Spring 2026 Course Search

Theoretical Ethics: The Nature of Moral Judgments — PHI4129.01

Instructor: Paul Voice
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

Theoretical Ethics aims to uncover the sources of moral knowledge and the foundations of moral obligation. You will engage in a detailed reading of two classical moral theories and study contemporary interpretations and applications of these theories. You will be expected to contribute substantially to class discussion, write two essays and present a draft of your final essay to the class.

Intermediate Painting: Ground to Surface — PAI4219.01

Instructor: Beverly Acha
Days & Time: TU 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

When you first learn how to paint, the focus is typically on gaining facility with the application and manipulation of paint to articulate the subject. In this intermediate course, we shift our attention to the often overlooked step that precedes painting: preparing the surface. 

Feminist Freedom — PHI2254.01

Instructor: Catherine McKeen
Days & Time: TU,FR 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 4

Feminism imagines a world free of gender-based oppression and injustice. But what exactly does such freedom involve? In this course, we’ll investigate the interplay between gender, feminist theory, and philosophical views about freedom. Some prompting questions include: Is individual freedom enough? What does ubiquitous pornography mean for sexual freedom? How does politics shape desire? (How) should we rethink the family and work? Does feminist freedom require freedom from gender?

The Philosophy of Hannah Arendt — PHI4131.01

Instructor: Paul Voice
Days & Time: TU,FR 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 4

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a political theorist whose work has become increasingly influential in recent years. A student of Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, her extensive writings cover such topics as the nature of power, the meaning of the political, and the problem of revolution. This course is a detailed exploration of some of her major works, including The Human Condition, On Revolution, and Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, as well as an engagement with some of the critical literature on her work.

Advanced Workshop for Painting and Drawing: The Contemporary Idiom — PAI4216.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: MO 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 4

This course is for experienced student artists with a firm commitment to serious work in the studio. Students will work primarily on self-directed projects in an effort to refine individual concerns and subject matter. Students will present work regularly for critique in class as well as for individual studio meetings with the instructor. Development of a strong work ethic will be crucial.

Deep Fakes: An Introduction to Oil Painting — PAI2109.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: TU 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

Fake news, reality television, “IRL” – asserting the veracity of our perceptions is a constant preoccupation in contemporary culture. What is real? Realism is a widely used term with multiple connotations: verisimilitude, authenticity, objectivity, truth, fact.

Plato: Middle and Late Dialogues — PHI4257.01

Instructor: Catherine McKeen
Days & Time: TH 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 4

Aristocles (known to us as "Plato") lived and wrote in Athens in the 5th c. BCE. More than 2400 years later, Alfred North Whitehead’s famous remark still resonates: “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato…the wealth of general ideas scattered through them…have made [Plato’s] writings an inexhaustible mine of suggestion” (Process and Reality, 1929).