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PHIL 100 |
INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY | | DAVID
HILBERT | Lect
9:00 MW/Disc 9:00 or 10:00 F |
| An introduction
to the methods and problems of philosophy. The problems to be focused on include:
Does God exist? Can we know anything about the external world? What is the nature
of the human mind and its relation to the body? Attention will be paid not only
to substantive answers to the questions but also to the methods available for
assessing these answers. The readings are drawn from both classic texts and the
contemporary literature. Required texts: Rene Descartes, (ed. Donald Cress), Meditations
on First Philosophy; David Hume, (ed. Richard H. Popkin), Dialogues Concerning
Natural Religion; George Berkeley, (eds. D.R. Hilbert and J. Perry), Three
Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous; John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity
and Immortality. |
| PHIL
100 | INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY | | WALTER
EDELBERG | Lect
11:00 MW/Disc 10:00 or 11:00 or 12:00 F |
| We will discuss
three questions: (1) How can you ever be justified in believing anything that
goes beyond the actual information provided by your senses? (2) Is the concept
of free will coherent? (3) What, if anything, do all morally right (or wrong)
actions have in common? Required texts: Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau,
eds., Reason and Responsibility, William Strunk, E.B. White, and Charles
Osgood, The Elements of Style. |
| PHIL
100 | INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY | | MARYA
SCHECHTMAN | Lect
12:00 MW/Disc 11:00 or 12:00 F |
| Schechtman
In this course we will try to get a sense of what philosophy is by looking in
detail at several different philosophical debates. Topics will include: freedom
of the will, the existence of God, state and society, and theories of knowledge.
Course work will include two short papers, a mid- term, a final, and class participation.
Required text: Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, John Burr and Milton
Goldinger, eighth edition, Prentice Hall. |
| PHIL
100 | INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY |
| MITZI LEE |
Lect
12:00 MW/Disc 12:00 or 1:00F |
| Introduction
to some of the central problems and methods of philosophy, through readings of
classic and modern texts. Areas to be covered include philosophy of religion,
theory of knowledge, philosophy of mind, and ethics. Required books: Elliott Sober,
Core Questions in Philosophy: a Text With Readings. |
| PHIL
100 | INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY |
| Instructor:
to be announced | Lect-D
5:30-8:00 M | | (Catalog
description) A survey of traditional problems concerning the existence and nature
of God, freedom, justification, morality, etc. Readings from historical or contemporary
philosophers. Required texts: to be announced. |
| PHIL
102 | INTRODUCTORY
LOGIC | | Instructor:
Staff | Lect
9:00 MW/Disc 9:00 or 10:00 F |
| (Catalog description)
Sentential logic: representation of English using truth-functional connectives,
truth table methods, natural deduction techniques. Introduction to predicate logic:
representation of English using quantifiers. Decision methods for monadic predicate
logic. Required texts: to be announced |
| PHIL
102 |
INTRODUCTORY LOGIC | | Instuctor:
to be announced |
Lect 9:30-10:20 TR/Disc 9:00 or 10:00 F |
| (Catalog description)
Sentential logic: representation of English using truth-functional connectives,
truth table methods, natural deduction techniques. Introduction to predicate logic:
representation of English using quantifiers. Decision methods for monadic predicate
logic. Required texts: to be announced. |
| PHIL
102 | INTRODUCTORY
LOGIC | | Nicholas
Huggett | Lect
10:00 MW/Disc 10:00 or 11:00 F |
| What is logic
and what does it have to offer? In one sense, logic is a study of the structure
of language -- it is based on the idea that the infinity of possible sentences
can all be composed according to a few simple rules, so that different sentences
composed according to the same rules have the same 'form'. In another sense, logic
is a study of arguments -- the idea of 'formal' logic is that when one knows the
logical form of an argument, one can precisely determine whether it is valid or
not. In yet another sense, logic is a study of thought and reason - for it is
natural to think of our thought processes as like arguments from existing beliefs
to new ones. Hence logic is also important in computer science -- since computers
are 'artificial reasoning machines'. To understand these ideas we will study and
master the apparatus of formal logic: the languages of propositional and predicate
logics, and the methods of proving validity. With this in hand we can start to
see the power and importance of modern logic in a variety of fields: and, perhaps
of most immediate practical benefit in other courses, students will develop precision
in their arguments and reasoning. Required texts: Jon Barwise and John Etchemendy,
Language, Proof and Logic. |
| PHIL
102 | INTRODUCTORY
LOGIC | | Instructor:
to be announced | Lect-D
5:30 - 8:00 T |
| (Catalog description)
Sentential logic: representation of English using truth-functional connectives,
truth table methods, natural deduction techniques. Introduction to predicate logic:
representation of English using quantifiers. Decision methods for monadic predicate
logic. Required texts: to be announced. |
| PHIL
103 | INTRODUCTION
TO ETHICS | | ANTHONY
LADEN | Lect
1:00 MW/Disc 12:00 or 1:00 or 2:00 F |
| Almost everyone
agrees that it is wrong to act in a racist or sexist manner. People disagree about
the limits of what counts as a racist or sexist action, however. In this course,
we will read a variety of authors who argue that race and gender are socially
created systems of inequality, and that all actions which help to perpetuate these
systems should count as racist and/or sexist. In so doing, we will encounter various
ideas and concepts which play a role in moral philosophy beyond questions of race
and gender. We will also learn to appreciate and understand complicated arguments
in support of unfamiliar positions, and to think critically about our place in
the world: the hallmarks of philosophy. Required texts: All readings are from
contemporary sources and will be collected in a course packet on sale at the bookstore
|
| PHIL
103 | INTRODUCTION
TO ETHICS | | Instructor:
Staff | Lect
5:30-7:00 PM W/Disc 7:00 PM W |
| (Catalog description)
Surveys attempts to answer central questions of ethics: What acts are right? What
things are good? How do we know this? Required texts: to be announced. |
| PHIL
105 | SCIENCE
AND PHILOSOPHY |
| NICHOLAS
HUGGETT | Lect
12:00 MW/Disc 11:00 or 12:00 F |
| What is space?
It seems to be all around us, but we can't see it (and not because it is too small,
for it may be infinite). It is part of the physical realm, for it is studied in
physics (in classical physics physical objects are located in space, and in relativistic
physics one studies the physical curvature of space), but it is not a material
object like other physical objects. Space is at once familiar and unfamiliar.
This course looks at the history of scientific and philosophical attempts to come
to grips with these questions, from antiquity to modern times. Our central idea
is that space is described by geometry, for instance, as a three dimensional version
of the Euclidean plane. We will study the alleged difficulties of this view: Zeno's
paradoxes seem to show that it is incompatible with the possibility of motion,
and we must untangle this challenge. We will also consider an important debate
between Newton and Leibniz concerning the relation between space and material
objects: does space exist at all independently of matter? Does space influence
matter? (Does matter influence space?) We will consider what it is to be handed:
left and right hands are at once very similar -- twins -- but wholly different
-- just try to put a left hand glove on your right hand. Can we find an explanation
of this phenomenon in space? Finally we will also look at two key features of
modern views of space: that space and time are not truly distinct but are really
combined in one four dimensional entity, 'spacetime', and that space is not, as
Euclid would have us believe, flat, but can be 'warped'. Both of these ideas jar
with our intuitions, and we will have to think through physical examples carefully
to illustrate them. Aside from learning about the history of thought on space
and understanding some important concepts of contemporary spacetime physics, students
will discover how philosophy and physics interact, and will develop their writing
skills. Required texts: Space from Zeno to Einstein: Classic Readings with
a Contemporary Commentary, Nick Huggett. |
| PHIL
115 | DEATH |
| NEAL
GROSSMAN | Lect
10:00 MW/Disc 9:00 or 10:00 or 11:00 F |
| We will examine
several philosophical issues pertaining to death and dying, with particular emphasis
on the question of survival of the person after death. Some of the questions we
shall discuss are: Is there evidence for survival? How do our beliefs about survival
affect our attitude towards death and dying? How do our attitudes about death
affect how we live our lives? Required texts: Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich;
Almeder, Death and Personal Survival; Callanan and Kelley, Final Gifts;
Morse, Parting Visions; Fenwick, Truth in the Light. |
| PHIL 116 |
MEDICAL
ETHICS | | CHARLES
CHASTAIN | Lect
9:30-10:15 TR/Disc 10:15-10:45 TR |
| This is an
introduction to biomedical ethics. We will examine some moral and public policy
issues connected with health care, including abortion, euthanasia, mercy-killing
and assisted suicide; decision-making by or for patients, refusal of medical treatment
by competent patients, informed consent, and decision-making for the incompetent;
paternalism, autonomy, and patients' access to information; privacy and confidentiality;
experimentation on human subjects. The emphasis will be on the analysis of concepts
and principles as they apply to particular cases, especially controversial ones.
Required written work will consist of three analytical papers (counting for 70%
of the final grade), a midterm exam (10%), and a final exam (20%). Required Textbook:
Dan W. Brock, Life and Death: Philosophical Essays in Biomedical Ethics. |
| PHIL 210 |
SYMBOLIC
LOGIC | | JON
JARRETT | Lect
11:00 MW/Disc 11:00 F |
| This course
provides a review of truth-functional logic (the main focus of Philosophy 102,
which is a prerequisite for this course) and a thorough treatment of first-order
predicate logic ("quantification theory") with identity. We will develop a system
of natural deduction for predicate logic, and we will cover some more advanced
topics as time permits. The text for the course is Understanding Symbolic Logic
(3rd edition), by Virginia Klenk. Requirements for the course include problem
sets, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Grades will be computed by assigning to
these three components the following approximate weights: problem sets 30%; midterm
30%; and final 40%. Required texts: Virginia Klenk, Understanding Symbolic
Logic. Prerequisite: Phil 102; a grade of B or better in Phil 102 is recommended. |
| PHIL
220 | ANCIENT
PHILOSOPHY I: PLATO AND HIS PREDECESSORS |
| MITZI
LEE | Lect
10:00 MW/Disc 10:00 F |
| Close study
of Plato's dialogues, with emphasis on the early and middle dialogues. Required
texts: Plato (edited by J. M. Cooper), Complete Works. Recommended books: Charles
Kahn, Plato and the Socratic Dialogue; Julia Annas, Introduction to
Plato's Republic. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or consent of the
instructor. |
| PHIL
223 | HISTORY
OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY I: DESCARTES AND HIS SUCCESSORS |
| DANIEL
SUTHERLAND | Lect
11:00-11:45 TR/Disc 11:45-12:15 TR |
| This course
is designed to cover, with Philosophy 224, what is known as the early modern period
of philosophy – roughly 1637 to 1787. Many aspects of early modern philosophy
are responses to the dramatic changes taking place in the science of the day,
that is, during the scientific revolution. To understand those developments and
responses, one needs to have some appreciation for the accepted world view at
the time the scientific revolution took place and the scientific revolution itself.
We will spend the first part of the course giving a synopsis of the prevalent
world view at the time of the scientific revolution began, and how the rise of
modern science threatened it. We will then examine how philosophy and our understanding
of the world unfolded during the early modern period, beginning with the work
of René Descartes. We will also delve this semester into the philosophical works
of John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, and Nicolas Malebranche. These philosophers concerned
themselves with a wide range of issues; we will focus on issues in metaphysics
and epistemology, such as the nature of matter, mind, God and freedom, and the
nature and limitations of human knowledge. We will do so with a particular eye
to how mathematics and the evolving science played a part in their views. The
course will not, however, presuppose any background in either mathematics or science.
Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or consent
of the instructor. |
| PHIL
230 | TOPICS
IN ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY |
| ANTHONY
LADEN | Lect
11:00 MW/Disc 11:00 F |
| Governments
exercise coercive power over their citizens: they can be sent to war, locked up
and even killed if the state sees fit. What could possibly justify anything having
such awesome power over people? Philosophers in what is called the social contract
tradition respond by saying that such power must be agreed to by citizens. This
course will look at four of the most important philosophers in this tradition:
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Rawls, as well as a
variety of criticisms of their approach, including from the point of view of feminism
and race theory. Required texts: Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes; Second Treatise
on Government, John Locke; Basic Political Writings, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or consent of the instructor. Phil 103
or 109 or 112 or 116 is recommended. |
| PHIL
241 | PHILOSOPHY
OF RELIGION | | GEORGETTE
SINKLER | Lect
2:00-2:45 TR/Disc 2:45-3:15 TR |
| We will explore
the themes of God, freedom, and evil. What is the nature of God? How might one
go about trying to prove or disprove the existence of God? What is the value,
if any, of faith and revelation, miracles or prophecy in religion? Readings will
be from classic and contemporary sources. Required texts: to be announced Prerequisite:
one course in philosophy or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL 403
| METAPHYSICS |
| MARYA
SCHECHTMAN | Lect-D
10:00 MWF | | We
will consider a variety of central debates in metaphysics, blending historical
and contemporary perspectives. Topics covered will include: freedom of the will,
the nature of mind (and body), the existence of God, and necessity and causation.
Of particular interest will be the interconnections between these different philosophical
questions and the way in which the development of science has influenced the terms
in which they are raised. Since this course is also designated as the "writing
in the disciplines" course for philosophy, it will include an intensive writing
component. There will be short, weekly assignments for the first half of the term,
and longer assignments in the second half. A fair amount of class time will be
devoted to discussing writing strategies and to the production and critique of
written work. Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: Phil 203 or Phil
226 or Phil 426 or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL
404 |
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE |
| JON JARRETT
| Lect-D
2:00-3:15 TR | | This
course will be devoted to a study of the foundations of quantum mechanics. It
is designed to be of interest (and accessible) to a range of students, from the
philosopher with minimal background in mathematics and physics who has wondered
from afar what it is that philosophers of science find so intriguing about quantum
mechanics, to the physicist who knows very well how to use the formalism of the
theory to perform the standard calculations but who has lingering worries that
"philosophical" concerns regarding the foundations of this subject might not reside
altogether in pseudo-problems after all. As far as technical material is concerned,
the course will be essentially self-contained. No extensive special background
in the subject will be presupposed, but students who are frightened even by concepts
from elementary algebra, trigonometry, ordinary (real, 3-dimensional) vector spaces,
etc. probably do not belong in this class. Relevant mathematical topics (e.g.,
Hilbert space, non-Boolean lattices, etc.) will be developed in class at a modest
level of rigor, but we will not, for example, be solving differential equations
or doing perturbation theory (as one would do in a standard quantum mechanics
course in the physics department). This will not be a "watered-down" physics course.
We will focus on questions that arise in the attempt to give an adequate elucidation
of the logical and conceptual structure of the theory, questions that appear most
dramatically in connection with such topics as Bell's Theorem and the measurement
problem. These questions challenge our most fundamental ideas about the structure
of our world and our place in it; and the principal goal of the course is to provide
formulations of such questions in a manner that affords the student a genuine
understanding of what is at stake in debates over the "interpretation" of quantum
mechanics. Required text: R. I. G. Hughes, The Structure and Interpretation
of Quantum Mechanics. Prerequisite: Phil 102 or Phil 210 and one 200-level
course in philosophy; or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL
416 | METALOGIC
I |
| BILL
HART | Lect-D
9:30 - 10:45 TR | | We
will review the syntax and semantics of quantification theory with and without
identity. The main focus of the course will be a proof of the completeness of
these theories, and related results like the Löwenheim-Skolem theorem. Required
texts: Introduction to Mathematical Logic, Elliott Mendelson. Prerequisite:
Phil. 210 or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL
422 | MEDIEVAL
PHILOSOPHY | | GEORGETTE
SINKLER | Lect
11:00-11:45 TR/Disc 11:45-12:15 TR |
| The course
will follow the development of philosophy in the Latin West from the beginning
of the Christian era through the 15th Century. The emphasis will be on metaphysics,
including philosophical theology, in the work of authors such as Augustine, Anslem,
and Aquinas. Required texts: Kaufmann and Baird, eds., Medieval Philosophy;
David Knowles, The Evolution of Medieval Thought. Prerequisite: Phil 220
or 221, or 420 or 421, or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL
423 | STUDIES
IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY
TOPIC: SPINOZA |
| NEAL GROSSMAN
| Lect-D
12:00 MWF | | Spinoza
is a unique figure in the history of western philosophy. He is not only a very
astute metaphysician and epistemologist, but also a master therapist and spiritual
teacher. Spinoza's explicitly stated goal in writing his masterpiece, The Ethics
, is to "lead us, by the hand, as it were, to the knowledge of the human mind
and its highest blessedness". Although the path which Spinoza carves out for us
is admittedly a difficult one, nevertheless, it is a path which can be followed.
There is great intellectual beauty in his system of thought, but the "payoff"
comes when the student realizes that his system of thought, aside from being interesting
and elegant, can also function as a guide for living. Required text: Edwin Curley,
editor, A Spinoza Reader. Prerequisite: Phil 223 or Phil 224 or 3 courses
in philosophy or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL
429 | SPECIAL
STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
TOPIC: EPISODES IN THE HISTORY OF THE
IDEA OF CONSENT | | CONSTANCE
MEINWALD | Lect-D
12:30-1:45 TR | | While
consent/assent is a philosophical notion, literary, historical, and legal scholars
tend to bracket the philosophical tradition. WE will look at treatments of consent
in Stoicism, Scepticism, and Augustine to see how they apply to cases taken from
ancient literature and myth as well as our own times, including at least the Sermon
on the Mount, and rape. Required texts: to be announced Prerequisite: one 200-level
course in the history of philosophy or consent of the instructor. |
| PHIL
500 | WRITING
IN PHILOSOPHY | | CONSTANCE
MEINWALD | Disc
2:00-4:30 R | | We
will practice writing philosophy. Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite:
graduate standing. |
| PHIL
505 | SEMINAR
IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY |
| DANIEL
SUTHERLAND | Disc
2:00-4:30 T | | We
will examine Kant’s metaphysics as presented in the Critique of Pure Reason. The
seminar will not presuppose a prior knowledge of Kant. We will read all of the
Critique of Pure Reason, with the primary focus on the Analytic rather than the
Dialectic. We will also read and evaluate the prominent and influential Anglo-American
interpretations of the Critique offered by Strawson, Allison and Guyer. Other
criticisms and interpretations will be considered more selectively. Required texts:
Immanuel Kant (Guyer and Wood, trans.), The Critique of Pure Reason; Henry
Allison, Kant’s Transcendental Idealism; Paul Guyer, Kant and the Claims
of Reason; Peter Strawson, The Bounds of Sense. Prerequisite: graduate
standing. |
| PHIL 528 |
SOCIAL/POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY | | CHARLES
MILLS | Disc
11:00-1:30 R | | This
course will look at the issue of social justice. We will discuss both mainstream
and radical conceptions, e.g. proposals by feminist and race theorists. Required
texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: graduate standing. |
| PHIL
532 | METAPHYSICS |
| WALTER
EDELBERG | Disc
1:00-3:30 M | | A
graduate survey of contemporary metaphysics. Topics will include identity, properties,
modality, reduction, and realism. Required texts: Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa,
eds., Metaphysics: An Anthology; Stephen Laurence and Cynthia Macdonald,
eds., Contemporary Readings in the Foundations of Metaphysics. Prerequisite:
graduate standing. |
| PHIL
542 | PHILOSOPHY
OF SPECIAL SCIENCES |
| DAVID HILBERT
| Disc
11:00-1:30 T | | Intensive
study of special topics in philosophy of physics, philosophy of biology, or other
sciences. Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: graduate standing |
| PHIL 590 |
RESEARCH
SEMINAR | | INSTRUCTOR
TO BE ANNOUNCED | Disc
2:00-4:00 R | | A
work-in-progress seminar for graduate students at the topical, prospectus, or
dissertation level. Prerequisite: completion of 10 of the 14 required courses
for the Ph.D. in Philosophy. | |