Anthropologists study humans and why humans do what they do. In this course, you will investigate one specific branch of anthropology, Anthropology of Religion, which analyzes the social institution of religion and why humans engage in this practice. Whether religious, agnostic, or atheist, this course is for you.

Is gender a social construct rather than a biological one? Can you explain why some feminists argue that engaging in sex work empowers women? Do you know why many queer folks in East Asian cultures consider “coming out” irresponsible and ineffective in fighting for equal rights? Why do some Muslim women think wearing hijabs is a positive expression of identity, while some westerners believe this practice is oppressive? In this class, you will have the opportunity to study thought-provoking case studies across cultures and historical periods—ones that will provide you with a solid foundation on gender, sexuality, and queer studies.

Medical science has brought enormous advantages to the 21st century: extending human life and reducing suffering. However, there are also major ethical and practical concerns arising with scientific progress. How do we frame, re-frame, and decide these controversial issues as ethicists, doctors, individuals, and as a society?

What happens in your brain when you decide to buy a lottery ticket or go on a date with someone? What about when you spend hundreds of dollars on an expensive gadget that you stop using after a few months, or when you decide to say something that you should have known would be embarrassing? Are economic decisions and decisions in general the result of a messy fight between a 'rational' part of your brain and an 'irrational' one, or is decision-making all the result of one underlying and possibly unconscious mechanism?

If you tried to live for one day without generating any data, how would you spend it? In the Information Age, the use of data has proliferated and is pervasive. This course will tackle problems of privacy; artificial intelligence, big data, bias, and accountability; and mis/disinformation, hate speech, and objectionable content. You will come away with useful tools to understand and craft answers to some of the most pressing problems of our time.

What is the purpose of life? Who can claim to be wise? How can one ensure that they are remembered once they are gone? While questions of mortality, memory and meaning have risen to the forefront over the past two years, they were also prevalent in the civilizations of the ancient world. In this course, we will examine classic works of humanity’s search for permanence in the face of an impermanent world and learn how the ancients sought wisdom, hopefully finding some ourselves along the way.

What is the role of power in the production of history? In this course, we’ll focus on what is remembered and celebrated in historical narratives—and what is forgotten. We’ll explore these questions by looking at archives, public monuments, and museums in the United States. We’ll discuss how activist histories are recorded, who decides where monuments go, and whether or not museums are neutral. Finally, we will collectively curate our own small scale exhibition as a response to these questions.

Logic is a system of rules upon which human reasoning is based. It is a tool that we deploy routinely in our everyday lives. It pervades every academic discipline, from mathematics to the sciences to the humanities. To philosophers, however, logic is a deep and complex subject of study in its own right. A paradox is a chain of reasoning that starts from seemingly obvious premises and arrives at a conclusion we find unacceptable. This course is devoted in part to exploring this system of rules, which we will build formally from the ground up. We will eventually use our formal system both to better understand the structure of language and to model and assess real-world arguments.

“Jesus was the son of God because He said He was, and the son of God would not lie.” “Hitler believed that seizing the property of enemies of the state would be a good policy, so it must be misguided.” What, if anything, is wrong with these arguments? This course will offer an interactive, hands-on approach to analyzing and evaluating arguments. What makes good arguments good and bad arguments bad? We will try to improve at thinking critically about the world and constructing our own arguments.

Is killing animals for food morally permissible? How about abortion? Are we morally required to help those in poverty? Or to act in environmentally responsible ways? What is the morally best way to regulate immigration? How ought we allocate scarce medical resources during a pandemic? In this course, we will be evaluating arguments for different answers to these questions. By the end, you will be able to rationally engage with both sides of these and other hot-button moral issues.

From the workplace to government policy to schools and universities to city streets throughout the country, questions surrounding the meaning and value of equality are increasingly taking center stage. In this class, you will learn the history of egalitarianism and its philosophical basis, examine how well it withstands the objections of some of its strongest critics, and discuss how these ideas are influencing urgent debates about equity and justice in our society today.

One might believe in gender equality and participate in different gender equality movements yet still exhibit gender bias in one’s behaviors without being aware of it. Similarly, one might believe in racial equality yet still experience anxiety when walking past African American people. It is very likely that the manifested gender bias and anxious reaction are due to implicit bias. How should we understand implicit bias? What’s the mechanism of it? Are we morally blameworthy for it?

Feminism is one of the leading social justice movements of our day. This course uses the tools of analytic philosophy to investigate a diverse range of feminist issues. Topics include: the metaphysics of sex and gender, sexual orientation, and systems of social oppression such as sexism and misogyny, bodily autonomy, consent, reproductive rights, and the impact of social movements aimed at gender equality and justice.

Modern science seems to have implications for many of the perennial questions of philosophy. Are sensory qualities in external objects or only in the observer? Is the world bound by deterministic laws, and if so, is there any room for freedom of the will? Could space have unseen higher dimensions? Is time travel possible? Is reality to any extent dependent on observers? In this course, we will read accessible works by both philosophers and physicists that bear on these questions.

Astronomy is the oldest science, with the first observations of the heavens conducted by our early human ancestors. Records of astronomical measurements date back as far as Mesopotamia nearly 5000 years ago, with later observations made by the ancient Chinese, Babylonians, and Greeks. This course is designed to give you a brief glimpse into what we've learned since then. From basic measurement skills to black holes and general relativity, all aspects of this magnificent art will be covered.

Physics is arguably the most fundamental of sciences. Understanding the Newtonian concept of Forces provides a foundational overview of Physics. In this Force-centric conceptual framework, we use modeling, progressing systematic from zero force, constant force, linear force and inverse square force to find patterns in kinematics, gravitation, springs, sound, electrostatics and atomic vibrations. The course focus is on conceptual understanding and modeling rather than mathematical calculations.

Quantum mechanical formalism suggests that the underlying mechanics of our universe is far divorced from our perception of reality. In this course, we will examine the conceptual fundamentals of quantum mechanics and explore their metaphysical implications.

Our world is composed of seemingly invisible particles. We can examine ourselves and ask, “What are we made of?” We might answer that we’re made of “molecular cells” built out of things like carbon or nitrogen. If we dig deeper, we find those elements are made of protons, neutrons and electrons, which have even more fundamental constituent particles. In this course, we will explore the historical experiments that led to the discovery of these fundamental particles.

What is an animal? To begin, you may point to your dog or cat nearby, the bird outside the window, or perhaps a selfie — these are all particular animals. Yet humans take great effort in distinguishing themselves from other animals. And our society and politics are based on these distinctions— otherwise, we couldn’t use animals as food, scientific research, or even pets. In this course, we will explore the place of animals in western political theory: How do foundational texts establish the separation of humans from other animals? How are animals confined, included in, or excluded from our (human) political systems? Lastly, we will look at various historical, literary, philosophical, and ethnographic texts from different parts of the world that present diverse impressions of animals. This course offers a window to the complex ways that theories and practice intersect in the study of animals.

In this course, you will become familiar with some of the most prominent political thinkers of the modern period, then directly apply what you've learned to assess pressing debates about democracy in the United States today. The course is highly interactive and includes frequent class debates. You will develop and pose questions for class discussion, deliver presentations, and compose a series of short essays, drawing out connections between the authors we are studying and current events.

This course examines the complex relationship between ethics and politics in international affairs. Starting with an overview of different perspectives on the role of ethics and morality in international relations, the course then explores the ethical dimensions of issues central to foreign policy and the study of world politics, including the use of force, human rights, and global distributive justice. This course aims to foster an analytical approach that encourages students to think about applied international ethics in a rigorous and systematic manner.

This course is an intensive introduction to contemporary feminist political theory for students of all backgrounds. This class is motivated by concern for inequality in everyday life. You will learn how feminist political theory provides a philosophical framework to address injustice while also interrogating the essential conditions of those who identify as women, trans, or genderqueer.

This course will take a deep look at some of the issues facing modern democracies from the perspectives of the law, ethics, and political philosophy. Through the lens of classic and contemporary texts in moral and political philosophy, judicial opinion, and current events, we will examine pressing questions about justice, equity, and freedom in modern society and political life. You can expect to gain familiarity with key texts and ideas of political philosophy and ethics.

What can science fiction reveal about the enduring questions of political theory? This course will engage philosophical texts and sci-fi classics side by side to find out. Key figures and concepts in political theory will be introduced, and will inform our engagements with the works of fiction. Bridging these two realms also invites questions about the relationship between art and politics. How can narrative help us see the socio-political world more clearly, and what are its limitations here?

This course will introduce you to the basic concepts of liberal democratic theory. Through reading about principles of justice, the idea of fairness, and the meaning of equality, students in the course will consider the problem of race in America today. How should we speak of desert, merit, restorative or reparative justice, and democracy in the context of an ongoing problem of race in society? Students will discuss contemporary examples of racism and inequality, and develop an understanding of the importance of political theory to address the complexity of the possible solutions to racial justice.

Global environmental and political migrations are one of the most pressing Human Rights issues of our times. In this course, we will learn to think as human rights lawyers, as well as philosophers, to study specific cases of such migrations all around the world. We will think about the rights of refugees, the international responses to these crises, and develop arguments from the perspective of defendants of Human Rights organizations. We will do this through the study of real-world cases.

This course reviews the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent term (2021-2022) by analyzing significant decisions. Gun rights, health care, the role of God in the U.S. public sphere, and the constitutionality of abortion are all scheduled to be reconsidered in significant ways by a Court with three Trump-era appointees: how will this conservative majority influence outcomes? Has the newly configured bench held in place precedents or not? What is remarkable about the term as it relates to social justice?

What does it mean to know yourself? Why can love be so painful? What is the source of someone's belief in God? How does history repeat itself? Why do our dreams haunt us? What is an Oedipus complex, and do you have one? Sigmund Freud devoted his life to answering these questions. In this course, we will dive deep into the theories of psychoanalysis to explore how Freud’s work shapes our modern understanding in theory and practice.

Living now amid the Covid-19 pandemic, thoughts of whether humanity can defeat the virus and, if so, what will become of the world post-pandemic greatly trouble the mind. While our anxieties at present are very real and valid, concern over humanity’s end and the end of the world is not new. The theme of the apocalypse features prominently in some of the most lucrative Hollywood movies that dramatize global catastrophes—extreme global warming, astrological forces, pandemics—that threaten humanity’s end. That concern over the world ending is at the forefront of the present-day human mind is indicated by the sheer popularity and success of these films. Such anxieties have also been revealed by recent crazed responses over the uncertainty of what would happen after Dec 21, 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar, and when the clock struck midnight to usher in the year 2000 (Y2K). However, this kind of apocalyptic thinking is not born out of modernity. It originated over 2,000 years ago in the religions of Judaism and Christianity and has shaped human thinking and catalyzed human action ever since. What can we learn from the history of the apocalyptic mindset, and how might it better help us understand ourselves and the world we live in today? How has belief in the apocalypse shaped human behavior for better or worse? If this topic and these questions are of interest, then this is the course for you.

The course examines the complicated history of race in America through science. The course starts with an understanding of the establishment of racial groupings as a medical approach and later a social concept to classify people into social strata that facilitate differential outcomes and experiences. The basis of this educational journal is to understand how historical trespasses have helped to facilitate the current distrust of the medical industry by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).