An introduction to seminal texts in the field of phenomenological psychology, including both philosophical and psychological literature. Typically one author from the philosophical category is selected for close study (Husserl, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty or Levinas), and supplementary readings in psychological applications of phenomenology are then woven into the syllabus in any particular semester.

A conceptual introduction to the philosophic foundations, appropriate domains, strengths and limitations of qualitative research as distinct from quantitative research. Students will be introduced to multiple methodologies within qualitative research including phenomenology and others such as grounded theory, narrative analysis and discursive analysis. Students will read primary sources in qualitative research theory and learn to develop, propose, evaluate, carry out and effectively present qualitative research.

This course will critically examine contemporary understandings of psychological development as physical, cognitive and social development and endeavor to place human development within the context of human possibility. It seeks to provide the student with a foundation in primary and secondary source material that presents human development in terms of the questions: What is development? What about us “develops?” Is this development continuous or discontinuous? What about us remains the same throughout life, and what changes? What is the meaning of our deaths in the context of our development?

The psychodynamic tradition in psychology is examined by careful reading of original sources, including Freud’s case histories, lectures and theoretical works (including his "Project" and "Metapsychology Papers"), along with the writings of those who further developed and commented upon his work, such as Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, Erich Fromm, Erik Erikson and Bruno Bettelheim. Primary sources in psychoanalysis are supplemented with texts such as Henri Ellenberger’s The Discovery of the Unconscious or more sophisticated philosophical treatments of Freud, such as those of Politzer, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur or Lacan.