Department of Philosophy

Department website: https://artsci.tamu.edu/philosophy/index.html

Department Head: K. Sweet

PhD Advisor: O. Rivera

MA Advisor: O. Rivera

The Department of Philosophy offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Philosophy. The Department has four designated areas of strength, supporting graduate students in each of the following: Continental Philosophy; Decision Theory and Formal Philosophy; Philosophies of the Global South; and Value Theory and Applied Ethics. The mission of our program is to train graduate students to produce high quality philosophical research, be excellent pedagogues and contribute to the departments in which they will be faculty members. The department also houses a Master of Arts (MA) program, which only enrolls students with external sources of funding, such as a fellowship or grant, or sponsorship by the U.S. Armed Forces.

Humanities
Philosophy

Humanities

HUMA 685 Directed Studies

Credits 1 to 6. 1 to 6 Other Hours. Directed studies in specific problem areas in the humanities. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

Philosophy

PHIL 605 Foundations of Continental European Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. This course examines foundational concepts, norms and methodological considerations of some of the central movements, or areas, in the field of continental European philosophy, such as: phenomenology and the related fields of existentialism and hermeneutics; the Frankfurt school and aspects of its legacy; the related areas of structuralism, deconstruction and poststructuralism; and postmodernism. Prerequisites: Graduate classification or approval of instructor.

PHIL 606 Foundations of Analytic Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Analytic philosophy has been the dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world for over a century. Students examine the development of the analytic tradition, the origins of the analytic/continental divide and the methodology of analytic philosophy. They closely study major figures such as Frege, Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, Ayer, Carnap, Quine, Grice, Strawson, Ryle, Geach, Anscombe, Searle, Lewis and Kripke, and explore topics such as the nature of meaning and reference, the analytic/synthetic distinction, the rise and decline of logical positivism, ordinary language philosophy, naturalism and the resurgence of analytic metaphysics. Prerequisites: Graduate classification or approval of instructor.

PHIL 616 Modern Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Developments in philosophy from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment: Renaissance humanism and natural science, 17th- and 18th-century empiricism and rationalism, idealism; major thinkers including Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 620 Contemporary Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. 19th- and 20th-century philosophical movements: phenomenology, existentialism, positivism, pragmatism, analysis, process thought. May be repeated for credit as content varies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 623 American Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. The genesis of American philosophical thought from the seventeenth century until the work of Emerson; subsequent concentration on the philosophies of Pierce, James, Royce, Dewey, Mead, Santayana and Whitehead. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 624 Latin American Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Reading and examination of the philosophical writings of some of the most important Latino/as (or Hispanic) contributors to the history of philosophy.

PHIL 630 Aesthetics

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Metaphor, the ontology of artworks, art and artifactuality, aesthetic attitudes, concepts of aesthetic appraisal such as beauty and sublimity and theory of tropes. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 632 Social and Political Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Theories of justice, equality, liberty and authority in social and political institutions; individualism and the social contract; political philosophy of writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Dewey and Rawls. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 641 Mathematical Logic I

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. The metatheory of propositional and first-order logic. Prerequisite: Graduate classification or approval of instructor.

PHIL 661 Seminar in the History of Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Intensive study of a current issue in the history of philosophy. May be repeated for credit with variation in topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 662 Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Intensive study of current issue in ethics, ethical theory, applied ethics, aesthetics, or the work of particular philosophers in one of these areas. May be repeated for credit with variation in topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 663 Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Seminar in Metaphysics or Epistemology. Intensive study of a current issue in metaphysics, epistemology, or other core areas of philosophy. May be repeated for credit with variation in topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 664 Seminar in Applied Philosophy

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Intensive study of a topic involving the application of philosophical concepts and theories to an issue arising in another scientific or academic field. May be repeated for credit with variation to topic. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 681 Seminar

Credits 0 to 3. 0 to 3 Other Hours. Principles and practices of effective undergraduate teaching and learning; socialization to the profession of philosophy; systematic introductions to all departmental faculty members and their work. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: Enrollment in PhD program in Philosophy, or approval of instructor.

PHIL 682 Philosophical Authors

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Intensive study of works of an individual important philosopher, their historical context, and criticisms and interpretations of them. May be repeated for credit with different authors. Prerequisites: Appropriate background in history of philosophy and approval of instructor.

PHIL 684 Professional Internship

Credits 1 to 6. 1 to 6 Other Hours. Practical experience in an institutional or organizational setting appropriate to analysis and understanding of issues in some area of applied philosophy. Prerequisite: Approval of committee chair and department head.

PHIL 685 Directed Studies

Credits 1 to 6. 1 to 6 Other Hours. Directed studies in specific problem areas in philosophy.

PHIL 689 Special Topics in...

Credits 1 to 4. 1 to 4 Lecture Hours. Selected topics in an identified area of philosophy. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

PHIL 691 Research

Credits 1 to 15. 1 to 15 Other Hours. Research for thesis. Prerequisites: Approval of department head and committee chair.

Bermudez, Jose Luis, Professor
Philosophy
PhD, Cambridge University, 1992

Climenhaga, Nevin, Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, Notre Dame University, 2017

Conway, Daniel W, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of California at San Diego, 1985

Deere, Don Thomas, Assistant Professor
Philosophy
PHD, DePaul University, 2016

George, Theodore D, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, Villanova University, 2000

Hanson-Park, Jared, Visiting Assistant Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of Miami, 2022

Islekel, Ege Selin, Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, DuPaul University, 2018

Jaima, Amir R, Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2014

Koepsell, David Richard, Instructional Associate Professor
Philosophy
JD, University at Buffalo, 1995
PHD, University at Buffalo, 1997

Lavender, Jordan, Assistant Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of Notre Dame, 2022

Leckey, Brittany W, Instructional Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, Texas A&M University, 2017
PHD, Texas A&M Univertsity, 2017

Menzel, Christopher P, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of Notre Dame, 1984

Miller, Glen, Instructional Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of North Texas, 2015

Nielsen, Michael, Assistant Professor
Philosophy
PHD, Columbia University, 2019

Palmer, Clare A, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of Oxford, 1993

Peterson, Martin B, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan Royal Institute of Technology, 2003

Radzik, Linda C, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, The University of Arizona, 1997

Raymond, Dwayne F, Instructional Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of Western Ontario, 2006

Rivera, Omar, Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, The Pennsylvania State University, 2007

Sansom, Roger B, Associate Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002

Sweet, Kristi, Professor
Philosophy
PHD, Loyola University, Chicago, 2006

Zhou, Lianghua, Assistant Professor
Philosophy
PHD, University of Michigan, 2024