Faculty of Arts and Science
Introduction to Philosophy
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to the core areas of philosophy through questions about reality, knowledge, ethics, and society. Topics may include the existence of God, free will, the nature of belief, the good life, and justice in society.
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Studies in Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Occasional courses on special topics in philosophy. May reflect faculty research or respond to student interest. Topics vary and offer opportunities for focused exploration beyond the regular curriculum.
Prerequisite(s):Will be specified (including any recommended background) for individual offerings
Introduction to Ethics
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to major ethical theories about right/wrong, good/bad, virtue/vice. Topics may include relativism, utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, care ethics, and their application to current issues.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Belief, Truth, and Paradox
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to key questions in metaphysics and epistemology through topics like perception, belief, truth, knowledge, and skepticism. Exploration of how these connect to classic and contemporary paradoxes.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Ancient Philosophy
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Survey of the first thousand years of Western philosophy, with emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. May Include Presocratics, Sophists, and Hellenistic schools like Stoicism and Epicureanism.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy of Religion
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of philosophical questions about religion, such as the existence of God, the problem of evil, faith and reason, and the nature of religious experience and language.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to key issues about the nature of the mind. Topics may include consciousness, mental representation, the mind-body problem, perception, and artificial intelligence.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Environmental Philosophy
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of philosophical questions about nature and our responsibilities to it. Topics may include animal ethics, climate justice, sustainability, environmental values, and different conceptions of nature.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300
Introduction to Democratic Leadership
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of the values, practices, and challenges of leadership in democratic societies. Topics may include authority, civic responsibility, deliberation, trust, and political ethics.
Equivalent:Philosophy 2850/Political Science 2850 (Introduction to Democratic Leadership) (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Introduction to the Philosophy of Language
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of how language relates to meaning, truth, thought, and the world. Topics may include reference, speech acts, metaphor, ambiguity, and the nature of linguistic understanding.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of key ideas about justice, power, rights, and political authority. Topics may include the social contract, democracy, freedom, equality, and the role of the state in human life.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Introduction to Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to central questions about knowledge and belief. Topics may include skepticism, the sources of knowledge, justification, truth, perception, memory, and the limits of human understanding.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Introduction to Feminist Philosophy
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Introduction to key ideas and debates in feminist philosophy. Topics may include gender, power, inequality, embodiment, intersectionality, and feminist thinkers’ influence on questions about knowledge, ethics, and identity.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Introduction to Philosophy of Science
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of the nature and limits of science. Topics may include explanation, theory change, realism vs. anti-realism, scientific revolutions, objectivity, values in science, and the line between science and pseudo-science.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
History of Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Selected topics or figures in the history of philosophy. Focus varies by instructor and may range from ancient to modern traditions. Emphasis on the close reading of primary texts.
Recommended Background:
Philosophy 1000
Equivalent:Philosophy 2750 (17-Century Philosophy: Descartes to Leibniz) is equivalent to Philosophy 2030 (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Studies in Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Occasional courses on special topics in philosophy. May reflect faculty research or respond to student interest. Topics vary and offer opportunities for focused exploration beyond the regular curriculum.
Prerequisite(s):Will be specified (including any recommended background) for individual offerings
Ethics (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Advanced study of topics in ethical theory or applied ethics. Topics may include consequentialism, deontology, virtue ethics, moral responsibility, environmental ethics, or moral disagreement.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2001, Philosophy 2500, Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300, or Philosophy 2850/Political Science 2850 (Introduction to Democratic Leadership) (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophical Traditions (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of major philosophical movements or schools of thought. Topics may include existentialism, pragmatism, phenomenology, analytic philosophy, structuralism, or non-Western traditions.
Prerequisite(s):Will be specified (including any recommended background) for individual offerings but will normally include at least one course in Philosophy
Equivalent:Philosophy 3150 (Analytic Philosophy) is equivalent to Philosophy 3350 (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy of Mind (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Advanced study of selected topics in the philosophy of mind. Topics may include consciousness, mental representation, perception, intentionality, embodiment, and the nature of self and personal identity.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2002, Philosophy 2220, Philosophy 2400, Philosophy 2600, or Philosophy 2700
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy of Language (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Advanced topics in the philosophy of language. Topics may include reference, meaning, truth, speech acts, pragmatics, context-sensitivity, and language’s relation to thought or reality.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2002, Philosophy 2220, Philosophy 2400, Philosophy 2600, or Philosophy 2700
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Biomedical Ethics
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of moral issues in health care, medicine, and biotechnology. Topics may include euthanasia, abortion, genetic engineering, informed consent, patient autonomy, medical research, and health care justice.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 1000, a 2000-level course (3.0 credit hours) in Philosophy, or Admission to the Post-Diploma B.A. or B.Sc. in Agricultural Studies
Recommended Background:
At least one 2000-level course (3.0 credit hours) in Philosophy
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy of Law
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of debates in legal philosophy. Topics may include legal legitimacy, legal systems (common vs. civil law), law and morality, rights and duties, and major branches of law such as criminal, tort, and constitutional.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2001, Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300, Philosophy 2500, or Philosophy 2850/Political Science 2850 (Introduction to Democratic Leadership) (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Theory of Knowledge (Epistemology) (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of advanced issues in epistemology. Topics may include skepticism, justification, knowledge and belief, epistemic virtues, social epistemology, disagreement, and the epistemology of testimony or ignorance.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2002, Philosophy 2220, Philosophy 2400, Philosophy 2600, or Philosophy 2700
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Social and Political Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Advanced topics in social and political theory. Topics may include theories of justice, freedom, power, democracy, inequality, protest, race and gender, and the role of the state.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2001, Philosophy 2500, Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300, or Philosophy 2850/Political Science 2850 (Introduction to Democratic Leadership) (prior to 2026/2027)
Equivalent:Philosophy 3520 (Philosophy of War) is equivalent to Philosophy 3450 (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Important Figures in Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of the work and influence of key philosophical thinkers. Focus may be on a single figure or a group, with attention to historical context, core ideas, and lasting impact.
Prerequisite(s):Will be specified (including any recommended background) for individual offerings but will normally include at least one course in Philosophy
Equivalent:Philosophy 3550 (Wittgenstein) is equivalent to Philosophy 3420 (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Public Philosophy
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
An experiential learning course that offers students opportunities to explore how philosophy engages with the public sphere. Topics may include the role of philosophers in civic life, public reasoning, ethical advocacy, and communicating complex ideas to broad audiences.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 1000 (recommended), Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300, or Philosophy 2850/Political Science 2850 (Introduction to Democratic Leadership) (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Feminist Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Examination of advanced topics in feminist philosophy. Topics may include feminist epistemology, ethics, political theory, philosophy of science, or critiques of gender and sexuality in philosophical traditions.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2001, Philosophy 2500, Philosophy 2650, or Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy of Science (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of advanced topics in the philosophy of science. Topics may include scientific explanation, realism and antirealism, theory change, science and values, and specific sciences like physics, biology, or neuroscience.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2002, Philosophy 2220, Philosophy 2400, Philosophy 2600, or Philosophy 2700
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Philosophy of Technology (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Exploration of the philosophical dimensions of technology and its role in human life. Topics may include artificial intelligence, automation, digital culture, surveillance, ethical design, and the nature of technological progress.
Prerequisite(s):Will be specified (including any recommended background) for individual offerings but will normally include at least one course in Philosophy
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Studies in Philosophy (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Occasional courses on special topics in philosophy. Topics may reflect faculty research or respond to student interest. Topics vary and offer opportunities for focused exploration beyond the regular curriculum.
Prerequisite(s):Will be specified (including any recommended background) for individual offerings
Philosophy of Law (Series)
Credit hours: 3.00
Contact hours per week: 3-0-0
Advanced topics in legal philosophy. May include theories of law, justice, punishment, constitutional interpretation, legal reasoning, and the intersection of law with ethics and political theory.
Prerequisite(s):One of Philosophy 2500, Philosophy 3520, Philosophy 3404, Philosophy 2300/Political Science 2300, Any two courses (6.0 credit hours) in Philosophy, Third-year Standing (a minimum of 60.0 credit hours), or Philosophy 2850/Political Science 2850 (Introduction to Democratic Leadership) (prior to 2026/2027)
Lib Ed Req:Fine Arts and Humanities
Undergraduate Thesis
Credit hours: 6.00
Contact hours per week: Variable
This is a challenging, work-intensive, research-oriented course. This research will be presented in a report in the form of an Undergraduate Thesis which will be made publicly available and which will be the subject of an oral defence.
Prerequisite(s):Fourth-year standing (a minimum of 90.0 credit hours) AND
A minimum GPA of 3.30 calculated on all completed University of Lethbridge courses or calculated on all University of Lethbridge and transferable courses taken within the terms containing the last 20 courses (60.0 credit hours), whichever is higher AND
A minimum GPA of 3.50 calculated on all Philosophy and Logic courses completed
Note:Contact hours will vary. Students should be aware that this course involves regular contact with the Thesis Supervisor as well as considerable independent work.