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Spring 2026 Course Offerings

Course Restrictions:

November 4 – November 8 restricted to PHI majors for 300 level PHI courses. 

November 9 – November 13 restricted to PHI majors and minors for 300 level PHI courses.

November 13 – ALL courses (campus wide) will be made unrestricted unless noted otherwise. 

November 4 – Registration for Spring course sections begins for students with 87 or more earned hours (less AP/IB/Prior College Work) 

November 5 – Registration for Spring course sections begins for students with 55 or more earned hours (less AP/IB/Prior College Work)

November 6 – Registration for Spring course sections begins for students with 25 or more earned hours (less AP/IB/Prior College Work)

November 7 – Registration for Spring course sections begins for students with less than 25 earned hours (less AP/IB/Prior College Work)

FYS 100 – Philosophical Approaches to Social and Political Issues – Adrian Bardon
TR – 12:30-1:45 – Location TBA

Covers a wide variety of social and political issues. We will use articles, editorials, and visual media to examine various subject areas on a week-to-week basis. Issues discussed may include immigration, genetic engineering, economic inequality, racism, public morality, and conspiracy theories. This seminar-style course emphasizes discussion and active engagement, along with peer review of written work.

PHI 111 – Problems of Philosophy – Justin Jennings
Section A – TR 11:00-12:15 – Location TBA
Section B – TR 2:00-3:15 – Location TBA

Examines the basic concepts of several representative philosophers, including their accounts of the nature of knowledge, persons, God, mind, and matter.

PHI 111-C – Problems of Philosophy – Win-chiat Lee
TR – 3:30-4:45 – Location TBA

The problems of philosophy covered by the course include: the foundation of knowledge, the existence of God, the existence of the external world, free will and determinism, the nature of causality, the mind-body problem, the self, the nature of value and moral judgments, right and wrong actions, the relation between the right and the good, the teaching of virtue, the duty to obey the law. The course is divided into three sections:

I. Ancient Greek Philosophy: Socrates and Plato

II. Modern Moral Philosophy: Kant and Mill

III. Early Modern Philosophy (Epistemology and Metaphysics): Descartes and Hume

PHI 111 – Problems of Philosophy – Bradley Griggs
Section D – MW2:00-3:15 – Location TBA
Section E – MW 3:30-4:45 – Location TBA

What can we know? How should we act? Does God exist? Philosophy considers the answers offered by science, common sense, and religion and tries to push further. If science discovers truths about cause and effect, philosophy asks: what distinguishes causation from mere correlation? If common sense tells us to be good, philosophy asks: which actions are good, and why are they good? If religion says that God exists, philosophy asks: can that be proven, or is it just a matter of faith? This course explores these questions and more by focusing on some of the most powerful, influential, and surprising arguments philosophers have put forward over the centuries.

PHI 115-A – Introduction to Philosophy of Religion – Christian Miller
MWF – 11:00-11:50 – Tribble A306

A study of some central issues in the philosophy of religion, such as arguments for and against the existence of God; faith and reason; the divine attributes; the nature and existence of the soul; the possibility of immortality; and religious diversity.

PHI 116 – Meaning and Happiness – Francisco Gallegos
Section A – TR – 9:30-10:45 – Location TBA
Section B – MW – 2:00-3:15 – Location TBA

Examines the nature of happiness and meaning and the epistemic, ethical, and political issues surrounding their pursuit.

PHI 160-A – Introduction to Political Philosophy – Travis Quigley

MWF – 12:00-12:50 – Location TBA

Political philosophy bridges abstract questions of justice and practical questions of public policy. We will lean toward the practical in this course: topics will include the structure and generosity of the welfare state; the contemporary crisis of affordability, especially in housing; the ethics of immigration and global justice; and the polarization and stability of our own liberal political institutions.

PHI 161 – Introduction to Bioethics – Adam Kadlac
Section A – MWF – 10:00-10:50 – Location TBA
Section B – MWF – 1:00-1:50  – Location TBA

In this class, we will examine a number of ethical issues that arise in the context of medicine. The questions we will consider include: How do we go about deciding who is a reliable source of medical information? Is vaccine skepticism irrational, and should vaccines be mandated? Is unhappiness a medical problem? What is disability, and does having a disability necessarily make one’s life worse? What obligation do doctors have to simply carry out the wishes of their patients? Assignments will be an assortment of short written reflections, longer analytical papers, and quizzes.

PHI 161 – Introduction to Bioethics – Ana Iltis

Section C – T – 3:30-6:00 – Location TBA
Section D – W – 3:30-6:00  – Location TBA

A study of ethical issues that arise in health care and the life sciences. Topics to be explored include questions about death and organ donation, regenerative medicine, genetic testing and research, and the allocation of healthcare resources, among others.

ENV 163/PHI 163-A – Introduction to Environmental Ethics – Alejandro Hortal
TR – 2:00-3:15 – Location TBA

An examination of ethical issues concerning the environment as they arise in individual lives and public policy.

PHI 164 – Contemporary Moral Problems – Tobias Flattery
Section A – TR – 9:30-10:45 – Tribble Hall A304
Section B – TR – 2:00-3:15 – Tribble Hall A304

In this course we’ll equip ourselves with some of the tools of moral philosophy, and we’ll investigate several interesting and important moral questions in contemporary life, examples of which might include the following (or other) questions: is it morally ok to kill and eat animals? Is it wrong for the state to administer the death penalty? Is torture ever morally justified? Should we as a society encourage or allow genetic enhancements? What about abortion? How can we communicate via social media in ways that improve rather than erode human flourishing? And so on. We’ll have two main goals in this class: first, of course, we’ll aim to improve our understanding of the central philosophical questions essential for thinking coherently about the particular moral issues we’ll investigate. But second, and ultimately more importantly, we’ll aim to become clearer, more coherent, and more effective moral thinkers and communicators.

PHI 164 – Contemporary Moral Problems – Jonathan Dixon
Section C – MWF – 12:00-12:50 – Location TBA
Section D – MWF – 1:00-1:50 – Location TBA

This course provides a general introduction to moral philosophy by having students grapple with some of the most profound and quintessential moral questions, problems, and paradoxes.  Specifically, we will examine the following core issues and questions within ethics: What is the nature of morality? Are we obligated to follow the law? What are our duties to help others in need? What are our duties to non-human animals? When, if ever, is abortion morally permissible? When, if ever, is euthanasia morally permissible? We will also grapple with some relatively new moral conundrums, such as: What, if any, obligations do we have to future generations? What is “oppression,” why is it wrong, and who is oppressed? What is “privilege,” who is privileged, and what obligations do they have? Is it permissible to genetically enhance one’s offspring? Is it wrong to prefer attractive partners? What is the role of luck in our moral lives? What are “assholes,” and what makes them morally reprehensible? What makes someone’s actions “awesome” or “suck”? And do we, and is it permissible to, only aim our moral behavior to be as good as, or only slightly better than, our peers? In addressing these questions, students will not only learn about moral philosophy but also gain the ability to think more philosophically and further develop their critical thinking skills. All of this is in the service of aiding students in becoming better people.

PHI 235-A – Main Streams of Chinese Philosophy – Win-chiat Lee
TR – 12:30-1:45 – Location TBA

Survey of the main streams of Chinese philosophical thought from their ancient beginnings to their development and influence on one another in later eras. 

PHI 241-A – Modern Philosophy – Tobias Flattery
TR – 11:00-12:15 – Tribble Hall A304

A study of the works of influential 17th and 18th century European philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, and Hume, with a concentration on theories of knowledge and metaphysics.

PHI 280-A – Topics in Philosophy: Truth and Authenticity Lab – Francisco Gallegos
MWF – 11:00-11:50 – Tribble Hall A304

In the era of fake news, AI, and social media, many of us are finding it increasingly difficult to figure out what is real and who we really are. The Truth and Authenticity Lab is a course unlike any other. Co-located between Philosophy and Journalism, students will learn aspects of both disciplines as a way to cast a unique lens on how to understand truth and authenticity today.

PHI 280-B – Topics in Philosophy: Seminar on Democracy – Adam Kadlac
MWF – 11:00-11:50 – Tribble Hall A304

Most Americans claim to be in favor of democracy, not only in our own country, but as a form of government that we hope will expand around the world.  But what, exactly, are we in favor of when we are in favor of democracy?  And what, if anything, justifies the value that we attribute to it?  This course will examine these questions by looking at different conceptions of the democratic ideal as well as various criticisms of that ideal. 

PHI 332-A – Aristotle – Patrick Toner
MWF – 10:00-10:50 – Tribble Hall A304

Study of the major texts of Aristotle, with emphasis on metaphysics, ethics, and theory of knowledge.

PHI 361-A – Topics in Ethics: Virtue and Character – Christian Miller
MW – 12:30-1:45 – Tribble Hall A307

Virtue and character are central to the vision of Wake Forest University. They have also been central to my research for the past 10 years. In this course, we will examine such questions as:

What is character?
What are the requirements of virtue and of vice?
What is the list of virtues? Is there one objective list or is a relativist approach more plausible?
How should we think about particular virtues like honesty, generosity, and compassion?
Why should we care about developing a good character?
How good is our character these days?
What can we do to make our characters better?

The three main texts will be my book, The Character Gap: How Good are We?, Glittering Vices (by Rebecca DeYoung), and Virtue (by Heather Battaly), as well as a course packet. Readings will be mostly from contemporary philosophy, but a few articles will be from psychology. Time permitting, a couple class meetings will be devoted to my new book on the virtue of honesty. Note that this will course will not have a historical focus, and it will not be focused on virtue ethics as an alternative theory to Kantian ethics and consequentialism.

Grading will be based on papers, with no exams. Students should be prepared to not only think deeply about questions of character in the abstract, but also practically about how they might develop their own characters over time.

PHI 361-B – Topics in Ethics: Meaning, Community, and Liberalism – Travis Quigley
MW – 2:00-3:15 – Tribble Hall A307

Citizens in contemporary liberal states are discontented. We are lonely, polarized, and often lack a sense of shared purpose or meaning. What can we do about it? Individually, we can seek projects, community, and contentment in our own lives. But many sources of modern discontent, from climate change to social media, are collective action problems, which are hard to solve individually. We might need political solutions. Can a liberal state find and implement those solutions? What are the political and philosophical obstacles to a happier, more stable society?

PHI 378-A – Philosophy of Space and Time – Adrian Bardon
TR – 2:00 – 3:15 – Tribble Hall A307

A broad survey of philosophical thought about space and time, covering the Presocratics to the present. Topics include the reality of the passage of time, paradoxes of change and motion, puzzles about our awareness of time, spacetime and relativity, free will, cosmological questions, and the possibility of time travel.

PHI 385-A – Seminar: Moral Epistemology – Jonathan Dixon
MW – 3:30-4:45 – Tribble Hall A307

Can we ever know that it’s wrong to torture innocent children? More generally, can we ever know, or at least have some justification for believing, whether anything is morally right or wrong, just or unjust, virtuous or vicious, noble or base, good or bad? Most of us make moral judgments every day; so most of us would like to think so. But how is such knowledge, or justification, possible?” (IEP, Peter Tramel). Indeed, if moral knowledge is possible, in many ways it seems unlike other kinds of knowledge. It doesn’t seem that I perceive rightness / wrongness in the same way I perceive, for example, a table. Unlike many domains, there doesn’t seem to be uncontroversial moral “experts” where it is rational for me to accept that some action is right / wrong only based on their testimony. And some deny that moral knowledge is possible because morality itself is just an expression of emotion, one’s preferences, an arbitrary social construction, etc. Others argue that even if there are objective moral facts, because our moral judgments are largely influenced by our evolutionary history, personal interests, cultural norms, etc., such judgements are not reliable and thus can’t provide us with moral knowledge. This unreliability is evident in the fact that moral disagreements seem to be a perennial feature of moral discourse that, unlike other domains, resist permanent or long-lasting consensus. In this course we will consider many positive and negative answers to the questions of whether and how moral knowledge is possible. Along the way we will consider what the nature of morality might be and how answers to this question influence the possibility of moral knowledge.

PHI 385-B/685-BG – Seminar: Existentialism – Justin Jennings
MWF – 2:00-2:50 – Tribble Hall A307

The course will focus on the relationship between thought and lived experience. How should the two be combined in a life? Are there aspects of the world inaccessible to us when we merely think about or observe phenomena that are accessible to the present, involved, first-personal, acting subject? What is the right relationship between theory, whether philosophical, scientific, aesthetic, or theological, and practice or experience? What is gained and what is lost in our capacity for reflection? Is something essential to being there? Can reflection involve us in certain dangers? Are these dangers nonetheless necessary? We will investigate these and other questions through the study of the major works of a few principal thinkers often classed as “existentialists”, namely, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, and Martin Buber.