Teaching

Introduction to Philosophy: This course will introduce you to the major subjects of philosophical inquiry, such as what does it mean to be enlightened, how do we distinguish real and illusory objects, what makes a practice just or unjust, and what are the criteria of personhood. The readings will cover the works of philosophers from most historical periods and from around the world. The basic aim of this course is to enrich your appreciation of how difficult it is to provide satisfactory answers to some very basic questions, and why it is important to have provisional and defensible answers to guide us, both as individuals and as a community.

Philosophy of Love and Sexuality: This course will examine both historical and contemporary philosophical writings about human sexuality and the nature of erotic love.  Topics include the basis of sexual attraction; sexual objectification and exploitation; sexual violence and perversion; sexual privacy; punishing sexual offenses; sexual freedom; marital and non-marital sex; love and rationality; sex education; and the scientific study of sexuality and love.

Global Justice: This course will focus on the problem of global injustice, and what we need to do in order to bring about a more just world. We will first cover theories of justice of varying scope: national and international justice, economic and criminal justice, racial, gender, and environmental justice. These theories will guide our exploration of the following topics: inequalities of wealth among people and nations, unjust war and occupation, genocide and ethnic cleansing, climate change and environmental injustice, racial and gender injustice, and the unjust treatment of indigenous peoples and refugees.

Philosophy and Feminism: We will investigate how traditional ideas about morality, justice, knowledge, reality, perception, persons, beauty, language, reason, and science reflect gender norms. We will also evaluate multiple feminist perspectives, and their intellectual foundations.