
GRADUATE PROGRAM INFORMATIONPHIL 3370 - Philosophy of Biology
This course deals with major conceptual issues arising in biology, along with their philosophical implications. Topics may include such issues as evolutionary patterns and their explanation; nature-nurture debates; the meaning of 'gene'; and varieties of biological explanation.
PHIL 3375- Philosophy of Social Science
Explanation, prediction and methodology in the social and behavioral sciences; the role of values in the social and behavioral sciences; the social policy implications of the social and behavioral sciences.In Philosophy of Social Science (PHIL 3375-001), we confront the above questions and many more. Together we assess the strengths (and weaknesses) of various attempts by social scientists to explain human affairs.
PHIL 5193 - Nietzsche (PHIL 5193 is a variable topics course)
Widely known for the doctrines of the Will to Power and the Overman, Nietzsche is among the most influential—but also the most misunderstood and misappropriated—of the nineteenth century philosophers. We will aim at developing philosophical control of his unusually lyrical and aphoristic texts. Topics will include: the genealogical method, nihilism, the revaluation of values, the Eternal Return, ressentiment, perspectivism, Nietzsche's theory of truth—and, of course, the Will to Power and the Overman. We will also consider how those themes have been taken up by later Nietzscheans such as Foucault and Nehamas.
