Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings
Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings falls under the Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Historical Interpretation Capacity.
Philosophical inquiry asks such questions as: What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope for?
By learning how to pose such questions critically, all BU students will learn how to investigate and think for themselves about their place in nature and history, as well as their responsibilities to one another, to themselves, and to the Earth. Philosophical inquiry complements other interpretations of life’s meanings, including those found in diverse religious, historical, cultural, and scientific traditions.
Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate knowledge of notable works in philosophical thought, make meaningful connections among them, and be able to relate those works to their own lives and those of others.
Students will demonstrate the reasoning skills and possess the vocabulary to reflect upon significant philosophical questions and topics such as what constitutes a good life, right action, meaningful activity, knowledge, truth, or a just society.
Courses
Search for currently scheduled courses with combinations of other Hub units in MyBU Student .
HUB Specialty Courses
HUB IC 209
Interdisciplinary Introduction to Forced Displacement
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry I
Over 120 million people have been displaced from their homes by war and persecution, creating a protracted humanitarian disaster. This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to this subject by exploring such questions as: What disciplines and methodologies will help us understand this global challenge? Who should bear responsibility for the welfare of refugees? What is our ethical responsibility to those who are displaced, and how do we write, research, and study others ethically? Do we believe in a basic human right to mobility and the search for “the good life”? How does forced displacement impact our understanding of home, identity, and belonging? Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry 1.
College of Arts & Sciences
CAS AN 211
Humans Among Animals
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Examines how humans understand (other) animals and their thought, feeling, and communication and the ways we humans in varied cultures and societies use animals for interaction and self-understanding. Interdisciplinary approach that considers language, aesthetics, ideology, practice, and regulation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills units in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 252
Ethnicity and Identity
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores anthropological approaches to community, belonging, and difference using case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Special attention paid to how contemporary economic and political changes impact the ways people think about and belong to communities. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life¿s Meanings
CAS AN 252S
Ethnicity and Identity
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores anthropological approaches to community, belonging, and difference using case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Special attention paid to how contemporary economic and political changes impact the ways people think about and belong to communities. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life¿s Meanings.
CAS AN 311
Culture and Biotech: Beyond the Nature/Culture Divide
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - The class explores some biotechnological innovations and the cultural variability around the ethical dilemmas those innovations provoke. It asks what this variability might mean for thinking about the supposedly fixed dichotomy between “nature” and “culture”? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Ethical Reasoning, Writing-Intensive Course. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS AN 461
Ethnography and Anthropological Theory 1
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior or senior standing in the major. Required of majors. - Examines foundational social scientific and anthropological theories and methods from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Discussion focuses on precursors to contemporary anthropological thought, including historical materialist, evolutionist, functionalist, structuralist, symbolic, and culture-and-personality theories and approaches. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS AN 553
Human Uniqueness
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASAN102) or consent of instructor. - Language, labor, culture, self-awareness, symbolizing, and other traits have been called uniquely human. But if these things have no animal antecedents, how could they have evolved' Course participants examine this "continuity paradox" and its proposed solutions from Darwin onward. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS AN 558
The Evolutionary Biology of Human Sex Differences
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Are sex and gender instantiated in the body' This seminar explores evolutionary approaches to investigating sex differences in human behavior and physiology from phylogenetic, mechanistic, and developmental perspectives. Topics include gender expression, non-binary sex/gender, aggression, mate choice, cognition, and more. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS AN 562
The Origins of War
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry II Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 or equivalent) - Did humans evolve to have war' Is war in human nature' We explore the foundations of war through reviewing studies of non-human animals and hunter- gatherers. Focus is on understanding how and why war evolved. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry II.
CAS BI 119
Sociobiology
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
Designed for non-science majors to fulfill natural science divisional requirements. The evolution of animal and human societies; the adaptive significance of social organization; altruism; cooperation; courtship and reproductive behavior; the genetics, development, and epigenetics of social behavior; human social evolution; evolutionary psychology; religion; impact of evolutionary theory on social thought. Three hours lecture plus discussion. Carries natural science divisional credit (without lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS BI 225
Behavioral Biology
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Prerequisites: CASBI 107 & CASBI 108 and First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120), and sophomore standing. - (Other students must fill out the waitlist - link in Notes. CASBI 225 and CASBI 407 cannot be taken concurrently and CASBI 225 cannot be taken following completion of CASBI 407.) Introduction to the genetics, physiology, neurobiology, ecology, and evolution of behavior. Topics include gene/environment interaction, hormones and behavior, neuroethology, communication, reproductive behavior, evolution of cooperation and altruism, cognition and brain evolution. Emphasis on integrative analysis. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS BI 407
Animal Behavior
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASBI107) or equivalent. - Ethological approach to animal behavior; physiological, ontogenic, and phylogenic causes; and adaptive significance of behavior examined within an evolutionary framework, minimally including humans. Three hours lecture, three hours lab. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS BI 407S
Animal Behavior
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASBI107) or equivalent. - Ethological approach to animal behavior; physiological, ontogenic, and phylogenic causes; and adaptive significance of behavior examined within an evolutionary framework, minimally including humans. Students must register for two sections: lecture and laboratory. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS BI 423
Marine Biogeochemistry
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASCH 101 and CASCH 102 or BUMP semester and CASEE 144, or consent of instructor. - Oceanic nutrient and biogeochemical cycling in the context of the marine response to global change. Links between local and global scales are emphasized. Topics include oceanic productivity, iron limitation, oceanic glacial carbon dioxide budget, biogenic particle fluxes, oceanic glacial-interglacial biogeochemistry. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS BI 607
Animal Behavior
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Ethological approach to animal behavior. Physiological, ontogenic, and phylogenic causes and adaptive significance of behavior are examined within an evolutionary framework, minimally including humans. Three hours lecture, three hours laboratory. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS BI 607S
Animal Behavior
4 credits. Summer
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Prereq: (CAS BI 107) or equivalent. Ethological approach to animal behavior; physiological, ontogenic, and phylogenic causes; and adaptive significance of behavior examined within an evolutionary framework, minimally including humans. Students must register for two sections: lecture and laboratory. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS CC 202
Core Humanities 4: Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Modernity
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CAS CC 101 or WR 120). - IIn this fourth semester of Core humanities, we explore works of philosophy and literature that interrogate Enlightenment and Romantic ideals of social hierarchy, what it means to know, the relations of subjectivity to reason, and how freedom can be found. Works by Voltaire, Kant, Austen, Shelley, the English Romantic Poets, Beethoven, Goethe, Whitman, Dickinson, and Douglass are included. We cross the threshold of the twentieth century with drama by Chekhov, the perspectivism of Nietzsche, and a critique of inequality by W.E.B. Du Bois. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Writing- Intensive Course..
CAS CC 222
"Unmaking" the Modern World: the Psychology, Politics, and Economics of the Self
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CAS CC 101 or WR 120). - Confronting the legacy of Enlightenment philosophy in the modern era, students encounter the postmodern psychological, political, and economic theories that expose the paradoxes behind freedom and individual rights ideologies framing slavery, colonialism, ethno-nationalism, capitalist exploitation, sexism, and institutional racism. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
CAS CI 263
Philosophy and Film
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This class provides an introduction philosophical and aesthetic issues connected with film. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
CAS CI 369
Greek Tragedy and Film
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores Greek tragic myth's afterlife, both directly and obliquely, in cinema and in the modern literature spawning cinema: how certain Greek tragic myths have come to life as film and how "non-mythic" stories have acquired a mythic power in literary and cinematic form. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
CAS CI 512
Film and Media Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-year writing seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120) and CASCI 101, CASCI 102, CASCI 200, or COMFT 250. - Introduction to film and media theory as a mode of inquiry. What happens when we render the world as an image? How do cinematic images differ from other forms of image-making? What does it mean to be a spectator? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS CL 101
The World of Greece
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
The literature, philosophy, art, and culture of ancient Greece and their impact on later cultures. Topics covered include the emergence of epic poetry; art and lyric in the Archaic Age; drama, architecture, philosophy, and political developments of classical Athens and Greece. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS CL 101S
The World of Greece
4 credits. Summer
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
The literature, philosophy, art, and culture of ancient Greece. Topics covered include the emergence of epic poetry; art and lyric in the Archaic Age; drama, architecture, philosophy, and political developments of classical Athens and Greece. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS CL 121
What Is a Good Life' Ancient Wisdom and Modern Insights
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Close examination of literary and philosophical texts from the ancient world and modern psychology that address the question of what constitutes a good life. Themes include: selfhood and the pursuit of happiness, individualism and communities, love, and health. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS CL 121S
What is a Good Life' Ancient Wisdom and Modern Insights
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Close examination of literary and philosophical texts from the ancient world and modern psychology that address the question of what constitutes a good life. Themes include selfhood and the pursuit of happiness, individualism and communities, love, and health. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS CL 213
Greek and Roman Mythology
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A general introduction to the myths of the ancient classical world, with particular regard to the patterns of experience, both religious and psychological, from which they evolved. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2019, this course carries a single unit in each of the following areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Historical Consciousness.
CAS CL 213S
Greek and Roman Mythology
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A general introduction to the myths of the ancient classical world, with particular regard to the patterns of experience, both religious and psychological, from which they evolved. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Historical Consciousness.
CAS CL 227
Rome and the Chinese World
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explore the cultural and intellectual worlds of ancient Rome and ancient East Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), comparing world views, ethical values, political dynamics, and social functions of literature in these great Eurasian civilizations. Includes creative and performative assignments. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS CL 303
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCL102 OR CASCL322) or consent of instructor. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - The causes and consequences of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Topics include Romans and barbarians; the rise and spread of Christianity; Constantine the Great; the death of classic paganism; theories of decline; the grand strategy of the Roman Empire; monasticism; the emergence of Byzantium and Constantinople; the origins of Islam; and the transformation of classical art, literature, and thought and their influence on Christianity. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS CL 325
Greek Tragedy and Film
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores Greek tragic myth's afterlife, both directly and obliquely, in cinema and in the modern literature spawning cinema: how certain Greek tragic myths have come to life as film and how "non-mythic" stories have acquired a mythic power in literary and cinematic form. All texts in translation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS CL 325S
Greek Tragedy and Film
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores Greek tragic myth's afterlife, both directly and obliquely, in cinema and in the modern literature spawning cinema: how certain Greek tragic myths have come to life as film and how "non-mythic" stories have acquired a mythic power in literary and cinematic form. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
CAS EE 423
Marine Biogeochemistry
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASCH 101 and 102, admission to BUMP or CASEE 144, or consent of instructor. - Oceanic nutrient and biogeochemical cycling in the context of the marine response to global change. Links between local and global scales are emphasized. Topics include oceanic productivity, iron limitation, oceanic glacial carbon dioxide budget, biogenic particle fluxes, oceanic glacial- interglacial biogeochemistry. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry II, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS EE 509
Applied Environmental Statistics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: Introductory statistics (CAS MA 115/116 or MA 213/124 or equivalent), Calculus I (CAS MA 121 or CAS MA 123 or equivalent), and First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120. - Survey of modern probability-based statistical methods in environmental science. Core concepts in likelihood and Bayesian approaches are used to address spatial, time-series, and latent variable models and non-Gaussian, non-linear, heterogeneous, and missing data. Project-based course focused on applications to data. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course.
CAS EN 145
Introduction to Performance
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Investigates the many forms performance might take, from live art in a visual art context, experimental theatre, poetry readings, video, or audio work in 20th and 21st century creative practice. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings (PLM), Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 145E
Introduction to Performance
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Investigates the many forms performance might take, from live art in a visual art context, experimental theatre, poetry readings, video, or audio work in 20th and 21st century creative practice. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings (PLM), Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 145S
Introduction to Performance
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Investigates the many forms performance might take, from live art in a visual art context, experimental theatre, poetry readings, video, to audio work in 20th- and 21st- century creative practice. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings (PLM), Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 160
Big Novels, Big Ideas
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
How do big famous novels explore philosophical ideas about knowledge, selfhood, nature, community' Are fiction and philosophy partners or rivals' Novels may include Moby Dick, Middlemarch, Invisible Man, Infinite Jest, read alongside Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche, Du Bois, Sartre, and others. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
CAS EN 162
The Ethics of Art
4 credits. Fall and Spring
Does art make you good' How does it shape our values and sense of justice' Ancient thinkers (Plato, Horace) and modern theorists (Wollstonecraft, Wilde), followed by contemporary case studies. Topics may include propaganda, body aesthetics, animals, disability, pornography, graffiti, censorship. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning.
CAS EN 195
Literature and Ideas
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
How does literature relate to philosophy' How do poems and stories explore philosophical beliefs' Readings may include novels, epics, dialogues, sermons, theoretical treatises, and poetry, all engaging with broad questions about meaning, selfhood, divinity, politics, community, value. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS EN 215
Global Modernist Fiction
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A comparative study of five modernist authors from different world cultures: Faulkner, Kafka, Chang, Rushdie, and Murakami. Examines experiments in narrative technique as differently situated responses to the major events and legacy of the twentieth century. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS EN 404
History of Literary Criticism I
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - A historical survey of western literary-critical standards from the earliest surviving formulations in classical Athens to the dawn of the twentieth century. Writers include Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Augustine, Dante, Sidney, Hume, Wordsworth, Marx, Nietzsche. 4 cr. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS EN 406
History of Literary Criticism II
4 credits. Fall and Spring
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Survey of recent literary critical theory. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS EN 437
Thinking with Animals
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - In literary texts, animals appear as tricksters, clueless victims, predatory men, eloquent captives, and heroic matriarchs. This course analyzes narratives about animals in Anglo-American philosophy, science, and literature. Human myths about animals and the supremacy of the human are central to beliefs about race, gender, and private property. Focuses on animals as food, embodied mindedness, environmental justice, and ecological thinking. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS EN 452
Asian American Studies: Theory and Methods
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A brief overview of the theories and methods of Asian American studies, reading theory, literature, history, culture, sociology, and legal study to define a mode of inquiry and action inspired by a legacy of activism and survival from the Asian diaspora. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS EN 481
Performative Text and Design
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Intersections of text, design, performance, publishing, and activism. Examinations of techniques, forms, media, and theoretical ideas--asking about the political potential of such practices. Students develop an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about the form a text might take as a spatial appearance (page or environment), through materials (costume, flags) or how it might be used as a performative object. Themes include: labour, liveness and documentation, ephemeral vs. permanent, alternative publishing, activist archiving. Lectures, project based, field trips, and studio visits. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 482
Critical Studies in Modern Literature
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Topic varies. Past topics include Global Literature, Approaches to the Postmodern novel, etc. Please see English Department's website or contact instructor for current topic. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS EN 490
The Gothic, Identity, and the Human
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Readings in dark narratives from Mary Shelley through Toni Morrison in tandem with humanistic theory concerning identity (mind, self, agency), the character of the human (particularly in relation to the animal), hierarchies of value, and the character of evil. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS EN 493
Critical Studies in Literature and The Arts
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - This course examines translational practices in art, writing, and performance, considering translation between languages, genres, discourses, and media--asking about the political potentials or pitfalls along the way. Includes creative exercises and concludes with the collaborative publication of a zine. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 497
Critical Studies in Literature and Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous literature courses or junior or senior standing. - Truth, beauty, reason, emotion, interpretation, justice, meaning--this course reads literature from specific philosophical perspectives, and understands philosophical texts using literary methods. It also examines historical, theoretical, and aesthetic relationships between literature and philosophy. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS EN 539
Marxist Cultural Criticism
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to Marxist cultural criticism that examines the transformation of concepts in classic Marxism (Marx, Lukacs, Althusser, Adorno, and Gramsci) into contemporary debates about race, gender, sexuality, colonialism, modernity, and language (Said, Zizek, Spivak, and others). Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS EN 558
Feminist Killjoys & Cynical Queers: Intersectional Theories of Affect
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
Prerequisite: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). - This class examines the affective turn, which has been marked by a shift towards bodily sensation, structures of feeling, and modes of relationality. We pay particular attention to cultural constructions of emotion such as happiness, shame, anger, and fear. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU HUB areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy, Writing Intensive.
CAS EN 569
Film and Media Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-year writing seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120) and CASCI 101, CASCI 102, CASCI 200, or COMFT 250. - Introduction to film and media theory as a mode of inquiry. What happens when we render the world as an image' How do cinematic images differ from other forms of image-making' What does it mean to be a spectator' Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS EN 604
History of Literary Criticism 1
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - A historical survey of western literary-critical standards from the earliest surviving formulations in classical Athens to the dawn of the twentieth century. Writers include Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Augustine, Dante, Sidney, Hume, Wordsworth, Marx, Nietzsche. 4 cr. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS EN 606
History of Literary Criticism II
4 credits. Fall and Spring
Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - Survey of literary critical perspectives and trends in humanistic theory relevant to literary interpretation from the middle of the twentieth century onward, including formalism, structuralism, post-structuralism, gender studies, new historicism, and post-colonial studies. Frequent writing assignments of various lengths. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS EN 637
Thinking with Animals
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
In literary texts, animals appear as tricksters, clueless victims, predatory men, eloquent captives, and heroic matriarchs. This course analyzes narratives about animals in Anglo-American philosophy, science, and literature. Human myths about animals and the supremacy of the human are central to beliefs about race, gender, and private property. Focuses on animals as food, embodied mindedness, environmental justice, and ecological thinking. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS EN 652
Asian American Studies: Theory and Methods
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing. - A brief overview of the theories and methods of Asian American studies, reading theory, literature, history, culture, sociology, and legal study to define a mode of inquiry and action inspired by a legacy of activism and survival from the Asian diaspora. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS EN 681
Performative Text and Design
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Graduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing. - Intersections of text, design, performance, publishing, and activism. Examinations of techniques, forms, media, and theoretical ideas--asking about the political potential of such practices. Students develop an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about the form a text might take as a spatial appearance (page or environment), through materials (costume, flags) or how it might be used as a performative object. Themes include: labour, liveness and documentation, ephemeral vs. permanent, alternative publishing, activist archiving. Lectures, project based, field trips, and studio visits. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 682
Critical Studies in Modern Literature
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Graduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing. - Introduction to philosophical and historical approaches to the study of global literature outside Europe and North America. Themes addressed include individual and social development, historical reflection, cosmopolitanism, nationalism, cultural identity, the impact of socio- economic forces Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings and Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS EN 693
Critical Studies in Literature and the Arts
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Graduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing. - This course examines translational practices in art, writing, and performance, considering translation between languages, genres, discourses, and media--asking about the political potentials or pitfalls along the way. Includes creative exercises and concludes with the collaborative publication of a zine. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS EN 697
Critical Studies in Literature and Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing. - Truth, beauty, reason, emotion, interpretation, justice, meaning--this course reads literature from specific philosophical perspectives, and understands philosophical texts using literary methods. It also examines historical, theoretical, and aesthetic relationships between literature and philosophy. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS HI 203
Magic, Science, and Religion
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Boundaries and relationships between magic, science, and religion in Europe from antiquity through the Enlightenment. Explores global cultural exchange, distinctions across social, educational, gender, and religious lines, the rise of modern science, and changing assumptions about God, Nature, and humanity. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS HI 215
The European Enlightenment
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
How Europe became modern. The rise of science, critique of religion, and struggle for rights. The public sphere emerges: newspapers, Freemasons, coffee, salons, smut. The invention of a cosmopolitan republic of letters; Voltaire, Diderot, Kant, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS HI 215S
The European Enlightenment
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
How Europe became modern. The rise of science, critique of religion, and struggle for rights. The public sphere emerges: newspapers, Freemasons, coffee, salons, smut. The invention of a cosmopolitan republic of letters: Voltaire, Diderot, Kant, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS HI 515
Meaning, Memory, and History
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing. - Explores central issues in the philosophy of history, from Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche to Collingwood, Popper, and Danto. Topics include: is history a science' If so, what kind' How does it differ from tradition and memory' Does it have a meaning' Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS JS 348
Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar; and one course from among the following: P hilosophy, Religion, Core Curriculum (CC101 and/or CC102) - A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS LC 261
S24: Chinese Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A historical survey of Chinese religions from the ancient period to modern times. Covers cosmology, divination, philosophy, divine kingship, ancestors, art, the Silk Road, death and afterlives, popular deities, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS LF 483
Topics in Literature and Politics: Revolution, Power, Culture
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Close interpretive, critical, and theoretical study of philosophical questions posed by selected works of literature [and related arts] with emphasis on the political. Themes such as vengeance, justice, and injustice; political theatre / theatre of politics; representations of war; exile and imprisonment as the scene of writing; cross-fertilization between law, diplomacy, and narrative; or transgression and invention. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS LF 683
Topics in Literature and Politics: Revolution, Power, Culture
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Close interpretive, critical, and theoretical study of philosophical questions posed by selected works of literature [and related arts] with emphasis on the political. Themes such as vengeance, justice, and injustice; political theatre / theatre of politics; representations of war; exile and imprisonment as the scene of writing; cross-fertilization between law, diplomacy, and narrative; or transgression and invention. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS LJ 261
Rome and the Chinese World
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explore the cultural and intellectual worlds of ancient Rome and ancient East Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), comparing world views, ethical values, political dynamics, and social functions of literature in these great Eurasian civilizations. Includes creative and performative assignments. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS LJ 480
Japanese Women Writers
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLJ350) - Classic texts by Japanese women, including the "Tale of Genji" and "The Pillow Book," and their modern legacy, read alongside important philosophical and theoretical texts in queer and feminist thought. Lectures and texts in English. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS LJ 680
Japanese Women Writers
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Classic texts by Japanese women, including the "Tale of Genji" and "The Pillow Book," and their modern legacy, read alongside important philosophical and theoretical texts in queer and feminist thought. Lectures and texts in English. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS LK 261
Rome and the Chinese World
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explore the cultural and intellectual worlds of ancient Rome and ancient East Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), comparing world views, ethical values, political dynamics, and social functions of literature in these great Eurasian civilizations. Includes creative and performative assignments. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS LR 280
Dostoevsky (in English translation)
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Dostoevsky's evolution as novelist and philosopher. Explore major novels, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and Demons, within cultural and political contexts; consider the significance of literary innovations and meditations on questions of morality, personality, freedom, health, justice, and evil. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS LR 281
Tolstoy (in English translation)
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Tolstoy's evolution as novelist and moral philosopher. Explore major works, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina, within cultural and political contexts; consider the significance of literary innovations and meditations on questions of morality, death, freedom, justice, meaning, and happiness. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS LR 288
Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Close, careful study of Dostoevsky's masterpiece, with eye to historical, philosophical, theological, cultural, and literary significance; explores Dostoevsky's reinvention of the novel alongside questions of morality, justice, modernity, community, personality, and the meaning of life. Taught in English. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration.
CAS LR 355
Chekhov: The Stories and Plays (in English translation)
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
Explores Chekhov's major plays and a wide selection from his prose (in English translation); studies the arc of his career, his aesthetic innovations, moral psychology, philosophical perspective. Includes practicum in which students produce a play composed of scenes from Chekhov. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CAS LY 284
War in Arab Literature and Film (in English translation)
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
How do Arab writers and filmmakers depict the region’s defining wars? Comparison to nonfiction and to artworks by Israeli and American artists from the "other side." All readings in English; knowledge of Arabic or Middle Eastern history is welcome, but none is assumed. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS LY 284S
War in Arab Literature and Film
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Studies how Arab writers and filmmakers depict the wars that have shaped the region (1948, 1967, Lebanese Civil, Iran-Iraq, Iraq, Syria, "war on terror"). Also considers writers from the "other side" of those wars (Israeli, Iranian, American, etc.). Readings in English. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS MA 531
Mathematical Logic
4 credits. Fall
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASMA293) or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: (CASMA293) or consent of instructor. - The investigation of logical reasoning with mathematical methods. The syntax and semantics of sentential logic and quantificational logic. The unifying Godel Completeness Theorem, and models of theories. A look at the Godel Incompleteness Theorem and its ramifications. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS NE 490
NeuroDiversity
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASNE 102, NE 202, NE 203, NE 212 and NE major; and junior or senior standing. Explore psychological disorders through a neurodiversity lens, engaging with case studies, films, and neuroscience research. This course offers tailored learning pathways, ensuring inclusive, meaningful engagement, and fostering deep understanding of neurodiversity, diagnosis, and treatment across diverse academic interests and careers. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Creativity/Innovation, Digital Multimedia Expression, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 100
Introduction to Philosophy
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Introduces the nature of philosophical activity through careful study of major philosophical topics. Topics may include the nature of reality, knowledge, God's existence, and the significance of human life.Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking and Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meaning. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 100S
Introduction to Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Introduces the nature of philosophical activity through careful study of major philosophical topics. Topics may include the nature of reality, knowledge, God's existence, and the significance of human life. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 110
Great Philosophers
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to philosophy through a reading of great figures in western thought. The list may include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Roussesau, Nietzsche, Russell. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 110S
Great Philosophers
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to philosophy through a reading of great figures in western thought. The list may include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Russell. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
CAS PH 150
Introduction to Ethics
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This course focuses on a set of interrelated questions about morality: What is morality? How should I live? What does morality require of us in our daily lives, if it requires anything at all? Are there any universal moral truths? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 150S
Introduction to Ethics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This course focuses on a set of interrelated questions about morality: What is morality? How should I live? What does morality require of us in our daily lives, if it requires anything at all? Are there any universal moral truths? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 155
Politics and Philosophy
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
What is justice' What are the foundations of property rights, liberty, and equality' Are anarchism and utopianism defensible' This course is an introduction to major themes and questions in political philosophy. It includes a study of classical and modern texts, as well as contemporary political issues. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 155S
Politics and Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Online offering. What is justice' What are the foundations of property rights, liberty, and equality' Are anarchism and utopianism defensible' This course is an introduction to major themes and questions in political philosophy. It includes a study of classical and modern texts, as well as contemporary political issues. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 159
Philosophy and Film
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This class provides an introduction philosophical and aesthetic issues connected with film. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 160
Reasoning and Argumentation
4 credits. Fall and Spring
Knowing how to think, reason, and argue well is essential for success in all disciplines and in everyday life. This course aims to strengthen your critical thinking skills, ability to recognize fallacies, and understanding of the basics of scientific reasoning. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 160S
Reasoning and Argumentation
4 credits.
Knowing how to think, reason, and argue well is essential for success in all disciplines and in everyday life. This course aims to strengthen your critical thinking skills, ability to recognize fallacies, and understanding of the basics of scientific reasoning. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 242
Philosophy of Human Nature
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Examines the way in which Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud undermine traditional conceptions of human nature. These thinkers teach us to question our ordinary assumptions about religion, human distinctiveness, the conscious mind, the role and status of morality, and the uplifting effects of civilization. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 245
The Quest for God and the Good
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Prerequisite: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or WR 120) - An interactive seminar, investigating the meaning and purpose of human life, the significance of God or an Absolute, the role of contemplation and action in the spiritual quest, relationships between philosophy and religious thought, East and West. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 246
Indian Philosophy
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - This course introduces traditions of philosophical thought from the Indian subcontinent, including Buddhist and other traditions, from Vedic (ancient) times to the present day. Key topics may include the causes of suffering, the nature of the self, and others. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 247
Introduction to Chinese Philosophy
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Is human nature fundamentally good or fundamentally bad' How can we best achieve an enduring social order' What is the shape of a life well lived' This class examines such questions in the context of the classical period in Chinese philosophy, focusing on (1) Kongzi (Confucius), (2) Mozi, (3) Mengzi (Mencius), (4) Zhuangzi, and (5) Xunzi. A primary goal of the course is to expose students to the richness, vitality, and plurality of the philosophical scene in ancient China. Topics discussed include moral virtue, music, education, and the ethics of war. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 247S
Introduction to Chinese Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to the Chinese philosophical tradition, including a study of classical Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, and modern developments. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
CAS PH 248
Existentialism
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - This course examines how existentialist thinkers grappled with some of the most problematic aspects of the human condition. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 248S
Existentialism
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - Examines how existentialist thinkers grappled with some of the most problematic aspects of the human condition. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 251
Medical Ethics
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - This course will survey ethical issues that arise in connection with medicine and emerging biotechnologies. It will examine topics such as the right to healthcare, research on human subjects, euthanasia, abortion, cloning, genetic selection, disabilities, and the biomedical enhancement of human capacities. Students can expect to gain not only training in the concepts and methods of moral philosophy and the logic of argumentation, but also the resources needed for assessing ethically difficult questions that healthcare professionals routinely face. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 251E
Medical Ethics
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - Examination of a number of value problems arising within the context of medicine and health care. Particular ethical problems of euthanasia, abortion, human experimentation, reproduction, and allocation of scarce resources; critiques of contemporary medicine as an institution.
CAS PH 251S
Medical Ethics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - Surveys ethical issues that arise in connection with medicine and emerging biotechnologies. Examines topics such as the right to healthcare, research on human subjects, euthanasia, abortion, cloning, genetic selection, disabilities, and the biomedical enhancement of human capacities. Students can expect to gain not only training in the concepts and methods of moral philosophy and the logic of argumentation, but also the resources needed for assessing ethically difficult questions that healthcare professionals routinely face. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 253
Social Philosophy
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: at least sophomore standing or any 100-level philosophy course. - Through a reading of some selected texts we will examine modern and contemporary theories of society, concerning its nature and the direction of its evolution. The philosophical and sociological discussions are framed in terms of the complicated relationship between individuals and society, and between civil society and the sovereign power. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 256
Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This course analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. We focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 256S
Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explores philosophical questions that arise about gender and sexuality. What is sexism' What is oppression' What is the relationship between sexism and other forms of oppression' What is the correct response to sexism and oppression' How many sexes are there' How many genders' What is sexual orientation' What is sexual perversion' What are sexual ethics, including questions about the value and status of monogamy, polyamory, promiscuity, and adultery' What is the moral status of practices such as sex work and pornography' Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 259
Philosophy of the Arts
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - What makes something beautiful' How do different arts (music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, film, drama) relate to our aesthetic experience of the world' Explores several philosophical theories of art through specific examples of artwork. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 261
Puzzles and Paradoxes
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Quantitative Reasoning I
Some of our most basic beliefs, when scrutinized, lead to absurd conclusions. For example, using only beliefs that seem uncontroversial, we can conclude that motion is impossible, that everyone is bald, and it is impossible to give a surprise exam. Carefully scrutinizing the reasoning that leads to these absurdities often yields substantial philosophical insight. In this course, we will examine a number of such puzzles and paradoxes in detail. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 266
Mind, Brain, and Self
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - This course is devoted to exploring the relationships among consciousness, the mind, and the brain, the nature of the self or person, and other related topics. This course will also examine whether and to what extent these issues can be addressed by contemporary natural science. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 266S
Mind, Brain, and Self
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - This course is devoted to exploring the relationships among consciousness, the mind, and the brain, the nature of the self or person, and other related topics. This course will also examine whether and to what extent these issues can be addressed by contemporary natural science. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Writing-Intensive Course, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 310
History of Modern Philosophy
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - An examination of seventeenth- and eighteenth century philosophy from Descartes to Kant, with emphasis on the nature and extent of knowledge, the relation of mind to body, the nature of personal identity, the problem of free will, and the problem of evil. Readings from Rene Descartes, Princess Elizabeth, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Benedict Spinoza, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS PH 310S
History of Modern Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - An examination of seventeenth- and eighteenth century philosophy from Descartes to Kant, with emphasis on the nature and extent of knowledge, the relation of mind to body, the nature of personal identity, the problem of free will, and the problem of evil. Readings from Rene Descartes, Princess Elizabeth, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Benedict Spinoza, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy.
CAS PH 340
Metaphysics and Epistemology
4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH160) or consent of instructor. - This course is about metaphysics (the study of what there is, and how it all relates) and epistemology (the study of knowledge, and how we can know things about the world) and their intersection. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 350
History of Ethics
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - Are there fundamental principles for determining the right way to act ethically' How do different eras answer this question' What is the significance of these differences' This course addresses these questions by examining classical ethical texts from different historical traditions. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 350S
History of Ethics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - A critical and comparative examination of the ideas of representative moral philosophers, including Plato, Kant, and John Dewey.
CAS PH 360
Symbolic Logic
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Quantitative Reasoning I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: one philosophy course or sophomore standing. - A survey of the concepts and principles of symbolic logic: valid and invalid arguments, logical relations of statements and their basis in structural features of statements, analysis of the logical structure of complex statements of ordinary discourse, and the use of a symbolic language to display logical structure and to facilitate methods for assessing the logical structure of arguments. We cover the analysis of reasoning with truth-functions ("and", "or", "not", "if ... then") and with quantifiers ("all", "some"), attending to formal languages and axiomatic systems for logical deduction. Throughout, we aim to clearly and systematically display both the theory underlying the norms of valid reasoning and their applications to particular problems of argumentation. The course is an introduction to first-order quantificational logic, a key tool underlying work in foundations of mathematics, philosophy of language and mind, philosophy of science and parts of syntax and semantics. It is largely mathematical and formal in character, but lectures situate these structures within the context of questions raised in contemporary philosophy of language and mind. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 409
Maimonides
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH300) - A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Also offered as CAS RN 420. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
CAS PH 415
Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASPH 310 and one other philosophy course. - A survey of nineteenth-century European philosophy, focused on G.W.F. Hegel and the critical reception of his work by Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Marx. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 419
Nietzsche
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASPH 310 and two other philosophy courses, or consent of instructor. - This course responds to the current moment in American political culture by exploring why we're so polarized and how knowledge and ignorance are shaped by social organization and psychology. The course begins by studying theories of misinformation, echo chambers, tribalism, and populism (including Trumpism) before entering into debates about politically contentious topics such as trans rights, immigration, and policing.
CAS PH 426
Phenomenology
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor.. First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and others. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 427
Heidegger and Existential Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two philosophy courses. - This course critically examines what, in the case of human beings, it means to be, based upon Heidegger's "existential" posing of this question in his early, but unfinished work, Being and Time. Effective Spring 2026, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy, The Individual in Community.
CAS PH 446
Philosophy of Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH300 & CASPH310) - Critical investigation of the limits of human knowledge and the theoretical and practical demands for meaning attached to notions of God, providence, immortality, and other metaphysical conditions of human thriving, from Plato to modern philosophies of religion. Effective Spring 2022 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 453
Classical to Early Modern Political Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPH350) - Focuses on philosophical subjects relevant to ethics and politics, such as virtue and happiness; human nature and reason; qualifications of leadership; aims and means of civic education; and conceptions of law (man-made, natural, divine). Texts by Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 454
Community, Liberty, and Morality
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: and two other philosophy courses, or consent of instructor. - This course studies the relationship between liberalism and fascism, framed in light of the Foucauldian concept of “politics as war by other means.” What is power and how is it related to politics? What is fascism and when does a state count as becoming fascist? Liberalism vs. neoliberalism; ideal theory vs. non-ideal theory; freedom, rights, equality, democracy—what are they and what does it take to ensure they exist in the future? Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 456
Topics in Philosophy and Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Topic for Fall 2024: Why are we here' Alongside philosophers and religious thinkers, this course explores different versions of this question. Why are we here reading and talking' Why are we at BU' Why are we here at all' Does life have some meaning' Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 461
Mathematical Logic
4 credits. Fall and Spring
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASMA293) or consent of instructor. - The investigation of logical reasoning with mathematical methods. The syntax and semantics of sentential logic and quantificational logic. The unifying Godel Completeness Theorem, and models of theories. A look at the Godel Incompleteness Theorem and its ramifications. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 465
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry II
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASPH 310 and CASPH 360 and one other philosophy course; or consent of instructor. - This course focuses on the blurry boundaries between philosophical and scientific study of the mind. Philosophers sometimes appeal to findings from empirical psychology to support views in philosophy of mind and epistemology. To what sorts of philosophical debates are empirical findings about the mind relevant? To what extent should we allow these findings to constrain our philosophical theorizing? Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 470
Philosophy of Physics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
Undergraduate Prerequisites: two previous PH courses, or consent of instructor. - An introductory survey of fascinating problems in contemporary philosophy of physics. The basic ideas and main features of physical theories, which touch upon nature at its most fundamental level and interact most crucially with philosophy in general, are outlined, so that students will have a road map of the central problems in the field. Throughout, the driving theme is the entanglement of a radical revision in our conceptualization of the world (which is forced upon us by the changes in the physical picture of the world due to major developments in modern physics) with central philosophical. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 477
Philosophy of the Social Sciences
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry II
Topics in the philosophy of the social sciences such as the interpretation of human action and the objectivity of social inquiry. Social consideration of alternative theoretic viewpoints such as naturalism and interpretivism. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 493
Meaning, Memory, and History
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing. - Explores central issues in the philosophy of history, from Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche to Collingwood, Popper, and Danto. Topics include: is history a science' If so, what kind' How does it differ from tradition and memory' Does it have a meaning' Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 495
Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar; and one course from among the following: P hilosophy, Religion, Core Curriculum (CC101 and/or CC102) - A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 496
Topics in Religious Thought
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 120 or equivalent and one course from among the following: Religion, Philosophy, Core Curriculum (CASCC 101 and/or CC 102). - Topic for Spring 2025: Happiness, East and West. What is happiness' How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life' Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary studies on happiness and mindfulness. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 609
Maimonides
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Also offered as GRS RN 720. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
CAS PH 615
Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Course subtitle: "Constructing and Deconstructing Autonomy". We will ask: To what extent is a practical agent free or autonomous' We examine answers to these questions by figures such as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 619
Nietzsche
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An intensive study of Nietzsche's philosophical thought. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 626
Phenomenology
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and others. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Writing-Intensive Course, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 633
Symbolic Logic
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Quantitative Reasoning I
A survey of the concepts and principles of symbolic logic: valid and invalid arguments, logical relations of statements and their basis in structural features of statements, analysis of the logical structure of complex statements of ordinary discourse, and the use of a symbolic language to display logical structure and to facilitate methods for assessing the logical structure of arguments. We cover the analysis of reasoning with truth-functions. Effective Spring 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 646
Philosophy of Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry I
Critical investigation of the limits of human knowledge and the theoretical and practical demands for meaning attached to notions of God, providence, immortality, and other metaphysical conditions of human thriving, from Plato to modern philosophies of religion. Effective Spring 2022 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 656
Topics in Philosophy and Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Topic for Fall 2024: Why are we here' Alongside philosophers and religious thinkers, this course explores different versions of this question. Why are we here reading and talking' Why are we at BU' Why are we here at all' Does life have some meaning' Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 661
Mathematical Logic
4 credits. Fall and Spring
The investigation of logical reasoning with mathematical methods. The syntax and semantics of sentential logic and quantificational logic. The unifying Godel Completeness Theorem, and models of theories. A look at the Godel Incompleteness Theorem and its ramifications. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PH 665
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry II
We'll read important scientific work in evolutionary theory, psychology, etc. about human cognition. We'll then explore its philosophical implications. For example, we'll use research in cognitive science to think about whether humans are irremediably tribal and sectarian. Scientific Inquiry I and Social Inquiry I are both prerequisites for this course. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 670
Philosophy of Physics
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
An introductory survey of fascinating problems in contemporary philosophy of physics. The basic ideas and main features of physical theories, which touch upon nature at its most fundamental level and interact most crucially with philosophy in general, are outlined, so that students will have a road map of the central problems in the field. Throughout, the driving theme is the entanglement of a radical revision in our conceptualization of the world (which is forced upon us by the changes in the physical picture of the world due to major developments in modern physics) with central philosophical. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 677
Philosophy of the Social Sciences
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry II
Topics in the philosophy of the social sciences such as the interpretation of human action and the objectivity of social inquiry. Social consideration of alternative theoretic viewpoints such as naturalism and interpretivism. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
CAS PH 695
JUD/ISLAM PHIL
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
JUD/ISLAM PHIL
CAS PO 191
Introduction to Political Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate core course. Fundamental questions of political life are addressed by analyzing works of political philosophy. Historical and contemporary events and issues illustrate and complicate analysis of conceptions of authority, justice, liberty, and equality. Many definitions of government, law, and rights are considered. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 191S
Introduction to Political Theory
4 credits. Summer
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Major works of political philosophy are considered to address fundamental questions of political life. Looks at different conceptions of authority, justice, liberty, and equality, including how they justify and define government, law, and rights and how they pertain to current issues. Carries social science divisional credit in CAS.
CAS PO 223E
ISS CONTMP POL
4 credits. Fall, Spring, Summer
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: enrollment in London Internship Program. - ISS CONTMP POL
CAS PO 303
It's a Free Country: Civil Liberties in America
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An accessible introduction to American civil liberties. Students will read a sampling of key Supreme Court cases about issues including speech, religion, privacy and equality. They will understand the key the debates, considerations, and decisions about old and new civil liberties challenges in the U.S. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 388
Justice in an Unjust World
4 credits. Fall
A search for justice is the origin story of political science. We seek to understand what it means to be just in contemporary politics, laws, workplaces, families, and across borders, among many other sites. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PO 391
Classical to Early Modern Political Theory
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Fundamental questions of ethics and politics are addressed by analyzing early works of political philosophy. Considers their various conceptions of: human nature and reason; qualifications of leadership; aims and means of civic education; and natural, human, and divine law. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 392
Modern Political Theory
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Fundamental questions of ethics and politics are addressed by analyzing works of political philosophy from the Enlightenment in the 17th century through the 20th century. Considers their various conceptions of human nature, the social contract, rights, government, justice, and revolution. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 393
The European Enlightenment
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Survey of the intellectual and social transformation of Europe from the 1680s to the French Revolution. Readings draw on both eighteenth-century sources (including Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Lessing, Smith, and Hume) and recent work by historians. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PO 393S
ENLIGHTENMENT
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
ENLIGHTENMENT
CAS PO 395
Domination/Liberation
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
In this political theory course, we examine dilemmas surrounding domination and liberation in political theory and practice. We will ask what liberation is, how diverse forms of domination obstruct it; and whether freedom can be sustained in a lasting way. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 395S
Domination/Liberation
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This political theory course examines dilemmas surrounding domination and liberation in political theory and practice. We ask what liberation is, how diverse forms of domination obstruct it, and whether freedom can be sustained in a lasting way. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 396
Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This course analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. We focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
CAS PO 574
Decolonization and Democracy in Africa
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Course looks at comparative legacies of colonialism, race, and decolonization in North and Sub-Saharan Africa and their implications for democracy and inequality today. Focus on incorporating African scholars and voices in addressing comparative social science questions. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PO 594
Advanced Feminist Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
This course explores themes in advanced feminist theory. Specific themes vary by semester. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS PO 596
Colonization/Decolonization
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Prerequisite: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - This seminar introduces you to the political, theoretical, and historical study of colonization and decolonization. Topics include various kinds of colonialism, such as settler colonialism, internal colonialism, and domestic colonialism, as well as debates over the contemporary call to decolonize. Effective Spring 2024: Writing-Intensive Course, Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS RN 100
Introduction to Religion
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Religion matters It makes meaning and provides structure to life, addressing fundamental questions about body, spirit, community, and time. But what is it' How does it work in our world' This course explores religion in ritual, philosophical, experiential, and ethical dimensions. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS RN 100S
Introduction to Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Religion matters It makes meaning and provides structure to life, addressing fundamental questions about body, spirit, community, and time. But what is it' How does it work in our world' This course explores religion in ritual, philosophical, experiential, and ethical dimensions. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS RN 106
Death and Immortality
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Examines death as religious traditions have attempted to accept, defeat, deny, or transcend it. Do we have souls' Do they reincarnate' What to do with a corpse' Other topics include mourning, burial, cremation, martyrdom, resurrection, near-death experiences. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS RN 106S
Death and Immortality
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Examines death as religious traditions have attempted to accept, defeat, deny, or transcend it. Do we have souls' Do they reincarnate' What to do with a corpse' Other topics include mourning, burial, cremation, martyrdom, resurrection, near-death experiences. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS RN 200
Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Religion
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS Religion major, or consent of instructor. - Origins and history of the academic study of religion. Different constructions of religion as an object of study and the methods that arise from them. The role of the humanities and social sciences in understanding religion's place in history and contemporary experience. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS RN 211
S24: Chinese Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A historical survey of Chinese religions from the ancient period to modern times. Covers cosmology, divination, philosophy, divine kingship, ancestors, art, the Silk Road, death and afterlives, popular deities, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS RN 213
Hinduism
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
The course will provide the student with the opportunity to study on an introductory level Hinduism, the majority religion of India and Nepal. It is structured for the student who has had little or no previous background in the study of Hinduism from either an anthropological perspective or from a literary and historical point of view. It will focus on the development of the Hindu textual tradition, the philosophy and mythology it expounds, and the ritual practices related to it. Emphasis will be placed on how Hindu traditions adapted to changing historical conditions. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS RN 214
Islam
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
The rise and spread of Islam from the seventh century to the present; introduction to its central beliefs, institutions, and practices, and its impact on the religious and cultural history of Asia and Africa. Continuity and change in the modern period. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CAS RN 242
Magic, Science, and Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Boundaries and relationships between magic, science, and religion in Europe from antiquity through the Enlightenment. Explores global cultural exchange, distinctions across social, educational, gender, and religious lines, the rise of modern science, and changing assumptions about God, nature, and humanity. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS RN 245
The Quest for God and the Good
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120), - An interactive seminar, investigating the meaning and purpose of human life, the significance of God or an Absolute, the role of contemplation and action in the spiritual quest, relationships between philosophy and religious thought, East and West. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy. Effective Fall 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS RN 246
S24: Sex, Death, and the Buddha
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
An exploration of various Buddhist understandings of the ideal human life. Topics examined include: karma and rebirth, nonviolence and war, human and animal rights, suicide and euthanasia, as well as abortion and contraception. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CAS RN 338
Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar; and one course from among the following: P hilosophy, Religion, Core Curriculum (CC101 and/or CC102) - A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS RN 364
Buddhist Literature
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
What do Buddhist texts seek to do, and how do they do it' How are Buddhist texts deployed to engender personal and social transformation' Focusing on works from Indian, Tibetan, and Euro-American Buddhist traditions, we will explore these questions through varied literary genre, including Pāli folktales, Sanskrit poetry. canonical discourses, autobiography and contemporary socially engaged Buddhist writings. Particular attention will be given to the shifting valuation of embodiment in varied Buddhist works. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CAS RN 396
Philosophy of Religion
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry I
Critical investigation of the limits of human knowledge and the theoretical and practical demands for meaning attached to notions of God, providence, immortality, and other metaphysical conditions of human thriving, from Plato to modern philosophies of religion. Effective Spring 2022 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS RN 397
Topics in Philosophy and Religion
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Topic for Fall 2024: Why are we here' Alongside philosophers and religious thinkers, this course explores different versions of this question. Why are we here reading and talking' Why are we at BU' Why are we here at all' Does life have some meaning' Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS RN 420
Maimonides
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Also offered as CAS PH 409. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
CAS RN 452
Topics in Religious Thought
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 120 or equivalent and one course from among the following: Religion, Philosophy, Core Curriculum (CASCC 101 and/or CC 102). - Topic for Spring 2025: Happiness, East and West. What is happiness' How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life' Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary studies on happiness and mindfulness. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS RN 638
Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS RN 664
Buddhist Literature
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
What do Buddhist texts seek to do, and how do they do it' How are Buddhist texts deployed to engender personal and social transformation' Focusing on works from Indian, Tibetan, and Euro-American Buddhist traditions, we will explore these questions through varied literary genre, including Pāli folktales, Sanskrit poetry. canonical discourses, autobiography and contemporary socially engaged Buddhist writings. Particular attention will be given to the shifting valuation of embodiment in varied Buddhist works. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CAS RN 695
Topics in Philosophy and Religion
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Social Inquiry I
PHIL RELIGION
CAS RN 697
Topics in Philosophy and Religion
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Topic for Fall 2023: Why are we here' Alongside philosophers and religious thinkers, this course explores different versions of this question. Why are we here reading and talking' Why are we at BU' Why are we here at all' Does life have some meaning' Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.Topic for Fall 2024: Why are we here' Alongside philosophers and religious thinkers, this course explores different versions of this question. Why are we here reading and talking' Why are we at BU' Why are we here at all' Does life have some meaning' Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS RN 720
Maimonides
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Oral and/or Signed Communication Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Oral and/or Signed Communication.
CAS RN 752
Topics in Religious Thought
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASWR 120 or equivalent and one course from among the following: Religion, Philosophy, Core Curriculum (CASCC 101 and/or CC 102). - Topic for Spring 2025: Happiness, East and West. What is happiness' How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life' Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary studies on happiness and mindfulness. Effective Spring 2023 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS WS 101
Gender and Sexuality: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
This course is the introduction to women's, gender, and sexuality studies, that considers the origins, diversity, and expression of sex and gender. Topics include the evolutionary origin of sexes; evolution, development, and social construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; sexual difference, similarities and diversity in gendered bodies, brains, and behavior. This interdisciplinary introduction is the foundation for the minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 396
Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. Focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 420
Queer Theory
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Surveys major texts and arguments in queer theory from Butler's Gender Trouble to contemporary discussions of cisnormativity, homonationalism, affect, pinkwashing, crip theory, and queer-of-color critique. Explores different uses of queer theory in legal debates, literary analysis, and cultural criticism. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 480
Japanese Women Writers
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Historical Consciousness Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Classic texts by Japanese women, including the "Tale of Genji" and "The Pillow Book," and their modern legacy, read alongside important philosophical and theoretical texts in queer and feminist thought. Lectures and texts in English. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS WS 559
Feminist Killjoys & Cynical Queers: Intersectional Theories of Affect
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Research and Information Literacy Writing-Intensive Course
Prerequisite: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CASWR 100 or 120). - This class examines the affective turn, which has been marked by a shift towards bodily sensation, structures of feeling, and modes of relationality. We pay particular attention to cultural constructions of emotion such as happiness, shame, anger, and fear. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU HUB areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Research and Information Literacy, Writing Intensive.
CAS WS 594
Advanced Feminist Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
This course explores themes in advanced feminist theory. Specific themes vary by semester. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS XL 261
Rome and the Chinese World
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Explore the cultural and intellectual worlds of ancient Rome and ancient East Asia (including China, Korea, and Japan), comparing world views, ethical values, political dynamics, and social functions of literature in these great Eurasian civilizations. Includes creative and performative assignments. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CAS XL 284
War in Arab Literature and Film (in English translation)
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
How do Arab writers and filmmakers depict the region’s defining wars? Comparison to nonfiction and to artworks by Israeli and American artists from the "other side." All readings in English; knowledge of Arabic or Middle Eastern history is welcome, but none is assumed. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CAS XL 325
Global Modernist Fiction
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A comparative study of five modernist authors from different world cultures: Faulkner, Kafka, Chang, Rushdie, and Murakami. Examines experiments in narrative technique as differently situated responses to the major events and legacy of the twentieth century. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS XL 420
Queer Theory
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Surveys major texts and arguments in queer theory from Butler's Gender Trouble to contemporary discussions of cisnormativity, homonationalism, affect, pinkwashing, crip theory, and queer-of-color critique. Explores different uses of queer theory in legal debates, literary analysis, and cultural criticism. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
CAS XL 525
Judith Butler
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Undergraduate prerequisites: two previous XL, WS, or PH courses; or consent of instructor. Graduate prerequisites: graduate standing. - An intensive study of Judith Butler's philosophical thought and social theory from the 1990s to the present, with an emphasis on the continuities and discontinuities between Butler's early work on gender performativity and more recent writings on racial justice, war, and violence. Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community .
CAS XL 530
Marxist Cultural Criticism
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to Marxist cultural criticism that examines the transformation of concepts in classic Marxism (Marx, Lukacs, Althusser, Adorno, and Gramsci) into contemporary debates about race, gender, sexuality, colonialism, modernity, and language (Said, Zizek, Spivak, and others). Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
College of Fine Arts
CFA AR 508
The Experimental Photograph
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
This course brings together the STEM disciplines with the art of photography through hands on experiments and explorations of neuroscience, engineering, and new media. From pinhole photography to 3D printing, students will gain skills in historical processes within the medium of photography as well as current technologies. Readings from both the natural sciences and critical theory will also be required. The interdisciplinary approach to the course aims to broaden students' understanding of the medium of photography and to appreciate an expanded view of the arts and sciences. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Teamwork/Collaboration.
CFA AR 545
Performative Text and Design
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Intersections of text, design, performance, publishing, and activism. Examinations of techniques, forms, media, and theoretical ideas--asking about the political potential of such practices. Students develop an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about the form a text might take as a spatial appearance (page or environment), through materials (costume, flags) or how it might be used as a performative object. Themes include: labour, liveness and documentation, ephemeral vs. permanent, alternative publishing, activist archiving. Lectures, project based, field trips, and studio visits. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
CFA FA 100
Doing, Making & Knowing: The CFA Experience
2 credits. Fall
Through collaborative projects, visiting artists and inspiring conversations, the course is an experiential and comprehensive introduction to the full scope of artistic endeavors housed within the College of Fine Arts. The following will be explored: When did I, the practitioner, embrace the experience of joy as an individual and as an artist' How do I, the practitioner, fit within the community of the arts' How do different disciplines of the arts think and respond' How do we collectively as artists observe, listen and physically respond' How do we collaborate and integrate our artistic voice. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CFA ME 203
Introduction to Music Teaching and Learning
2 credits. Fall and Spring
Development of a personal orientation to music teaching and learning through course readings, discussions, observations of varied music teaching contexts, and peer teaching experiences. Critical exploration of contemporary music education practices. Includes an exploration of music teacher identity and an overview of the historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological foundations of music education. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
CFA TH 508E
CONTEMP BR THEA
4 credits. Fall, Spring, Summer
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
CONTEMP BR THEA
College of General Studies
CGS HU 201
History of Ethics
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
A rigorous course in the history of ethical thought from the ancient world through the nineteenth century. The course also includes selected films and literary works that embody philosophical ideas and ethical dilemmas. Primary texts are used throughout. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
CGS HU 201E
HIS WEST ETH I
4 credits. Fall, Spring, Summer
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
HIS WEST ETH 1
CGS HU 202
Modern and Applied Ethics
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
The course focuses on the application of philosophical ideas to various areas of modern life, such as politics, science, business, personal development, education, and religious faith. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Creativity/Innovation.
CGS HU 450
Giving Well
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Giving Well is a class that explores the theory and practice of impactful charity. Students will read influential texts on philanthropy and apply ideas from these texts as they evaluate the effectiveness of existing charities. The course is supported by a grant from the Philanthropy Lab, and it culminates with the disbursement of potentially upwards of $50,000 to causes selected by students. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, The Individual in Community, Ethical Reasoning.
CGS IN 306
Shakespeare's Ethics
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
What can great literature teach us about the ethical life' Can the arts teach sympathy or empathy for the unfamiliar' Can stepping into the shoes of a character from dramatic literature help us both deepen our sense of what it means to be human and how to lead a good life (be a morally upstanding citizen)' In what ways can art model ethical performance' This course will explore five of Shakespeare's plays with an emphasis on discovering and analyzing Shakespeare's ethical ideas. We will assess the thinking of philosophers who influenced Shakespeare. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Creativity/Innovation.
College of Communication
COM CM 334E
Advertising in the U.K.
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Examines the structure and organization of the United Kingdom mass media from a commercial and business perspective. In particular, terrestrial and satellite TV, billboard and transport, newspapers and magazines, and radio and film are examined in a practical advertising context.
COM FT 345
Australian Cinema
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to Australian cinema by examining the relationship between Australian social history, cultural history, art history, and cinema. In order to understand the "national" nature of Australian films, the course addresses two periods of film production: the first wave from the late 1910s, '20s, and '30s; and the restructuring of the film industry with the so-called new wave of the 1970s and '80s. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
COM FT 345E
Australian Cinema
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
An introduction to Australian cinema by examining the relationship between Australian social history, cultural history, art history, and cinema. In order to understand the "national" nature of Australian films, the course addresses two periods of film production: the first wave from the late 1910s, '20s, and '30s; and the restructuring of the film industry with the so-called new wave of the 1970s and '80s.
College of Engineering
ENG BE 400
Undergraduate Special Topics in Biomedical Engineering
4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASMA226) - Globally more than a 100 million people are forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict, climate change and persecution. Health challenges faced by these displaced persons are complex and multi-faceted. This course will focus on understanding the health challenges of forcibly displaced persons, identifying why existing solutions may not work, and designing robust, effective and context appropriate solutions for these settings. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
Kilachand Honors College
KHC AH 103
Experimental Art
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Creativity/Innovation Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This seminar investigates how visual and performance artists have wildly expanded our definition of what art is, including an exploration of new techniques, theories, markets, and political implications of art in the 20th and 21st centuries. How Does Art Happen' Who Is Art For' How Do You Make Art History' We will consider artists that challenged viewers' and philosophers' ideas about what makes something a work of art. These experimental artworks brought new people into the story of art history, expanding our understanding of who can be an artist (all of us). Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation.
KHC AN 106
Scientists in Society
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Scientific Inquiry I
Understanding the nature of science and the role of the scientist in society is critically important in an increasingly technologically driven and interconnected world. Through an examination of the work of 5 impactful scientists and their interactions with prevailing institutions and societal norms, we will explore the fundamental nature of science and how individual scientists have navigated unique challenges created by their work. We will examine the work and controversies that surrounded:
Galileo Galilei and Church authorities in the 1600¿s
Alan Turing and the British Government post WWII
Percy Lavon Julian and higher education in the US in the 1900¿s
Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier and the battles over credit and patent rights for CRISPR-9 technology
Antony Fauci and his leadership role in the nation¿s public health during COVID-19
Through a combination of assigned readings, lectures and interactive classroom discussions, students will explore the scientific achievements of each person(s) and then explore their broader circumstances and interactions with society. Using this knowledge students will consider and reflect on the nature of scientific contributions and important societal institutions and norms.
Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Critical Thinking, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I.
KHC EN 102
Ancient and Modern Quarrels: Fiction and Philosophy Since 1900
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Aesthetic Exploration Critical Thinking Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
The "ancient quarrel" between literature and philosophy. Ancient works by Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle; existentialist writing by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, De Beauvoir, Ellison; contemporaries such as Sontag, Robinson, Coetzee. What good is art and narrative' What are their powers, limits, dangers' Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
KHC HC 501
People in Process: Lives & Works
2 credits. Fall and Spring
Students discuss case studies that highlight the impact of innovative research on culture and examine the major challenges that face our society, from access to higher education to health care to race and gender in the workplace. The course also supports students ongoing work on their senior projects. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following Hub area: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
KHC IR 104
The Ethics of War and Political Violence
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This course surveys key debates in the ethics of war and political violence. When, if ever, is resorting to war justifiable' How should wars be fought' Are these two questions at all interrelated' Does it even make sense to speak of the ethics of war and political violence' Are arguments for pacifism or nonviolence, for example, more compelling' Are these hopelessly political questions, unsuitable for ethical consideration' Throughout this course, we will study a range of perspectives on these issues¿many of which have informed international law, including the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions. In the process, we will also address topical debates in international ethics, including the ethics of self-defense and preemptive war; humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect; combatant liability and noncombatant immunity; ¿proportionality¿ in collateral damage; guerrilla warfare and terrorism; and more. Course materials draw widely from political philosophy, international law, literature, and film. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Critical Thinking, , Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
KHC PH 105
Speech and Freedom
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Why have we come to understand freedom through the ability to speak without restraints' What does speech have in common with freedom' Taking the phrase 'free speech' as a starting point, this course investigates the significance of these two concepts for our modern and contemporary ideas of democracy, globalization, cultural difference, and public ethics. In doing this, the course will cultivate students' knowledge of notable works in philosophy, literary theory and political science, bringing this proficiency to bear on their analysis of real-world debates and philosophical questions. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
KHC PO 103
Democracy and Capitalism in the United States
4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Teamwork/Collaboration
In this class, we will look at the relationship between capitalism and democracy in the United States. In what ways are capitalism and democracy complementary' In what ways are they in contraction' To address these questions, we will explore some of the philosophical and historical roots of both concepts through a series of case studies. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Teamwork/Collaboration.
KHC RH 104
The Pursuit of Happiness
4 credits. Fall
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Digital/Multimedia Expression Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
What is happiness' Can we hope to achieve it and how should we pursue it' We will study how happiness has been understood by different cultures over time, and students will engage with diverse authors and genres from scripture, philosophy, and social science. Students will write three essays, and keep a reading journal. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
KHC UC 104
The Ethics of Food
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Choices about what food to eat pervade our everyday lives. This course explores the ethics of such choices. We'll examine arguments for vegetarian and vegan diets, for eating organic, for eating local, and for restricting oneself to only humanely raised and slaughtered meat. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
KHC UC 105
Liberty, Fanaticism & Censorship
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
From Socrates's execution for speech that 'corrupted the youth' and Jesus's crucifixion for claims that threatened empire to today's debates about cancel culture, disinformation, and social media censorship, questions about free speech and its political, ethical, and religious consequences have been central to western history. This course examines some of the enduring issues animating these questions with an eye to their ongoing significance. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
KHC UC 106
Biomedical Enhancement and the Future of Human Nature
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Biomedical technologies are increasingly being used to enhance the biological, cognitive, and psychological capacities of otherwise healthy human beings. Although the enhancement enterprise aims to increase levels of human wellbeing, it also raises a host of ethical concerns, such as worries that it will exacerbate inequality, undermine authenticity, devalue diversity, or even pose an existential threat to the human species. This course will survey the ethics of biomedical enhancements carried out through the administration of drugs, genetic modifications, and human-machine interfaces. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
KHC UC 107
Sexual Ethics
4 credits. Spring
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Ethical Reasoning Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
Sexual activity has attracted a bewildering range of preoccupations. These shifting concerns raise questions about what ¿sex¿ means, how it becomes ethically problematic, and how it might still matter to our lives. We will pursue these questions through current debates around sexual identity, monogamy, polyamory, sexual violence, sex work, pornography, and erotic desires across the stages of a human life. You will be encouraged to use the course material to clarify and refine your own ethical reasoning about sex. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Critical Thinking, Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
Questrom School of Business
Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
WED DE 372
Social Psychology and the Deaf World
4 credits. Fall and Spring
This courses explores the psychological, sociological, and educational constructions of Deaf people and how cultural, social, and medical models contribute to our perceptions about social arrangements, "bodies," and the politics of difference. We will use ideas from a host of disciplines, events, and experiences to illuminate how many of the issues related to the Deaf World are universal, human issues. Finally, we will hope to arrive at conclusions that showcase how studying the Deaf World can have many important implications for understanding human development. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Social Inquiry I.
WED ED 110
Introduction to Education
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
This exploratory course introduces students to the profession of teaching through discussions and a field experience at a local school. From this experience, students begin to cultivate a reflective stance toward themselves, curriculum, schools, and society. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings and, The Individual in Community.
WED ED 200
Introduction to Justice-Based Education
4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More The Individual in Community Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings Writing-Intensive Course
Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 or equivalent) - This exploratory course introduces students to a critical history of schooling in America and the extent to which various philosophies of education can work (and have worked) in service of or in opposition to democratic and justice- oriented ends. Students will begin to cultivate a critically reflective stance toward classroom experiences, educational policies, their identities, and the intersection among them. This course requires 4 hours of field-based experience. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
School of Hospitality Administration