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Apply for Spring IntroSems by February 10th at 4PM!

Calling all Frosh, Sophomores, and First-year Transfers! It’s your final opportunity to apply for priority enrollment in IntroSems this year! For best system experience, don’t wait until the last minute to apply. Lags may be encountered if too many students access the IntroSems’ VCA all at once. Strong interest in Spring Seminars is expected. Apply early!

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PHIL 15N: Thinking About Death

Application Deadline: February 10

General Education Requirements

Not currently certified for a requirement. Courses are typically considered for Ways certification a quarter in advance.


Course Description

Do dead people exist? If not, what do we refer to and think about when talking and thinking "about them?" Am I going to die? Am I just my body, or could I somehow survive its destruction, perhaps as a soul or an uploaded computational system? That I have not always been alive does not trouble me like the fact that I will die; is that rational of me? Is mortality a drawback to a life, a positive thing, or what? Is suicide ever a reasonable choice? Can death be bad for the dead person, given that they no longer exist, and are not here to suffer?  Do the wishes that dead people had when they were alive matter? Should the expectation of death structure how I live? We will discuss these questions, and in the process participants will be introduced to central issues in metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and ethics.


Meet the Instructor: Mark Crimmins

"My main area of research in the Philosophy of Language: how does language work, cognitively, socially, and descriptively? How do we understand, communicate, and characterize reality? But that area intersects just about every other area of philosophy, and I really enjoy branching out, especially in Introductory Seminars. I'm looking forward to this one, despite its somewhat grim topic!"

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