PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc 12:30-1:45 TR/Upin
This course is an introduction to profoundly influential ideas of some of the greatest western philosophers. At the same time, it is also an introduction to a way of thinking, to a method of inquiry, to the process of analyzing, evaluating and defending ideas. Reading and dialogue will center on the following topics: What makes life worth living? What can we know about ourselves, about God, about the world? What are the implications of our ideas about human nature, about what is means to be a woman or a man?
Required Books:
Plato, The Trial And Death Of Socrates (Third Edition), Hackett Publishing (0-87220-554-1)
Descartes, Meditations On First Philosophy (Third Edition), Hackett Publishing (0-87220-192-9)
Hobbes, Leviathan, Hackett Publishing (0-87220-177-5)
Mill, The Subjection Of Women, Hackett Publishing (0-87220-054-X)
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 12:30-1:20 TR/Disc 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 F/Sinkler
Description: This course will provide a general introduction to some of the central problems in philosophy: What do we know and how do we know it? Does a supremely perfect being exist? Do we have free will? What is the nature of morality?
Readings will be from classic and contemporary sources
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 10:00-10:50 MW/Disc 9:00-9:50, 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 F/Edelberg
Description: A survey of traditional topics in philosophy, with readings drawn from classic and contemporary sources.
Required Text: Introduction to Philosophy, John Perry, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer, 4th edition.
PHIL 100: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Lect 12:00-12:50 MW/Disc 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 F/Edelberg
Description: Description: A survey of traditional topics in philosophy, with readings drawn from classic and contemporary sources.
Required Text: Introduction to Philosophy, John Perry, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer, 4th edition.
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect 1:00-1:50 MW/Disc 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 F/Huggett
Description: 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.
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 clarity of expression, and precision in their arguments and reasoning.
Text: Language, Proof and Logic, Barwise and Etchemendy (students
must by a NEW copy to use the necessary software).
PHIL 102: INTRODUCTORY LOGIC
Lect 11:00-11:50 MW/Disc 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 F/Klein
Description: An introduction to contemporary logic. We will cover techniques for translation, evaluation, and derivation in sentential logic, as well as the basics of first-order predicate logic.
Required Text: Understanding Symbolic Logic, Virginia Klenk
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect 11:00-11:50 TR/Disc 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 F/Sedgwick
Description: In this course we consider classic texts in Western moral philosophy. We begin with the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), then move on to explore the Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius (121-180). We will devote most of the course, however, to studying great authors of the modern period: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and J.S. Mill (1806-1873). There are no prerequisites for this course.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 103: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Lect 9:30-10:20 TR/Disc 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50 F/Sedgwick
Description: In this course we consider classic texts in Western moral philosophy. We begin with the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), then move on to explore the Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius (121-180). We will devote most of the course, however, to studying great authors of the modern period: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and J.S. Mill (1806-1873). There are no prerequisites for this course.
Required Text: The Epicurus Reader, Epicurus; The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius; Ethical Philosophy, Immanuel Kant; Utilitarianism, J. S. Mill; The Subjection of Women, J. S. Mill; On the Genealogy of Morality, Friedrich Nietzsche.
PHIL 104: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect 11:00-11:50 MW/Disc 10:00-10:50, 11:00-11:50 or 12:00-12:50 F/Mills
Description: This introductory course 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.
Texts: Steven M. Cahn, ed., Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy (Oxford University
Press) Charles W. Mills, The Racial Contract (Cornell University Press)
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 105: SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
Lect 12:00-12:50 MW/Disc 8:00-8:50, 10:00-10:50 or 11:00-11:50 F/Huggett
Description: In this course we will investigate the notion of change in physics. The nature of change is one of the oldest philosophical questions: for something to change it must at once remain the same thing and become different, but how something be the same and different? We will look at how physics has come to look at change: Aristotle’s view of change in terms of simple capacities, Descartes’ view of change as simple geometric arrangement, and Newton’s modern view of change as a combination of the two. Then we will investigate a series of issues: Zeno’s paradoxes suggest change is impossible. Change involves motion in space but what is space? Could it be finite? Why does it have three dimensions? What shape does it have? Is it something distinct from the material objects that are in it? Then, left and right hands are the same shape, and yet not the same: how is this possible? What is time? How does it pass? Is time travel possible? Next, if two things could swap all their properties, would they also change their identities? Finally we’ll look at change in some modern physics, in a non-technical way: how do things change in relativity? And how do things change in the quantum realm?
Text: a xeroxed draft of a textbook by the instructor will be used.
PHIL 107: UNDERSTANDING ART
Lect 5:30-7:00 W/Disc 7:01-8:00 W/Svolba
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.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 202: PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Lect-Disc 12:00-12:50 MWF/Hilbert
Description: The course will have two main and interrelated themes. First will be the mind-body problem: the question of the relation between psychological descriptions and explanations and descriptions and explanations drawn from the physical and biological sciences. Second we will look at a particular are of psychological research with philosophical implications, this term the study of joint attention. In both cases we will be concerned with both common-sense psychology and scientific psychology. Course requirements: three 6-8 page papers, final, class participation.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 204: INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Lect 1:00-1:50 MW/Disc 1:00-1:50 F/Weaver
Description: Science appears to hold a position of privilege in contemporary discourse. In spite of this (or, perhaps, because of it) some have become wary of this position and warn us against “scientism.” We will read the works of those who believe that science deserves this status and of those who reject this view. We will begin by exploring some of the problems with scientific reasoning as well as attempts to resolve them. Next, we will discuss the differences between science and non-science and investigate whether or not such a distinction can support preferring one over the other. We will conclude by considering whether or not the terms used in successful scientific theories (such as “electron”) refer to real entities.
Required Text(s): TBA
PHIL 210: SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Lect-Disc 12:30-1:45 TR/Ganea
Catalogue Description: Representation of English sentences using quantifiers and identity; quantificational natural deduction; interpretations. Optional topics include naïve set theory; axiomatic systems; theory of description. Required Text: TBA
PHIL 211: INDUCTIVE LOGIC AND DECISION MAKING
Lect-Disc 11:00-12:15 TR/Jarrett
Description: This course will be devoted to epistemological issues associated with inductive logic. We will examine the various 'interpretations' of the probability calculus and try to reach some conclusions regarding scientific rationality, decision in the face of uncertainty, and confirmation theory. There will be a significant overlap with a range of traditional topics in the philosophy of science (including most notably the problem of induction). No significant body of technical material will be presupposed, but we will develop and make use of relevant pieces of elementary mathematics, set theory, and formal logic. Required text: An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic, by Ian Hacking. Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-77501-9)
Recommended text: Choice and Chance: An Introduction to Inductive Logic, by Brian Skyrms. Wadsworth Publishing (ISBN 0534557376)
Students will be required to submit a few exercises/short essays and to take a midterm exam and a final exam. The course will follow Hacking’s text relatively closely, but some supplementary readings and additional topics will be considered if time permits
PHIL 221: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY II: ARISTOTLE AND HIS SUCCESSORS
Lect-Disc 9:30-10:45 TR/Sinkler
Description: The course will provide a general introduction to Aristotle. We will read selections from various of Aristotle=s works in an attempt to identify, for example, some of his metaphysical, scientific, and ethical views. We will also discuss some of the ways Aristotle influenced later philosophical thought.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 224: HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY II: KANT AND HIS PREDECESSORS
Lect-Disc 2:00-3:15 TR/Snyder
Description: After some preliminary discussion of Leibniz, representing Early Modern rationalism, we will devote c.6 weeks each to Hume and Kant, focusing on their epistemology / metaphysics. There will be no exams; students will submit final term papers on topics agreed upon in prior conference.
Required texts are three Hackett paperbacks:
Hume, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding [ISBN 087220-229-1]
Kant, Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics [087220-593-2]
Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics and other essays [087220-132-5]
PHIL 230: TOPICS IN ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect 2:00-2:50 MW/Disc 2:00-2:50 F/Weaver
Description: We do not think that we do anything morally impermissible when we treat our own children better than we treat our neighbors’ children, or when we treat our friends better than we treat strangers. At the same time, we generally consider the interests of each human to be of no greater or lesser value than those of any other human. Are these beliefs actually in conflict? What does morality require of individuals with regard to differential treatment? Are governments also bound by these requirements, or is there something about the role of a government that requires it to adopt a different stance toward the differential treatment of individuals?
Required Text(s): TBA
PHIL 401: THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
Lect-Disc 10:00-10:50 MWF/Hilbert
Description: Two important means of acquiring knowledge are the testimony of human beings and the activity of our senses. We will spend roughly half the course on philosophical examinations of each of these two epistemological activities. Course requirements: one 4-6 page paper, one fifteen page term paper. Required Text: TBA
PHIL 403: METAPHYSICS
Lect-Disc 12:30-1:45 TR/Snyder
Description: This course will be devoted entirely to the notorious ‘Free Will’ problem, discussing its historical development, current disputes and optimal resolutions. It will be organized as an informal seminar, emphasizing discussion. The required term paper will be on a topic agreed upon in prior conference; graduate students will also give an oral presentation, which may be, but need not be, a preliminary version of hir term paper. Of the two required texts, the first is introductory and the second is comprehensive:
Williams, Free Will and Determinism [Hackett, 0915-144-77-8]
Kane, Oxford Handbook of Free Will [OUP, 0915-178-548].
In addition, it is recommended that students obtain one of the two following anthologies; the first is intended primarily for undergraduates and the second for graduate students:
Pereboom, Free Will [Hackett, 087220-3727]
Watson, Free Will, 2cd ed. [OUP, 019-925494-X]
PHIL 417: METALOGIC II
Lect-Disc 9:30-10:45 TR/Ganea
Catalogue Description: Effective computability and recursive functions. Peano arithmetic. Arithmetization of syntax. Incompleteness and undecidability: Godel’s and Church’s theorems. Required texts: TBA.
Prerequisite: Phil 210 or consent of the instructor.
PHIL 431: SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc 1:00-1:50 MWF/Mills
Description: 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 split between Rawls’s left-liberal and Robert Nozick’s libertarian/free-market vision, and the critiques of orthodox political philosophy from feminist and critical race theory viewpoints.
Texts: John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Harvard University Press)
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Basic Books)
Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family (Basic Books)
PHIL 441 TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Lect-Disc 12:00-12:50 MWF/Grossman
Description: In all cultures and religions, there have been individuals who claim to have had direct experience of a transcendent realm of being. Such individuals are called "mystics". In this course we will read a sample of the writings by and about mystics, taken from both Eastern and Western Religions. We will also discuss the difference between faith-based theology and experience-based spirituality. and we will take a look at what they have to say.
Texts:
(i) The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James (modern library edition)
(ii) The World's Religions, by Huston Smith:
(iii) History of Mysticism , by S. Abhayananda (ISBN #1 84293 051 6
(iv) The End of Faith, by Sam Harris
PHIL 509: HISTORY OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Lect-Disc 12:00-2:30 T/Hylton
This class will deal with some aspects of the history of twentieth-century analytic philosophy; more specifically, with the tradition of scientific philosophy as it exists within that broader movement. We will emphasize the work of Russell, Carnap, and Quine, with readings also from Frege and Schlick. The exact syllabus will be in part determined as we go, by the course of our discussions.
The class is intended to be introductory in nature, as graduate seminars go, and it is possible that some students may be overqualified. My hope is that no graduate student in the department is under-qualified, though some knowledge of quantification theory will be assumed. Students who are in doubt about their qualifications should talk to me.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 526: ETHICS
Lect-Disc 12:00-2:30 R/Laden
Description: Philosophical foundations of human rights
What, if anything, can philosophical reflection add to our understanding of human rights? We=ll look at various approaches to thinking about rights in general, and ask if any of them provide a better foundation for human rights claims. We=ll also look at a set of questions about human rights that tend to generate the search for philosophical foundations: Are human rights universal or merely the product of particular cultures? What kinds of rights (political, cultural, economic, negative, positive) are human rights? Can there be human rights without human duties? Without universal enforcement? Do the rights we enshrine as human mark only some of us (e.g. men) as human?
Required Text: Readings from a variety of mostly contemporary sources will be available for xerox (and possibly download).
PHIL 532: METAPHYSICS
Lect-Disc 1:00-3:30 M/Schechtman
Description: This course will survey the major positions on personal identity of the past sixty years or so, including neo-Lockean psychological theories, agential unity views, narrative views, and bare sentience views. Special attention will be given to the relationship between metaphysical and practical issues concerning personal identity. Assigned work will include an APA format presentation and comment preparatory to a term paper of fifteen-to-twenty pages.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 534: PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
Lect-Disc 3:00-5:30 T/Klein
Description: In philosophy of mind, nonreductive physicalism is still near-orthodoxy. This course will examine how it got that way, and evaluate some challenges to its popularity. After canvassing the classic arguments, we will consider contemporary challenges to several facets of the doctrine. Along the way we'll consider questions about physicalism, intertheoretic reduction, the realization relation, supervenience, mental causation, multiply realizable properties, and the explanatory autonomy of the mental.
Required Text: TBA
PHIL 542: PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL SCIENCE
Lect-Disc 3:00-5:30 R/Jarrett
Description: This seminar will focus on the philosophical significance of Bell’s Theorem, a result that imposes constraints on the empirical predictions of any theory satisfying specified sets of assumptions intended to accord with the world-view of local realism. We will examine the experimental metaphysics associated with various versions of the theorem, with an eye toward assessing the viability of such assumptions as determinism, locality, completeness, and separability. While it will be of relevance to address the implications of Bell’s Theorem with respect to quantum mechanics and special relativity, only some elementary mathematics and probability theory (and no prior familiarity with either quantum mechanics or relativity theory) will be presupposed. Required Text: The text for the course is Philosophical Consequences of Quantum Mechanics: Reflections on Bell's Theorem, edited by James Cushing and Ernan McMullin (ISBN: 0268015783). |