Philosophy Honours (B.A.) (60 credits)
Offered by: Philosophy (Faculty of Arts)
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Program credit weight: 60
Program Description
According to Faculty regulations, Honours students must maintain a minimum CGPA of 3.00 and maintain a minimum program GPA of 3.00.
Admission to Honours: Students must attain a 3.00 CGPA and have a 3.00 GPA in Philosophy courses.
Degree Requirements — B.A. students
To be eligible for a B.A. degree, a student must fulfil all Faculty and program requirements as indicated in Degree Requirements for the Faculty of Arts.
We recommend that students consult an Arts OASIS advisor for degree planning.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (15 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 210 | Introduction to Deductive Logic 1. | 3 |
Introduction to Deductive Logic 1. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An introduction to propositional and predicate logic; formalization of arguments, truth tables, systems of deduction, elementary metaresults, and related topics. | ||
| PHIL 301 | Philosophical Fundamentals. | 3 |
Philosophical Fundamentals. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An intensive study of basic philosophical skills; reading, writing, analysis, and argumentation. | ||
| PHIL 334 | Ethical Theory. | 3 |
Ethical Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A course focusing on central questions in ethical theory such as the nature of the good and the right and the factors which determine moral rightness and wrongness. | ||
| PHIL 499 | Tutorial 06. | 6 |
Tutorial 06. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Open to third year Full Honours students in Philosophy, and to other students, with consent of the Department. | ||
Complementary Courses (45 credits)
45 credits distributed as follows:
3 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 306 | Philosophy of Mind. | 3 |
Philosophy of Mind. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A survey of major positions of the mind-body problem, focusing on such questions as: Do we have minds and bodies? Can minds affect bodies? Is mind identical to body? If so, in what sense "identical"? Can physical bodies be conscious. | ||
| PHIL 310 | Intermediate Logic. | 3 |
Intermediate Logic. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A second course in Logic. NB. The course will be technical in nature, and some mathematical aptitude is essential. The emphasis is on the expressive properties of standard logical systems, including implications for the philosophy of mathematics. We will study the Completeness of First-Order Logic, then the 'limitative' theorems of Tarski and Gödel. | ||
| PHIL 411 | Topics in Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics. | 3 |
Topics in Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A course focusing on some philosophical issue (e.g., the nature of numbers or the relation of truth to provability) as it arises in the study of mathematics and logic. | ||
| PHIL 415 | Philosophy of Language. | 3 |
Philosophy of Language. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of central notions in the philosophy of language (reference, meaning, and truth, e.g.), the puzzles these notions give rise to, and the relevance of these notions to such questions as: What is language? How is communication possible? What is understanding? Is language rule-governed. | ||
| PHIL 419 | Epistemology. | 3 |
Epistemology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A discussion of central topics in the theory of knowledge. The questions addressed in the course may include: What is knowledge? Do we have any knowledge? What is the relation between knowledge and belief? When is belief justified? Is all knowledge conscious knowledge. | ||
| PHIL 421 | Metaphysics. | 3 |
Metaphysics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of central questions in metaphysics in their historical and contemporary forms. Topics may be chosen from such issues as: personal identity, the nature of space and time, the nature of events and properties, possible worlds, and the problem of realism. | ||
| PHIL 470 | Topics in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy. | 3 |
Topics in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An advanced discussion of major themes in the analytic tradition. | ||
3 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 230 | Introduction to Moral Philosophy 1. | 3 |
Introduction to Moral Philosophy 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A survey of a number of historically important and influential theories. Philosophers to be discussed may include Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Bentham, Mill, and Moore. | ||
| PHIL 237 | Contemporary Moral Issues. | 3 |
Contemporary Moral Issues. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An introductory discussion of central ethical questions (the value of persons, or the relationship of rights and utilities, for example) through the investigation of currently disputed social and political issues. Specific issues to be discussed may include pornography and censorship, affirmative action, civil disobedience, punishment, abortion, and euthanasia. | ||
| PHIL 240 | Political Philosophy 1. | 3 |
Political Philosophy 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to contemporary philosophy of politics by concentrating on a number of contested concepts, such as freedom, justice and equality, in contemporary political philosophy and practice. | ||
| PHIL 242 | Introduction to Feminist Theory. | 3 |
Introduction to Feminist Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to feminist theory as political theory. Emphasis is placed on the plurality of analyses and proposals that constitute contemporary feminist thought. Some of the following are considered: liberal feminism, marxist and socialist feminism, radical feminism, postmodern feminism, francophone feminism, and the contributions to feminist theory by women of colour and lesbians. | ||
6 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 345 | Greek Political Theory. | 3 |
Greek Political Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the ethical and political theories of ancient Greece, especially those of Plato and Aristotle. | ||
| PHIL 350 | History and Philosophy of Ancient Science. | 3 |
History and Philosophy of Ancient Science. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics in ancient pure mathematics (geometry and number theory), "mixed mathematics" (astronomy, music theory, optics, mechanics), and/or natural science (including medicine), studied with a view to philosophical issues raised by the content of ancient science and/or by the logic of scientific argument. | ||
| PHIL 353 | The Presocratic Philosophers. | 3 |
The Presocratic Philosophers. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the surviving fragments of the presocratic philosophers and schools of philosophy, as well as later reports of their views. | ||
| PHIL 354 | Plato. | 3 |
Plato. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of some of the philosophical problems (those in logic, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, e.g.) found in a selection of Plato's dialogues. | ||
| PHIL 355 | Aristotle. | 3 |
Aristotle. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of selected works by Aristotle. The course considers issues in moral philosophy as well as those found in the logical treatises, the Physics and Metaphysics, and in the philosophy of mind. | ||
| PHIL 452 | Later Greek Philosophy. | 3 |
Later Greek Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of some of the major post-Aristotelian schools of philosophy. Texts from the Peripatetic, Stoic, Epicurean, Sceptical, Platonic, and medical traditions may be considered. Problems in logic, ethics, physics, epistemology, and metaphysics will be addressed. | ||
| PHIL 453 | Ancient Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy. | 3 |
Ancient Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of central themes of ancient metaphysics and/or natural philosophy as treated by two or more contrasting philosophers or philosophical traditions - probably including Plato and/or Aristotle, and possibly including some Hellenistic or post-Hellenistic schools. | ||
| PHIL 454 | Ancient Moral Theory. | 3 |
Ancient Moral Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of central themes of ancient moral theory as treated by two or more contrasting philosophers or philosophical traditions - probably including Plato and/or Aristotle, and possibly some Hellenistic or post-Hellenistic schools. | ||
6 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 360 | 17th Century Philosophy. | 3 |
17th Century Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the work of such seventeenth-century philosophers as Descartes, Hobbes, Gassendi, Malebranche, Leibniz, and the Cambridge Platonists. | ||
| PHIL 361 | 18th Century Philosophy. | 3 |
18th Century Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A survey of eighteenth century philosophy, especially British philosophy. Attention is given to fundamental metaphysical, epistemological, and moral issues as reflected in the work of such philosophers as Locke, Shaftesbury, Berkeley, Hutcheson, Butler, Hume and Reid. | ||
| PHIL 366 | 18th and Early 19th Century German Philosophy. | 3 |
18th and Early 19th Century German Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the works of such philosophers as Kant, Fichte, Jacobi, Schelling, and Hegel. | ||
| PHIL 367 | 19th Century Philosophy. | 3 |
19th Century Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of the works of such 19th century philosophers as Mach, Helmholtz, Dedekind, Frege, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Mill and Bradley. | ||
| PHIL 444 | Early Modern Political Theory. | 3 |
Early Modern Political Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A survey of political and moral theory from the Reformation to the French Revolution including Luther, Montaigne, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Smith. | ||
| PHIL 445 | 19th Century Political Theory. | 3 |
19th Century Political Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of various strands of political theory since Rousseau, concentrating on such themes as the understanding of modernity and theories of liberal society. | ||
3 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 375 | Existentialism. | 3 |
Existentialism. Terms offered: Summer 2025 This course will examine the nature of existentialist thought as represented in various philosophical and literary texts. Particular themes to be examined include freedom, alienation, responsibility and choice, and the nature of self. | ||
| PHIL 474 | Phenomenology. | 3 |
Phenomenology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A study of phenomenology from a historical and thematic perspective. The course will typically involve the study of central thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, or Merleau-Ponty, with an examination of the nature and development of the phenomenological movement. | ||
| PHIL 475 | Topics in Contemporary European Philosophy. | 3 |
Topics in Contemporary European Philosophy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced discussion of selected themes in contemporary European philosophy. | ||
24 additional credits in Philosophy (PHIL) with 12 credits at the 400 and 500 levels (not including the Honours tutorial PHIL 499 Tutorial 06.) at least 3 credits of which must be at the 500 level.
A maximum of 15 credits from 200-level courses may be used toward the Honours program. Only one of PHIL 200 Introduction to Philosophy 1. or PHIL 201 Introduction to Philosophy 2. may be counted toward the program.