Major Prescribed Electives (MPE)
HY0101 The Philosophy & Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
Note: Students who matriculated prior to AY2021-22 can take HY0101 to fulfil the MPE requirement. Students who matriculated
from AY2021-22 onwards will take HY0101 as ICC Core (Digital Literacy 2).
This course will provide an overview of the main approaches to AI research: the laws of thought approach (GOFAI or logic-based AI), the thinking humanly or
cognitive modelling approach (neural networks or connectionism), the acting humanly or Turing test approach, and the acting rationally approach (reinforcement learning). You will learn about the key concepts, theoretical underpinnings, and philosophical
issues pertaining to each of these distinct approaches to AI research. In addition, you will be invited to explore the key normative issues surrounding the design and implementation of AI systems, including the value alignment problem and the ethical
implications and existential risks associated with AI systems. How is Logic Theorist able to generate proofs of theorems in propositional logic? If it can generate novel and more elegant proofs, does that count as a form of creativity? How might a
chatbot like ELIZA be able to pass certain conversational tests for intelligence? What distinguishes reinforcement learning from other approaches to AI research? If our aim is to chart the progress of AI, why might the exploits of AlphaZero be significant?
What are some existential risks associated with the emergence of superintelligent AI? These are some of the questions that we shall be exploring. No prior philosophical or technical background is assumed.
HY2008 Environmental Ethics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course aims to introduce you to ethical issues raised by ecological problems and environmental-related concerns in today's world, with a focus on rethinking the relationship between human beings and nature. You will learn various concepts and theories
on the subject and develop an ability to carry out philosophical inquiry and to independently think through a variety of ethical issues related to the environment.
HY2015 Philosophy of Well-Being
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
What makes a life go well for the person living it? Theories of well-being attempt to answer this question. In this course, we will examine the most promising of such theories, evaluating each for their strengths and weaknesses. This course is suitable for those who want to investigate the nature of welfare in a philosophically rigorous manner. It is not suitable for people who just want to share their feelings about happiness.
HY2016 Friendship
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course introduces the nature of friendship through the writings of different historical and contemporary thinkers. It aims to motivate students to think about the components of friendship and improves students' skills in reasoning about friendship
as a philosophical issue and drawing practical insights from it. By the end of the course, students will have a sense of the complexities involved in working out a definition of friendship and answering the question why friendship is valuable.
HY2025 Medical Ethics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course provides an introductory treatment of biomedical ethics - one of the most practically relevant areas of applied ethics. It is suitable for any interested undergraduate; it will not be assumed that you have previously taken a course in ethics or philosophy. The course will be of use to anyone considering a career as a medical clinician or researcher, and to anyone who wishes to learn about the role of ethics in biomedical practice.
Attention will be paid to a range of topics in biomedical ethics. Each of these topics highlights the morally relevant features of biomedical policy and practice. We will examine the moral rights of patients and other stakeholders vis a vis physicians and medical care institutions at large. We will also cover moral questions raised by genetic and reproductive control: for instance, the genetic screening of human embyros and surrogate pregnancies. Termination of life issues will also discussed - e.g., abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide - as will ethical dilemmas raised by the distribution of medical resources like organs and health care.
HY2026 Business Ethics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course is designed to introduce students in philosophy, business, and other majors to a range of issues at the intersection of business and ethics. We will cover a variety of "traditional" business ethics topics, such as standards for employee /
product safety, hiring and promotion, and wages. Additionally, we will examine broader questions about the place and influence of business in society, many of which come down to the debate over the extent to which societal goods and their distribution
should be determined by market forces. Through study of both general philosophical theories and specific cases, this course will prepare students to deal with ethical decisions they will face in their careers and as members of society.
HY2027 Popular Culture and Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
The course explores the various philosophical assumptions and issues that are latent in much of popular culture. Through examining various works of popular culture - including popular films, television shows, novels, and popular music - the course exposes students to central topics in philosophy, especially in ethics, and social and political philosophy. Topics include (but are not limited to): epistemology, ethics, disability, metaphysics, philosophy of language, political philosophy, and so on. It is expected that students who complete this course will be able to (i) engage with, and (ii) critically discuss, popular culture philosophically. This will enable students to be critical, rather than passive, consumers (or even producers) of popular culture.
HY2028 Food Ethics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
We face decisions about what to eat several times a day. In this class, we will cover the following questions. How should facts about animal life and death inform our food decisions? Does the suffering involved in meat, egg, and dairy production make the practices immoral? How do our choices affect local and non-local economies, the environment, and other people? Is government intervention in the form of food policies justifiable? Given the connections between eating practices and various ethnic, religious, and class identities, how can we formulate reasonable food policies and practices? What are the ethical dimensions of obesity, body positivity, and eating disorders? While prior experience with philosophy or ethics is helpful, it is not a pre-requisite for this class. This course is suitable for those who want to expose themselves to the topics above, and investigate them in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY2905 Political Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course is an introduction to contemporary political philosophy. States claim to have a monopoly on the justified use of coercive force. This is a stunning, and perhaps alarming, claim. It's all the more stunning once we recognize that this power is wielded, not merely over non-human animals or children, but over competent adults. Accordingly, the fundamental question of contemporary political philosophy is this: How is authority - i.e., the power to create moral obligations in others by means of commands - possible among free and equal moral persons? Anarchists think this question does not admit of a plausible answer. In this class, we'll see if they're right.
HY2910 Ancient Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course is intended to introduce you to major ancient Greek and Roman schools of philosophical thought. In addition to being an important topic of scholarship on its own, ancient Greek and Roman philosophy provides a historical foundation for other philosophical courses/topics you will encounter as you progress in your studies, as the ancient Greeks and Romans explored issues that continue to occupy philosophers to this day.
HY2912 Early Modern Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course serves as an introduction to fundamental philosophical issues that emerge in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. You will familiarize with early modern views of the nature of cognition, the human mind, God, freedom, experience, and the origin of moral qualities, and will evaluate the merits of competing Rationalist and Empiricist approaches to these and other topics.
HY3001 Existentialism
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course charts the genesis and evolution of key concepts, claims, and arguments in the existentialist tradition. After taking this course, you will be able to critically engage existentialist interpretations human experience, meaning, faith, value, responsibility, freedom, finitude, etc., and evaluate their relevance for our lives.
HY3002 Philosophy of Medicine
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course aims to introduce philosophical discussions about medicine to students. In addition, it encourages students to respond critically to articles and other media that make use of the method and concepts of philosophy in healthcare and to become ethically reflective and responsible global citizens. This course will also encourage students to think critically about the scientific and humanistic aspects of medical practice, the conceptual analysis of health, disease, and death, the nature of causality in medicine, the implementation of AI systems in healthcare, the patient-physician relationship, bioethics, and the role of narrative ethics.
HY3003 World Religions
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course aims towards philosophical reflection on various religious traditions in the world. This includes religious employments of philosophical ideas, philosophical criticisms of religious tenets, and philosophical questions based on religious inquiries. The development of world religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, has been intertwined with philosophical explorations across different geographical and cultural environments. This course covers the basics of theses traditions from ancient times up to the present day and explores cross-cultural dialogues between them in depth.
HY3004 Reason and Faith
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course gives students a unique opportunity to explore profound questions of religion and faith in a philosophical framework. Students will be asked to take a reasoned stance on whether religious faith can be, or even should be, rationally justified by evidence. They will be challenged to assess arguments in favor of theism and atheism. They will consider whether science and religion are compatible, or whether one discredits the other. And they will contemplate whether religious assertions about the occurrence of miracles and the existence of an afterlife survive critical scrutiny. Finally, we examine whether religions can be worthy of our adherence, even if some of their fundamental tenets are false. The course will conclude with some reflection on the important roles that religion can play in people’s lives, apart from being a source of truth-claims. These issues are among the great questions that have roiled the human mind. In Faith and Reason, students will confront them head-on in an intellectual environment that will demand both analytical rigor and mutual respect.
HY3014 19th Century Continental Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course introduces you to fundamental themes and figures of 19th century European philosophy. You will grasp the genesis, arguments, and motivations for a range of new movements that emerge in this period, including, e.g. idealism, romanticism, historicism, hermeneutics, historical materialism and philosophy of history, and will evaluate their respective interpretations of human reason, nature, freedom, experience, history, and social life.
HY3015 20th Century Continental Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course introduces you to the central thinkers, philosophical movements, and fundamental themes in 20th century European philosophy. You will learn the fundamentals of structuralism, hermeneutics, critical theory, deconstruction, feminism, and psychoanalysis, among other movements, and will explore how thinkers from each movement respond to the problems they think plague their philosophical rivals.
HY3019 Consequentialism
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 3 AUs
Consequentialism holds, roughly, that acts are permissible if and only if they bring about the best outcome. The right-to-left reading of this biconditional is a particularly compelling idea. Since by our acts we influence how things turn out, it's hard to deny that it is always permissible to actualize the outcome that's best. And yet critics have leveled a number of powerful objections. It is argued that the theory's commitment to aggregation is objectionable, that it fails to recognize the separateness of persons, that it disregards the moral importance of intergrity, that it's overly stringent (or excessively permissive). and that it falters in the face of collective action problems. Beyond these external criticisms, the precise formulation of the theory presents a number of technical obstacles. This has given rise to major internal disputes among its advocates. Should we, for example, bring about the most actual good or aim for the most expected good? Are our obligations determined by the possible consequences of our acts or their actual consequences? This course will address the three issues just mention: Consequentialism's compellingness, and its purported internal and external problems. This course is suitable for those who want to investigate the nature of consequentialism in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY3020 Deontology
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 3 AUs
Deontological theories hold, roughly, that there are certain features that our actions themselves that are relevant to the deontic properties they possess - that do not reduce to the consequences. Accordingly, allows for the possibility that some actions are impermissible, even though the results of so acting would be best. In this course, how this position might be maintained and explained, as well as the most pressing objections it faces. This course is suitable for those who want to investigate the nature of deontology in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY3021 Philosophy of Race and Gender
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 3 AUs
This course is designed to introduce students to a range of philosophical issues surrounding race and gender. There are two main topics that we'll be exploring in the course, each of which will occupy about half of the term. The first topic is the multidisciplinary debate about what race and gender actually are, which we will engage with through critical examination of a range of proposed definitions of race and gender. The second topic is the social, ethical, and political significance that race and gender, with particular attention to the ways that race and gender shape the opportunities and obstacles faced by individuals/groups in society. By examining these issues, students will gain a better understanding of the role of race and gender in their own individual identity as well as the ability to think critically about societal policies and ideologies related to race and gender.
HY3022 Comparative Philosophy: East and West
Pre-requisite(s): HY2003/HY2903 | 3 AUs
This course aims to introduce students to a range of theoretical and practical philosophical issues from the perspectives of Chinese Philosophies and Anglo-American philosophies. This course is suitable for students who want to learn how to approach philosophical topics from different cultural perspectives in a philosophically rigorous manner. By the end of the course, students will have a sense of the complexities involved in working out a philosophical theory because of many different implicit philosophical assumptions different philosophical traditions adopt.
HY3024 Virtue Ethics
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 3 AUs
Virtue ethics is, along with deontology and consequentialism, one of the "big three" theories in normative ethics. This course aims to give you an in-depth understanding of the virtue ethical tradition, including close reading of major book-length works by both ancient and contemporary virtue ethicists.
HY3025 Philosophy and Literature
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course aims to introduce philosophical discussions about literature to students. In addition, it encourages students to respond critically to articles and other media that make use of the concepts of aesthetics and the philosophy of literature and to become ethically reflective and responsible global citizens. This course will also encourage students to think critically about the nature of truth, knowledge, interpretation, understanding, taste, criticism, evaluation, and morality in the literary domain.
HY3910 Philosophy of Science
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course is an introduction to the philosophy of science, a major sub-field of philosophy. Philosophy of science is concerned with understanding the nature of science, and it intersects with other sub-fields of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. The first part of the course will focus on major theories about the nature of science, including those of the logical empiricists, Karl Popper, and Thomas Kuhn. The second half of the course will examine a variety of topics within contemporary philosophy of science, which may include: social studies of science, science and values, the ethics of science, scientific realism, as well as the application of philosophy of science to problems in the science of well-being, climate science, and other fields. By taking this course, you will gain a nuanced understanding of how science produces knowledge, as well as the ability to think critically about the status and role of science in society.
HY3911 Philosophy of Mind
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course introduces you to the philosophy of mind, a core area of analytic philosophy that has connections to nearly every other area of philosophical study. You will gain an understanding of major theories and issues in philosophy of mind, as well as their connections to topics in other areas of philosophy and the sciences.
HY3912 Philosophy of Technology
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
This course is an introduction to the philosophy of technology. Through examination of a variety of perspectives on the nature and significance of technology, you will gain a greater understanding of the place of technology in society and its effects on human individuals and societies.
HY3918 Epistemology
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 3 AUs
Epistemology is a core subdiscipline of philosophy. This is a survey class that introduces you to some of the most influential debates and approaches in epistemology in the last 100 years. Topics to be covered may include the following: analyses of knowledge, coherentist vs foundationalist theories of justification, varieties of skepticism, internalism vs externalism, formal vs traditional approaches to epistemology, legal epistemology, and more.
HY4002 Knowledge and Reality
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
This is a class on metaphysics, epistemology, and the intersection between these two fields. Our main focus will be on us and our status in the world (both epistemologically and metaphysically), and we will be interested in questions such as the following ones: What is knowledge and how can we know anything about the external world? How should we respond when we find that our peers disagree with us? Is our knowledge of ourselves qualitatively different from our knowledge of others? What are we anyway?
HY4003 Advanced Epistemology
Pre-requisite(s): HY1002 | 4 AUs
The aim of this class is to introduce you to some of the major recent developments in contemporary epistemology, including various ways in which formal methods have been used to study philosophical problems. We will discuss both debates that are internal
to contemporary approaches in epistemology as well as contrasts between modern and traditional approached to epistemology. We will also discuss applications of modern epistemology in, for example, a legal context.
HY4005 History of Analytic Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
This course is designed to introduce advanced undergraduates to the history of analytic philosophy through the reading of primary sources. Analytic philosophy is a major tradition of contemporary philosophy, and it has produced numerous landmark works. In this course, we will read and analyze several of these landmark works, which may include books and articles by Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Rudolf Carnap, W. V. O. Quine, Saul Kripke, and others. By reading these works together, you will gain a better perspective on how many of the central ideas in contemporary philosophy emerged, and how they are related to each other. You will also gain experience in analyzing and critiquing primary sources at an advanced level.
HY4006 Philosophy of Physics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
This course is designed to introduce advanced undergraduates to the philosophy of physics, a core branch of philosophy of science. Physics is widely believed to be the most fundamental of the sciences, and many conceptual issues in physics intersect with philosophy. We will examine these conceptual issues from a philosophical perspective. In the first half of this course, we will explore the conceptual development of theories about space and time. We will take a historical approach, examining in turn the ideas of Newton, Leibniz, Mach, the logical positivsts, and Einstein. In the second half of the course, we will explore conceptual issues in quantum mechanics, a theory developed in the twentieth century about what the world is like at the scale of atoms. We will focus on puzzling conceptual problems of quantum mechanics such as the measurement problem and non-locality, as well as various interpretations of quantum mechanics. By examining the philosophy of physics, students will gain an understanding of the kinds of issues that might arise at the intersection of science and philosophy.
HY4007 Aesthetics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
This course exposes students to core questions in aesthetics and the philosophy of art, and features readings from a range of contemporary and historical sources. Topics to be considered include the definition of art, the nature of
aesthetic experience, the relation between art and truth, aesthetic expression, etc. You will evaluate the persuasiveness of competing definitions of art and the aesthetic, and will familiarize yourself with different methodological approaches for the study of aesthetic objects, experiences, and institutions.
HY4008 Advanced Moral Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
What are we required to do? Who are we required to be? And why are we required to do these things or be these types of people? Ethical theories attempt to systematically answer these questions. In this course, we will examine the most promising such theories, evaluating each for their strengths and weaknesses. This course is suitable for those who want to investigate ethics in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY4009 Value Theory
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
What is the nature of ultimate value? Theories of intrinsic value attempt to answer this question. In this course, we will examine the most promising of such theories, evaluating each for their strengths and weaknesses. This course is suitable for those who want to investigate the nature of the good in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY4010 Neo-Confucianism
Pre-requisite(s): HY2003/HY2903 | 4 AUs
This course is designed to introduce students to a range of philosophical issues and main philosophers in Neo-Confucianism. Students will gain a better understanding of the development of philosophical views in the Neo-Confucian period and learn to think critically about moral issues and ethical problems at both theoretical and practical levels.
HY4011 Moral Psychology
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
This course is designed to introduce you to the interdisciplinary field of moral psychology, which studies the cognitive and biological basis of moral judgment and behavior. As a 4000-level offering, this advanced course will build on your understanding of other philosophical fields (e.g. ethics, philosophy of science) and will introduce you to a variety of interdisciplinary work.
HY4013 Philosophy of Language
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
The philosophy of language is the study of the properties and workings of natural human language. It is a "central" branch of contemporary analytic philosophy, in the sense that concepts developed by philosophers of language have proven useful in many other areas of philosophy (including metaphysics, logic, philosophy of science, and ethics). The course will focus on three linguistic phenomena. We examine reference, and ask how a linguistic expression can refer to things in the world. In addition, we study the nature of linguistic meaning (otherwise known as "sense"), and ask how a verbal noise or written mark acquires meaning (sense). Furthermore, we explore pragmatics, and analyze the various uses of language exercised by speakers in everyday life. The material in this course contains useful insights not only for philosophy majors, but also for anyone who studies language and linguistic representation in a variety of disciplines: linguists, logicians, computer scientists, artificial intelligence researchers, ethologists, sociologists, and anthropologists.
HY4015 Philosophical Methodologies
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
Philosophy is done in different ways. In supporting their claims, different philosophers take very different approaches and cite different sources of information. This course is an introduction to metaphilosophy - the philosophical assessment of philosophy itself. It addresses the question of whether some ways of doing philosophy - i.e., some philosophical methodologies - are more reliable than others in leading to discovery. This question is fundamental to the enterprise of philosophy: it calls for us to reflect whether philosophical questions can have correct answers, and whether philosophical reflection can yield knowledge of interesting truths. We will survey different methodologies pursued across multiple areas of philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and ethics. Along the way, we will identify standards of success for philosophical arguments, and we will ask whether any ways of doing philosophy are particularly effective in facilitating successful philosophy.
HY4021 Practical Rationality
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
Practical rationality is a core topic that straddles moral philosophy and epistemology. The course aims to bolster your research into moral philosophy by adding probability theory and decision theory. The course also aims to connect theoretical concepts in normative philosophy to actual life decisions and strategies.
HY4023 Metaethics
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
Whereas theories in normative ethics address questions concerning what we are required to do and who we are required to be, theories in metaethics address questions about ethics. Metaethical theories, that is, provide systematic accounts of the nature of ethics. In this course, we will examine the most promising such theories, evaluating each for their strengths and weaknesses. This course is suitable for those who want to investigate the nature of ethics in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY4024 Metaphysics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
Metaphysics is a core subdiscipline of philosophy. This is a survey class that introduces you to some of the most influential debates and approaches in contemporary metaphysics. The class will begin with an introduction to the metaphysics of possible worlds, which has found areas of application in many areas of philosophy, including in epistemology, logic, and philosophy of language, as well as in many debates in metaphysics itself. The class will then go on to discuss a number of specific topics in metaphysics, including, e.g. the mind-body problem, time, and constitution.
HY4025 Ethics and Public Policy
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
Public policy is any institution, norm, or rule created by a government to guide people’s behavior. The study of public policy raises significant ethical questions. In particular: to what ends should citizens’ behavior be guided, and by which means should a government guide such behavior? When might a public policy intervention by the government in the affairs of private individuals be unethical? Ethics and Public Policy will survey a number of areas in which public policy has been used to address social and political issues: crime, immigration, health, safety, inequality, religion, and the family. Students will question, debate, and reflect on the ethical principles which favor or disfavor the implementation of various public policies.
HY4026 Social Epistemology
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge and belief. Traditional epistemology focuses on the knowledge and beliefs gained by individuals. However, the reality is that we gain much of this in a social environment, rather than merely by ourselves. In the first half of this class, we will cover philosophical discussions on forming knowledge, beliefs, and credences based on the testimony of others, by comparing one’s beliefs and credences to one’s peers, and by aggregating group judgments. In the second half of this class, we will address the intersections between epistemology and justice, relationships, ethics, democracy, feminism, and the internet. You are expected to have foundational competence in philosophy. This course is suitable for those who want to expose themselves to the topics above, and investigate them in a philosophically rigorous manner.
HY4027 Perception
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
This course aims to teach students about: (1) nature of perception, (2) theories of perception, (3) the content of perceptual experience, and (4) intermodal perception. This course is suitable for students who want to learn more about the nature of perception and the philosophical implications of empirical studies on perception. By the end of this course, students will learn about empirical research on perception and the relevant philosophical theories that have been proposed to explain these phenomena.
HY4037 Kant
Pre-requisite(s): HY2012 | 4 AUs
This course is an in-depth introduction to the thought of Immanuel Kant, one of the most important and influential Modern philosophers. You will study the basic structure of key Kantian positions, including his account of human reason, experience, and freedom, and will critically evaluate their philosophical motivations and broader implications.
HY4038 Science, Technology, and Lifeworld
Pre-requisite(s): Nil| 4 AUs
Modern science and technology have profoundly shaped the human lifeworld. This course introduces the philosophical reflections on the relation between lifeworld and science and technology in the 20th century continental philosophy. It includes topics such as the crisis of natural sciences, the foundation of mathematics and logic, the question of technology, the relation between technology and subjectivity, and the emergence of the digital age. The course covers important philosophers in the continental tradition, such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Don Ihde, Gilbert Simondon, Bernard Stiegler, and Yuk Hui. We will apply the tools, concepts, and theories, introduced by these philosophers to analyze the role of science and technology in the contemporary lifeworld.
HY4039 Ethics of War
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 & HY2002 | 4 AUs
Can there be a just war? If so, what are the requirements for fighting a war justly and ethically? This course is about the morality of war. We will study fundamental questions about war, such as whether wars of national self-defence or humanitarian aid are permissible, and fundamental questions about principles for fighting in an ongoing war, such as proportionality and non-combatant immunity. Other topics will include the use of AI and drones in warfare, mandatory military service, and nuclear deterrence.
HY4040 The Meaning of Life
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
What is the meaning of life? This is one of the timeless questions of philosophy. In a world full of war, disease, and struggle, this is a natural question to ask. In this course we will begin by refining the question, and then we will study some candidate answers. Some say that there is no meaning life. Some say that there is meaning in life only if a grand supernatural deity is looking out for us. Some say that we can get meaning in life by pursuing personal goals, like curing cancer, collecting stamps, or caring for a kitten. Some say we can get meaning in life through love, or science, or art. In this course we will attempt to understand and evaluate these various proposals about the meaning of life.
HY4041 Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
Feynman famously wrote that 'I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. ... Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, `But how can it be like that?' because you will get `down the drain', into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.' But that seems like a perfect question for philosophers -- and some physicists -- who want to know what quantum mechanics is (or isn't) telling us about the world: how can it be like that? For instance, is Schrodinger's cat really 'dead and alive'? And what does it mean for it to 'become' dead or alive when we 'observe' it?
To tackle this question, we will study the foundations of quantum mechanics. We start by understanding the 'bare formalism' of quantum mechanics at a conceptual and logical level, and the crucial experiments in support of this formalism over the classical picture. We then consider three questions at the core of this formalism: the measurement problem, the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument for non-locality, and Bell's theorem. We will then study 'the standard picture' to quantum mechanics: the so-called Copenhagen interpretation, and an emphasis on measurement and instrumentalism, diagnosing some conceptual worries with this picture. We then turn to three robust families of proposals for approaching quantum mechanics and its ontology: the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory, Bohmian mechanics, and the many-worlds interpretation. In so doing, we engage with philosophical questions about locality, determinism, the dimensionality of fundamental space, underdetermination of theory by data, scientific realism, the arrow of time, the meaning of quantum probabilities, among others. There is no formal prerequisite for the course, though a high school or undergraduate background in physics will be helpful. A tolerance for math is important, however, as we'll dive into physics. Every effort will be made to present the math and physics as cleanly and accessibly as possible. Students without technical backgrounds can and do thrive in this course, so long as math anxiety is left behind.
HY4042 Imagination
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001 | 4 AUs
In this course we will cover a number of themes relating to imagination, including but not limited to: (1) the nature of imagination; (2) philosophical theories of imagination; (3) the epistemic role of imagination, and; (4) the distinction and interplay between imagination and memory. This course is suitable for students who are interested in pursuing a specifi c topic in the philosophy of mind in depth and considering the relationship between imagination, perception, memory, and the mind/brain sciences relating to these phenomena. By the end of this course, you will have an understanding of the different things we might mean by 'imagination', their nature and role in our cognitive economy (what they are), their function (why we have them), their epistemic role (what sort of knowledge they might afford), and other philosophical issues.
HY4044 Intercultural Philosophy: Chinese and Continental
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
This course sets forth your independent research in intercultural philosophy. If you have some basic knowledge in European continental philosophy and Chinese philosophy and are looking forward to learning the implications of the intercultural dialogue between these big traditions, the course demonstrates how intercultural philosophy can be applied as a powerful way of philosophizing with real case studies. In the course you will acquire the necessary tool kits for initiating your own research in the field.
HY4110 Special Topics in Philosophy of Science
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
This course is designed to introduce advanced undergraduates to a special topic within philosopy of science. Philosophy of science is concerned with understanding the nature of science, and it intersects with other sub-fields of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Special topics that are covered in this course might include: scientific realism, scientific explaination, confirmation theory, philosophy of probability, philosophy of measurement, philosophy of models and simulations, philosophy of particular sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, cognitive science, economics, the historical sciences), the work of particular philosophers of science (e.g., Descartes, Newton, Leibniz, Kant, Mach, Duhem, the logical empiricists, Popper, Kuhn). By examining a particular special topic in depth, you will gain an understanding of the debates surrounding that special topic, and more generally, you will gain experience analyzing and critiquing books and papers within a specialized literature.
HY4111 Special Topics in Ethics
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
Using a for and against format, this course covers a wide swath of particularly vexing, and extremely important, ethical problems. The course will touch on, for example, organ sales, terrorism, torture, filial piety, genetic enhancement, euthanasia, world hunger, and more. The course is suitable for those who want to apply ethics in a philosophically rigorous manner. It is not for those looking for a platform to share their "big ideas" about how to solve society's problems.
HY4112 Special Topics in Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): HY1001| 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time.
HY4113 Special Topics in Chinese Philosophy
Pre-requisite(s): HY2003/HY2903 | 4 AUs
This course is to be offered by both regular and visiting faculty in Philosophy, to be conducted in a seminar style. Each course is to focus on one special area and is taught through extensive reading of selected key texts in the subject and intensive discussions in the class. Students will be required to write review essays or/and research papers and to make presentations in class.
HY4114 Special Topics in Logic
Pre-requisite(s): HY1002 | 4 AUs
Logic underwent a revolution in the late 19th and early to middle 20th century. Starting with Frege, mathematicians and philosophers developed logical systems that were much more powerful than the traditional logical systems inherited from Aristotle and Boole. It became clear that by using these new tools, it was possible to formalize large swaths of mathematics, and many mathematicians and philosophers became optimistic that it may even be possible to reduce mathematics to formal logic. However, in the wake of this optimism, a number of results were proven that demonstrated several fundamental limitations inherent in all formal logical systems. This class introduces you to the major positive results - including the soundness and completeness theorems - and the major limitation results, in particular Godel's incompleteness theorems and Church's undecidability theorem. The philosophical implications of the results will be emphasized.
HY4116 Phenomenology
Pre-requisite(s): HY2012 | 4 AUs
This course studies key figures and topics in phenomenology, including intentionality, embodiment, temporality, perception, intersubjectivity, meaning, expression, etc. The course aims to sensitize students to phenomenology's systematic goals, historical development, and philosophical prospects.
HY4118 Independent Study I
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
The course is offered to satisfied special needs of individual students in areas of interest of a faculty member or members. It is usually taught at an advanced level, with intensive reading and writing. The student will meet with the faculty member periodically as progress requires. Methods of assessment are to be determined by the faculty member.
HY4119 Independent Study II
Pre-requisite(s): HY4118 | 4 AUs
The course is offered to satisfied special needs of individual students in areas of interest of a faculty member or members, and only to students who have satisfactorily completed HY4118. It is taught at an advanced level, with intensive reading and writing. The student will meet with the faculty member periodically as progress requires. Methods of assessment are to be determined by the faculty member.
HY4120 Special Topics in Philosophy of Science II
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time. Possible topics include Explaination, Evidence, Confirmation, Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Biology or Philosophy of Social Science, and so on.
HY4121 Special Topics in Ethics II
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
What distinguishes doing something from somethings merely happening? How we answer this question matters for ethics. For any theory of right action relies on account of what separates our acts from, say, the movement of a hurricane. What makes you one and the same person today as five minutes from now? How we answer this question matters for ethics. For many ethical theories take your agential involvement or your close personal ties to matter. The course will take up these two questions with the goal of illuminating how the answers we give bear on the plausibility of various ethical theories.
HY4122 Special Topics in Philosophy II
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time.
HY4123 Special Topics in Chinese Philosophy II
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time. Possible topics include Chinese ethics, and various traditions including Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, etc.
HY4124 Special Topics in Logic II
Pre-requisite(s): HY1002 | 4 AUs
If a proposition is possibly true, does it follow that it's necessary that it's possibly true? If you know that a proposition is true, does it follow that you know that you know that it's true? Modal logic is the rigorous study of arguments that involve modal notions such as necessity, possibility, knowing, obligation, etc. Modal notions play a central role in many philosophical debates, and hence modal logic is of central importance to philosophy. This course introduces you to modern modal logic. The course is divided into two parts. The first part covers the fundamentals of formal modal logic, including techniques for translating from English into propositional and predicate modal logic, as well as both syntactic and semantic methods for evaluating arguments in formal modal logic. The second part of the course focuses of applications of modal logic, including applications in epistemology and ethics.
HY4130 Special Topic in Philosophy of Science III
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in repsonse to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time. Possible topics include Explaination, Evidence, Confirmation, Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Biology or Philosophy of Social Science, and so on.
HY4131 Special Topics in Ethics III
Pre-requisite(s): HY2002 | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time.
HY4132 Special Topics in Philosophy III
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time.
HY4133 Special Topics in Chinese Philosophy III
Pre-requisite(s): HY2003/HY2903 | 4 AUs
The special topic will change, depending on the coordinating lecturer, in response to student needs and divisional expertise at any given time. Possible topics include Chinese ethics, and various traditions including Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, etc.
HY4134 Philosophical Issues of Confucianism
Pre-requisite(s): Nil | 4 AUs
This course aims to develop your ability to engage in academic research in Confucian Philosophy. After the course, you will have a good understanding of some important concepts and issues in Confucian and comparative philosophy and be able to design an
innovative and independent research proposal in related subjects.