This course examines how political ideas are formed and developed through literature, art, plays, essays and philosophical works in the twentieth century. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course explores current legal and philosophical debates around equality, discrimination, and the shaping of individual and group identities. It addresses the way values, affiliation, and identities have an impact on the public sphere of law and policy-making – and the ways in which law and policy, in turn, shape our conceptions (and misconceptions) of people's identities. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course examines different values, beliefs, and traditions relating to the natural and social world, ethical living, and the common good. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

How rhetoric and statistical analysis are used to communicate scientific observations and theories to different audiences will be examined in lectures and seminars. Uncertainty, belief, evidence, risk assessment, random error and bias will be discussed using examples drawn from literature, the arts and the physical, life and social sciences. Students will prepare a research grant application on a scientific topic of their own choice. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An examination of scientific theories and their logic in life and physical sciences. Experimental design, novel device production, data analysis and modeling will be discussed using examples drawn from primary source material in the natural sciences. Students will prepare a research paper on a topic designed in consultation with the instructor. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

How is science performed and what enables scientific progress? What are our responsibilities as scientists? We base the discussion mostly on the development of microscopy tools. We look at how scientific discoveries affect and were affected by society. This course explores the complementary skills and knowledge needed by modern scientists. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course introduces students to some of the issues in the philosophy of science, in general, and in the philosophy of physics, in particular. Topics include the scientific method and its controversies, the meaning of time and its properties, realism versus competing approaches, thought experiments, and quantum mechanics. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course will review issues in contemporary world affairs, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the present day. The course will examine the politics and practice of foreign policy decision making. Issues to be covered include the collapse of the Soviet Union, intervention in humanitarian crises, and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course explores how public service and citizenship are developed. Topics may include the role of law and government, civil liberties, rights and responsibilities, and the creation of policy, as well as how these factors shape collective memory. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

A seminar course that examines the contribution of an individual or individuals to the public sphere. The course will explore how public service and citizenship are developed in social, philosophical, and cultural contexts. We will examine our evolving role in developing collective, cultural and counter memory. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course uses events to discuss the nature of society including major revolutions, economic crises, and the impact of significant artistic, cultural and technological developments. Emphasis on our responsibilities towards social justice. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

What is a leader? Are leaders born or are they made, and if they are made is there a craft to being able to lead others? Through works of art, film, and literature, this course examines the various types of men and women who become leaders from natural-born talents to statesmen and state-crafters and individual entrepreneurs with the purpose of defining those qualities that make for the leaders of tomorrow. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course introduces policy applications of measurement tools and economic concepts by analyzing current issues in the news, such as public spending and debt, health care, social security, energy, climate change, innovation, and education. Concepts from the philosophy and history of economic thought will be used to address such questions as: What is the nature of economic explanations? Do they tell us the truth about reality? Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Drawing together philosophical background readings with contemporary applications, this course addresses issues of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, human rights, diversity, and equity, and considers how these topics intersect with a wide range of global practices. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

What is a leader? Are leaders born or are they made, and if they are made is there a craft to being able to lead others? Through works of art, film, and literature, this course examines the various types of men and women who become leaders from natural-born talents to statesmen and state-crafters and individual entrepreneurs with the purpose of defining those qualities that make for the leaders of tomorrow. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

The artist, filmmaker, poet or dramatist has changed society and how we imagine our future. The course explores a number of paradigm cases of how the arts have interacted with social problems. Both historical and current examples of the role of the imaginative arts will be explored. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course addresses social issues through the exploration of creative activity and the imaginative arts. Topics will be discussed from historical, ethical and philosophical perspectives, and might be considered either in a group or individually. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course examines Renaissance queens and queenship by exploring historical and fictional queens and empresses. Topics may include the varied roles queens played within their societies, their relationship with religious and political institutions, the ways in which they negotiated sovereignty vis-a-vis the gender they embodied, and all the ways in which queens were celebrated, criticized, and imagined by artists, writers, and communities of their time and today. Discussion will delve into broad questions around identity and politics and feature a broad range of case studies from Europe to colonial America and beyond. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course considers detective fiction from its inception in the late nineteenth century to the present day. Students will be introduced to canonical and lesser known authors of detective fiction, evolving generic conventions, and reception history. Course content may include mystery stories, connections to emerging legal processes, and critical writing on detective fiction. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

How and when have political posters been used? What forms do they take? How have they changed over time? What can these visual artifacts tell us about the relationship between art and propaganda, and about the political movements that have mobilized visual strategies to advance their aims? This course involves visits to several poster collections, develops visual literacy skills, and highlights the role of the visual in societies past and present. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course will examine the materiality of objects with a view to understanding how artefacts are made, their circulation, consumption, and the importance of things to social and cultural life. An investigation of artefacts from various collections in and around the university will be undertaken to develop basic methods for the study, description and analysis of material culture. In addition to hands-on exploration of objects, topics may include antiquarians and their methods, material culture in colonial contexts, and materials in contemporary user-friendly design. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course explores central developments and ongoing controversies in the scientific study of the human mind, brain and behaviour. It examines topics such as: psychoanalysis, behaviourism, humanistic psychology, evolutionary psychology, intelligence testing, and feminist perspectives. Goals include understanding the historical evolution and social relevance of scientific psychology.

This course examines the ethical dilemmas raised by new genetic technologies. It explores the scientific possibilities they open as well as the moral questions they raise. The topics covered might include: Eugenics, the human genome project, behavioral genetics, genetics and race, genetic screening, gene editing and therapy, gene doping in sports, animal and human cloning, and genetic enhancement.

An introduction to competing conceptions of scientific knowledge and the role of sociocultural factors in shaping scientific methods, theories, and evidence. Can science provide objective knowledge of the external mind-independent world, or are the empirical aspirations of science limited by the social, cultural, economic, political, and religious contexts that shape “science” itself? Can scientific knowledge reach certainty? How do sociocultural factors affect the process of theory acceptance? This course considers “science” as an epistemological battleground from 17th century debates on inductive reasoning to contemporary arguments about “alternative” science.

This course introduces students to the history of natural history--or how thinkers (often called "naturalists") made sense of the world around them. Course readings, lectures, and activities will explore changing perspectives on nonhuman nature across time, from medieval bestiaries to early modern cabinets of curiosities, from colonial botany to more recent legends of Yetis, Bigfoots, and other fantastical creatures of cryptozoology.

This course explores how scientific and technological advances in genetics have been presented in the movies, focusing on American cinema. We will consider how selected films have influenced social perceptions of the role of scientists and genetic technologies in various areas. The movies and topics covered might include: The Black Stork (1917), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Tomorrow’s Children (1934) for eugenics; The Boys from Brazil (1978), and Blueprint (2003) for human cloning; Jurassic Park (1993) for de-extinction or bringing extinct animal species back to life; Blade Runner (1982) for synthetic biology and human nature; Gattaca (1997) for human genetic enhancement; The Fly (1958) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) for chimeras; My Sister’s Keeper (2009) for savior siblings; and Okja (2017) for genetically modified animals. We will also analyze the role of documentaries, such as Human Nature (2019) and Make People Better (2022).

Topics vary from year to year depending on the instructor. Please see the Victoria College website for specific details about this year's offerings: https://vic.utoronto.ca/academic-programs/special-topics-courses/vic259h

Topics vary from year to year depending on the instructor. Please refer to the Victoria College website for more information: https://vic.utoronto.ca/academic-programs/special-topics-courses/vic259y

This course examines influential efforts to study human beings and society scientifically, from the seventeenth century to the present. We consider major contributions from prominent thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. We also review the contemporary relevance and persistent controversies about their ideas.

A practical or experiential learning opportunity under the supervision of a faculty member.