Summer Session I: June 29 - July 31
Phil 1: Introduction to Philosophy
Phil 10: Intro to Logic
Instructor: A. Kocurek
TuTh 2:00p-3:50p
In Person
Course Description:
Logic sits at the foundation of all other disciplines. Whereas other disciplines aim to discover truths, logic is the study of truth. Just as physics aims to uncover the laws of nature, just as psychology aims to uncover the laws of the mind, just as ethics aims to uncover the laws of morality, so too, logic aims to uncover the most general laws of thought. Logic is essential to not just philosophy but also mathematics, computer science, linguistics, and nearly all other disciplines. No matter what you intend to study—be it in STEM, social sciences, business, politics, law, or the humanities—you need logic to reason clearly about that subject.
At its core, logic aims to answer the following question: what follows from what? Does this conclusion follow from these assumptions? Are there gaps in this argument? Is this piece of reasoning fallacious? Answering these fundamental questions requires being able to formalize arguments, recognize patterns of logical reasoning, and systematically interrogate the logical strength of an argument. Learning how to do these things is precisely the aim of this course.
In this course, we will learn specifically about propositional or truth-functional logic. This is the logic of connectives like and, or, not, and if. These small but mighty words are indispensable to reasoning about any subject whatsoever. And the logic of these words has direct applications to many different areas, including circuit design, programming languages, formal semantics, and legal interpretation. You’ll learn how to construct airtight proofs, expose hidden assumptions, construct counterexamples, and understand why some arguments are valid no matter what they’re about.
Phil 12: Scientific Reasoning (Remote)
Instructor: K. Kovaka
MW 9:00a-10:50a
Remote
Course Description:
Science is a special way of making knowledge. But what, precisely, is so special about it? How
does it produce knowledge? Is scientific knowledge trustworthy in a way that other knowledge
is not? What are the limitations of science? When should we trust science, and when should we
be skeptical about it?
We will explore all of these questions in this course, with the goal of sharpening your ability
to assess particular scientific knowledge claims (e.g. "Climate change has made a megaflood in
California much more likely."), and claims about science (e.g. "We can learn facts about the world
from computer simulations."). Both kinds of claims come up all the time in day-to-day life, and
being able to evaluate them is an important part of being scientifically literate. This course will
help you do exactly that.
Phil 13: Intro to Ethics
Instructor: Faron Ray
MW 6:00p-8:50p
In Person
Course Description:
Philosophy is not just a body of views. It is a way of thinking: a practice of questioning what you and others take for granted. Nowhere is this more vividly illustrated than in Socrates, who was sentenced to death for challenging received wisdom and encouraging others to do the same. Indeed, Socrates embodies what is arguably the spirit of philosophy: a willingness to make trouble for convention and received opinion by asking simple but unsettling questions. What do you mean by that? Is that really true?
This course approaches ethics in that spirit. Rather than beginning with moral theory, we begin with the moral assumptions ordinary people live by and subject them to scrutiny. Each week, we will start with a commonsense view—something that may seem obvious or natural—and ask whether it can be justified. We will use that structure to explore issues such as global poverty, meat-eating, abortion, parenting, immigration, and whether morality is objective or subjective—and what those ideas even mean. Again and again, we will see philosophy unsettle the familiar and challenge the status quo. The point of the course is not only to learn moral theory, but to learn how to do philosophy: to think carefully, argue rigorously, and become willing to question even one’s most comfortable convictions.
Phil 27: Ethics and Society I (Remote)
Instructor: S. Bazargan-Forward
TTh 11:00am-1:50pm
Remote
Course Description: An examination of ethical principles (e.g., utilitarianism, individual rights, etc.) and their social and political applications to contemporary issues: abortion, environmental protection, and affirmative action. Ethical principles will also be applied to moral dilemmas in government, law, business, and the professions.
Phil 28: Ethics and Society II (Remote)
Instructor: K. Ortiz Villa
MW 11:00a-12:50p
Remote
Course Description:
Phil 51: Climate Ethics
Instructor: J. O'Brien
MW 11:00a-1:50p
In Person
Course Description:
Who is really responsible for the climate crisis — and what does it mean to act ethically in a warming world?
We've all heard the advice: recycle more, fly less, and ditch the plastic straw. But while individuals obsess over their carbon footprints, corporations continue pumping billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Who is responsible for climate change, and who benefits from keeping the answers to this question unclear?
In a world flooded with climate disinformation — funded by fossil fuel interests, amplified by social media algorithms, and increasingly generated by AI — knowing who to believe has become as urgent as knowing what to do. In this course, we will develop the critical tools to identify bad-faith arguments, trace the money behind climate denial, and think clearly about ethics in an era of manufactured confusion.
But there's a twist in the story. The same AI technologies that are often marketed as solutions to climate change carry their own staggering environmental costs. Can AI offer us solutions to help fight climate change? Or are the environmental costs associated with energy-hungry data centers and water-intensive cooling systems too great? We will interrogate the ethics of a future where the world's most powerful technology companies simultaneously shape our climate discourse and accelerate our emissions.
This course satisfies the UCSD Climate Change Education Requirement, and can also be used to satisfy the humanities and social science requirements for Revelle, Muir, Seventh, and Eighth college
Phil 60: Philosophy of Love and Sex (Remote)
Instructor: N. Tiran
MW 2:00p-4:50p
Remote
Course Description:
For many people, love and sex are two of the most valuable and vulnerable aspects of human life. Ideals, ideas, and experiences that center around love and sex determine many aspects of what we take to be a meaningful life and significant relationships, but also oppression, exclusion, and trauma. In this course, we will raise (and attempt to answer) some philosophical questions about love, sex, and intimacy, which may include: what is love? what distinguishes between romantic love, parental love, and friendship? What does consent amount to? Does anybody have a right to sex? What is wrong with pornography? And when (if at all) is objectification morally permissible?
This course satisfies Muir College's Humanities Area Theme 3 requirement and will be given online.
Phil 136: Philosophy of Mind (Remote)
Instructor: J. Cohen
MW 2:00p-4:50p
Remote
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the philosophy of mind. You may be asking yourself: what the heck is the philosophy of mind? Fair question.
Basically, it’s where we stop using our minds for a second and start looking at them. It’s where we ask the annoying-yet-important questions that usually get brushed aside in daily life: What exactly is a "thought"? Is your mind just your brain doing a fancy dance, or is there something else going on? And if we eventually build a robot that acts exactly like you, does it actually "feel" anything, or is it just a very expensive toaster?
Our mission—should you choose to accept it—is to wrestle with three big, foundational puzzles that keep philosophers (and increasingly, AI researchers) up at night:
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The "What Is It?" Question (Ontology): What are mental states made of? Are they just physical neurons firing, or is "feeling happy" something that can’t be fully captured by a brain scan?
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The "About-ness" Question (Content): How can a physical state inside your head be "about" something else—like a sandwich, or the concept of justice, or a vacation you haven't taken yet? How do thoughts actually "point" to the world?
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The "Hard Problem" (Consciousness): Why does it feel like something to be you? Why isn't the human race just a bunch of biological "zombies" who process data and move around without any internal spark?
We’ll start by treating these as independent riddles, but as we go, you’ll start to see the "philosophical inception" at play: the moment you take a stand on one of these, it starts changing your answers to the others.
By the end of the term, you’ll be familiar with the heavy hitters in the field and the strengths and weaknesses of their views. More importantly, through regular practice, you’ll sharpen your skills in dismantling and building complex arguments. You’ll leave the course with a solid tour of the mental terrain—enough to sound smart at parties and confuse your friends by questioning whether they actually exist as conscious beings or are just highly sophisticated biological algorithms.
Phil 149: Philosophy of Psychology
Instructor: M. Smith
MW 2:00p-4:50p
In Person
Course Description:
Have you ever played fetch with a dog? Pet a cat? Stared at a pacing tiger through a frighteningly thin piece of glass at a zoo? If you have, did you ever wonder what it would be like to talk with that animal—to become Dr. Dolittle? This class covers current issues within the philosophy of psychology related to just that: the understanding, decoding, and translating of animal communication.
In this class, we’ll cover both the science and philosophy of communication between human and non-human animals. We’ll examine how scientists study animal signals, from whale clicks and bird songs to chimpanzee gestures and ant chemical clues. We'll also look at how new tools, like artificial intelligence, are being integrated into these studies. At the same time, we’ll ask deeper philosophical questions, like can we ever really know what an animal is saying? Do only humans have language? Does artificial intelligence help or hurt these endeavors? What do we owe animals if we can translate their languages to human ones?
By the end of the course, you’ll have a deeper understanding of how we humans study non-human animals’ communication as well as both the possibilities and limitations of talking across species.
Phil 164: Technology and Human Values
Instructor: S. Ridge
TuTh 11:00a-1:50p
In Person
Course Description:
This course is about how technology shapes what we care about and shapes what our values are. We will investigate how various technologies impact our lives as individuals and how they have changed society as a whole. Whether you’re a technology lover who uses ChatGPT for everything you do, or you’re a technology hater who traded in your smartphone for a flip phone, or you’re somewhere in between, this class will give you philosophical knowledge and skills that will empower you to make authentic decisions about how you relate to technology.
We will think about questions like: Do AI entities deserve the same moral status as humans? How have dating apps changed the nature of dating and romantic relationships? Should the government regulate social media companies more than it currently does? Who is responsible if a self-driving car causes a crash? Can algorithms be racist? Is AI-generated content actually art?
We will read philosophy papers, watch philosophically rich movies, and have philosophical discussions about what role technology should play in our lives and our world. By the end of the course, you will have gained skills at critically analyzing how technology impacts the world around you, and you will have developed your own thoughts about what kind of relationship with technology best suits your life.