Current/Upcoming Course Offerings

What We're Teaching Spring 2025

Courses numbered 100 to 299 = lower-division; 300 to 499 = upper-division; 500 to 799 = undergraduate/graduate. To register for a course, or just to get the dates and times, visit the WSU Schedule of Courses (additional useful links are provided at the bottom of this page).

Click here to jump to Spring 2025 introductory courses.

Click here to jump to Spring 2025 upper division courses.

Click here to jump to Spring 2025 graduate courses.

Spring 2025 Introductory Courses

PHIL 100. Introduction to Philosophy (3).

General education humanities course. Provides an introduction to philosophy and an opportunity for students to dive into the deepest questions of life. What is the purpose of life? Can two people disagree and both be correct? Is beauty only in the eye of the beholder? What is science, anyway? Are people obligated to obey the law? What makes someone the same person over time? Students explore a variety of philosophical questions to develop their communication and argumentation skills through discussion, analytic reading, academic writing and other assignments. This is a Kansas Systemwide Transfer Course.

IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 9:30am-10:45am. Xiufen Lu. CRN 23753
IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 11:00am-12:15pm. Xiufen Lu. CRN 22523
- Requirement for World Philosophy Concentration

PHIL 105. Critical Reasoning (3).

General education humanities course. Helps students become better at reasoning. Focuses on different patterns of reasoning common in college-level studies and in everyday life. Some patterns are treated in concrete and content-specific ways, and others are treated in highly abstract ways. Students also learn to be critical by different kinds of standards. For example, students learn about how much precision to demand when reasoning about different kinds of topics, and how to evaluate considerations in terms of relevance. Ultimately, students learn how to strengthen their own capacities for reasoning and how to recognize and correct errors in their own thinking and in other people's reasoning. This is a Kansas Systemwide Transfer Course.

ONLINE Asynchronous. Rebecca Fensholt. CRN 22526
IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30am-10:45am. Patrick Bondy. CRN 23896
- GEN ED Humanities
- Counts towards Foundation requirement for Analytic Reasoning Concentration
- Counts towards Analytic Reasoning requirement for Pre-Law Concentration

PHIL 125. Introductory Logic (3).

General education humanities course. Introduces students to the use of formal logic as a tool for understanding and evaluating patterns of reasoning. Focuses on deductive validity, logical equivalence and proving soundness. The formal systems introduced in this course are topic-neutral—i.e., they apply to patterns of reasoning on any topic. These formal systems are particularly useful for future studies in areas such as computer science, law, engineering and philosophy.

IN PERSON. Tuesday, 7:00pm-10:00pm. Christopher Fox. CRN: 22530
IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30pm-1:45pm. Christopher Fox. CRN: 25754
IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 9:30am-10:45am. Brian Hepburn. CRN: 26519

- GEN ED Humanities
- Counts towards Foundation requirement for Analytic Reasoning Concentration
- Counts towards Analytic Reasoning requirement for Pre-Law Concentration

PHIL 215. Introduction to Ethics of Big Data and AI (3).

General education humanities course. Examines ethical issues that have arisen or that may be expected to arise in the development and use of big data, data analytics, apps, automated personal assistants and smart technology. Topics may include privacy and transparency, pitfalls of personalized automation in medicine, alternatives to contracts of adhesion, identification and prediction in law enforcement and security, smartening agriculture, hardening social media against disinformation, and algorithmic oppression. Focus is on prevention and problem-solving for future professionals and anyone interested in data science, analytics, algorithm development and smart technology. The course may be tailored to address current events and student interest. Course includes diversity content.

IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30pm-1:45pm. Susan Castro. CRN: 26282

- GEN ED Humanities
- Diversity Content
- Counts towards Applied Ethics for Ethics Concentration
- Open Alt Textbook - Low Cost

Spring 2025 Upper Division Courses

PHIL 306 Business Ethics (3).

General education humanities course. A critical examination of representative moral issues that arise in the context of business. Focuses on topics such as the nature of professionalism, the social responsibility of business, regulation, employee rights and obligations, sexual harassment, economic justice, environmental impact, the limits of property rights, and conflicting international mores and practices. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 105 with a grade of C or better.

ONLINE Asynchronous. Anastasia Pine. CRN: 22515
- Counts towards Applied Ethics for Ethics Concentration

PHIL 313. Political Philosophy (3).

General education humanities course. Examines various philosophical issues concerning political systems. Discusses issues such as the nature of political authority, the rights of individuals, constitutionalism and civil disobedience. Course includes diversity content.

IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30-1:45pm. Xiufen Lu. CRN: 26283
- GEN ED Humanities
- Diversity Content
- Counts towards Social and Political requirement for Pre-Law Concentration
- Asian Studies Certificate

PHIL 315/H. Late Modern Philosophy (3).

General education humanities course. Studies philosophical thought in the 18th century with selections from philosophers such as Berkeley, Hume, Reid, Adam Smith, Butler, Hutcheson, Wolff and Kant, and movements such as empiricism, rationalism, the Scottish common sense school, and idealism.

This semester we will read selections from Mary Astell, George Berkeley, Anton Wilhelm Amo, Emilie du Chatelet, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, Olympe de Gougees, Ottobah Cugoano, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Topics will range from the foundations of physics to human nature and human rights.

IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30-10:45am. Susan Castro. CRN: 26284 (CRN 26781 for Honors)
Jump to graduate course
- GEN ED Humanities
- LAS Textual Analysis Competency, Written Communication Competency
- Counts as Western Philosophy for the World Philosophy Concentration
- Open Alt Textbook - Zero Cost

PHIL 327. Bioethics (3).

General education humanities course. Examines ethical issues related to health care such as truth-telling to patients, confidentiality, euthanasia, abortion, prenatal obligations and distribution of health care. Course includes diversity content.

ONLINE Asynchronous. Jeremy Gallegos. CRN: 26290
IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00am-12:15pm. Angela Sager. CRN: 22518
IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 11:00am-12:15pm. Angela Sager. CRN: 22519
IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 2:00pm-3:15pm. Angela Sager. CRN: 22516
- GEN ED Humanities
- Diversity Content
- Counts towards Applied Ethics for Ethics Concentration

PHIL 335. Theory of Knowledge (3).

A critical examination of the nature of knowledge, the scope of our ways and means of knowing, and rationality of belief. Topics may include: the concept of knowledge, a priori and empirical knowledge, self-knowledge and knowledge of other minds, skepticism, the values of knowledge, disagreement, testimony, and lies. Includes selections from both historical and recent writings. Prerequisite(s): one course in philosophy.

IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 9:30-10:45am. Patrick Bondy. CRN: 26349
- LAS Textual Analysis Competency
- Counts towards Analytic Reasoning Concentration

PHIL 354. Ethics and Computers (3).

General education humanities course. Ethics with application to the ethical issues which may arise from the use of computers, including the moral responsibility of computer professionals for the effect their work has on persons and society; the moral obligations of a computer professional to clients, employer and society; the conceptual and ethical issues surrounding the control and ownership of software; and the justifiability of regulation of the design, use and marketing of computer technology. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): junior standing or departmental consent..

IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday. 2:00-3:15pm. Angela Sager. CRN: 22535
IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday. 9:30-10:45am. Susan Castro. CRN: 23677. Open Alt Textbook - Zero Cost
- Counts towards Applied Ethics for Ethics Concentration

PHIL 355/HNRS 305J. Minds and Machines (3).

General education humanities course. Cross-listed as HNRS 305J. People have constructed machines designed to imitate living creatures in some way long before there were electronic computers. When is a machine’s behavior appropriately called "intelligent?" Must it be capable of using a language? Must a machine be capable of learning in order to be regarded as intelligent? Must it be able to communicate with humans? What criteria are appropriate for judging that an animal's behavior is intelligent; should the same criteria be used for machine intelligence? What lessons about machine intelligence should be taken from debates over recent studies of intelligence in animals with nervous systems very different from humans (e.g., corvids, cephalopods)? Students consider these and other, related questions. Course takes a historical and interdisciplinary approach, drawing on works in philosophy, literature, science and history of science. Course includes diversity content.

- IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday. 2:00-3:15pm. Susan Sterrett. CRN: 26350

PHIL 385. Engineering Ethics (3).

General education humanities course. Examines representative ethical issues that arise in engineering. Topics include: professional responsibility and integrity, whistle-blowing, conflict of interest, ethical issues in engineering consulting and research, engineering and environmental issues, and engineering in a global context. Course includes diversity content. Prerequisite(s): junior or senior standing.

ONLINE Asynchronous. Jason Matteson. CRN: 22520
IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 11:00am-12:15pm. Scott Hill. CRN: 24618
IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30-1:45pm. Scott Hill. CRN: 23727
IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 2:00-3:15pm. Scott Hill. CRN: 26352
- Counts towards Applied Ethics for Ethics Concentration

PHIL 398. Philosophy at Work (3).

Students reflect on how the skills they've gained through their philosophy major can be applied in their current prospective workplaces, service learning activities, student governance and other applied learning opportunities. The course examines common business practices and techniques and critiques their philosophical underpinnings. Practices examined are topical and current; speakers are invited from business (recruiters, hiring managers, business leaders) to talk about needs, success and the value in philosophy proficiencies. Students apply philosophical reflection, rigor and examination to hiring and work-related activities, such as resume writing, online profiles, interviewing, presentation and communication, and collaboration.

IN PERSON. Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00am-12:15pm. Brian Hepburn. CRN: 26353
- Applied Learning
- Diversity Content

Spring 2025 Graduate Courses

PHIL 530. Ethics of Space Exploration (3).

General education humanities course. Surveys various philosophical and ethical questions raised by the exploration of the space environment and in space policy discussions. Topics may include rationales for space exploration, space resource exploitation, and space settlement; planetary protection and preservation of the space environment; duties to extraterrestrial microbial life; and regulation and policy for space exploration. Prerequisite(s): at least one course in philosophy.

IN PERSON. Monday/Wednesday, 12:30-1:45pm. Scott Hill. CRN: 26354
- GEN ED Humanities
- Counts towards Applied Ethics for Ethics Concentration
- Counts towards Social and Political requirement for Pre-Law Concentration

PHIL 699. Directed Readings (1-3).

For the student interested in doing independent study and research in a special area of interest. Repeatable for credit. Prerequisite(s): departmental consent.

This semester Directed Readings in Late Modern Philosophy is available as a crosslist with PHIL 315/H Late Modern Philosophy. Graduate students will be expected to attend the undergraduate class as part of their work, and to prepare an individual plan of work that will further their graduate degree.