This course focuses on the principles that underlie thinking critically on any topic. It’s a foundational course that can give you tools you’ll use throughout your Whitman career and beyond. You’ll explore topics like how to analyze arguments, the nature and use of evidence, and formal and informal fallacies.

Does the nonhuman world have any intrinsic value or is it valuable only because of its relation to human interests? Do all sentient creatures have rights? What about those creatures that lack sentience? And does the environment itself have moral standing? Through readings and thought-provoking discussions, you’ll debate answers to questions that occupy the minds of modern environmentalists.

Dig into current debates from the world of medicine and healthcare surrounding topics like artificial reproductive technology, abortion, healthcare resource allocation, disability accommodation, genetic testing, end-of-life care, physician-assisted suicide and clinical research.

If wrongdoing is a breach of relationships, then restorative justice suggests the best way to address the breach is to repair those relationships. In this course, you’ll examine restorative justice theory and practice, and explore ways it might be implemented in our criminal justice system. This class meets at the Washington State Penitentiary and includes the unique perspectives of incarcerated students.

What exactly is happiness? It’s a question that has occupied the minds of great philosophers (and the rest of us) from ancient to modern times. What can we learn by tracing conceptions of happiness through both historical and contemporary contexts? And what insights can be drawn from the fields of Philosophy and Psychology?

Explore key systems of thinking about women, gender and sexuality in Asian traditions. Can one be a Confucian feminist? What about a Daoist feminist? How do we evaluate these culturally situated views? And how can Asian philosophies help us understand dualities like sex/gender and nature/nurture.