PHIL 390Q: Topics in Philosophy

Course Description

In this course students will explore the ways that cognitive and affective aspects of social identities (race, gender, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, dis/ability) intersect with issues of social power and privilege to make critical thinking and critical dialogue particularly challenging. We will consider how the history of ‘argument’ in Western philosophy has contributed to the challenges of social identity debates and we will explore a variety cognitive biases and logical fallacies as well as strategies for effectively countering these biases and fallacies.