PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 11:00 MW/Disc 10:00 or 11:00 F/Schechtman
The main purpose of this course is to get a sense of what philosophy is
by looking at a variety of the philosophical issues. We will consider a wide range
of questions, including whether God exists, whether we have free will, what (if
anything) we can know for certain, whether there are moral absolutes and if so
how we can know what they are, and what types of political organization are most
legitimate. We will not, of course, find final answers to these questions, but
we will gain a clearer understanding of what they mean, why they are important,
and what kinds of answers are available. Special attention will be paid to learning
the philosophical method of addressing these questions. Course work includes two
papers, a mid-term and a final. Required texts: Open Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, Emmett Barcalow.
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 9:30-10:20 TR/Disc 9:00 or 10:00 F/Instructor: Lee
The
aim of this course is to introduce some central problems and questions in philosophy,
with readings from classic texts in the history of philosophy. Those questions include: How should one live?
What is the best kind of human life, and how do the claims of justice fit
into it (Plato)? If such an account can be given of the best
life, is it within the place of good government to make sure that people live
such lives (Plato) –– or is there a distinct value to be assigned to liberty and
tolerance for different "experiments in living" (Mill)? What is the nature of our claims to knowledge
about the world (Descartes)? What is the relation between the mind and the body
(Descartes)? Does God exist (Descartes,
Hume)? Required texts: Republic,
Plato (translated by G.M.A. Grube, rev. C.D.C. Reeve);
On Liberty, Mill (edited by Elizabeth Rapaport);
Meditations, Descartes (translated by J. Cottingham);
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume (edited by Richard Popkin).
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION
TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 5:30-7:00 M/Disc 7:00-8:00 M/ Staff
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
Lect 10:00 MW/Disc 10:00 or 11:00/Jarrett
In
this course we will begin with a careful study the principles governing valid
deductive reasoning in sentential (“truth-functional”) logic. In other words, we will investigate the logical
relationships that hold among sentences constructed in English using such words
as “not,” “and,” or, “if ..., then ...,” and “if and only if.” Among the important logical relationships of
this sort is that of logical implication: we will see what it means for a collection
of sentences (i.e., the “premises” of an argument) to logically imply another
sentence (the “conclusion” of that argument), thereby rendering the argument valid.
Our examination of sentential logic will include the development of a system
of proof for this language. We will then
move on to take a preliminary look at the language of first-order predicate logic
(“quantification theory”). This is the
logically richer language that results from the augmentation of sentential logic by incorporating into our logical formalism the
means to express structure of two additional sorts: (i)
that associated with quantity (as is accomplished, e.g., with such English locutions
as “at least one,” “every,” “some,” “all,” “at most three,” “none,” etc.); and
(ii) that associated with predicates and relations (as is done, e.g., in ascribing
particular properties to things or in asserting that one thing is larger than
another). If time permits, we will take
a brief glimpse at one or two more advanced topics. Logic requires the development of a range of
skills. Some of these skills are similar
to those employed in learning a foreign language. Logic employs a distinctive formal language
with a characteristic vocabulary and rules of syntax and semantics. Much of logic involves learning how to “translate”
back and forth between natural language (English, in this case) and this abstract
formal language that (for purposes of logic) is considerably more perspicuous.
Other necessary skills are very much akin to those employed in mathematics. This is so, in particular, when it comes to
mastering the techniques for evaluating the logical “links” that hold among a
given set of sentences in the formal language.
Required text: Understanding Symbolic Logic, 4th edition,Virginia Klenk.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect 12:00 MW/Disc 11:00 or 12:00/Sutherland
Logic is both
practical and interesting. It brings clarity
to one’s thinking and it helps one understand and evaluate the reasons people
give to do or believe something. Logic
therefore helps with just about every intellectual endevour,
whether it be writing a paper for English class, preparing for law school, evaluating
the arguments of political candidates, or persuading someone that you are right.
Logic is almost universally useful because it concerns the form of any
reasoning at all. The simplest example 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 forms can be more complicated
than this; identifying, understanding and applying these forms is called formal logic. Besides being useful, it is quite fascinating.
Formal logic can be viewed as the structure of thought and reasoning.
It is also like a language because it can be articulated in a few simple
rules that can generate an infinite number of sentences that validly follow from
each other. The connections between language,
logic and thought are rich in philosophical interest. Required Text: Language, Proof and Logic. Barwise and Etchemendy.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect 5:30-7:00 T/Disc 7:00-8:00 T/ Staff
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
Lect 9:00 MW/Disc 9:00 or 10:00/Hilbert
Some things people do are right, some are wrong. Other actions
are uplifting, and yet others reprehensible. In this course we will look at some
of the theories that have been developed by philosophers to explain and systematize
these kinds of evaluations. We will attempt to apply these ideas to various situations
involving life and death. Course requirements: two 4-6 page papers, midterm, final,
section participation. Required texts: Life and Death: A Reader
in Moral Problems, Louis Pojman.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect 1:00 MW/Disc 12:00 or 1:00/Laden
Almost everyone agrees that racism and sexism are wrong.
But what makes an act racist or sexist, and just what sorts of harms do
racism and sexism inflict on their victims? How
we answer these questions depends on how we understand the way in which race and
gender function in our society, as well as how we think we ought to treat others. This course will focus on topics of racism and
sexism, and ask what sorts of moral obligations we have both in general and in
the particular context of living in a world marked by racism and sexism. Our aim will be to think more clearly about
our moral obligations, but also to think more clearly about how to think about
our obligations. Required texts: Readings will be from a variety of contemporary
sources and will be available in a course packet.
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect 5:30-7:00 W/Disc 7:00-8:00 W/Staff
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 104: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect 10:00 MW/Disc 10:00 or 11:00 F/Cronin
This
course will examine some of the most pressing social and political problems confronting
us today both on the national and the global level.
The primary goal of the course will be to deepen our understanding of what
is at stake in a range of controversial topics, including: human rights and the
problem of terrorism, economic justice and poverty, individual liberty and the
problem of pornography, and racial and sexual discrimination. In addition to contributions by contemporary
philosophers and social thinkers, we will discuss the work of such important modern
political philosophers as Locke, Rousseau, and J. S. Mill, and the continuing
relevance of their ideas for current debates. Required texts: Applied Social And
Political Philosophy, Elizabeth Smith and H. Gene Blocker.
PHIL 104: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect 9:30-10:20 TR/Disc 10:00 or 11:00 or 12:00 F/Mills
Social and political philosophy looks
both at factual questions (how society is structured, how political institutions
work) and normative questions (how society ideally should be structured, how political
institutions ideally should work). In this introductory course, we will focus
on modern political philosophy, and within modern political philosophy, on social
contract theory. Social contract theory dominated Western political philosophy
from about 1650 to 1800, but it is not merely of historical interest, since it
has recently been revived by the work of John Rawls. We will start by comparing
the very different versions of social contract theory offered by Hobbes, Locke,
and Rousseau. Then we will turn to gender and race challenges to these theories,
as elaborated in feminist political philosophy and critical race theory.
Required texts: Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy, Steven
M. Cahn; The Racial Contract, Charles W. Mills.
PHIL
107: UNDERSTANDING ART
Lect 12:00 MW/Disc 11:00 or 12:00 F/Fleischacker
Is
art merely entertainment or does it reveal truth? If the latter, what sort of
truth (philosophical, religious, political) and how? If it is entertainment, is
it a special sort of entertainment - "elevating" us, say -or simply
one kind of fun among others? How you answer these questions may affect how you
answer some political ones: should the state underwrite the arts? Should it guide ("censor") them? What sort of artistic
works should be politically encouraged or discouraged, if any? We will explore these issues through the different
philosophical positions on art of Plato, Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger, while considering
throughout how these positions can be used to interpret a variety of kinds of
artworks (literary, musical, and visual). Readings will include Plato's Symposium, Kant's Critique of
Judgment, and Heidegger's "Origin of the Work of Art." Requirements: assignments will consist mostly of papers and
a class presentation, but artistic projects-explained philosophically to the class!-
can be submitted in addition. Required texts: Symposium, Plato (edited
and translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff);
Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant (translated by Werner Pluhar);
On Art, Religion, Philosophy, G. W. F. Hegel (translated by J. Glenn Gray);
Poetry, Language, Thought, Martin Heidegger (translated by A. Hoftstadter);
Matisse Stories, A. S. Byatt. No prerequisites.
PHIL 115: DEATH
Lect 10:00 MW/Disc 10:00 or 11:00 F/Grossman
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: The
Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy; Death and Personal
Survival, Almeder; Final Gifts, Callanan
and Kelley; Tuesdays with Morrie, Album; Lessons
From the Light, Ring.
PHIL
120: INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Lect 11:00 MW/Disc 11:00 or 12:00 F/ Meinwald
This course will provide an introduction
to some of the central issues and problems of philosophy through the study of
ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. We will read selected texts from ancient authors
in translation. Topics to be covered include:
(i) fate responsibility and freedom, (ii) reason and emotion,
(iii) knowledge, belief and skepticism, (iv) metaphysical questions concerning
cause explanation and existence, (v) ethics, and (vi) society and state.
Required texts: Voices of Ancient Philosophy: An Introductory Reader, Julia Annas
PHIL 201: THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
Lect 1l:00-11:45 TR/Disc 11:45-12:15 TR/Roth
Selected topics and
theories in epistemology, including skepticism, justification and the analysis
of knowledge, contextualism, foundationalism vs. coherentism,
and the internalism/externalism debate. Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy.
PHIL 210: SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Lect 12:00MW/Disc 12:00 F/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”). Our study will include a system of natural deduction
for predicate logic. We will examine a
handful of more advanced topics as time permits. Requirements for the course include a few problem
sets, quizzes,
a midterm exam, and a final exam. Grades
will be computed by assigning to these three components the following approximate
weights: problem sets & quizzes, 20%; midterm exam, 30%; and final exam, 40%.
The remaining 10% will be based on class participation.
Required texts: Understanding Symbolic Logic, 4th edition,
Virginia Klenk. Prerequisite:
Phil 102; a grade of B or better in Phil 102 is recommended.
PHIL 221: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY II: ARISTOTLE AND HIS SUCCESSORS
Lect 12:30-1:15 TR/Disc 1:15-1:45 TR/Lee
Introduction to Aristotle's
moral and political philosophy. We will be reading two texts carefully:
the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics. Some familiarity with Plato's Republic and his political philosophy will be very useful and recommended,
though not required. Required texts: Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (translated by Sarah
Broadie and Christopher Rowe); Politics, Aristotle (translated by C.D.C. Reeve). Recommended texts: Aristotle: Political Philosophy, Richard Kraut; Aristotle’s Ethics, David Bostock. Prerequisites:
one course in philosophy or consent of the instructor. It is recommended that Phil 220 and 221 be taken
as a sequence in successive terms.
PHIL 224: HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY II: KANT AND HIS
PREDECESSORS
Lect 10:00 MW/Disc 10:00 F/Sutherland
This
course is designed to cover, with Philosophy 223, what is known as the early modern
period of philosophy, covering roughly 1637 to 1787.
Many aspects of early modern philosophy can be seen as developments of
and responses to the dramatic changes taking place in the science of the day referred
to as the scientific revolution. To understand
those developments and responses, one needs to have some appreciation for the
world view at the time the scientific revolution took place, and the scientific
revolution itself. We will begin the course
by giving a synopsis of the understanding of the world at the time of the scientific
revolution began and how the rise of modern science challenged it.
We will give particular attention to the rise of the mechanical philosophy
and the achievements of Newton. With
this background in place, we will consider how both Rationalists and Empiricists
responded and contributed to the changes occurring in natural philosophy.
We will focus this semester on the philosophy of Leibniz, Hume and Kant.
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 the evolving science and mathematics played
a part in their views. There will be one
in-class exam (20%) and two papers, each 4-5 pages long (40% each).
You must complete all work in the course in order to pass.
Required Text: Philosophical
Writings, G.W. Leibniz; A Treatise of
Human Nature, David Hume; Critique of
Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant. Recommended text: Writer's Reference, Diana Hacker.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy
or consent of the instructor. It is recommended
that Phil 223 and 224 be taken as a sequence in successive terms.
PHIL 227: CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY i:
PHENOMENOLOGY AND EXISTENTIALISM
Lect 11:00-11:45 TR//Disc 11:45-12:15 TR/Bartky
Catalog Description:
Existential themes in drama and fiction as well as selections from the works of
such thinkers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger,
Merleau-Ponty, Camus and Sartre. Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of
the instructor.
PHIL 230: TOPICS IN ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect 11:00 MW/Disc 11:00 F/Laden
What, if any, bearing does human nature
have on morality? Does human nature determine
our moral obligations or place limits on what morality can demand of us?
Can we derive morality from human nature?
Is being moral a way of being more fully human, or is it something that
we impose on our naturally amoral humanity? This
course will look at these and related questions.
We will try to make sense of the relationship between human nature and
morality in the work of five historical figures: Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Aristotle,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Required texts: Leviathan, Thomas
Hobbes, (edited by Edwin Curley); Treatise
on Human Nature, David Hume (edited by David and Mary Norton), Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (translated by Terence
Irwin); The First and Second Discourses,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (translated by Roger Masters); On the Genealogy of Morals/Ecce Homo, Fredrich Nietzsche (translated by Walter Kaufman). 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
Lect 12:00 MW/Disc 12:00 F/Grossman (Please note that the time for this
course is listed incorrectly in the UIC Timetable. The correct time is 12:00)
This course will focus both on the
nature and varieties of religious and spiritual experience, and on some of the
philosophical and theological concepts which are typically used in discussing,
explaining, and evaluating such experience. The
requirements for the course will include informal weekly “reaction-to-the-readings”
papers (1 page or less per week), and 3 formal papers (3 or 4 pages each). Required
texts: A Confession and Other Religious
Writings, Tolstoy; Varieties of Religious Experiences, James; Lessons From the Light, Ring; The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche. Prerequisite: one
course in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 417: METALOGIC II
Lect-D 9:30-10:45 TR/Hart
We will go through proofs, due basically
to Gödel, of the incompleteness and undecidability of
first order elementary number theory in detail.
Time permitting we’ll then go on to recursion theory, and Post’s Problem.
Required text: Introduction to Mathematical Logic, Elliott
Mendelson. Prerequisite:
Phil 416 or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 423: STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Lect-D 11:00 MWF/Hilbert
Hume has had a tremendous influence
on the development of philosophy over the last century. The course will be primarily
focused on reading through Hume's Treatise.
We will cover both Hume's metaphysics and epistemology and his ethics. Course
requirements: three 8 page papers, class participation. Required texts: A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume (edited by D. F. Norton); An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
David Hume (edited by T. L. Beauchamp); An
Enquiry Concerning the Principle of Morals, David Hume (edited by T. L. Beauchamp).
Prerequisite: Phil 223 or 224 or 3 courses in philosophy or consent of
the instructor.
PHIL 429: SPECIAL STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Lect-D 10:00 MWF/Fleischacker
Topic: Studies in Heidegger and Kant
This course will use a series of writings
by Heidegger on Kant both as a means to understanding the work of Heidegger and
as a way of getting at one of Heidegger's most important questions: what are the
limits of our modern scientific understanding of the world? Heidegger believed
that Kant had developed the deepest account of what, in the modern world, counts
as a "thing." He also believed that it was essential, if our lives were
to have any significance at all, that we turn to some
extent away from "things" and "thingly" ways of looking at the world, and he proposed
that it was art that best enabled us to do that. We will end the class by exploring
what it was that Heidegger found so important about art. Readings: Heidegger, What is a Thing?, Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics, "The Thing,"
and "Origin of the Work of Art." Prerequisites: This class will be open
ONLY to students who have already taken Phil 224, 424, or another class on Kant's
Critique of Pure Reason. Required texts: Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics, Martin Heidegger (translated
by Robert Taft); What is a Thing?, Martin Heidegger
(translated by W. B. Barton and Vera Deutsch); Poetry, Language, Thought, Martin Heidegger (translated by A. Hoftstadter). Optional
texts: Critique of Pure Reason, Kant
(edited by Paul Guyer and Allen Wood); Phenomenological Interpretation of Kant’s Critique
of Pure Reason, Martin Heidegger (translated by Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly). Prerequisite:
one 200-level course in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 431: SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect-D 2:00-3:15 TR/Mills
In recent decades, political philosophy
has become one of the most exciting areas of philosophy. Much of the credit for
this development must go to John Rawls’s 1971 A Theory of Justice, which is widely
judged to have revived the field. In this course, we will look at different perspectives
on social justice: the left-right division between Rawls’s welfare/redistributivist
capitalism and Robert Nozick’s libertarian/free-market
capitalism, and the critiques of orthodox political philosophy from a feminist
and critical race theory point of view, as represented by Susan Moller
Okin and Charles Mills. Required texts: A Theory of Justice, John Rawls; Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Robert Nozick;
Justice, Gender and the Family, Susan
Moller; The Racial Contract,
Charles W. Mills. Prerequisite: one 200-level
course in philosophy or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 500: WRITING IN PHILOSOPHY
Disc 2:00-4:30 F/Meinwald
We will practice writing philosophy. Required texts: The Elements of Style, Strunk and White. Prerequisite: graduate standing in philosophy.
PHIL 513: TOPICS IN HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Disc 11:00-1:30 R/Sinkler
Goodness and beauty: What are they
and how, if at all, are they related? The
aim of the seminar will be to answer these questions based on both medieval and
early modern texts. We will begin with
the medieval account of goodness and beauty as transcendentals,
consider how various authors such as Augustine, Abelard, and Aquinas try to unpack
these concepts in their normative and aesthetic theories, and end with two early
modern texts which seem to embody competing models of the roles of ethics and
aesthetics in human life. Required texts:
Ethical Writings, Peter Abelard (translated
by Paul Vincent Spade); Treatise on Happiness,
St. Thomas Aquinas (translated by John A. Oesterle);
Treatise on the Virtues, St. Thomas
Aquinas (translated by John A. Oesterle); Critique of Judgement,
Immanuel Kant (translated by J. H. Bernard), On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller (translated
by Elizabeth M. Wilkinson and L. A. Willoughby). Prerequisite: graduate standing in philosophy.
PHIL 528: SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Disc 1:00-3:30 M/Cronin
This seminar will address a range of
normative political challenges generated by intensified global interconnection
or “globalization.” A primary focus will
be on models of global governance based on theories of international law and cosmopolitan
justice, and specifically on debates between positions that build on the existing
international order (John Rawls) and those that advocate forms of transnational
democracy (Jürgen Habermas, David Held, John Dryzek,
Iris Young). A related focus will be on
human rights as a possible normative framework for global governance institutions
and on controversies over their universal validity (the “Asian values” debate).
We may in addition discuss one or more of the following topics in greater
detail: theoretical approaches to globalization, international civil society,
universal jurisdiction, sovereignty and the ethics of intervention. Required texts: The Law of Peoples, John Rawls; Global
Justice and Transnational Politics, DeGreiff and
Cronin; Democracy and the Global Order,
David Held; Deliberative Democracy and Beyond,
John Dryzek, and course packet. Recommended texts: Inclusion and Democracy, Iris Marion Young.
Prerequisite: graduate standing in philosophy.
PHIL 534: PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
Disc 2:30-5:00 R/Roth
Selected topics in the philosophy
of action. We begin with an examination
of shared agency - of what happens when people act together. The cases of acting
together/shared activity I have in mind are distinguished by (i) the distinctive nature and pattern of the commitments had
by the participants, and (ii) what I call the practical intersubjectivity
of their intentions. We will articulate these and other aspects of shared agency,
and explore whether they can be given an adequate treatment by reductive accounts
of shared agency in terms of individual agency. I suspect not, and we'll consider
the implications for the philosophy of mind and practical reasoning. For the rest
of the course, we'll take a step back to explore several issues in the theory
of action that constitute a backdrop to the theorizing about shared agency. We'll
consider topics such as reasons for actions, the special role of the will and
intention, and self-knowledge in intention and action.
Required text: various photocopied articles. Prerequisite: graduate standing
in philosophy.
PHIL 538: PHLOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
Disc 11:00-1:30 T/Edelberg
I am interested in the question what
sort of metaphysical framework is required for a suitable philosophy of language.
This course investigates that question by focusing on the propositional
attitudes – mental states or episodes that appear to relate a person to one or
more propositions. (Belief, knowledge,
hope, desire, agreement, disappointment, inference, and sometimes perception and
preference, are familiar examples.) For
the last century or a bit more, the study of statements ascribing such mental
states and processes has been an especially fruitful line of inquiry in philosophy
of language. Interestingly, there is a
lot of room for disagreement, even about fundamentals. The first half of this course looks at some
of this research, focusing primarily on the last thirty years. The second half advances an argument that conventional
theories still fall far short in some important respects, and suggests how these
problems might be addressed. Philosophy
416 or an equivalent course is strongly recommended. We won’t be proving any high-powered or even
difficult metatheorems, but occasionally we’ll determine whether an inference
is valid in a proposed formal language, by looking to the formal semantics.
I’ll assume people have some experience with the basics:
reasoning with a truth-definition and with a definition of a model, and
the like. If in doubt, ask me. Required texts: to be announced. Prerequisite: graduate standing in philosophy.
PHIL 542: PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL SCIENCES
Disc 2:30-5:00 T/Huggett
We're
going to look at some of the major issues concerning the philosophy of space and
spacetime: especially absolute/substantival/realist conceptions of space (that
take space or some geometric properties of space to have independent reality)
vs relationist/antisubstantivalist/antirealist conceptions (that don't, but somehow
want to see space as 'reducible' to the relations of bodies). In this regard we
will consider how the issue looks in various theories of mechanics - the science
of motion: Aristotle's, Descartes', Huygens', Newton's, Leibniz's, and Einstein's
in particular (possibly we will look at quantum theories of space in fairly heuristic
manner). We will consider the issue historically, but we will also engage it as
it has played out in the Twentieth Century, via Reichenbach, Grunbaum, Earman
and Friedman for instance. Readings will be assigned through the semester--I
aim to cover the 'key' works--the presentable parts of a manuscript on the subject
that I am writing. No advanced mathematics will be presupposed, but some mathematical
ideas will be introduced. The syllabus on my web site is NOT the course
syllabus. Required texts: to be announced.
Prerequisite: graduate standing.