Program Requirements
Students who wish to study at the Honours level in two Arts disciplines may apply to combine Joint Honours program components from two Arts disciplines. For a list of available Joint Honours programs, see "Overview of Programs Offered" and "Joint Honours Programs".
Prior to registering for each Joint Honours component, students should consult an adviser in each department for approval of their course selection and their interdisciplinary research project (if applicable).
According to Faculty regulations, Joint Honours students must maintain a minimum CGPA of 3.00 and maintain a minimum program GPA of 3.00.
Admission to Joint Honours: Students must attain a 3.00 CGPA and have a 3.00 GPA in Philosophy courses.
Required Courses (9 credits)
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PHIL 210 Introduction to Deductive Logic 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An introduction to propositional and predicate logic; formalization of arguments, truth tables, systems of deduction, elementary metaresults, and related topics.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Hallett, Michael Frank (Fall)
Restriction: Not open to students who are taking or have taken MATH 318
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PHIL 301 Philosophical Fundamentals (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An intensive study of basic philosophical skills; reading, writing, analysis, and argumentation.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Buckley, R Philip (Fall)
Prerequisites: two previous courses in philosophy, one of which must be PHIL 210 or written consent of the Department
Restriction: Open only to and required of Philosophy Honours and Joint Honours students
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PHIL 334 Ethical Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A course focusing on central questions in ethical theory such as the nature of the good and the right and the factors which determine moral rightness and wrongness.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Complementary Courses (27 credits)
27 credits distributed as follows:
3 credits from:
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PHIL 306 Philosophy of Mind (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A survey of major positions of the mind-body problem, focusing on such questions as: Do we have minds and bodies? Can minds affect bodies? Is mind identical to body? If so, in what sense "identical"? Can physical bodies be conscious.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Davies, David (Fall)
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PHIL 310 Intermediate Logic (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A second course in Logic. NB. The course will be technical in nature, and some mathematical aptitude is essential. The emphasis is on the expressive properties of standard logical systems, including implications for the philosophy of mathematics. We will study the Completeness of First-Order Logic, then the 'limitative' theorems of Tarski and Gödel.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Hallett, Michael Frank (Winter)
Prerequisite: PHIL 210 or equivalent
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PHIL 411 Topics in Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A course focusing on some philosophical issue (e.g., the nature of numbers or the relation of truth to provability) as it arises in the study of mathematics and logic.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Schlimm, Dirk (Winter)
Prerequisites: PHIL 210 or the equivalent, and one intermediate course in philosophy
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PHIL 415 Philosophy of Language (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of central notions in the philosophy of language (reference, meaning, and truth, e.g.), the puzzles these notions give rise to, and the relevance of these notions to such questions as: What is language? How is communication possible? What is understanding? Is language rule-governed.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Gillon, Brendan (Fall)
Prerequisites: PHIL 210 or equivalent and one intermediate course in philosophy
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PHIL 419 Epistemology (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A discussion of central topics in the theory of knowledge. The questions addressed in the course may include: What is knowledge? Do we have any knowledge? What is the relation between knowledge and belief? When is belief justified? Is all knowledge conscious knowledge.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Guntoori, Aditya (Fall)
Prerequisite: PHIL 210 or equivalent and one intermediate course in philosophy
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PHIL 421 Metaphysics (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of central questions in metaphysics in their historical and contemporary forms. Topics may be chosen from such issues as: personal identity, the nature of space and time, the nature of events and properties, possible worlds, and the problem of realism.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisites: PHIL 210 or equivalent and one intermediate course in philosophy
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PHIL 470 Topics in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An advanced discussion of major themes in the analytic tradition.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
3 credits from:
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PHIL 230 Introduction to Moral Philosophy 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A survey of a number of historically important and influential theories. Philosophers to be discussed may include Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Bentham, Mill, and Moore.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Howard, Christopher; Magal, Oran (Fall)
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PHIL 237 Contemporary Moral Issues (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An introductory discussion of central ethical questions (the value of persons, or the relationship of rights and utilities, for example) through the investigation of currently disputed social and political issues. Specific issues to be discussed may include pornography and censorship, affirmative action, civil disobedience, punishment, abortion, and euthanasia.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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PHIL 240 Political Philosophy 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An introduction to contemporary philosophy of politics by concentrating on a number of contested concepts, such as freedom, justice and equality, in contemporary political philosophy and practice.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Sharp, Hasana (Winter)
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PHIL 242 Introduction to Feminist Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An introduction to feminist theory as political theory. Emphasis is placed on the plurality of analyses and proposals that constitute contemporary feminist thought. Some of the following are considered: liberal feminism, marxist and socialist feminism, radical feminism, postmodern feminism, francophone feminism, and the contributions to feminist theory by women of colour and lesbians.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Deslauriers, Marguerite (Fall)
Note: Since this course is being taught abroad, the Victoria Day statutory holiday will not be taken into consideration. Therefore, students are expected to attend their lecture on Monday, May 19, 2014.
Group A
6 credits from Group A or Group B.
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PHIL 345 Greek Political Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of the ethical and political theories of ancient Greece, especially those of Plato and Aristotle.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken POLI 333
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PHIL 350 History and Philosophy of Ancient Science (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : Topics in ancient pure mathematics (geometry and number theory), "mixed mathematics" (astronomy, music theory, optics, mechanics), and/or natural science (including medicine), studied with a view to philosophical issues raised by the content of ancient science and/or by the logic of scientific argument.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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PHIL 353 The Presocratic Philosophers (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of the surviving fragments of the presocratic philosophers and schools of philosophy, as well as later reports of their views.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Lewis, Eric (Fall)
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PHIL 354 Plato (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of some of the philosophical problems (those in logic, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, e.g.) found in a selection of Plato's dialogues.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Menn, Stephen (Winter)
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PHIL 355 Aristotle (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of selected works by Aristotle. The course considers issues in moral philosophy as well as those found in the logical treatises, the Physics and Metaphysics, and in the philosophy of mind.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Laywine, Alison (Fall)
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PHIL 452 Later Greek Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of some of the major post-Aristotelian schools of philosophy. Texts from the Peripatetic, Stoic, Epicurean, Sceptical, Platonic, and medical traditions may be considered. Problems in logic, ethics, physics, epistemology, and metaphysics will be addressed.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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PHIL 453 Ancient Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of central themes of ancient metaphysics and/or natural philosophy as treated by two or more contrasting philosophers or philosophical traditions - probably including Plato and/or Aristotle, and possibly including some Hellenistic or post-Hellenistic schools.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Laywine, Alison (Winter)
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PHIL 454 Ancient Moral Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of central themes of ancient moral theory as treated by two or more contrasting philosophers or philosophical traditions - probably including Plato and/or Aristotle, and possibly some Hellenistic or post-Hellenistic schools.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Fiasse, Gaelle (Winter)
Group B
6 credits from Group A or Group B.
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PHIL 360 17th Century Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of the work of such seventeenth-century philosophers as Descartes, Hobbes, Gassendi, Malebranche, Leibniz, and the Cambridge Platonists.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Laywine, Alison (Fall)
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PHIL 361 18th Century Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A survey of eighteenth century philosophy, especially British philosophy. Attention is given to fundamental metaphysical, epistemological, and moral issues as reflected in the work of such philosophers as Locke, Shaftesbury, Berkeley, Hutcheson, Butler, Hume and Reid.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Carson, Emily J (Winter)
- PHIL 366 18th and Early 19th Century German Philosophy (3 credits)
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PHIL 367 19th Century Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of the works of such 19th century philosophers as Mach, Helmholtz, Dedekind, Frege, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Mill and Bradley.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: A previous course in philosophy is recommended
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PHIL 444 Early Modern Political Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A survey of political and moral theory from the Reformation to the French Revolution including Luther, Montaigne, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Smith.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Sharp, Hasana (Fall)
Prerequisite: at least one course in political philosophy
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PHIL 445 19th Century Political Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : An examination of various strands of political theory since Rousseau, concentrating on such themes as the understanding of modernity and theories of liberal society.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: at least one course in political philosophy
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken POLI 434
3 credits from:
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PHIL 375 Existentialism (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : This course will examine the nature of existentialist thought as represented in various philosophical and literary texts. Particular themes to be examined include freedom, alienation, responsibility and choice, and the nature of self.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Buckley, R Philip (Fall)
Prerequisite: one course in philosophy
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PHIL 474 Phenomenology (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : A study of phenomenology from a historical and thematic perspective. The course will typically involve the study of central thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, or Merleau-Ponty, with an examination of the nature and development of the phenomenological movement.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Buckley, R Philip (Winter)
Prerequisite: one intermediate course in philosophy
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PHIL 475 Topics in Contemporary European Philosophy (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : Advanced discussion of selected themes in contemporary European philosophy.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Lewicki, Riley (Fall)
Prerequisite: one intermediate course in philosophy
9 credits of Philosophy (PHIL) at the 400 and 500 level (not including the Joint Honours tutorial), at least 3 credits of which must be at the 500 level.
Joint Honours Tutorial with Thesis
3 credits of Joint Honours tutorial with thesis, which can take either of two forms: a 6-credit interdisciplinary thesis, or a 3-credit thesis in Philosophy, i.e., PHIL 498 below.
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PHIL 498 Tutorial 05 (3 credits)
Overview
Philosophy : Open to third year Joint Honours students in Philosophy, and to other students, with consent of the Department.
Terms: Fall 2024, Winter 2025
Instructors: Buckley, R Philip; Fiasse, Gaelle (Fall)
