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PhilosophyCOURSES 115 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY An introduction to philosophy through topics found in classical philosophical writings, such as the nature of truth and knowledge, mind and body, freedom and determinism, right and wrong, and the existence of God. Course content varies from instructor to instructor. Specific course descriptions will be available in the department prior to registration. Every semester. (4 credits) 119 CRITICAL THINKING This course introduces and explores the main principles and methods of Critical Thinking: distinguishing between good and bad arguments; identifying common fallacies; developing strong and persuasive arguments; the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning; constructing logical proofs; the nature of scientific, moral, and legal reasoning; evaluating polls and statistical hypotheses; understanding probability; deciding how to act under uncertainty. Students will apply these principles and methods to numerous academic and 'everday' contexts, including journals, the print press, blogs, political rhetoric, advertising and documentaries. We will regularly reflect upon more broadly philosophical matters related to Critical Thinking - such as the nature of truth and objectivity and the distinction between science and pseudo-science - and examine a number of intriguing philosophical paradoxes. Students will improve their skills in writing clear and compelling argumentative papers and critically analyzing the writings of others. Course work includes reading, class discussion, regular homework assignments, quizzes, and short argumentative essays. No prerequisites. Every year. (4 credits) 120 INTRODUCTION TO SYMBOLIC LOGIC An introduction to formal methods for evaluating and deriving deductive arguments. Topics include formal fallacies, decision procedures, translation of arguments to argument forms, and natural deduction proofs in propositional and (polyadic) predicate logic. No prerequisite. Every year. (4 credits) 125 ETHICS An alternative introduction to philosophy (the other being Philosophy 115 Problems of Philosophy) that concentrates on normative philosophical concepts and issues, such as the nature of value, duty, right and wrong, the good life, human rights, social justice, and applications to selected problems of personal and social behavior. Topics may include liberty and its legal limitations, civil disobedience, abortion, affirmative action, capital punishment, terrorism and the morality of war, animal rights and environmental ethics. Every semester. (4 credits). 227 BIOETHICS Bioethics deals with a variety of ethical issues arising in the context of medical care and biomedical research. These issues include informed consent, euthanasia, reproductive rights, confidentiality, and the distribution of health care resources. The course uses ethical theory to shed light on issues in medicine, and issues in medicine to illuminate ethical theory. Prerequisite: Philosophy 125 or permission of instructor. Alternate years; next offered Spring 2012. (4 credits) 229 ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS (Same as Environmental Studies 229) Emerging in the 1970s, the field of environmental ethics began by sparking a rich line of philosophical inquiry largely focused on the moral status of the natural world and the non-human entities within it. What reasons do we have to give moral consideration to the environment? And what do we mean when we say we have a moral duty toward the environment? Do we have moral duties to individuals within a species, or to species themselves, or to ecosystems, or to...? This course will invite you to reflect on key philosophical works that engage these and related questions. You will also have the opportunity to think about significant emerging topics in environmental ethics. Depending on the semester, these may include the debate over the ethics of wilderness preservation; the challenges of expanding environmental ethics to address issues of global climate change and resource sustainability; environmental rights; and environmental justice. Next offered spring 2012 (4 credits). 230 ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHIES Examination of the philosophy of ancient Greece, Rome and the medieval period, especially Plato and Aristotle, but also the Presocratics, Epicurus, the Stoics, the Neoplatonists, Augustine, and Aquinas. Topics may include reality vs. appearance, knowledge vs. opinion, immortality and death, happiness, love and friendship, the state, time and eternity, freedom and fatalism, and the existence of God. Every year. (4 credits) 231 MODERN PHILOSOPHY Examination of the major philosophers and systems of the 17th and 18th century, including Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, and Kant. Topics may include the foundations of knowledge and method, the relation between the mind and the body, experience and reality, conceptions of time and space, freedom and determinism, the nature of the self, morality and the good life, the relation between science and religion, and God’s relation to the world. Every year. (4 credits) 235 EXISTENTIALIST METAPHYSICS “All living is one’s own living, feeling oneself live, knowing oneself to be existing, where knowing does not imply intellectual knowledge or any special wisdom but is that surprising presence which one’s life has for every one of us: (José Ortega y Gasset). For those thinkers whose work is associated with the philosophical tradition of existentialism, the understanding of human existence represents a singular gateway to the understanding of being, the general object of the study of metaphysics. But just what does it mean to exist? In this course, we will reflectively consider responses to this and other questions that play a key role within existentialist metaphysics. Typically, reading will be drawn from works by philosophers such as Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, José Ortega y Gasset. While there is no pre-requisite for this course, some familiarity with the history of European philosophy would be helpful. Every year. (4 credits) 236 INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES (Same as Asian Languages and Cultures 236) An introductory study of some of the great philosophers and philosophical problems of the Indian philosophical tradition focusing on Buddhist and Hindu philosophical debate from the time of the Buddha to around 1000 CE. Topics will include the role of philosophy in the Indian intellectual and religious tradition; Indian logic; the relationship between philosophy and practice (yoga, meditation); what counts as knowledge (pramana theory); ultimate truth versus conventional truth; Buddhist/Hindu debate on the nature of persons, rebirth and karma; competing theories of reality (momentariness, emptiness, non-dualism, realism) and methodologies of cross-cultural philosophy. Students will learn the basic Sanskrit terminology of Indian philosophy and will work with primary source material in translation. Every year. (4 credits) 238 PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION (Same as Religious Studies 248) Philosophical analysis of problems in religion and theology such as arguments for the existence of God and the nature of religious knowledge. The Philosophy of Religion seeks an understanding of religion by raising philosophical questions about its underlying assumptions and implications. When we believe something it is because we think it is true and because we think we have good evidence to support our belief. In the case of religious beliefs, however, we are immediately faced with questions concerning the nature of such beliefs. What claims do they make? What would count as good evidence for a religious belief? What is the nature of religious truth? In this course we will examine the nature of religious beliefs and the ways in which philosophers in different traditions have justified or argued against such beliefs. Perhaps in response to the increasing challenge to religion from the natural sciences, twentieth century philosophers have questioned the traditional philosophical approach to religion. Some philosophers, Wittgenstein for example, question traditional interpretations of religious language and re-examine the relationship between faith and reason. Can religious life be practiced without a theology or with skepticism or agnosticism regarding theological questions? Other topics covered in the course include the attempt to introduce intelligent design into public schools as part of the science curriculum; religious pluralism; the belief in life after death; and feminist critiques of religious language. Alternate years; next offered 2010–2011. (4 credits) 250 PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN RIGHTS Although human rights play an obviously important international role, philosophers have found human rights puzzling and difficult to justify. What does it mean to say a person has a moral right or a human right? What is the relationship between human rights stated in international covenants and human rights that are said to be morally binding? Aside from questions about the nature of human rights, the course will consider possible justifications for human rights, both legal and moral, as well as arguments that there are no human rights. The course will take up the issue of whether it is possible to adopt human rights while respecting the diversity of human cultures, religions, and moral views. Alternate years. (4 credits) 251 HUMAN RIGHTS AND HEALTHCARE Human rights and healthcare are intimately connected. Human rights are used both to protect human subjects in biomedical research and to support claims for adequate healthcare. The use of human rights to protect human research subjects raises issues of informed consent, privacy, and individual autonomy. The use of human rights to secure healthcare resources raises issues about what level of healthcare ought to be supported and what constitutes a just distribution of healthcare resources. The course also explores recent work on the way in which human rights and public health combine in the quest to secure overall wellbeing. In general the course views public health through the framework of human rights. Alternate years. (4 credits) 283 DARWIN/NIETZSCHE/FREUD (Same as German Studies 327) We all have values; but what are they based on? Perhaps no two thinkers have asked this question as persistently and approached it with such intrepid originality as Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. Writing in an age when religious belief had lost credence as a foundation for ethics, Nietzsche and Freud confronted the groundlessness of value systems while recognizing the impossibility of living without them. Both were reacting to Darwin's discovery of natural selection, which dispelled nature's divine aura and inaugurated what Nietzsche would call the "death of God." The course explores the challenges to value judgments in the wake of Darwin and attempted solutions to them, centering on the four domains of ethics, subjectivity, aesthetics, and cultural value. Readings will include excerpts from Darwin's The Origin of Species; Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science, and the texts posthumously published as The Will to Power; Freud's Totem and Taboo, Civilization and Its Discontents, and Beyond the Pleasure Principle; as well as other works. Alternate years; next offered fall 2011. (4 credits) 301 PHILOSOPHY OF LAW An analysis of fundamental legal concepts and the problems of justifying various legal practices. Topics may include the relationship between law and morality, the distinction between the criminal and civil law, theories of constitutional and statutory interpretation, and the appropriate role of the judiciary. Prerequisite: Philosophy 125 (Ethics) or permission of instructor. Alternate years; Not offered 2011–2012. (4 credits) 360 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Are quarks “real”? Does science lead to objective knowledge? Is there really a scientific method? How do we distinguish between creation “science” and evolution; or astrology and astronomy? These questions are asked in philosophy of science, which studies the fundamental processes, principles, and presuppositions of the natural sciences. The social and historical contexts of the sciences are also considered. Topics include: science vs. pseudoscience, scientific explanation, scientific revolutions, the philosophy of space and time, the theory of evolution, theories of confirmation, objectivity in science, and realism vs. relativism. Prerequisite: Philosophy 120 or 115 or permission of the instructor. Alternate years; next offered 2009–2010. (4 credits) 362 PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (Same as Cognitive and Neuroscience Studies 362) Materialism, rather than solving the problem of mind, consciousness and intentionality, has spawned numerous philosophical perplexities. This course will examine a variety of philosophical problems associated with contemporary models of the mind (mind/body dualism; mind/brain identity theories; behaviorism; functionalism and artificial intelligence; eliminative naturalism and folk psychology; biological naturalism). The course will also look at contemporary philosophical accounts of personhood and personal identity, particularly narrative accounts of the self. Readings will typically include writings by Paul and Patricia Churchland, Antonio Damasio, Daniel Dennett, Owen Flanagan, Derek Parfit, Marya Schechtman, John Searle and Kathleen Wilkes. Prerequisite: Philosophy 115 or 231, or permission of instructor. Alternate years; next offered Fall 2010. (4 credits) 364 PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE (Same as Linguistics 364) What is language and what is it for? What makes a series of sounds into a meaningful sentence? What makes a sentence true? Why is language always changing? This course will introduce students to ways in which twentieth century philosophers have attempted to provide answers to such questions. Since the philosophy of language has been so crucial to contemporary philosophy, this course also serves as an introduction to philosophical thought from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. Topics will range from more technical problems (theories of meaning, reference and truth; synonymy and analyticity; universals and natural kinds; private languages) to broader issues examining the relationship between language and culture (language games; radical interpretation; social change). Readings typically include writings by Ludwig Wittgenstein, W.V. Quine, John Searle, Donald Davidson, Richard Rorty, Michel Foucault, and bell hooks. Prerequisite: Philosophy 231 or permission of instructor. Alternate years; next offered Spring 2010. (4 credits) 365 PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS (Same as Math 265) Why is it that 2 + 2 = 4? Can a diagram prove a mathematical truth? Is mathematics a social construction or do mathematical facts exist independently of our knowing them? Philosophy of mathematics considers these sorts of questions in an effort to understand the logical and philosophical foundations of mathematics. Topics include mathematical truth, mathematical reality, and mathematical justifications (knowledge). Typically we focus on the history of mathematics of the past 200 years, highlighting the way philosophical debates arise in mathematics itself and shape its future. Prerequisite: Philosophy 120 or Mathematics 136, or permission of the instructor. Alternate years; next offered 2012–2013. (4 credits) 367 SEMINAR IN 20TH CENTURY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Close reading reflection, and analysis of a work or works associated with a major figure or movement within the tradition of twentieth-century Continental philosophy. Offered every other year, next offering Fall 2010 when focus will be on Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time. Prerequisite: one course in the history of philosophy or permission of instructor. Alternate years.(4 credits) 369 ADVANCED SYMBOLIC LOGIC (Same as Mathematics 369) A second course in symbolic logic which extends the methods of logic. A main purpose of this course is to study logic itself—to prove things about the system of logic learned in the introductory course. This course is thus largely logic about logic. Topics include second order logic and basic set theory; soundness, consistency and completeness of first order logic; incompleteness of arithmetic; Turing computability; modal logic; and intuitionistic logic. Prerequisite: Philosophy 120 or Mathematics 136 or permission of instructor. Alternate years; next offered Spring 2012. (4 credits) 488 SEMINAR: TOPICS A study of some movement, philosopher, or problem in the tradition of philosophy. Primarily for juniors or seniors majoring, or doing significant work, in philosophy. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Offered on an occasional basis. (4 credits) 489 SENIOR SEMINAR A capstone experience in philosophy for senior majors and others with sufficient background. Recent topics have included: realism vs. anti-realism, pragmatism, normativity, Wittengenstein, philosophy and the imagination, the “Best of” the Twentieth Century. The topics are usually addressed from various points of view and may involve several members of the department in some of the instruction. One aim of the course is for participants to get an overview of their major field by examining the fruitfulness of various ways of doing philosophy. It is also an opportunity for seniors to present for discussion their senior papers, written for this or for some other course. Prerequisite: philosophy major and senior status, or permission of instructor. Every fall. (4 credits) Independent Studies All independent study courses require the permission of the instructor. The number of independent studies to be applied toward the major or core will be determined in consultation with the department. Every semester. 604 TUTORIAL (1–4 credits) 614 INDEPENDENT PROJECT (1–4 credits) 624 INTERNSHIP (1–4 credits) 634 PRECEPTORSHIP (1–4 credits) 644 HONORS INDEPENDENT Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the seniors honors project. Every semester. (1–4 credits)
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