PHIL 100-01 10590 |
Introduction to Philosophy: Love and Friendship |
Days: M W F
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Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
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Room: MAIN 009
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Instructor: Geoffrey Gorham
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 10 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
The Philosopher Aristotle said "without friends no one would choose to live, though they had all other goods". (Nicomachean Ethics, 1055a 5-7). It is not clear exactly what Aristotle means by this, but the high value he gives to friendship and love is shared by many other ancient Greek and Chinese Philosophers, such as Plato, Epicurus, and Confucius. This class will begin with an overview of central themes in ancient and contemporary philosophy -- epistemology, metaphysics and ethics -- and then undertake a detailed investigation of friendship and love: Why are friendship and love valuable? How do we become friends, and when should we break off friendships? With whom can we be friends: family members? pets? on-line friends? AI? Is ’romantic’ love real or merely a social construction? Should we love only one other, or many, or everyone? Could it be good for us to have no friends, or should we have as many friends as possible? How should we think philosophically about polyamory and asexuality? What role, if any, does gender play in four conceptions of friendship and love? What, if anything, do we owe to our friends and lovers? We will consider texts by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Sappho, Confucius, Montaigne, Kant, Emerson, de Beauvoir, Sartre, bell hooks, as well as several contemporary philosophical perspectives on friendship and love. We will also read works of literature, such as Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and love poems of Emily Dickinson, and view together several films, such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Your grade will be based on three short papers, two ’take-home’ examinations, reading responses (’convos’), and attendance/participation.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 100-02 10949 |
Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge, Value, and the Meaning of Life |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room:
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Instructor: Rotem Herrmann
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Details
An introduction to philosophy through topics found in classical and contemporary 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.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 100-F1 10591 |
Introduction to Philosophy: Love and Friendship |
Days: M W F
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Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
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Room: MAIN 009
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Instructor: Geoffrey Gorham
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*First-Year Course Only*
Details
The Philosopher Aristotle said "without friends no one would choose to live, though they had all other goods". (Nicomachean Ethics, 1055a 5-7). It is not clear exactly what Aristotle means by this, but the high value he gives to friendship and love is shared by many other ancient Greek and Chinese Philosophers, such as Plato, Epicurus, and Confucius. This class will begin with an overview of central themes in ancient and contemporary philosophy -- epistemology, metaphysics and ethics -- and then undertake a detailed investigation of friendship and love: Why are friendship and love valuable? How do we become friends, and when should we break off friendships? With whom can we be friends: family members? pets? on-line friends? AI? Is ’romantic’ love real or merely a social construction? Should we love only one other, or many, or everyone? Could it be good for us to have no friends, or should we have as many friends as possible? How should we think philosophically about polyamory and asexuality? What role, if any, does gender play in four conceptions of friendship and love? What, if anything, do we owe to our friends and lovers? We will consider texts by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Sappho, Confucius, Montaigne, Kant, Emerson, de Beauvoir, Sartre, bell hooks, as well as several contemporary philosophical perspectives on friendship and love. We will also read works of literature, such as Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and love poems of Emily Dickinson, and view together several films, such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Your grade will be based on three short papers, two ’take-home’ examinations, reading responses (’convos’), and attendance/participation.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 111-01 10592 |
Introduction to Symbolic Logic |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: HUM 314
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Instructor: STAFF
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 10 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
An introduction to formal methods for evaluating deductive arguments. Topics include formal fallacies, decision procedures, translation of arguments to argument forms, and natural deduction proofs in propositional and predicate logic.
General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
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PHIL 111-02 10593 |
Introduction to Symbolic Logic |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: HUM 314
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Instructor: STAFF
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 10 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
An introduction to formal methods for evaluating deductive arguments. Topics include formal fallacies, decision procedures, translation of arguments to argument forms, and natural deduction proofs in propositional and predicate logic.
General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
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PHIL 121-01 10594 |
Introduction to Ethics |
Days: M W F
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Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
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Room: MAIN 009
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Instructor: Samuel Asarnow
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*Registration limit has been adjusted to save 10 seats for incoming FYs*
Details
What matters in life? Is pleasure the only thing that matters? If so, whose pleasure should I pursue-just my own, my family's, or everyone's? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away? If things in life other than pleasure matter too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it's wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt. Are they right? Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent? Why? When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be? Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy? If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick? In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 121-F1 10595 |
Introduction to Ethics |
Days: M W F
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Time: 02:20 pm-03:20 pm
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Room: MAIN 009
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Instructor: Samuel Asarnow
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*First-Year Course Only*
Details
What matters in life? Is pleasure the only thing that matters? If so, whose pleasure should I pursue-just my own, my family's, or everyone's? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away? If things in life other than pleasure matter too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it's wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt. Are they right? Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent? Why? When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be? Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy? If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick? In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 200-01 10596 |
Ancient and Medieval Philosophies |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: MAIN 010
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Instructor: Rotem Herrmann
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*Cross-listed with CLAS 200-01 (10597)*
Details
This course is an intro-course aimed at providing an overview of the pre-classical and classical periods of Ancient Greek philosophy. Throughout the course, students will become familiar with the major works and views of three of the most influential philosophers of all time: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In many ways, these three figures set the tone for all western philosophy that comes afterwards, identifying key topics with which it is concerned as well as methods and means by which philosophy is done to this day. These core throughlines in western philosophy still offer valuable insight into the means of critical investigation while also showing how much (or little) has changed since their creation. This course will a) familiarize students with the central topics and means developed by our core figures, b) ensure that students are able to see their relevance to current issues and investigations and c) ensure that students are able to draw from this material in their future endeavors (be they philosophical or not).
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 220-01 10901 |
Bioethics |
Days: T R
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Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
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Room: MAIN 111
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Instructor: Amy Ihlan
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Details
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.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 224-01 10598 |
Philosophy of Law |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: MAIN 111
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Instructor: Sumeet Patwardhan
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Details
This course considers the question: what philosophical questions arise with respect to the law, and how should we answer them? In the first part of the course, we'll consider philosophical questions related to making laws. For instance, is it permissible to create laws that are primarily aimed at preventing people from harming themselves, or should laws only be aimed at preventing people from harming others? In the second part of the course, we'll consider philosophical questions related to breaking laws. For example, to what extent are civil disobedience - and uncivil disobedience - justified? Along the way, we'll discuss myriad issues of serious contemporary relevance: the abolition of criminal punishment; the complexities of legal responses to sexual misconduct; and the complex relationship between morality and the law.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 294-02 10600 |
Philosophy of Peace and Violence |
Days: T R
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Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
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Room: MAIN 011
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Instructor: Amy Ihlan
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Details
Are humans violent by nature? Are wars, terrorism, and conflict inevitable or avoidable? Is violence ever justified? Is peace an important value or ideal and if so what moral obligations does it imply? This course explores theories of peace and violence from western and world philosophical traditions. We will consider philosophical perspectives on peace and violence as applied to topics such as just war theory, political violence and terrorism, threats of nuclear war, gun violence, protests and civil disobedience, moral vegetarianism, and environmental activism. We will also explore theories of pacifism and conflict resolution, and possibilities for philosophy (and philosophers) to contribute to promoting peace and preventing violence in local and global communities.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 294-03 10411 |
Freedom and Its Discontents |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: HUM 213
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Instructor: David Martyn
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*Cross-listed with GERM 294-01 (10410); taught in English*
Details
“Free choice is the only miracle the moderns recognize” (Karol Berger). We will read texts from Aristotle to Hume, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Hegel, and Freud to Adorno, Arendt, Lorde, and others that question the idea of individual freedom our liberal order is based on while offering radical alternatives. Freedom turns out to be something we can neither entirely conceive of nor do without. Weekly reading responses; three mid-length papers with revisions. No prerequisites, but be prepared to work your way through some densely argued texts.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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PHIL 394-01 10601 |
How Should We Live? Lessons From South Asia |
Days: T R
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Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
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Room: HUM 112
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Instructor: Sumeet Patwardhan
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*Cross-listed with ASIA 394-01 (10602)*
Details
Have you ever thought to yourself - What should I be doing with my life? And what should all of us be doing with our lives, in our local communities and our world at large? Generations of South Asian philosophers have addressed these fundamental moral and political questions. In this class, we'll be tackling these big life questions, seeing what lessons we can learn from the rich philosophical thought of South Asia. Topics might include: Buddhist arguments that the non-existence of a self should lead us to care about other people's well-being just as much as our own well-being; arguments for and against abolishing the caste system as a system of social organization; South Asian feminist ideas and practices; and more.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
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