Spring 2026 Courses

Last updated January 21, 2026

All course offerings can be confirmed on the Directory of Classes and are subject to change. Please check this page and the Directory of Classes for updates. Past course offerings can be found in the "Courses" dropdown menu.

*NOTES*

—MA and PhD students in the Department of Philosophy cannot count an undergraduate course towards their degree.

—All students must receive the instructor's permission to register for individual supervised research/independent study and quodlibetal study sections.

Undergraduate Lectures

PHIL UN1001 Introduction to Philosophy
Survey of some of the central problems, key figures, and great works in both traditional and contemporary philosophy. Topics and texts will vary with instructor and semester.
Section 001
D. Ding
MW 11:40am-12:55pm; 203 Diana Center (Barnard)
Section 002
C. Prodoehl
TR 2:40pm-3:55pm; 152 Horace Mann

PHIL UN1010 Methods & Problems of Philosophical Thought
J. Collins
TR 8:40am-9:55am; 141 Uris Hall
Critical introduction to philosophical problems, ideas and methods.

PHIL UN1401 Introduction to Logic
C. Prodoehl
TR 5:40pm-6:55pm; LL002 Milstein Center (Barnard)
Explicit criteria for recognizing valid and fallacious arguments, together with various methods for schematizing discourse for the purpose of logical analysis. Illustrative material taken from science and everyday life.

PHIL UN2109 Love, Gender, and Sex
D. Ding
MW 10:10am-11:25am; 207 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
What does it mean to love, and what does it take to love well? Must true love make us “happy ever after”? Should love be exclusive? Is love between individuals or could it be communal and even political? How does love relate to gender and sex, and how might the experiences of queer, trans, and intersex people both complicate and illuminate these connections? What is gender anyway? How do we figure that out? Is it a mere coincidence that the English term ‘sex’ refers to both an activity and a system of categorization? How should we think about consent, desire, objectification, and sexualization in connection to sexual autonomy and gender equality? This course surveys philosophical questions about love, gender, and sex, and in so doing, aims to introduce students to the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of social philosophy.

Love, Gender, and Sex is designed to be friendly to all students regardless of philosophy background. 

PHIL UN2201 History of Philosophy II
C. Bowman
TR 11:40am-12:55pm; 405 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
Prerequisites: PHIL UN2211 Required Discussion Section (0 points). PHIL UN2101 is not a prerequisite for this course. Exposition and analysis of the metaphysics, epistemology, and natural philosophy of the major philosophers from Aquinas through Kant. Authors include Aquinas, Galileo, Gassendi, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. This course has unrestricted enrollment. RECITATION SECTION REQUIRED: PHIL UN2211 HIST OF PHILOSOPHY II-REC

PHIL UN2301 History of Philosophy III
T. Carman
MW 8:40am-9:55am; LL001 Milstein Center (Barnard)
Prerequisites: None. Exposition and analysis of major texts and figures in European philosophy since Kant. Authors include Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. Required discussion section (PHIL UN2311). Attendance in the first week of classes is mandatory. RECITATION SECTION REQUIRED: PHIL UN2311 HIST OF PHILOSOPHY III-REC

PHIL UN2655 Cognitive Science and Philosophy
J. Kramer
MW 4:10pm-5:25pm; 418 Barnard Hall (Barnard)
This course briefly considers cognitive science’s philosophical and scientific history (from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes, Locke and Leibniz, Hume, William James, Freud, Behaviorists, and Tolman), then examines the philosophical questions that have arisen during its rise as an interdisciplinary field: What in the mind is innate versus learned? Is the mind literally, or only like, a computer? Does cognition rely on internal mental representations? Does cognition depend on active, embodied, and direct engagement with the world? What is consciousness? In response to these questions and more, we will tackle core philosophical debates in cognitive science: classical computationalism versus connectionism; nativism versus empiricism; representationalism versus anti-representationalism; bottom-up versus top-down approaches in psychology and neuroscience; the relation of cognition to perception; theories of consciousness; the language of thought hypothesis; theories of 4E (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended) and dynamical cognition; and cognition in infants, other animals, and artificial intelligence.

PHIL UN3121 Plato
W. Mann
TR 10:10am-11:25am; 330 Uris Hall

PHIL UN3352 20th Century European Philosophy
T. Carman
MW 1:10pm-2:25pm; 223 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
Prerequisites: one prior philosophy course. Reading and discussion of selected texts by central figures in phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, critical theory, and recent Continental philosophy. Authors may include Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, Horkheimer, Adorno, Foucault, Bourdieu.

PHIL UN3411 Symbolic Logic
A. Varzi
MW 2:40pm-3:55pm; 142 Uris Hall
Corequisites: PHILV3413 Required Discussion Section (0 points). Advanced introduction to classical sentential and predicate logic. No previous acquaintance with logic is required; nonetheless a willingness to master technicalities and to work at a certain level of abstraction is desirable.

PHIL UN3655 Topics in Cognitive Science and Philosophy
Attention, Agency, and Automaticity
J. Kramer
TR 4:10pm-5:25pm; 307 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
What is attention and attunement? Can we guide or control our attention? Is there “spontaneous” attention and cognition? How do mind wandering, dream states, “undisciplined” attention, ADHD, addiction, and aesthetic attention (e.g., reading a poem) further illuminate our framework for agency in attention? To address these questions, we will mainly focus on the philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience of attention, agency and control, and automaticity. At the start, we will briefly overview seminal accounts of attention (e.g., Epictetus, Descartes, W. James, Simone Weil, Merleau-Ponty); at the end, we will briefly consider how technology (e.g., social media, multi-tasking) and society (e.g., implicit bias, ideology) affect our attention and agency.  Special care will be taken to show how these approaches, and their phenomena, are integrated. 

PHIL UN3751 Political Philosophy
D.Ding
MW 2:40pm-3:55pm; 328 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
Six major concepts of political philosophy including authority, rights, equality, justice, liberty and democracy are examined in three different ways. First the conceptual issues are analyzed through contemporary essays on these topics by authors like Peters, Hart, Williams, Berlin, Rawls and Schumpeter. Second the classical sources on these topics are discussed through readings from Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Marx, Plato, Mill and Rousseau. Third some attention is paid to relevant contexts of application of these concepts in political society, including such political movements as anarchism, international human rights, conservative, liberal, and Marxist economic policies as well as competing models of democracy.

PHIL UN3769 Living, Dying, and the Meaning of Life
K. Vogt, L. Dugdale, I. Rottenberg
TR 11:40am-12:55pm; AUD Earl Hall
Bringing together scholars from the fields of Philosophy, Medicine, Ethics, and Religion, this course
exposes students to modes of inquiry that can help to answer central questions that are often elusive and/or
unconsidered: What constitutes a good human life? What do I need to be truly happy? How does the fact
that I will one day die impact how I should live today? This interdisciplinary course provides a rare
opportunity to consider how a wide variety of thinkers and writers have approached these questions, while
also engaging with them in a personal way within our contemporary context. Lectures will be combined
with group discussion and a weekend retreat, creating possibilities for interpersonal engagement and deep
learning.

PHIL UN3960 Epistemology
J. Collins
MW 6:10pm-7:25pm; 330 Uris Hall
Corequisites: PHIL W3963 Required Discussion Section (0 points). What can we know? What is knowledge? What are the different kinds of knowledge? We will read classic and contemporary texts for insight into these questions.

Majors Seminar

Required of senior majors, but also open to junior majors, and junior and senior concentrators who have taken at least four philosophy courses. This exploration will typically involve writing a substantial research paper. Capped at 20 students with preference to philosophy majors.

PHIL UN3912 Section 001
Buddhist Philosophy
A. Aitken
R 2:10pm-4:00pm; 302 Alfred Lerner
Approved for Global Core credit. Instructor permission required. 

PHIL UN3912 Section 002
Thought Experiments in Philosophy
A. Varzi
T 6:10pm-8:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
Instructor permission required. 

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PHIL BC4050 Senior Seminar
Topic TBA
K. Lewis
F 10:10am-12:00pm; 502 Diana Center (Barnard)
Intensive study of a philosophical issue or topic, or of a philosopher, group of philosophers, or philosophical school or movement. Open only to Barnard senior philosophy majors.

4000-Level Seminars

4000-level courses are open to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students.

ECON GU4950 Senior Seminar
Economics & Philosophy (For EconPhil majors only; please write to Laura Yan, [email protected], Undergraduate Coordinator in Economics)
D. Hausman
M 10:10am-12:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
Prerequisites: ECON W3211, ECON W3213, ECON W3412. Students will be contacted by the Economics department for pre-enrollment. Explores topics in the philosophy of economics such as welfare, social choice, and the history of political economy. Sometimes the emphasis is primarily historical and sometimes on analysis of contemporary economic concepts and theories.

PHIL GU4060 Aesthetics: Experience & Expression
C. Prodoehl
W 4:10pm-6:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall

PHIL GU4089 Aristotle
Nicomachean Ethics
K. Vogt
T 2:10pm-4:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall

PHIL GU4142 Philosophy and Romanticism
W. Mann
W 6:10pm-8:00pm; 503 Hamilton Hall 

PHIL GU4263 19th-Century Social and Political Philosophy
Hegel and Marx
C. Bowman
T 2:10pm-4:00pm; 111 Milstein Center (Barnard)
This course will consider themes in 19th-century social and political philosophy. Central topics may include freedom, recognition, alienation, and exploitation, and the use of such concepts to critically evaluate modern social and political institutions. Figures studied may include G.W.F. Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Clara Zetkin, and Lily Braun.

PHIL GU4718 Freud and Philosophy
F. Russell
M 6:10pm-8:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
Intensive study of a particular topic in Moral Psychology.

Graduate Lectures

PHIL GR5415 Symbolic Logic
A. Varzi
MW 2:40pm-3:55pm; 142 Uris Hall
Advanced introduction to classical sentential and predicate logic. No previous acquaintance with logic is required; nonetheless a willingness to master technicalities and to work at a certain level of abstraction is desirable. Note: Due to significant overlap, students may receive credit for only one of the following three courses: PHIL UN3411, UN3415, GR5415.

Graduate Seminars

PHIL GR6100 MA Research Seminar
M. Fusco
T 12:10pm-2:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
The MA Research Seminar supports the research projects of MA students in Philosophy. Participants practice key methods in philosophy and deepen their knowledge of classic and contemporary contributions to the field. The seminar is suitable for everyone who is aiming to write a research paper. Seminar participants receive detailed input throughout the semester. Students can take the class at any stage during their studies for the MA. The class is graded Pass/Fail.

PHIL GU6905 Buddhist Philosophy
A. Aitken
T 2:10pm-4:00pm; 302 Alfred Lerner

PHIL GR9350 Special Topics in Philosophy
Decision Theory: Bridging Normative & Descriptive Approaches
T. Williamson
R 10:10am-12:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall

PHIL GR9515 Topics in Metaphysics
Identity Through Time 
J. Clarke-Doane
T 6:10pm-8:00pm; 405 Kent Hall

PHIL GR9576 The Philosophy of Space & Time
D. Albert
W 6:10pm-8:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall

PHIL GR9658 Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Mind
C. Peacocke
R 2:10pm-4:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION REQUIRED. Prerequisite: A course in the philosophy of language covering the theory of sense and reference, and contemporary developments thereof. This course introduces and elaborates a new notion, that of an identifier. An identifier is a way of thinking of a mental state that conveys what it is like to be in the state. A positive theory of identifiers can be applied to address central philosophical issues in (1) the proper characterization of thought about conscious mental states; (2) the structure of attribution of conscious states to ourselves and to others; (3) conscious states crucial to our ability to attribute such states interpersonally; (4) our understanding of the content of music; (5) the range of psychopathologies that are best explained by lack of, or impaired grasp of, identifiers; (6) the role of identifiers in aesthetic appreciation more generally. This Seminar aims to give an overview of these applications.

PHIL GR9670 Topics in Early Modern Philosophy
Ultimate Knowledge and How to Get It
C. Mercer
W 2:10pm-4:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall

PHIL GR9806 Topics in Aesthetics
L. Goehr
M 4:10-6:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
Close readings of essays in 20th-century aesthetics theory and philosophy of the arts: "continental" and "analytic".

PHIL GR9990 Thesis Preparation Seminar
C. Peacocke
F 10:10am-12:00pm; 716 Philosophy Hall
The purposes of the Seminar are (a) to aid graduates in developing and refining material for their dissertation; (b) to give graduates experience in presenting material to a philosophical audience in an informed and supportive environment; (c) to give graduates experience in critically discussing presented material, and thereby to see how their own presentations and work can be developed to withstand critical examination. The Seminar is restricted to Columbia graduate students in their third or later years, and all such students are strongly encouraged to attend. No faculty (other than the organizer) will be present. Those attending the seminar will be expected to make one or more presentations of work in progress. The material for a presentation may range from a near-final draft of a chapter, to an early critical overview of an area with an outline plan for an approach to some chosen problem. We will attempt as far as possible to organize the presentations in such a way that they are grouped by subject-matter, and provide a rational path through the territory we cover.