PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 11:00- 11:50 TR/Disc 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50 M/ Visitor
(Catalog Description:) A survey of traditional problems concerning the existence and nature of God, freedom, justification, morality, etc. Readings from historical or contemporary philosophers.
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 9:30-10:20 TR/Disc 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 M/ Whipple
(Catalog Description:) A survey of traditional problems concerning the existence and nature of God, freedom, justification, morality, etc. Readings from historical or contemporary philosophers.
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 9:00-9:50 MW/Disc 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 or 1:00-1:50 F/ Klein
This course will provide an introduction to central themes and methods in western philosophy. We will consider a number of topics including the existence of god, knowledge of other minds, the nature of scientific discovery, and the possibility of free will. Readings will come from a variety of historical and contemporary sources.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect 11:00-11:50 MW/Disc 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 or 1:00-1:50 F/ Sutherland
(Catalog Description:) Sentential logic: representation of English using truth-functional connectives, decision methods, natural deduction techniques. Introduction to predicate logic: representation of English using quantifiers. Decision methods for monadic predicate logic.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect 12:00-12:50 MW/Disc 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 or 1:00- 1:50 F/Hylton
(Catalog Description:) Sentential logic: representation of English using truth-functional connectives, decision methods, natural deduction techniques. Introduction to predicate logic: representation of English using quantifiers. Decision methods for monadic predicate logic.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect 11:00- 11:50 TR/ Disc 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 F/ Sedgwick
This course provides an introduction to classic texts in Western moral philosophy. We briefly examine two moral systems of the ancient Greeks, then devote the remainder of the course to great authors of the modern period: Immanuel Kant, J.S. Mill, and Friedrich Nietzsche. There are no prerequisites for this course. Gen Ed: Individual and Society.
Required texts include:
Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals.
J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism and The Subjection of Women.
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect 11:00-11:50 MW/Disc 12:00-12:50 or 1:00-1:50 W/Laden
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 many more of our actions than is usually thought are racist or sexist. In particular, we will look at arguments that claim that race and gender are socially created systems of inequality, and that all actions that help to perpetuate these systems should count as racist and/or sexist. In so doing, students will encounter various ideas and concepts that play a role in moral philosophy beyond questions of race and gender. They will also learn to appreciate and understand complicated arguments in support of unfamiliar positions and think critically about their 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 104: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect 9:00-9:50 MW/Disc 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50 F/Visitor
(Catalog Description:) An introductory-level survey of one or more topics in social and/or political philosophy. Readings may include both classical and contemporary sources.
PHIL 107: UNDERSTANDING ART
Lect 9:30-10:20 TR/ Disc 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 F/Visitor
(Catalog Description:) Introduction to the fundamental problems in understanding art; the historical background; the concept of the aesthetic; theories of art; intentionalistic criticism, metaphor, symbolism, expression; theories of evaluation.
PHIL 115: DEATH
Lect 10:00-10:50 MW/ Disc 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 OR 1:00-1:50 OR 2:00-2:50 W/Grossman
(Catalog Description:) Philosophical examination of our attitudes towards death. Our attitudes towards mortality and immortality; definitions of death; treating others as persons; our attitudes towards life, quality of life issues, suicide, rights of the dying.
PHIL 202: PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Lect 12:00-12:50 MW/ Disc 12:00- 12:50 F/Klein
This course will cover classic and contemporary perspectives on the mind-body problem. We will use these to evaluate various positions in scientific psychology and their implications for our ordinary, commonsense notions of the mind.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 204: INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Lect 3:30-4:14 TR/Disc 4:15-4:45 TR/Jarrett
This course will be devoted to a philosophical analysis of the scientific enterprise. Our approach will be not only to examine aspects of science (construed in a quite general sense) itself, but also to take a look at some of the more philosophical issues associated with specific sciences and specific scientific theories. One of the themes on which we will focus is the relationship between science and philosophy (including questions about the meaningfulness of attempts to draw a sharp line indicating where science ends and philosophy begins). We will plan to consider a wide range of standard fare: scientific reasoning, the structure of scientific theories, the nature of scientific laws, the confirmation of hypotheses by evidence, scientific explanation, the realism/instrumentalism debate, logical empiricism, scientific revolutions, as well as some of the more recent developments in the subject.
Text: The Nature of Science: Problems and Perspectives, by Edwin Hung
PHIL 210: SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Lect 11:00-11:44 TR/DISC 11:45-12:15 TR/Jarrett
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 the principles of first-order predicate logic (“quantification theory”) with identity. Our study will include a system of natural deduction for predicate logic. We will examine a handful of more advanced topics as time permits.
Text: Understanding Symbolic Logic, 5th edition, by Virginia Klenk
PHIL 220: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY I: PLATO AND HIS PREDECESSORS
Lect 12:30-1:14 TR/Disc 1:15-1:45 TR/ Meinwald
(Catalog Description:) Introduction to Plato and his predecessors in the ancient period. Same as CL 220. It is recommended that PHIL 220/CL 220 and PHIL 221/CL 221 be taken as a sequence in successive terms. Prerequisite(s): One course in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 223: HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY I: DESCARTES AND HIS SUCCESSORS
Lect 2:00-2:43 TR/Disc 2:44-3:15 TR/Sedgwick
What are the limits of human knowledge? What is the nature of physical substance? Of mind? Have we reason for believing in God's existence? Are we capable of free will? These are among the questions that preoccupied the philosophers of seventeenth century Europe we will be reading in this course. We will examine the ways in which their respective answers to these questions reflect revolutions in seventeenth century science and radically new conceptions of the relation between religious authority, on the one hand, and scientific and philosophical method, on the other. Each of the philosophers we will study has a unique and decisive role to play in the history of the transition from a medieval or Scholastic to a "modern" philosophical worldview.
It is recommended that PHIL 223 and PHIL 224 be taken as a sequence in successive terms. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
Required texts
Readings in Modern Philosophy, Vol. I (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz). Eds. Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins.
Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke.
PHIL 227: CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY I: PHENOMENOLOGY AND EXISTENTIALISM
Lect 1:00- 1:50 MW/Disc 1:00-1:50 F/Gunes
(Catalog Description:) Existential themes in dramas and fiction as well as selections from the works of such thinkers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Camus and Sartre. Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 403: METAPHYSICS
Lect-Disc: 2:00-3:15 TR/Edelberg
Our focus will be on foundational issues in metaphysics, with readings drawn from contemporary sources. We will cover three topics: identity and change, universals and particulars, and necessity and possible worlds. Prerequisite: Philosophy 203 or 226 or 426 or consent of the instructor. Texts to be announced.
PHIL 404: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Lect-Disc 11:00-12:15 TR/Hilbert
Many contemporary controversies ranging from the question of how to understand the human impact on the environment to the claims concerning existence and nature of differences between men and women depend crucially on understanding biological science. Understanding the science, however, requires an understanding of the basic concepts and theoretical structures of biology, concepts and structures which themselves have been the object of good deal of controversy. This course will survey some of these debates with the usual philosophical emphasis on issues concerning evolutionary theory. No prior acquaintance with biology is required.
Required Texts: Sex and Death: An Introduction to Philosophy of Biology, Kim Sterelny and Paul Griffiths, University of Chicago Press, 1999, 0-226-77304-3.
PHIL 416: METALOGIC
Lect-Disc 9:30-10:45 TR/Hart
(Catalog Description:) Metatheory for sentence and predicate logic. Completeness and compactness theorems and their applications. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Students who have taken MATH 430 may not register for this course. Should be taken in sequence with PHIL 417. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 210 or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 423: STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc 9:30-10:45 TR/Whipple
(Catalog Description:) Careful reading of selected works of one or more philosophers, 1600 to 1750, such as Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkely, Hume, Reid and Rousseau. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated up to 1 time(s) with approval. Approval to repeat course granted by the department. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 223 or PHIL 224 or 3 courses in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 429: SPECIAL STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc 1:00-1:50 MWF/SUTHERLAND
(Catalog Description:) Advanced study of a historical school, period, or the development of a historical theme. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated up to 1 time(s) with approval. Approval to repeat course granted by the department. Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course in the history of philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 500: WRITING IN PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc R/MEINWALD
We will practice writing philosophy.
Required texts: The Elements of Style, Strunk and White.
PHIL 501: TOPICS IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY: PLATO'S METAPHYSICS
Lect-Disc 3:30-6:00 R/MEINWALD
We will read and engage philosophically with several of Plato's texts, chosen to let us pursue one or more of the following themes (to be chosen according to interest among participants):
- Immortality
- The Sketch of Forms in the Republic -- PreSocratic Background and Role in the Dialogue
- The Problems of the First Part of the Parmenides
- Developments of Forms in the Second Part of the Parmenides and/or the Sophist and/or the Philebus
This course would make sense as a sequel for those who took 501 in Fall 2007 (they are complementary), but SHOULD NOT be taken by anyone who did my 501 in Fall 2005 (there would be too much overlap).
PHIL 528: SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc 1:00- 3:30 M/Laden
In time for the 2008 elections, a seminar on issues in democratic theory. Amongst the topics I hope to cover are the nature of democratic authority and legitimacy, the role of trust in a democracy, and the role of experts, including experts in philosophy in a democratic society. We will undoubtedly read some Rawls and some Habermas, perhaps some Laden, and most likely lots of other people besides. In the spirit of the topic, suggestions on sub-topics, authors and readings are welcome. All reading will be available for xerox or download.
PHIL 532: METAPHYSICS
Lect-Disc 3:30-6:00 T/Edelberg
A survey of contemporary metaphysics. Topics will include existence, identity, substances, properties, modality, and reduction. Required texts: to be announced.
PHIL 536: EPISTEMOLOGY
Lect-Disc 12:30- 3:00 T/Grossman
Is Materialism a logical truth? If so, then it cannot be false. Or is Materialism rather an empirical theory about the world?…….. in which case it could be false. If the latter, then what sort of empirical evidence would falsify Materialism? And, is evidence of the required kind already at hand?
To put the issue in quasi-historical perspective, there are a number of questions which at one time were the sole province of philosophy and theology, but which now are susceptible to scientific investigation. Questions pertaining to the nature of matter, of space and time, of causality and determinism, of atomism vs. wholism, and even of the origin and ultimate destiny of the physical universe, are questions about which empirical science has much to say, and everyone agrees that philosophical speculations about such matters ought to be informed by the findings of science. Might the long-standing debate between Materialism and Dualism, like the above kinds of problems, be decidable empirically? Or at least, should not this debate take account of the best empirical data, whatever that turns out to be.
In this seminar we will examine a large and varied body of empirical data that have caused a number of researchers to conclude that the evidence against Materialism is compelling, if not conclusive. The strongest data involve (I)very well-documented cases of individuals acquiring veridical and detailed information about events remote from where their body is known to be, and (ii) very well-documented cases of individuals reporting vivid and veridical conscious experience while their brain was known to be in a state not capable of generating conscious experience . We will examine such cases, and also examine how Materialists and Dualists have attempted to explain them (or explain them away, as the case may be).
My approach to this material will be epistemological, and I will assume a very elementary acquaintance with some very basic philosophy of science concepts. If students are not already familiar with Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions, we will read it as part of the seminar.
Required Text(s): TBA
PHIL 540: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Lect-Disc 3:00-5:30 F/Huggett
Topics in the philosophy of science, both classic and contemporary.
PHIL 590: RESEARCH SEMINAR
Disc 4:00-6:00 W/Hilbert
A work-in-progress seminar for graduate students at the topical, prospectus, or dissertation level.
|