Philosophy

Studying Philosophy means asking some of the deepest and most challenging questions about human life, values, and thought. From ancient ideas about virtue, ethics and knowledge to contemporary debates on AI, consciousness, and emotion, philosophy invites you to explore the frameworks that shape how we live and make meaning. Along the way, you sharpen your reasoning, refine your writing, and learn to question critically and construct arguments that matter.

Opening up Philosophy courses

Anyone can start courses in Philosophy, as all 100-level courses are accessible without a gateway. Any of the higher level courses can be accessed by taking Thinking Across Disciplines: Dilemmas in Understanding the Social World.

Courses in Philosophy

Gateway

Thinking Across Disciplines: Dilemmas in Understanding the Social World

Introduces students to history, law, political science, sociology and philosophy. Teaches how to formulate questions from different disciplinary perspectives and roles, discusses ethical dilemmas, distinguishes descriptive and normative approaches, familiarizes students with major theories and empirical methods, emphasizes critical thinking and liberal arts context, and helps optimize course choices.

100-level

Introduction to Western Philosophy

This course introduces central themes from the Western philosophical tradition, spanning 2,500 years of history from the ancient Greeks to cutting-edge work from our own time. We will become familiar with the issues discussed by philosophers, inquire into their significance and their relation to thought in other disciplines, such as psychology, law, physics, computer science, and political science. Most importantly, we will acquaint ourselves with theoretical methods and tools that have been used by philosophers throughout the ages to support their conclusions and ideas.

200-level

Ethics

Our actions and decisions are structured by the ways we think about values, about what the good is. This course explores theories of moral reasoning, building upon historical and contemporary sources. In the first part of the course, we will examine the main theories in ethics – virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism – as well as questions pertaining to moral knowledge, motivation, responsibility, and the relation of happiness and pleasure to ethics. The second part of the course focuses on practical ethics, touching upon topics such as animal rights, privacy, future generations, war, punishment, euthanasia, disability, racial and gender equality.

200-level

Philosophy of Mind

In this course, we will focus both on important work from the history of the philosophy of mind and on contributions from recent scholarship. We will begin by taking a close look at Descartes’ dualism and its legacy, exploring dominant approaches to the mind during the past century, and examining the debate concerning the nature of consciousness. Additional topics to be discussed include the possibility of intelligent and conscious machines, animal minds, the identity of persons over time, transformative experiences, and the impact of novel technologies on the ways we experience the world.

300-level

Free Will, Time & the Self

What does it mean to be free? How significant is the impact of luck on our decisions and choices? Does affirming the existence of free will involve asserting that the future is genuinely ‘open’? These and related questions resonate throughout the history of philosophy, and are addressed in fascinating new ways in recent thought. In this course, we explore the nature and scope of free will and inquire into relations of the debate on free will to questions concerning the reality and experience of time, and the nature of the self. The term will be divided into three modules, as we examine these issues and their connections.

300-level

Philosophy of Emotion

Emotions are a basic aspect of human experience, but they have been, throughout the history of philosophy, contrasted with and sidelined by the pursuit of rationality. This course provides the opportunity to engage with key questions in the study of emotions from a philosophical perspective. Topics we explore in the course include the nature of emotions, the role of emotions in ethics, the rationality of emotions, emotions in art. We consider sources from the history of philosophy, as well as contemporary research on the emotions from philosophy and additional disciplines.

Also consider these options:

Government & Society

The other fields within the Government & Society cluster.

Government & Society

Explore Entrepreneurship!

To apply critical thinking and ethics to real-world innovation.

Entrepreneurship

Explore Life Science!

To examine the ethical foundations of life, health, and the natural world.

Life Science

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The UCR Program Builder is designed to help you easily plan your academic program. Step by step, the tool guides you through selecting courses, building a balanced curriculum, and meeting UCR’s academic requirements.

Try the Program Builder

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Philosophy

Philosophy

Opening up Philosophy courses

Courses in Philosophy

Courses in Philosophy

Thinking Across Disciplines: Dilemmas in Understanding the Social World