PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 11:00-11:50 MW/Disc: 1:00 or 12:00 M/Instructor: Sinkler
The course will provide a general introduction to some of the central problems in philosophy. Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
Required texts: to be announced.
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 12:00-12:50 MW/Disc: 11:00 or 12:00 F/Instructor: Svolba
This course introduces students to central questions in philosophy and to the way in which philosophers think about these questions. Topics include the existence of God, skepticism, the relationship between mind and body, freedom and responsibility, personal identity, right and wrong, and the meaning of life. In thinking about these very abstract and difficult topics, and by learning to identify and evaluate arguments, students will learn how to think about more concrete matters as well! Three exams, weekly quizzes. Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 5:30-7:00 M/Disc: 7:00-8:00 M/Instructor: Fischer
Philosophy is the business of thinking hard about questions whose answers we normally take for granted. In this course, we'll focus on the following: We seem to know a lot of facts, but can we really know anything at all? What sort of thing is a human person? Is belief in God defensible? How should we think about the fact that we are going to die? What is the meaning of life? Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
Required text: E. D. Klemke and Steven M. Cahn's The Meaning of Life: A Reader, 3rd ed (Oxford University Press, 2007).
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 6:00-6:45 TR/Disc: 6:45-7:15/Instructor: Liou
This course begins with a reading of J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, which will introduce the course's central topics: love, friendship, our treatment of other human beings and animals, the nature of personhood, and death. We will learn to address these issues philosophically, engaging with classic and contemporary philosophical texts (by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Perry, Diamond, and others) and developing our abilities to read texts carefully and critically, identify and evaluate arguments, and construct clear, persuasive arguments of our own. Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect: 6:00-6:45 TR/Disc: 6:45-7:15/Instructor: Ozturk
Thinking is very much like an art; when done properly and skillfully it produces impressive results. Like every art however, it has an intriguing science beneath its simple feel and natural beauty. This science is logic.
Introduction to Logic will be your first step towards mastering this science. The subjects we are going to look at in this course are valid forms of reasoning, sentential logic, first order logic and formal proofs using natural deduction. The course uses a computer-based formal logical system. In this system, we will learn how to express the logical form of English sentences and how to carry out valid proofs from a set of premises to a conclusion. We will also learn how to recognize the fallacious arguments that we encounter on a daily basis. The ultimate aim is to help you become a skilled and self-sufficient thinker.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect: 11:00-11:50 TR/Disc: 10:00 or 11:00 F/Instructor: Sutherland
Logic brings clarity to one’s thinking and it helps one understand and evaluate the reasons people give to do or believe something. Logic helps with just about every intellectual endeavor, whether it be writing a paper for a history class, evaluating the arguments of political candidates, arguing for or against the existence of God, or persuading someone to pay for pizza. Besides being useful, the connections between language, logic and thought are rich in philosophical interest.
Logic concerns the form of valid reasoning. An example of valid reasoning, cast in the form of a valid argument, is: “All humans are mortal. Socrates is a human. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.” Any argument that has the same form will be valid. Valid logical arguments can be much more complicated than this and can be strung together into extended logical proofs. Formal logic is the study of identifying, understanding and applying the forms of these arguments.
This course uses a computer-based formal logical system. We will learn how to express sentences in this system and how to carry out valid proofs from a set of premises to a conclusion. We will also learn how to recognize and demonstrate that an invalid argument is invalid. The ultimate aim is to make you a better thinker.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect: 5:30-6:59 PM T/Disc: 7:00-8:00 PM T/Instructor: Gordon
In this course, we will study the principles governing valid deductive reasoning in sentential and first-order predicate logic--and spend some time talking about how such principles are applied in "real life."
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect: 11:00-11:50 MW/Disc: 12:00 or 1:00 M/Instructor: Morris
An introduction to the concepts and techniques of modern logic.
Required Text: Virginia Klenk, Understanding Symbolic Logic.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect: 9:30-10:20 TR/Disc: 11:00 or 12:00/Instructor: Fleischacker
Can philosophy help us settle moral questions in politics or everyday life? Can it tell us why we should be moral, when we are tempted not to be? And can it tell us how to become better people? We will consider all three of these questions, but focus on the second one. Readings from ancient and modern philosophers, including Plato, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill. Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
Required texts: to be announced.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect: 10:00-10:50 MW/Disc: 11:00 or 12:00 W/Instructor: 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. Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
Required texts: to be announced.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect: 5:30-7:00 W/Disc: 7:00-8:00 W/Instructor: Brewer
This course is broken up into four sections. In sections I and II, we will consider two of the most prominent attempts to provide a foundation for ethics: utilitarianism and deontological ethics. We will start with J. S. Mill’s Utilitarianism and then turn to Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. These texts are quite difficult (especially Kant), but do not be discouraged. I do not ask that you understand everything that you read, only that you do the readings and come to class with questions. In section III, we will consider some applications of these two ethical theories. In the final section, we will consider Nietzsche’s reaction to those who believe they have provided a proper foundation for ethics.
Texts (available at the UIC Bookstore, textbook department, in CCC):
John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism (Second Edition) Hackett Publishing 2001
Immanuel Kant Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals Trans and Ed by Mary Gregor Cambridge 1997
Friedrich Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil Trans by Walter Kaufmann Vintage 1989 (Random House 1966)
PHIL 104: INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect:12:00-12:50 MW/Disc: 10:00 or 12:00 F/Instructor: Sedgwick
Our study of philosophical classics (by authors such as John Locke and J.S. Mill) will introduce us to ideas that formed the philosophical basis for the U.S. Constitution and that have contributed to its ongoing interpretation. We will also consider contemporary debates concerning individual rights in U.S. society (the right, for example, to free speech), as well as such topics as the proper limits of state power, immigration and integration, and affirmative action. Gen Ed credit: Individual and Society, U.S. Society.
Required texts: to be announced.
PHIL 110: PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE AND SEX
Lect: 10:00-10:50 TR/Disc: 10:00 or 11:00 F/Instructor: Anne Eaton
What is the essential nature of love? Is it primarily a feeling or a mode of behavior? Why is love so important? Is love always a good? Does sexual desire have its place in love or does true love leave sex behind? What is the nature of sexual desire and how does it relate to sexual activity and sexual pleasure? Are there necessary and sufficient conditions for sexual activity? What is sexual perversion? What should we make of sexual proclivities and orientations that differ, sometimes radically, from our own?
WARNING: Issues to be discussed in this class may offend some students. Among the topics to be discussed are sexual intercourse of various sorts, perversion, masturbation, trans-gender identity, homosexuality, prostitution, pornography, pedophilia, incest, bestiality, and rape. We will also watch films that touch on some of these matters. If frank and explicit discussions of such issues will offend or otherwise bother you, DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE
Gen Ed Credit: Individual and Society course.
PHIL 116: MEDICAL ETHICS
Lect: 9:00-9:50 MW/Disc: 10:00 or 11:00 W/Instructor: Hilbert
The main focus of the course will be the discussion some of the ethical issues that arise in the health sciences and in biomedical research. We will also look at the guidance ethical theory and ethical principles can provide in resolving such issues. In addition, we will take a look at some of the financial conflict of interest issues that arise in both clinical practice and clinical research.
Requirements: Two short papers (4-6 pages), three 1-2 page opinion papers, midterm, final.
Required text: Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 6th ed., Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress
PHIL 202: PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Lect: 1:00-1:50 MW/Disc: 1:00 F/Instructor: Farley
Catalog Description: Theories and methods of scientific psychology: modes of explaining the structure of theories, the nature of mental states; implications of commonsense conceptions of the mind. Prerequisite(s): One course in philosophy; or junior or senior standing in the physical, biological, or social sciences; or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 204: INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Lect: 1:00-1:50 MW/Disc: 1:00-1:50 F/Instructor: Schmor
Advertisements frequently inform us how that their product has been scientifically proven to work (or to work better than their leading rivals). Why is it thought important to be "scientifically proven"? The answer is surely that we hold science in high esteem. We regard science as objective and rational, not subject to superstition or personal biases. But how accurate is this picture? Is science really so different from other methods of investigation (such as for, example, those espoused by creation-science, astrology, or "The Secret")? How much faith should we place in our scientific theories? In this course we will begin with such questions. From there, we will consider a number of other related issues, which may include: the nature of scientific observation, explanation, confirmation of laws and theories, scientific revolutions and paradigms, and the relation between physical and social sciences.
Text: T.B.A.
PHIL 210: SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Lect: 12:00-12:50 MW/Disc: 12:00 F/Instructor: Martin
Catalog Description: Representation of English sentences using quantifiers and identity; quantificational natural deduction; interpretations. Optional topics include naive set theory; axiomatic systems; theory of descriptions; metatheory. Prerequisite(s): PHIL 102. Recommended background: Grade of B or better in PHIL 102.
PHIL 220: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY I: PLATO AND HIS PREDECESSORS
Lect: 12:30-1:14 TR/Disc: 1:16-1:45 TR/Instructor: Jeon
This course provides an introduction to the works of Plato. We will study several of Plato's major dialogues, including Apology, Meno, Symposium, and Republic. Reading assignments will include some whole dialogues and close reading of selected passages in others. Some of the topics we will cover are Plato's accounts of virtue, happiness, knowledge, and the nature of the soul. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of the instructor.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 223: HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY I: DESCARTES AND HIS SUCCESSORS
Lect: 9:30-10:14 TR/Disc: 10:15-10:45 TR/Instructor: Whipple
What are the limits of human knowledge? What is the nature of physical substance? What is the nature of the mind? What is the relation between my mind and my body? Is it possible to prove that God exists? These are some of the questions that preoccupied the philosophers of early modern Europe that we will be studying in this course. We will examine the ways in which their 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 role to play in the transition from a medieval or Scholastic to a "modern" philosophical worldview.
Required texts:
Descartes, Rene. Selected Philosophical Writings, eds. J Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) (ISBN 0-521-35812-4)
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ed. K. Winkler (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996) (ISBN 0-87220-216-X)
Berkeley, George. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, ed. K. Winkler (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1995) (ISBN 0-978-0-915145-39-3)
PHIL 225: NINETEENTH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 10:00-10:50 MW/Disc: 10:00 F/Instructor: Sedgwick
A survey course of the works of major nineteenth century philosophers such as: Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard.
Prerequisite(s): One course in Philosophy or consent of the instructor. Gen Ed: Individual and Society.
Required Texts: Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals; G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History ; Ludwig Feuerbach, Principles of the Philosophy of the Future; Karl Marx, Selected Writings; Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals; Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion
PHIL 230: TOPICS IN ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 2:00-2:50 MW/Disc: 2:00 F/Svolba
In this course we will read and discuss articles on three important topics within the philosophy of law: 1) Do we have a moral obligation to obey the law, and, if so, what is the nature and extent of that obligation? (Readings from Plato, Hart, Austin, Smith, Thoreau, and King); 2) What are the limits of the law? In other words, at what point do legal restrictions on individual liberty become immoral or unjust? (Mill, Ripstein, Dworkin, Feinberg, et. al.); 3) States claim for themselves a right to punish those who violate their laws. But why exercise this right? What is the point of punishment? (Feinberg, Smilansky, Morris, et. al.). Three exams, weekly quizzes.
PHIL 300: FUNDAMENTALS OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE
Lect-D: 2:00-3:15 TR/Instructor: Fleischacker
This is the writing in philosophy course. Our goal is to work on improving and enriching all aspects of your philosophical writing. The emphasis is on process rather than product, and on the writing itself rather than the content. However, in philosophy it is not easy to separate form from content, so we will be examining a variety of great philosophical texts as well, as models of how philosophical writing can be done.
Required text: to be announced.
PHIL 404: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Lect-Disc: 11:00-11:50 MWF/Instructor: Jarrett
This will be a survey course examining a broad range of standard topics. Among the topics to be addressed are the nature of scientific theories, scientific laws, explanation, realism, objectivity, confirmation theory, scientific reasoning, and causation. We will give consideration to the role of the logical empiricist movement as a historical backdrop to more recent developments. We will also examine one or two topics in the foundations of physics in order to explore some connections between the special sciences and more general issues in the philosophy of science. Readings will be drawn from an anthology (see the required text title below) and supplemented by a selection of articles to be made available in photocopied form.
Prerequisite: PHIL 102 or 210, and one other Philosophy course at the 200-level or above.
Required text: Readings in the Philosophy of Science, by Theodore Schick, Jr. Mayfield Publishing, ISBN: 0 – 7674 – 0277 - 4
Course requirements: Students will be given a few short writing assignments throughout the semester based on course readings and lectures. A longer (10 -15 page) term paper will be due at the end of the semester. Grades will be based on the following scheme: class participation 30%; short writing assignments 35%; term paper 35%.
PHIL 416: METALOGIC I
Lect/Disc 9:30-10:45 TR/ Hart
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.
Prerequisite : Phil 210 or consent of the instructor.
Required text: Introduction to Mathematical Logic , Elliott Mendelson.
PHIL 422: MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect: 1:00-1:50 MW/Disc 1:00 F/Instructor: Sinkler
The course will provide an overview of philosophy as it was practiced during the Middle Ages in the Latin- speaking West. The work of authors such as Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas will be explored, with topics ranging from the nature of change to the compatibility of reason and religion.
Required texts: to be announced.
PHIL 429: SKEPTICISM: ANCIENT AND MODERN
Lect-Disc: 12:30-1:45 TR/Instructor: Whipple
Contemporary treatments of skepticism often assume that skepticism is something that one ought to avoid. This was not always the case, however, for ancient skeptics viewed skepticism as a way of life that leads to tranquility and peace of mind. One of our aims in this course will be to understand and evaluate this astonishing idea. We will also compare ancient skepticism with the more familiar modern treatments provided by Rene Descartes and David Hume. Our examination of these accounts will focus on two additional questions: does Descartes’ attempt to refute skepticism involve circular reasoning? Does Hume’s skepticism undermine his commitment to naturalism and the science of man?
Required Texts:
The Skeptic Way: Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Pyrrhonism, ed. B. Mates (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) (ISBN 0-19-509213-9)
The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Volume II, eds. J Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) (ISBN 0-521-28808-8)
Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature, eds. D. Norton and M. Norton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) (ISBN 0-19-875172-9)
PHIL 441 TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Lect: 10:00-10:50 MW/Disc 10:00 F/Instructor: Edelberg
Topics will include arguments for and against the existence of God, science and religion, divine foreknowledge and freedom of the will, and death and personal identity. Our focus will be on the underlying issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophy of language. Prerequisite: One 200-level course in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 500: WRITING IN PHILOSOPHY
Disc: 3:30-6:00 T/Instructor: Edelberg
We will practice writing philosophy.
Required texts: The Elements of Style, Strunk and White.
PHIL 509: HISTORY OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Disc: 3:30-6:00 R/Instructor: Hylton
Catalog Description: Topics in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Anglo-American philosophy. May be repeated with approval. Approval to repeat course granted by the department. Students may register for more than one section per term when topics vary.
PHIL 528: SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Disc: 1:00-3:30 M/Instructor: Laden
Course description: Reasons and Reasoning: A social view
Our main task will be to work through a draft of a book manuscript I am working on that lays out a social picture of reasons and reasoning that I take to be an alternative to standard approaches in a number of ways. Whereas standard pictures of reasons and reasoning take reasoning to be episodic, reasons to aspire to decisiveness and the authority of commands, my social picture treats reasoning as an activity that constitutes the social background of our lives, reasons to be always open to challenge, and reasoning to construct an alternative, non-hierarchical authority I call the authority of connection. Whereas theories working within the standard picture generally work outwards form instrumental reasoning to prudential and then, possibly, moral reasoning, my approach works inward, starting with causal conversation and joint deliberation, and only then developing an account of prudential and instrumental reasoning. Thee manuscript currently has 11 chapters, so we will try to cover one a week. In addition we will read a variety of contemporary work that either defends the standard picture or points the way to the view I develop. Likely authors covered include Scanlon, Korsgaard, Nagel, Vogler, O’Neill, Goffman.
PHIL 536: EPISTEMOLOGY
Disc: 12:30-3:00 T/Instructor: Sutherland
The seminar will focus on a priori knowledge. It will be divided into two parts. The first will look at the history of the notion of a priori knowledge beginning with Plato, but with special attention to the early modern period and after. The second will look at some contemporary defenses of a priori knowledge. The aim is to develop an understanding of the role of a priori knowledge in the history of philosophy, and approach contemporary views with an appreciation of this history.
PHIL 542: PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL SCIENCES
Disc: 12:30-3:00 R/Instructor: Huggett
A survey of topics in the foundations of quantum mechanics: for instance, identical particles, solutions to the measurement problem (Bohm, many worlds/minds, decoherence etc), field theory, quantum computing and logic. Some background -- for instance, Jarrett's QM seminar would be suitable -- will be asumed (consult with the instructor), but the course will not aim to teach more technically advanced material.
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.
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