Description: Murphy (2002) describes concepts as “the glue that holds our mental world together.” Concepts like human, gender, time, justice, number, and knowledge play a central role in how we think, what we think about, and how we communicate. In this course, we will explore how concepts mediate the relationship between language, our minds, and the world around us.

Some of the questions we will examine include:

What are concepts?
Are some concepts innate?
Do concepts shape how we perceive the world?
Can animals have concepts? What about machines?
Are concepts ‘in the head’, or out in the world?
Can concepts be biased?
Can we change our concepts? If we can, what kinds of concepts should we have?

Over the term, we will examine the tools and theories that philosophers of language and mind have developed to address these questions. We will also engage with research in cognitive science, psychology, and linguistics, and watch the 2016 film Arrival. The course will be relevant to students with interests in philosophy, cognitive science, linguistics, psychology, computer science, and philosophy, politics, & economics (PPE).

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Description: What is oppression? How do social structures and practices create and reinforce systems of oppression? And what can we do about it? In this course, we will explore philosophical approaches to theorizing about oppression, with a focus on theories which arise from anti-racist, Black feminist, and other feminist philosophical traditions. We will examine some of the ways racism, transphobia, classism, homophobia, and sexism create conditions of oppression, look at some of the conceptual tools (privilege, intersectionality, agency) activists and scholars have developed to help us understand how oppression works, and critically evaluate different proposals about how we should resist oppression.

Some of the questions we will examine include:

What does it mean to be oppressed?
How do systems of oppression intersect and reinforce one another?
How does oppression shape how we speak and what we know?
Who is responsible for resisting oppression?
What challenges face efforts to resist oppressive systems?
What would a society without oppression look like?

This course will be relevant to students with interests in philosophy, race and ethnicity studies, gender studies, politics, sociology, psychology, economics, anthropology, and literature.

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Description: Language is a central part of social life: the language we speak shapes the way we think, allows us to communicate with others, lets us express ideas, beliefs, and attitudes, and enables us to perform actions like orders, apologies, and promises. Sometimes we use language cooperatively—to share information or to coordinate action. But in other contexts, we use language to insinuate, subordinate, mislead, bullshit, and silence. In this course, we will explore philosophical approaches to theorizing about the different roles language plays in our lives. We will survey some key concepts philosophers of language have developed to help us understand how language works and then use these tools to analyze political uses of language.

Some of the questions we will examine include:

What is the point of having a language?
When is something implied rather than meant?
How can language be used to insinuate or dogwhistle?
Can speech be used to subordinate or silence?
What is the meaning of ‘oops!’?
Can language be a tool of colonization?
What is lost when a language becomes extinct?

This course will be relevant to students with interests in philosophy, linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, race and ethnicity studies, gender studies, sociology, anthropology, and literature.

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Description: What does it mean to live ethically? How do ethical challenges arise in our important social relationships? What ethical values and principles should guide your actions? In this course, we will explore a range of ethical problems and challenges which arise in everyday life. Drawing on a range of contemporary texts in moral philosophy, we will examine some key areas of modern life—family, work, love, living with animals, sexuality, and social media—and investigate different views about what it means to act ethically in these contexts.

Some of the questions we will examine include:

Should we eat animals?
Are we obligated to do work which makes the world a better place?
What do we owe our parents?
Is it OK to ghost someone in a dating relationship?
How should we communicate about sex?
Is online shaming ever justified?

This course will be relevant to students with a wide range of intellectual interests. No prior experience with ethical theory or philosophy is required or assumed.

See full syllabus.